Employee Development on a Shoestring

Book excerpt: It has been estimated that 70 percent of employee development takes place through informal learning, rather than through formal learning events. Employee Development on a Shoestring offers insights and lessons for leveraging non-training activities for on-the-job employee development. This hands-on resource delivers specific implementation techniques for developing motivated, engaged employees in today’s “do more with less” business environment. A handy toolkit for any employee developer, this book provides templates and detailed guidelines to help busy managers develop their workforce in a way that is tailored to each employee’s strengths, development needs, and constraints without breaking the bank. Employee Development on a Shoestring provides general employee development best practices as well as in-depth descriptions of the how-to specifics of 11 different employee development methods, including: -Step-by-step guidance for initial goal-setting and preparation for effective development planning for every employee and development method. -Templates, worksheets, checklists, and guidelines to make your employee development efforts effective and sustainable. -A modular, customized approach to developing employees by tailoring the development method to each employee’s unique needs and each organization’s budget and constraints. -Ways to capitalize on development ideas that are easy to implement immediately and cheaply such as self-directed learning, volunteering, sabbaticals and mentoring. -The hidden value of job rotation, stretch assignments, and special teams for addressing your employees’ development needs while enhancing organizational results. -The benefits of peer teaching and how to turn development into fun games and contests. -Tools and techniques for developing employees by letting them turn stories from the frontlines into digital content for everyone’s benefit and why developing “innovation zones” within your organization may bring huge learning and development rewards. -An examination of social learning and the use of multiple collaborative online tools for real time, on-the-job employee development. Employee Development on a Shoestring is a comprehensive tutorial for all managers, supervisors, trainers, human resources (HR) personnel, coaches, and other professionals who are involved in developing employee competence efficiently and cost-effectively.