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Help Your Team Reach their Professional Goals in 2021

What a difficult year 2020 has been for all of us. With the stress that came along with 2020, there’s a good chance your employees may be feeling tired, deflated, and just plain worn out. Investing in your team’s professional development and giving them the foundation to set meaningful goals will not only help them succeed individually but serve as a major driver in boosting your company’s culture, morale, and productivity at large. One of the most impactful things you can do as an employer is to help your team reach their goals in 2021. Here’s how to get started:

 

Foster peer mentorship.

When it comes to career advancement, nothing beats true mentorship in which your staff can learn directly from those above and around them. Creating a “peer mentorship” program in which employees learn directly from superiors and colleagues is a powerful way to expose them to the responsibilities of other roles. Additionally, peer mentorship builds camaraderie among your entire staff, helping employees develop stronger relationships within the workplace and with each other. There are both formal and informal ways to foster peer mentorship. It can be implemented in the form of on-the-job training; shadowing; and regular performance reviews. Employees who are given ongoing feedback from mentors will gain more clarity on how they can achieve their goals and improve their performance in the new year.

 

Incorporate goals into performance management.

Making a conversation around goals part of employees’ performance reviews will essentially hold your team accountable for their progress. Companies that openly discuss the importance of goals – and give their employees the tools to achieve them – are generally most successful at creating what’s commonly referred to as a “culture of learning” in which every person on the team consistently seeks, shares and grows their knowledge base. Additionally, training managers to help employees set strategic and realistic goals is critical for ensuring every person is being given the proper guidance in learning from their mistakes and navigating challenges on the job.

 

Communicate the path to advancement.

If your employees don’t understand what it takes to truly advance within your company, it will be difficult for them to set the appropriate goals for their own professional journeys. For instance, if an employee’s ultimate goal is to become a VP, he or she should be taking steps to excel first as a leasing consultant and then progress into a role as an assistant property manager or property manager. If employees are left in the dark about how to advance, they will not know what they should or should not be doing to elevate themselves from their current role. Taking time to meet individually with employees to hear their goals and establish a plan for advancing upward within your organization can help tremendously.

 

Make it a team effort.

A support system can be a major booster in helping your employees stay on track for meeting their goals while making things more fun. There are many team-building initiatives that can incentivize your employees to reach goals, such as group training programs, games, or sales contests. Bringing your staff together in a collaborative way is also instrumental for building morale within your organization and promoting open lines of communication across workers in different parts of your organization. Discovering ways to bridge relationships among staff – and leveraging these relationships for the purpose of meeting team-driven goals – may be one of the most transformative decisions you make for creating a more successful workplace.

 

Remember that not one size fits all.

While there are many types of goal-setting strategies, it’s important to remember that every employee will have a different process and approach for making their own personal progress. To be effective in helping employees reach and exceed their goals, leaders must recognize that every person deserves support in achieving their goals. This is why building a sustainable learning culture is heavily connected to employee performance. When employees are consistently learning on the job, they will be more inclined to apply their new knowledge and skills to make greater contributions to the workplace. Making employee development the top priority and embracing progress rather than perfection is key to creating an environment that propels your people to their greatest potential. Don’t expect your staff to do it on their own – set the stage for their success and you’ll see them thrive.

 

Developing a long-term strategy that promotes goal-setting in the ongoing management of employees is the first step to creating a more prosperous and driven team that works cohesively towards organizational goals and objectives. This type of culture will also provide a more meaningful and rewarding work environment for everyone, from members of your leadership team to your entry-level workers.

 

Ready to invest in your people? Grow your team with the talent development experts at HH Staffing.

 

Until Next Time,

 

Your Staffing Partner, Darrin Rohr- President, CEO, and Chief Servant 

Current owner of HH Staffing and Former Chief HR Officer for several successful Multinational Fortune 500 Companies. Brings a fresh perspective from decades of experiences creating Great Workplace Cultures by building high-performance teams while leading and managing people from all different backgrounds. HH Staffing is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, and is uniquely positioned to serve both local and national clients.

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