Employees understand their own strengths and weaknesses, how they need to grow and adapt, and where they should focus their career efforts. It’s up to companies to provide a safe environment and offer the resources and opportunities employees need to take control of their own careers, says Sarah Fern, the chief people officer for Velocity Global, in a recent article for Training magazine.

She advises companies to use the S.O.C. method (Support, Opportunity and Communicate):

Support. Organizations must support their employees’ career development and personal well-being. Empower employees to share new ideas and solutions and to ask questions of your management teams. Encourage them to learn on the job, make mistakes and shadow their mentors.

Opportunity. Offer employees access to internal training resources. Encourage them to seek additional learning through virtual sessions, TED Talks, etc. Beyond the classroom, give employees room to jump on opportunities that get them out of their comfort zone and challenge them.

Communicate. Encourage employees to meet regularly with their supervisors and have conversations (even informal ones) on continued growth and focus areas. It’s also important to train managers to listen, respond with solutions, and provide feedback or advice during their discussions.

Source: “Help Your Employees Take the Reins of Their Careers,” Training Magazine, Jan. 5, 2022

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What makes a high-performing team so successful?

It’s not so much about who is on the team—whether they’re the most talented or skilled or diverse group of people—but about how they behave, says a recent blog post by leadership expert David Burkus. It’s the norms, behaviors and culture that exist when the team is working together.

Each member of the team needs to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, so that everyone knows what is expected of them and what to expect from everyone else.

Team members need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so they know who would perform best in each role. This also makes it easier for team members to provide feedback and step in and help, since they’re more likely to be aware of when a task might be outside a teammate’s expertise or comfort zone.

Team members need to trust and respect each other. They need to feel safe to take risks without fear, speak up when they disagree and provide honest feedback.

Teams need to check-in regularly and update each other on their progress.

Source: “4 Characteristics of High Performing Teams,” David Burkus, Dec. 14, 2021