How to improve your employees' capabilities

Culture can play a key part in improving the effectiveness of a workforce. Instilling a growth ethos can inspire workers to strive to complete every task to the best of their abilities.

“To keep your business moving forward, it is helpful to build a growth mindset,” said Dr Simon Hayward, CEO of Cirrus, Honorary Professor, Alliance Manchester Business School.

“If you have team members with growth mindsets, they will be more open to challenges and critical feedback and become more resilient in the face of obstacles and initial failure. They will able to learn well from others and be more likely to rise to the top and stay there.”

Businesses that infuse this culture alongside prioritising learning have a significant advantage in talent growth.

Beyond introducing a growth mindset into a business, creating a blameless culture and prioritising employee wellbeing can also be fundamental in improving the abilities of workers.

Many organisations pride themselves on creating a highly competitive, blame culture environment.  This can limit the ability of employees.

“To improve the capabilities of a workforce, managers need to allow them time to think, time to reflect, time to learn from their own experiences as well as learning from others,” said Amrit Sandhar, Founder, The Engagement Coach.

“Developing managers so they can feel comfortable to take a step back and nurture their teams, aware that mistakes will be made, and allowing them to learn from them, will ensure they can realise the learning opportunities that present themselves in everyday situations, thereby creating a learning culture.”

Given enough time, many people are capable of learning anything new and becoming proficient at it. Coaching a workforce can improve their ability while encouraging them to progress in an organisation.

Team members who are constantly developing will be more open to challenges, critical feedback and more resilient in the face of initial failure.

“Employees that have this mindset will learn well from others and be more likely to rise to the top of the business,” continued Simon.

The overall wellbeing of a workforce is a must when looking to develop people. HR professionals play a key role in ensuring that a workforce is happy and working to the best of their ability.

“A worker is happiest when they know they’re doing their best work. Professional development gives employees the skills and confidence to realise their potential and get the most out of their working lives so that they are always doing good work,” said Jo Daly, Head of Learning & Development, Made by Many.

“A culture that constantly supports the personal development of employees can have a vital impact.”

HR leaders have a pivotal role to play. They must ensure that employees are regularly progressing, and workplace culture is continually improving.

Aside from culture and wellbeing, technology can heavily influence the growth of a workforce.

“Technology, and what we can do with it, is transforming the way we work and the way we behave. The pace at which we can now operate is driven by mobile technology, the internet, innovative apps, and intelligent systems,” continued Simon.

“Organisations need to create new ways of working, that reflect the changing world outside and inside our organisations. This will enable businesses to respond to unexpected opportunities or threats with speed and accuracy.”

Technology can additionally make learning programs more accessible and personalised to improve individual skills. Using people analytics allows companies to go beyond a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to learning and development. Business leaders can make the learning experience specific to every single employee to match their skill aspirations.

Technological advances can also heavily enhance systems and processes to increase the effectiveness of teams.

“An intuitive and reliable system will make a considerable difference to the productivity of the team,” said Peter Byrne, Founder, ESPHR.

“Providing simple, clear and continuous access on an HR/Employee Relations professional’s work – as well as that of the department – can prove invaluable when it comes to assessing efficiencies, as well as areas for improvement.”

“By using a system that can establish the amount of time spent on various tasks, alongside the impact each caseload has on long and short-term company goals and growth, there is clarity around ownership, responsibility and, of course, success in employee relations issues and developing an overall workplace culture.”

Flourishing skills will inevitably generate greater efficiency, a productive growth mindset will inspire workers to achieve company goals, and managing wellbeing will heavily aid the productivity and happiness levels of employees. Business leaders that capitalise on these essential aspects of work could gain a significant advantage from improving the capabilities of their workforces.