How often do you see job adverts that promise ongoing personal development within the role? For those involved in the recruitment process the key for attracting the top talent is often centred on what the role can do for an individual’s career and personal development as much as it is about the job itself. So, how do employers strike a balance between developing the role and the employee?
Where does responsibility lie?
Ultimately personal development lies with an individual. No one can expect that a company will take complete responsibility for the development of a person, and nor should they, companies exist for profit essentially, although taking no interest whatsoever in developing employees can also be counterproductive. Striking the right balance can be difficult initially, but when it works the results can be spectacular.
What is continuous personal development?
Continuous Personal Development (CPD) is an ongoing, planned learning and development process that enables your employees to grow and fulfil their potential in the work place. This will contribute to both their work based and personal development. It can be assessed against competences for the worker’s role and organisational performance, and can include any activity that workers are doing on a day to day basis. This will increase their knowledge, experience and understanding as well as going a long way to improving performance. It also ensures continuing confidence and competence, particularly as roles develop or change or people develop their careers. It can also encompass any relevant training that may be available to assist in their development.
Is CPD quantifiable?
At times when many industries have experienced fluctuating fortunes, cost is always an important consideration. Unfortunately, but maybe understandably, when hard times hit, training and development initiatives are often amongst the first to suffer. The problem is though, that this approach can prove to be a false economy. Perhaps the best way to approach the question is to ask; what is the cost of NOT helping to develop employees? Recruitment drives are always costly and time consuming especially if training ultimately has to take place anyway for new recruits. The development of staff from within, who already have knowledge of the business can result in time and cost saving measures as they hone their skills and expertise.
Establishing the process
In order to adopt an effective CPD process, it is important to provide a range of formal and informal learning and training opportunities that are relative to your business. These will vary according to the employees experience, position, level of their role and career development, however, the same process should always be applied. In the case of businesses where roles depend to some degree on effective communication, call logging and recording tools can be extremely useful. Call software offers unlimited opportunities for training and development through analysing both performance and statistics pertaining to the role.
Ultimately…
Continuous personal development might not be something that is easily quantifiable but is recognised globally as best practice for employers, showing great advantages for forward thinking businesses especially during times of uncertainty. There are numerous examples of where companies have survived solely due to the application and commitment of staff, committed to ensuring continuity in the face of difficult trading conditions.
If you’d like to find out more about call recording or call logging software please don’t hesitate to give us a call; we’d be happy to tell you everything we know – which happens to be rather a lot! Drop us a line on 0333 0022 440, or contact us. We’re here ready to help…