How Your Professional Development Is Vital To A Company’s Growth
The Learning & Development (L&D) budget is often the first to go when cuts need to be made. However, this action represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the way business works in a modern, globalised knowledge economy – to understand the true cost of cutting your training budget click here.
Your professional development is vital to your company’s growth, and here’s why.
Human capital
In the industrial revolution era, when manufacturing was prevalent, the tendency was to see employees as mere replaceable cogs of a larger machine. However, attitudes have changed and in 2014 employees are regarded as the most valuable commodity for any company. An investment in people, therefore, equals an investment in your company.
Effects of engagement
The belief that professional development is key to a company’s growth should be clear, but let’s explore it in a little more depth.
L&D is identified by Bakker and Demerouti as one of the three key drivers of worker engagement. Engaged employees are more productive, less likely to take time off work and, crucially, less likely to leave the company, which results in hiring and training cost savings.
Employees who are encouraged to spend time developing their work skills by their company feel valued by that company. It helps them to feel as though they are being invested in as people, appreciative of the help and encouragement their employer is offering them, subsequently ensuring that they are more invested in the company’s aims and goals and the part they will play in meeting those goals.
Driving innovation
In a global knowledge economy, innovation is what drives growth. In many sectors, particularly digital, the only competitive advantage available is a good idea. For instance, Facebook was quick to replace MySpace as the leading social network by streamlining and simplifying it and Zipcar was such a threat to Avis that they had to buy it because it had a more innovative product.
It doesn’t even have to be a big idea, most of the time, but disengaged employees will be far less likely to contribute any innovative ideas at all. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they won’t be very productive if they’re doing a job they’re not invested in.
Innovation drives growth. Ideas drive innovation. Ideas come from people. The better educated and more engaged they are, the better ideas they will have – particularly in collaboration with other informed and engaged colleagues. The more a company invests in employees’ professional development, the more they will be able to contribute.
Bio: “Sebastian has been working with Thales for over a year now and has grown to understand the role that a learning and development company can have on helping other business’ grow with a team built up from the core.”
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