Gerald Walsh - An Atlantic Canada Leader in Executive Search, Career Transition, Executive Coaching and Human Resources

How to Create Development Opportunities for Key Employees

Everyone understands that the best way to develop employees is to offer them challenging work. By exposing less-experienced managers to development opportunities, you help them learn and increase your pool of leadership talent for the future. You also provide more meaningful work for these managers which in turn reduces the risk and cost of turnover.

But with organizations slimming down, how do you develop your employees when few, if any, job opportunities exist within your company? The Centre for Creative Leadership, a U.S.-based leadership development institute, offers a number of suggestions on how to deal with this important management issue. Possible development assignments for key employees include:

Small projects / start-ups. There are numerous small development projects an employee can undertake, from planning a company meeting to installing a new system to making speeches. Depending on the nature of the work, projects of this type develop skills in planning, negotiation, persuasion, and communication. They also develop leadership skills when the employee is held personally accountable for the success or failure of the project. Other ideas for small start-up projects include: chairing a task force to study a business problem, working in other business units, launching a new product or service, handling a negotiation with a major customer, and presenting a important proposal to senior management.

'Fix-its' involve fixing or solving a problem. Often this means being involved with emotionally charged, high conflict situations where persuasion, motivation and facilitation are required. Examples of effective projects of this type include: arbitrating a major conflict between two staff members, supervising a cost-cutting initiative, recommending which employees to let go in a downsizing, and dealing with a major business crisis.

Strategic assignments can help encourage a manager to think strategically rather than operationally. Examples of strategic assignments include writing a policy statement, preparing a competitive analysis, conducting a post-mortem of a failed project, or facilitating a SWOT analysis at a planning meeting. Assignments of this type help managers develop the skills to cope with ambiguous, uncertain situations where there are no clearly defined rules or procedures in place.

Activities outside of work such as engaging in volunteer work or community service, joining professional organizations, or coaching minor sports, encourage the development of individual leadership skills and working with new people. They may also have elements of learning to influence and persuade others.

Coursework and coaching assignments. Managers who teach or design courses, or who coach others, develop skills in communication, public speaking and leadership. Those who become students by taking courses themselves have an opportunity to reflect on their values and learning patterns through exposure to other participants, respected instructors, and leading-edge ideas.

Gerald Walsh, CMA, is the President and Founder of Gerald Walsh Associates Inc., an executive search, career transition and executive coaching firm.

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