Actionable Steps You Can Take To Provide Employees With Exciting Growth Opportunities

Money isn’t everything

By Matt Parkin, FindWRK

In a recent study with 113 job seekers on FindWRK, participants were asked what makes them choose one job over another. Oftentimes, we jump to the conclusion that money is everything. While it’s important to pay a competitive wage, the survey results highlight there are also non-monetary factors that contribute to a job seeker’s decision-making process.

The most compelling reason leading the way with 33% of the vote was “exciting growth opportunities”. This highlights that you don’t need to break the bank to attract and retain your talent. With this in mind, let’s dive into some practical ways you can provide exciting growth opportunities to your employees.

Ask Questions

It’s easy to assume what types of growth opportunities your employees are interested in. Problem is that everyone is different. What may be exciting for one person may not be for another. Taking the time to sit down with your team one on one and ask them what they’re hoping to learn can help you personalize their development and provide them with opportunities aligning with their interests and career goals. Sometimes this means providing them with extra professional development opportunities like online courses. Other times it can involve on-the-job learning and mentorship.

Learn to Delegate

The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool to help you prioritize your time, sorting tasks by urgency and importance. The Urgent and Not Important bucket suggests delegating the task when it needs to be completed but doesn’t require your expertise. While it can be difficult to release control over a task to someone else, it’s a great low-risk way to provide others with exciting growth opportunities outside the scope of their regular role. Be weary about only delegating menial tasks however as this can diminish employee motivation.

Simon Sinek speaks about the importance of starting with the “why” behind what we do. When you delegate tasks to others, make sure to explain the “why” of the task so they can understand the end goal. This will help them stay motivated as they will feel like they’re working towards a greater purpose.

Job Shadowing

The best way to learn is by doing. Get your employees off the sidelines and into some of your meetings where they can actively contribute fresh insights. Starting as a note taker is a great way for them to stay engaged during the meeting and provides them with an opportunity to ask questions and clarify action items with meeting participants. It also gives them an opportunity to get exposure to other employees if they’re emailing out the meeting minutes to participants after the meeting.

Once they get comfortable taking meeting minutes, encourage them to take turns leading meetings. They don’t need to be the most knowledgeable person in the room to chair a meeting. Having them prepare the meeting agenda, send the calendar invite, and facilitate conversation between speakers during the meeting is a great opportunity to build strong communication skills and public speaking confidence. If you’re looking for ways to stop bad meetings, Greg Harrod has some excellent free resources you should check out.

Cross-Functional Training

It’s easy to get caught up in a silo within your function, but exposing employees to other areas of the business is a great way to educate them on potential career opportunities. It can also increase an employee’s ability to help cover other departments when there are staffing shortages.

In a hotel environment, you might have a housekeeper join a maintenance supervisor for a building inspection or a restaurant server help out at the front desk. In a restaurant, consider building relationships between front and back-of-house staff to learn more about each other’s roles and how they can make each other’s lives easier.

These four tips are just the beginning of what you can do to create exciting growth opportunities for your employees. As we move past the Great Resignation, companies will need to continue strengthening their employer brand to effectively attract and retain top talent.

Matt Parkin is the Business Development Lead at FindWRK.

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