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Developing Your Team

A main goal of managing is developing your direct reports. This involves not only coordinating their work in a way so your organization's business objectives are met, but also empowering them and providing opportunities for them to meet their own professional development objectives. This course provides an overview of the importance and benefits of developing your direct reports as a manager, and tactical strategies for doing so. Specifically, this involves an examination of the steps required to assess the development needs of your employees by differentiating individual requirements. Also covered is the importance and methods for creating a development plan with your employees based on their individual requirements, and ways to support the development plan by creating opportunities for practice and growth in skills and abilities. Finally, this course introduces ways to continue supporting employees through follow up and monitoring, and ongoing and timely feedback.

Providing Development Opportunities

Identify development opportunities that could be part of a development plan for your direct report.

Training
 An obvious opportunity is to suggest some form of training for your report. By this point in the process, you and your report should have an idea what gaps or weaknesses the report has that can be improved through training.

Developing Your Team

Assessing Development Needs of your Direct Reports

You may have identified some or all benefits that come from developing your direct reports. The first is that providing development opportunities to your direct reports can make their jobs more interesting and challenging and contribute to a stimulating work environment. A second benefit of developing your direct reports is that you can inspire them to achieve top performance and fulfill their potential.

Developing Your Team

Providing Growth Opportunity for Your Direct Reports

As your starting point, you and your report need to make time for the meeting. You should agree on a mutually convenient time and make sure that neither of you have appointments immediately before or after the meeting – you need to give your full attention to each other. In order to ensure these meetings are productive, you need to do your homework beforehand. Gather information on the reports, their values, preferences, capabilities, and interests in terms of career progression.

Developing Your Team

Supporting Your Direct Reports' Development

One of the most valuable lessons learned from playing a sport – whether throwing a ball or swinging a golf club – is the importance of follow-through. No matter how much power you have in your arm, or technique in your wrist, if you don't complete the process, you won't get the results you desire. This very same lesson applies to developing your employees.

Developing Your Team