Employee Development Plan

Link Your Training Program to
Strategic Workforce Planning Goals

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Build a comprehensive employee development plan for each of your employees. Link the training plan with Strategic Workforce Planning goals and use employee performance software to measure results and effectiveness of the training.

Note: the strategic workforce plan is typically the human resources component of the strategic business plan - this plan is often developed for a longer period of time and blends workforce plans with business objectives and goals.

Employee Development Plan:

How to maximize your return on investment (ROI) for employee development and increase the effectiveness of employee training? make sure you not only plan, but that you execute the plan, measure performance improvement and track results to the objectives (and act accordingly).

Employee training can help you develop your employee's skills, and help you to build your products and/or services to a higher level; in turn, this will help you maintain existing clients and attract new ones.

However many small business owners feel that they cannot afford the investment of sending their employees off for training, or bringing in-house a trainer. These business owners feel that they often do not see enough of a return on investment (ROI) for their training dollars.

For you to see the return, you need to ensure that your employees not only learn something new, but also that they use that new knowledge and retain it. Before you invest in training, develop an employee development plan (including learning and performance goals) with, and for, each of your employees.

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Action Items:

• Ensure that the training you provide matches with the employee development plan objectives.

  For example, if you want to improve your employee's written and verbal communication skills then you need to provide communication skills training that focuses on practicing writing business communication pieces and that focuses on handling verbal encounters; on the phone and face-to-face.

  In both cases, added emphasis should be on stressful situations, such as customer complaining, co-worker upset, supplier angry, etc.).

• Ensure that the training can meet your specific requirements or find a training program (or trainer) that can. Also ensure that there is some protocol whereby the employee can practice what they have learned and demonstrate their new and/or enhanced skills.

  The employee training and development must also enable the employee to integrate new knowledge easily into everyday work life.

After completion of the individual training program, make sure that you sit down with your employee and provide constructive feedback in terms of the benefits of the training and reinforce the knowledge gained. Also ask your employee to provide feedback on how they felt the training went (effective or not).

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Employee Development Plan - Training Focused

1. Focus on only three learning goals at a time; it is better to have a short list of goals that get done, than a long list that are never achieved.
2. Talk with the training provider to ensure a logical flow and integration with your business before you send the employee to the program.
3. Identify the benefits of improved knowledge for the employee and the business; to the employee and to others in the organization.
4. Set goals before the employee attends the program and link those goals to the employee's performance development and evaluation program (as well as linking them to your business objectives).
5. If the training is occurring over an extended period of time (that is not a one-day course but over a period of weeks or months), ensure that the employee can practice the learning in an ongoing manner (to reinforce what they have learned).
6. Ask your employee to provide feedback directly to you: was the training valuable; would the employee recommend others go it; is the employee able to achieve the three learning goals, how will they be demonstrated?

Employee performance software can help you track the development progress of your staff. Do you need to develop an employee to achieve a minimum performance standard? Or are you wanting to train your employees for future strategic workforce planning needs? Whatever the reason, you need to insure that you develop the plan, measure results and track improvement and performance.

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Other related articles: Employee Training Methods, Employee Training Development, Employee Retention Tips, and Training and Development Policy.

Return to the Role of Human Resources for more information on how to manage your employees effectively.

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