By Christine Pienaar Valuing development means you recognise that your team performs best when individuals feel they are growing and meeting their personal goals. This value is all about giving team members the resources (time, budget, and space) to grow themselves within your company.
Development and growth are becoming more and more important as an employee value proposition in the shifting business landscape. You may be familiar with the phenomenon many are calling the ‘Great Resignation’, or ‘Great Reshuffle,’ in which employees are leaving organisations and settling in companies that value what they value, and treat them well. The best talent is landing in organisations that promise to improve them. So the value of development has become a key strategic advantage for companies who want to attract and retain top talent, and boost employee engagement (Gallup, n.d).
In Deloitte’s latest Millennial and Gen Z survey (2021), 49% of respondents between 18 and 25, and 44% of those between 26 and 38, said they would choose which company to work for based on their own personal ethics. That is almost half the workforce in that age bracket. This means if you want to attract people who want to grow, you need to value development as an organisation. Add to this that according to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report (2021) Gen-Z is highly motivated to grow their careers, with 76% seeing learning as the key to their advancement, and you can see why development and growth are crucial to the employee experience moving forward.
The bottom line is that if you want to attract and retain the kinds of team members that will help you grow (the product, the service offering and ultimately the bottom line) you need to be a company that will grow them as well, in all areas of life and work – technically and emotionally.
This value is something that companies need to start thinking about more seriously in their strategic objectives if they want to grow and flourish as organisations in the future, with the best talent available to help them do that. If you’ve chosen this value, and it is already part of your strategic objectives for the business, then you’re on to something. Well done for recognising its importance for the future.
Self-Actualisation
Is the “willingness to persistently try to improve oneself and engage in the pursuit of personally relevant and meaningful objectives that lead to a rich and enjoyable life” (MHS, 2011). Essentially this is all about enabling your team to reach their full potential, as individuals and as a collective. As a leader, this might look like investing time in the individuals in your team – asking them what their goals are and where they are going. Or it could mean coming alongside, cheering them on and, at times, equipping them with what they need to level up.
Independence
Is “the ability to be self-directed and free from emotional dependency on others” (MHS, 2011). This is a crucial element of development in that it promotes taking initiative and not waiting for others to develop you. The way we perceive ourselves and our power to act can have a significant impact on whether or not we reach our full potential. Some of your team members may be caught up in a cycle of Learned Helplessness, where they believe they are helpless in being able to make a significant impact in the situations they face at work (Seligman & Maier, 1967). Part of developing independence is unlearning this way of viewing yourself in relation to the world.
