Personal Growth
Recently, we introduced you to the concept of Emotional Compensation. When we talk about compensation, most people think of pay or benefits or other forms of tangible rewards. Emotional Compensation is not so easy to define but we’re finding out it is equally important to attracting, engaging, and retaining talent in our highly competitive world.
We’ve shared in previous blogs some of what is included in emotional compensation including showing them respect and making them feel as if they belong to the organization. One of the other important ways organizations can provide emotional compensation to staff members is to provide personal growth opportunities whenever possible.
There are all kinds of ways that organizations can help their employees grow. There are the traditional methods of in-house learning opportunities presented in person or virtually where a subject matter expert shared information that is needed by others. This is a great way to showcase your internal talent—enlist your leaders to share their knowledge and experience. Your employees get to see another side of the leader while the leader shares their expertise. Anyone who has ever taught a subject knows that the teacher benefits as much or more than the students. Another benefit to your organization is that there is no cost to the organization.
Consider putting a resource library together and make it available to your employees. They will appreciate your encouragement and your enthusiasm for learning. There is so much information available on YouTube and other online resources, such as Ted Talks, virtual university courses and webinars, blogs and articles—so many ways for your employees to find personal growth.
Providing personal growth and encouraging staff to be lifelong learners is something we are passionate about, so much so that we have an updated chapter on the subject, “Best Approaches to Developing Employees,” in The Big Book of HR, 10th Anniversary Edition. The chapter includes an extensive list of ideas. The book is available for preorder at https://tinyurl.com/ejjbkp69. Order it soon and you might receive it before its official publication date of January 1, 2022.
A manager who models the behavior they want to see in their staff, usually gets the best results from their teams. So, begin curating your resources and take advantage of them. And don’t forget to include some books. Providing these resources and encouragement to your staff will pay off for your organization. Give it a try.