As we begin to plan for the 2023 calendar year, I’m talking with more executives about their vision for professional development.
Luckily, nearly every organization now sees the importance of investing in their leaders at every level, but many are still hesitant about their training investment and/or they aren’t sure how to build or reinstate an effective training plan. Well, better than doing nothing is to start small, even if it’s just one new skill-building lesson each quarter next year.
Negative impact of pausing leadership development any longer
For several years, we’ve all been asked to “do more with less,” and over time, that meant cutting non-compliance-related training and development for staff and leaders. But if we learned anything from the recession more than a decade ago, we now know that taking our foot off the gas pedal of development leaves those in supervisory and management positions without the tools to be successful in their roles.
The workforce continues to change, and leaders must stay on top of the shifting mindset of today’s new workforce, including understanding generational dynamics and a variety of communication styles and preferences demanded by today’s workers.
Companies who cut leadership development academies and internal universities now call us wondering why their employee turnover has gotten so high. Upon inspection, they realize they’ve hired and promoted people into those positions without setting them up for success.
Let’s not make that same mistake going into 2023. Training doesn’t have to be a huge investment, but we need to keep the learning wheel spinning on a regular basis to, over time, give our leaders the skills they need.
A shift in delivery
Okay, okay, but where do we find the time for training, you ask?
It wasn’t just the pandemic that shifted more training from in-person to virtual; the more recent Great Resignation workforce crisis meant directors and managers were spending more time on the floor working. And with all the regulatory and compliance requirements for recurring training that were not optional, this left most people little time for any non-compliance, yet critical, leadership training sessions. Hence the understandable pause.
To overcome the limitation of time for training, this year, we’ve seen organizations shift their requests away from as many full-day training programs to now shorter, hybrid classes that are partially asynchronous or on-demand coupled with partially synchronous sessions with a facilitator leading the live discussion.
Leaders kept telling us, “90 minutes is all we can do” when training schedules were discussed. If that’s what we have to do, let’s do it. Let’s incorporate shorter training sessions into the schedule, and instead of covering multiple mind-shifting and skill-building topics in one day, let’s just tackle one at a time.
And it’s working beautifully! Leaders taking this class approach are happier that they can focus on one improvement area at a time, and with behavior-change action guides and checklists after each course, they’re able to practice what has been preached in the sessions.
Newer training topics to cover
As you plan your 2023 curriculum, deciding what training topics are needed, keep in mind that today’s training needs are not the same as they were in the late 1900s for our community leaders. Our workforce has evolved, and leaders must have more comprehensive people and communication skills that don’t come naturally to most. Thank goodness they can be taught!
We’ve identified new leadership skill gaps in recent years and have received increased requests for both first-time manager and advanced manager training topics, which do not always have the same needs.
For new or emerging leaders, be sure to include topics in your upcoming training plans such as leadership communication tactics, resilience and coping mechanisms to ensure they can make it through tough days, and onboarding strategies to ensure those supervisors understand their retention responsibilities.
For seasoned leaders, it may be time to dive into emotional intelligence, updated generational dynamics, as well as reinforcing leadership essentials such as effectively giving feedback and ways to build trust within a team when there’s little time for coaching and mentoring on the floor.
Time to get started
With all this said, start developing your training plan now. The primary issue moving forward is that pausing leadership development for much longer isn’t sustainable. At least not if you want to create and maintain a place where people want to work.
Investing in your leadership at every level this coming year will make your retention efforts much easier and more effective moving forward.
Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP, is president and chief retention officer at HR consulting firm Magnet Culture. She works with organizations of all sizes to reduce unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making managers more effective in their roles. She is the author of the book, Staying Power: Why Your Employees Leave & How to Keep Them Longer.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
