On Internal Talent: How to Help Your Employees Become Better Professionals

What’s one thing that brings horror to a leader’s mind? Labor shortage! In this day and age when projects are accumulating and fewer and fewer candidates apply for job positions, it’s managers’ biggest concern to gather a team of professionals that are there for the long run. But fear not as growing internal talent might be your best option!

Regardless of the niche your business is situated in, you’re not immune to facing a labor shortage. There could be hundreds of reasons why this occurs but what’s more important is to figure out a way to exit the vicious cycle of both employee retention and the lack of new candidates boarding your ship. However, more often than not, leaders tend to stay blind to the talent already surrounding them and keep on searching for that one expert who is capable of withstanding even the hardest of workloads.

Today’s article has a particular goal in mind – I want to address the topic of growing internal talent and show you several useful techniques that can help you establish a dream team of professionals. And the best part? They are already working at your company – the only thing you need to do is acknowledge them and give them the opportunity and space to shine bright and grow into the experts they were always meant to become. 

First Thing’s First: Why Is Focusing on Growing Internal Talent So Important?

Much like businesses need constant development and growth in order to reach higher success levels, so do employees – granting your staff the opportunity to improve their skills and talents would not only benefit your enterprise but it would also help your employees feel happy, content and fulfilled with their jobs.

While sometimes searching for new additions to the team is mandatory (for example you need a person to fill in a job position for which you haven’t employed anybody), oftentimes leaders tend to miss out big time on in-house talents who have the potential to truly turn into experts in their particular field of expertise. What’s more, oftentimes employees express interest and eagerness to further develop their skills and span those to additional expertise fields. 

Of course, it’s naive for us to think that employees would single-handedly address the topic and autonomously indulge in leveling up their expertise. That’s where the leader’s part comes into the picture: It’s essential for managers to observe and truly know their employees in order to provide the right resources, time, freedom, encouragement and support for them to truly spread their wings and turn into the experts they were always meant to be!

4 Strategies That Would Help Any Leader in Growing Internal Talent

I often tackle the subject of building team spirit – I’ve always thought it’s essential for team members and their leaders to nurture a healthy professional relationship that leaves room for mutual growth and support.

Essentially, an integral part of strengthening that said bond is by paying attention and getting to know the team members – this way they’d feel appreciated and taken care of. In a way, paying attention is also crucial when it comes to supporting internal talent and helping individuals truly establish themselves as professionals. 

Here are 4 techniques that can help you along that road.

Ask Your Employees What Their Dream Job Looks Like

It’s somewhat of a taboo question really. We’re used to discussing work-related matters such as issues, obstacles and different types of problem-solving, but we are rarely asking both ourselves and our employees what the ideal job looks like.

If not encouraged, employees would hardly answer this question sincerely out of fear of expressing discontent. But when you come to think about it, the answer can shed some light both for the leaders and the staff members. When you, as a manager, know precisely how an individual sees their career path, you can get an idea of how you can help this internal talent develop further and achieve even greater work results. Usually, we are best at the things that spark interest – so why not use this information as a powerful tool for self-discovery and professional growth?

Offer Support to Your Employees in Acquiring New Skills

A rather frequent mistake is when leaders expect their employees to deliver up to the business’s standards without offering the fundamentals and support needed.

Supporting your employees’ learning and skills practice is perhaps the best investment you can make towards growing internal talent. Anything from classes, courses and workshops is more than welcome – invest in your employees’ growth and witness the plethora of benefits this will bring both for their own personal growth and the business’s development.

Provide Tutoring and Adequate Management

Being there for your employees has the potential of unlocking their powerful expertise and even helping them outgrow their current skill set due to providing feedback – the more often you offer feedback and support, the quicker your employees would eliminate mistakes and get better at what they do. Of course, this will improve their self-esteem work-wise and help them elevate their own sense of purpose. The more determined and motivated an individual is, the better the results of their efforts will be. Essentially, this tactic of empowering internal talent would drastically improve any business.

Evaluate Your Employees’ Strengths and Encourage Their Development Accordingly

I began this article by emphasizing how important knowing your staff is. When a leader knows each individual’s strengths, they can project those observations into fully supporting and encouraging the employee to pursue their professional aspirations.

Growing internal talent is a task similar to finding gems – somewhere in the middle of chaotic tasks and duties, companies often forget just how resourceful and wonderful staff members they already have! Supporting and constantly discovering those experts-to-be is certainly the way to go when it comes to killing off employee turnover and skyrocketing your business toward success!