In my opinion, one of the most remarkable things about remote work over the past year is how quickly so many companies went from fearing it to embracing it.
Survey after survey has shown that remote and hybrid work has made people both happier and more productive. And more than half of high-growth companies have already adopted hybrid work models.
But while remote work’s short-term impact on our wellbeing is clear, its long-term impact on career development is more uncertain. A recent survey found that a third of employees believe the pandemic has made it harder for them to find opportunities for professional growth. This challenge is not lost on executives, either: 61% of them said that online options for company training programs are still not available.
As companies continue to adjust to how we work, it’s not surprising that professional development remains a concern. Employers need to find ways to quell these concerns quickly, partnering with managers to ensure employees have what they need to be productive at work and continue to grow.
The old in-person status quo no longer exists
Before 2020, it was easy for workers and managers to take in-person communication for granted.
When an employee had a question, they could quickly ask a nearby colleague for help. Likewise, managers could easily conduct drop-in conversations to check in on morale, provide kudos, and ask for or provide feedback.
These organic conversations are more difficult in a hybrid work environment. Without them, employees could easily feel like they are on an island or aren’t growing as quickly as they could in a traditional in-person environment. Managers need a better way to show employees they are valued and to provide the help and feedback they need.
For these reasons, the approach to ensuring that workers get the best possible professional development experience can’t be the same approach used in the past. A new era of work demands a new set of tools and strategies.
Make learning and development personalized and on-demand
One consistent challenge with career development is that there is often a gap between when employees learn about a new concept and when they encounter the need to apply it.
Employees may learn about presentation best practices as part of a one-off company-wide training program but may not need to apply these skills until much later in their career, at which point they probably need a refresher course or repeat training.
This is one area where technology can play a significant role. New AI tools help companies deliver learning materials to employees directly in the flow of their work, so they get help when and where they need it, not months before. Taking the presentation example from above, tools can suggest information – like rehearsal tips or best practices – as an employee is preparing for a presentation to help them in real-time.
The magic of this approach is that it not only aids learning retention but also connects learning experiences to actual day-to-day challenges that employees may face. It’s also inherently personalized, making it more relevant and more likely to inspire employees to lean in and pay attention.
Consider the entire employee journey
In the same vein, managers need tools to help them create personalized learning plans for their direct reports during the big and small moments that matter – whether it’s during the onboarding process, a promotion, a return from personal leave, or even the return to the office.
Consider the onboarding process for a new employee. New hires are likely required to attend a series of company-wide training around culture, compliance, benefits, and more. But they may also benefit from training and resources specific to their new role (i.e. a salesperson attending a “closing the deal” course or new hire on the creative team attending a “brand narrative” class).
Providing managers with customizable templates gives them an opportunity to assign specific training, mentors, and resources that will augment company-wide training and help new hires succeed long after onboarding.
Give (and receive) more feedback
While consistent, clear feedback has always been important for professional development, it’s essential in the hybrid workforce. The organic, day-to-day interactions inherent to in-office work are often harder to come by in the hybrid environment. To ensure that teams are on track and to sustain and improve performance, managers must establish a regular cadence of feedback. Over-communication should be the default.
This feedback cannot be one-sided. While manager feedback is critical to ensuring that teams stay on track, managers must also be willing to receive feedback on their performance and, more broadly, must encourage employees to provide feedback on the service experiences they’re receiving at work. That’s because being a manager in this new era of work isn’t just about managing performance – it’s also about managing the entire employee experience. Taking a cue from customer success teams, managers must adopt a customer service philosophy with the people they manage. That means not just constantly collecting and processing feedback but also actively implementing that feedback to improve processes going forward.
This is an exciting reset moment for professional development
We have all been focused on adjusting to remote work for nearly two years. As we continue the transition to predominantly hybrid work environments, it’s important to remember that personalized learning and proactive two-way feedback promises to reshape the employee experience, regardless of where employees are working.
