One of the roles of an HR department is to provide employees with vehicles for continued development as they remain at the firm. Organizations have come up with a plethora of techniques focused around how to motivate employees. Dave Fox is a Canadian entrepreneur and recruitment professional based in Miami and the founder of Focus Global Talent Solutions. He has been on both ends of the spectrum – as an employee to be motivated and as a manager and later an owner doing his best to motivate employees through continued education.
Fox got his start in the professional echelon in 2007 as a Sales Associate for a company called The Mobile Solution while he continued his studies at Oral Roberts University. In that role, he functioned as a face-to-face Retail Sales and Customer Service associate until 2008 when he left to join Apple Inc.
At Apple, he assisted customers in finding the most effective products for their circumstances and guided retail developers as to the appropriate location for Apple stores.
As he moved up to managerial positions within recruiting firms and eventually took the reins at his own company, he was able to put into practice his own ideas around keeping employees motivated and has a few tips to offer entrepreneurs:
-
Give Them (a little) Control
Employee continuing education isn’t high school. Back then, you might have been able to choose whether you wanted to learn Spanish or French, but your path forward was basically mapped out for you. Continuing education is when an employee can spread their wings and really think about how they want to expand their skill set. This control over their learning makes them feel like they’re in the driver’s seat and can increase their effectiveness as they develop.
-
Communicate The Relevance Of Learning
If you require your employee to undergo a particular training, it will behoove you to explain to them exactly how this training will help them improve. People don’t like to be shoved into a course with no or very little explanation of why. If you can impress upon your team member why you need this from them, they will likely take to it with much more zeal as they realize how this training will make them more effective at their job and increase their value to the organization.
-
Offer Them Personal Challenges
The motivation of employees comes more easily when they have objectives to pursue. A precise and personal goal is even more rewarding. By giving a challenge to the employee through learning, you promote their involvement in the company. Of course, if the completion of this course or training will enable them to take on responsibility an hence receive greater compensation, that’s something they need to know. Even if you don’t want to tell them directly that they’ll receive a promotion upon completion, you can at least give them an idea that that outcome is possible. Their pride, willingness to learn and sense of accomplishment will hopefully do the rest.