- Skill growth: This is targeted at skills required for success and it could include professional development workshops ideas such as software training.
- Performance improvement: Employees should seek ways to optimize their performance—building on strengths and shoring up weaker areas.
- Career planning: Development should be directed toward a career goal, whether it’s mastery of a current role, advancement and promotion, or lateral moves.
- Leadership: All workers need to know how to influence and guide others. And for those who aspire to management, it’s essential to get the most out of individuals and teams.
- Networking and mentors: Connecting with others helps workers gain invaluable insights and explore new opportunities.
- Onboarding
- On-the-job training
- Instructor-led training
- E-learning
- Degree programs
- Cross-functional work
- Job rotation
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Professional development
- Professional certifications
- Conferences and networking events
How to Bring Employee Development to Life at Your Organization
Developing and encouraging career growth opportunities for employees is about helping them grow new skills and knowledge to support their professional growth. And it’s vitally important to them: half of U.S. workers are worried about gaining the skills needed to advance their career, according to a 2024 Strategic Education, Inc. Consumer Survey. But development is also about investing in the success of your organization, and while there are many employee growth and development ideas and examples, here’s how to get started.
What are the 5 areas of career development?
Career development is a multifaceted process that takes place throughout someone’s working life. While it may include development ideas for work such as training or project-based learning, most development efforts should be focused on five major areas:
What are examples of learning and development?
We know it’s important to support employee development. But what does it look like in the real world? By exploring a few training and development activities examples, we can get a clearer picture.
One well-known type of learning and development is hard skills training. Hard skills are the concrete knowledge and expertise needed to perform a job. Computer coding, data analysis, and financial forecasting are all examples of hard skills. There are limitless options for hard skills training, including degree programs, continuing education, third-party skills training, and more.
Soft skills are also important in every job. These have to do with personal characteristics that help people do their jobs better—for example, communication, critical thinking, or adaptability. There are many options to develop these skills as well, including on-the-job experiences, formal training, or mentoring.
Employees recognize how crucial these skills are. According to a 2024 Strategic Education Consumer Survey, U.S.-based full-time employees most frequently indicate feeling they could improve their technology skills (49%) to advance in their current job, followed by hard skills (46%) and communication skills (45%).
As mentioned above, leadership is also an important example of development. Organizations need effective leaders to manage employee work and guide the organization into the future. There are many ways to help employees build their leadership skills, from specific education or training programs to job assignments that help workers test their leadership abilities.
What is a staff development activity?
It’s clear that many types of skills are needed for job success. So you may wonder: what are some career development activities for adults? The following list is a start but remember that almost any workplace activity can include ways to learn and grow.
What is a fun activity for career exploration?
Career development is about work. But that doesn’t mean it has to feel like work. There are many ways to make career growth interesting and enjoyable:
Self-assessments: Personality quizzes, skill inventories, and job preference tests can be fun ways for employees to explore what they enjoy and what they’re good at.
Career visualization: It’s satisfying for employees to let their imaginations roam free. Visualizing potential workplace roles and settings can help clarify specific career goals.
Informational interviews: It’s interesting to meet someone new and learn about them. It can also give workers a first-hand account of what it’s really like to work in certain jobs.
Volunteer assignments: Every workplace has events, initiatives, or committees that need volunteers. It feels good to pitch in, and it’s also a great way to expand networks and learn about roles in other parts of the organization.
Looking for powerful ways to develop employees?
There are so many learning options to help employees grow their skills. Wouldn’t it be great to have one tool to manage many of them? Workforce Edge gives you a simple platform to manage a wide range of flexible and affordable education programs. Schedule a consultation to learn more.
Developing employees is about helping them grow new skills and knowledge to support their professional growth. And it’s vitally important to them: half of U.S. workers are worried about gaining the skills needed to advance their career, according to a 2024 Strategic Education, Inc. Consumer Survey. But development is also about investing in the success of your organization. Here’s how to get started.
