Many of your employees will make New Year’s resolutions to get a new job or to learn a new skill. According to Statista, “learning a new skill” and “getting a new job” are two of the top 10 resolutions that people made last year. And they will most likely make these same resolutions again for 2019, especially if they weren’t able to achieve their goals during 2018.
Luckily, as an L&D professional, there are things you can do to ensure your employees attempt to find their new job or acquire their new skills with your organization in the new year. Keep reading to learn more.
Host Events Where Employees Are Recognized
If you really want to keep your employees engaged and retained during and after the holidays, host events that recognize them and publicly appreciate their efforts. Because according to research, 58% of employees say that giving recognition is how leaders could improve engagement rates and 69% of employees would work harder if they felt their efforts were better appreciated.
Additionally, don’t just recognize your top performers at events but everyone who has contributed to their teams’ and your organization’s efforts in an important way. You can host a holiday party where you hand out awards for those who excelled in customer service, exhibited team leadership, or something else important to the operations of your organization. Or you can host a new year’s party where employees are thanked for their efforts with a nice meal or entertainment.
Seek Feedback for Employee Development in the New Year
Providing employees with feedback and seeking feedback from them, before the new year begins, is the best time to connect with them because everyone is thinking about making plans and changes during this time.
So, take the time to offer employees feedback on an individual basis about courses they’ve taken in the past and how their professional development is going. Touch base with them; ask them if they are still interested in their current career trajectory; and see what types of learning materials or opportunities you can offer them to move in the right direction once the new year starts.
Encourage managers across your organization to touch base with their employees on an individual basis, too, to offer them feedback about their performance. Ask them questions about what is important to them as they work hard for your organization in the new year.
Overall, it’s important that you don’t wait for employees to come to you in the new year, as it might be too late by then, and they might find what they need with a different organization instead.
Only Set SMART Goals
A lot of people make vague resolutions for the new year, which is why they don’t often work or last for the entire year. So, as you and your teams work together to help employees reach their L&D goals in the new year based on their feedback, make sure to only use SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, time-bound) goals. Otherwise, they will quickly be abandoned in the new year.
As you perfect your employees’ development and learning goals in the new year, be sure to connect the goals to their existing work and to their own resolutions and goals.