Come As You Are - Developing Employees

If a person does not have the talent or experience needed to help a business or department operate better, there must be a good reason to provide a job offer. There is potential along with some other attractive attributes that garnered the attention of the interviewers. Ultimately this is a project on top of the ones that are expected to produce results for the company. It requires management, extreme oversight and guidance - all of which take time that most claim to not have.

As NFL team executives gather and pick players from their draft board today, part of the evaluations that have taken place over the last nine months is knowing that playing a position in college is different than playing professionally with stronger adult bodies. The speed and explosiveness from college can transcend but the ability to play within the rules of a team's playbook at a professional level can be troublesome. In these cases, the potential and the attributes combined can sway a General Manager and Player Personnel team to take a chance and draft a developmental player.

Here's how to be prepared for what is involved in developing employees.

Know the turnover rate and the areas that experience the most churn. For positions that have less longevity, create a blueprint with a skills map that can be used to develop employees in this area. The employees that learn in this area will more than likely be committed to the company, work harder, be dedicated to prove themselves, and stay longer.

Set a timeline for the development project. No company can afford to develop an employee forever. There has to be a timeline for when that person must show themselves worthy or be shown the front door. If the goal is to outperform competitors in a region by next year, that's three to six months allotted for the person's growing pains. If the team's goal is to prepare for a veteran to retire or experience dwindling performance in 2 years, the position coordinators have roughly one training camp and one season to devote the time to this player.

Create a performance tracking plan with key milestones. You must be able to evaluate how well the person is doing, what is being learned, how effective the work has been, the ability to work with others, and the displayed character. The plan should be transparent and discussed frequently to allow improvement in areas deemed as weaknesses as well as maintain strengths.

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