Are You Making The Most Of Your Employees’ Skills?

Having a great team behind you is an important part of helping your business succeed. And a part of having a great team means using their skills in the best way possible. While you can always bring new talent in your team through recruitment, it’s better to be able to help your existing team shine through making the most of their skills and experience.

Is there more you can do to make the most of your employees’ skills? Find out more below.

Take a close look at your resources

There could be a number of reasons why you’d need to take a closer look at your resources. From needing to make better use of your headcount to expanding your business, it can be beneficial to address your resources. Using a tool to boost your strategic capabilities can help you get a clearer picture, and allow you to identify any gaps you might have in your workforce. This can be a great way to readdress job roles and make sure that people are placed in teams that suit their abilities and development aims.

Encourage collaborative working

Collaborative working is a fantastic way to help people use their talents to complete a project. To build better collaboration, you need to ensure that everyone has a dedicated role, that they can use their skills to fulfil. Regular catch-up meetings can help everyone to stay on track and help everyone work towards a common goal. If you tend to split your teams into smaller project teams, try mixing it up now and then to help different employees come together and perhaps discover some great working partnerships.

Invest in training and development

Investing in your employees’ training and development can help them to hone their skills, benefiting both the business and themselves. It’s important that you offer training and development opportunities to your employees to help them progress in their careers. Employers with a rich development programme stand a better chance of retaining their employees, while also creating a super strong team. There are plenty of ways you can offer training and development, including digital learning and external training. It’s important to ask your employees about the types of training they’d like to receive to make sure they can fulfil their development aims.

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Uncover secret skills

Everyone has hidden talents and skills that their job roles might not allow them to fulfil. There are different ways to uncover your employees’ hidden talents, which can include non-work based projects such as volunteering. Perhaps you have team members who are skilled in writing or graphic design? As part of employee reviews and face to face meetings, ask your employees about their interests and whether they have any talents and skills that they might like to try within the organisation.

As part of your initial interviews, why not ask people about their other hobbies and whether they have any talents that they use out of the workplace? You never know when they could be used to improve a project within your company.

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Conduct regular reviews

How often do you communicate with your employees? A regular meeting can help employees to discuss the things that are going well, and the things that aren’t, to be able to move forward and make improvements. Getting employees to speak up isn’t always easy, but by making open communication the norm for your business, you can help uncover insights that will benefit your employees, while also improving the way your business works.

Create a workplace that helps people thrive

People are at their most productive when they are happy and comfortable in their surroundings. Building a stronger culture at work can help your employees gel together while boosting their productivity. There are many ways you can create a better workplace, including moving to an open plan office and introduce flexible working. Having a supportive and inclusive culture is also important, so you should focus on creating policies that help employees feel safe and respected to help them feel happier at work.

Focusing on developing your employees and making them feel valued is an important part of running your business. It’s far more economical to train, develop and grow your staff than it is to hire new employees. It also helps your employees to feel proud of where they work, which can also drive results. Are you making the most of your employees’ skills? Start looking at ways you can nurture your teams today.