Management Training Blog | Vital Resources | Vital Learning

Establish These 3 Professional Development Goals For Your Team ASAP

Written by Jay Tankersley | Feb 17, 2016 3:00:00 PM

Setting professional development goals for your team is an effective way to motivate performance. While there are a number of goals that impact the way your leaders manage their employees, it’s imperative to look at how your teams are operating, too.

Whether you’re developing quarterly objectives for your team or setting broad goals for your company, take time to think about what goals you want to establish and how to do so properly.

First, there are some basic criteria your goals should meet in order to set your team members up for success. Make sure all of your goals are:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Realistic
  • Achievable
  • Realistic
  • Timely

There are also three common areas of team operations that need professional development attention. Use these as a foundation for your team-wide goals.

Focus On Productivity

Working as efficiently as possible is a general goal for any team, so it’s essential to make productivity an area of improvement. Often, small tweaks to daily routines or communication strategies have a major impact on your productivity levels.

Another effective way to boost productivity is through management training. When your employees optimize how they do their jobs, your processes are streamlined and you’re apt to see improved performance.

To determine where your productivity levels are lacking, request feedback from your team members. What are the impediments they regularly face that cut into their workday? Are there challenges that prevent them from focusing on work that could be eliminated?

Once you’ve identified these obstacles, set small goals as a team to address them, like turning in reports early or eliminating meetings that aren’t essential to getting a job done.

Increase Retention

Just like having a constant focus on productivity, improving employee retention rates is a common goal that most organizations must address.

Are your employees regularly leaving? About 25% of millennials say that they would quit their current job immediately for another position, and 44% of millennials plan to leave their current job within the next two years. If the worldwide workforce is that unstable, it’s likely that your company is facing employee retention issues, too.

So, how do you address employee retention as a team? Taking part in professional development opportunities is one important way to keep your employees engaged and on board.

Identify factors that are driving your current employees away. Are there issues with how your team operates? After conducting exit interviews with employees that have resigned, review the information and identify where you can make improvements to your organization. Some common reasons employees leave their jobs include:

  • Little or no growth or advancement opportunities
  • Low pay
  • Poor management
  • Overwhelming workload
  • No professional development training
  • Poor benefit offerings

Addressing these concerns as a team could drastically improve your retention levels.

Improve Communication

For any team to run smoothly, they must have strong, open lines of communication. Not only does this impact productivity – your first professional development goal – but it also has a broad impact on everything from employee engagement to team member happiness.

Think about the following:

  • Where is your team struggling to communicate?
  • Are projects completed improperly because no clear direction is being given?
  • Are there miscommunications based on email correspondence?
  • Is conflict arising because your employees aren’t understanding each other?

All of these problems are common in the workplace. When you identify where your communication tactics are falling short, you’ll be able to address the issues and accomplish your goal of streamlining communication.

Once you’ve worked with your team to set these goals and put steps into action to achieve them, reward success. Use promotions, praise and monetary bonuses to incentivize your team to achieve future goals.

Want to learn more about professional development initiatives your company should be implementing? Schedule a Vital Health Check now.