Boost Employee Morale with Professional Development

Have you ever felt stagnant in a job? Every day is the same thing. You have nothing to look forward to, and you start to think that your job is nothing more than a means to an end. Stagnation is one of the main causes of low employee morale.

Consider the rock star who doesn't strive to improve his craft. Sure, he can play the guitar pretty well. But if he isn't focused on learning and mastering his instrument, he'll get bored and resentful of his role in the band. Your employees are just like rock stars. They need to be mentally stimulated in order to produce rock star results.

Luckily, it's a relatively easy fix. When you introduce an element of professional development into your company or department, you give employees a morale boost and improve productivity and creativity in your organization.

Benefits of Professional Development

There are many benefits to incorporating professional development into your workplace culture. These include:

Employees feel valued

When you invest time, money, and energy into your employees professional and personal improvement, you send them a message that they are appreciated, valued, and that you'd like to have them around for a long time.

Employees have the freedom to grow

Turnover is a challenge in any organization. Employees become bored, outgrow their positions and eventually, look for a way to improve their lot in life. As a leader, you can ignore the inevitable, or you can work with your employees, molding them, mentoring them, and encouraging them to grow. When you do this, they are more likely to stay with your company, even if they leave the department. If you don't encourage them to spread their wings, they'll do it anyway and fly right out of your nest.

Creativity is sparked

When employees learn, they improve. It doesn't matter if the skills directly relate to their job description or are general tools that they can use in their lives. Employees that are constantly improving themselves will think better and offer up better ideas in the workplace.

How to Encourage Growth

You understand the benefits of professional development... but how do you actually implement it?

Create a library

Reading is one of the best ways to open your mind and expand your horizons. Provide motivational and educational books for your employees and watch them flourish.

Implement a coaching or mentoring program

Working one-on-one with a coach can help your employees overcome any limiting beliefs that are hindering their performance on the job and in their lives. A mentoring program can help employees connect with someone who is further along in their career than the employee, and can pave the way for growth and promotion. The benefit isn't just to the mentee. When you teach something, you internalize the lesson. Mentoring can actually benefit everyone involved.

Provide courses or offer tuition reimbursement

Even though your industry may not require continuing education credits, your company should. Employees should always be learning, always be improving, and always be honing their skills. If your company isn't large enough to warrant a training department, consider bringing in professional trainers to teach your staff. Offering tuition reimbursement also goes a long way to show your employees that you are invested in their future, not just worried about having a job filled.

Hire a motivational speaker

Sometimes, the best way to provide personal development for your employees is to introduce a motivational speaker into the mix. This speaker can inspire your team, challenge their thinking, and open their minds to the possibilities. Marvelless Mark® tells his clients that there is opportunity everywhere. Whether we want to climb the charts with business performance and productivity or make beautiful music on the home front, we must embrace our rock star potential.

If you want your employees to grow, you need to offer them the opportunity. Providing professional development for your team and watch them produce rock star results.

"The more you learn about everything, the easier it is to do it." Dolly Parton

Mark Kamp® aka Marvelless Mark® works with organizations who want their teams to achieve immediate rock star results. A Keynote Speaker/Entertainer/Author, Husband, Father, and child of God, his primary message, “Opportunity Rocks®” gives attendees a fresh new perspective on Sales, Marketing, and Employee Performance. Fun and engaging, Mark combines the success secrets of your favorite rock stars with just the right amount of entertainment to transform your employees into business rockstars. Learn more at www.OpportunityRocks.net.