EMPLOYEE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Employee Personal Development

Author of How to Prosper in Employment

There are different categories of employees in the work place. There are willing employees and others who are not so willing to work. There are loyal as well as disloyal members of staff. There are those who are purely in it for the money and those who sincerely want to add value. Some are  unskilled while others are competent. Still others are skilled and incompetent. These classifications stemming from observation are important to employers when they need to determine whom to keep and whom to let go. What is not known to many employees is that their behaviour impacts their job security and personal long term career success.

Willing employees often finds themselves with more work than others. Willing staff get wider opportunity to develop new skills and job competencies. Unwilling staff on the other hand tend to  gripe about favouritism. Employers are not willing to trust staff, who are in it for the money, with higher responsibility. Unwilling employees hit career ceilings much sooner than staff who align themselves with the goals of the business. However every employee can make a personal resolution to develop themselves. Not all unwilling employees will remain unwilling for life. Those that make an effort to change achieve far greater success in their careers than those who choose to blame employers for personal failure. Employees that take responsibility for their own success take themselves through the following four stages.

Employee/Personal Development Steps

CONTRIBUTOR (Value)	OWNER (Purpose)
RECRUIT (Role)	ENGAGED (Activity)

RECRUIT

New employees will be given a job description of the role they are expected to play. This, however, does not mean that the staff will automatically play the role effectively. People come to  organizations with their own interests and agenda as their primary motivation. Only later do they find out (fully appreciate) what the organizations objectives are and how they can contribute to them. In the beginning, they will be careful to do only what they are asked to do. Their contribution is no more than functional. An accounts clerk will fill in the forms dutifully and may never bother to find out why they are filling the forms or what the forms are used for. They do no more than they are instructed to do. Staff become comfortable in this stage because it does not demand much from them.  It requires a bold personal step to become involved, actively participate and take on specific responsibility in a business. In order to develop staff must choose to engage!

Engaged

In this stage employees develop a routine or an activity that is felt, acknowledged and appreciated by others in the business. They act independently and do not necessarily await instructions. These employees need basic guidelines to operate, but cooperate with all team members to deliver the final product. Employees actively participate in the business. Productivity is supported by an understanding ones personal role in the business and a willingness to take  responsibility for the work done. Though motivation may be stimulated by earning a bonus, promotion or other reward, employees understand their role in the business and are very clear about what is expected of them.  Engagement is driven by the growing realization that personal success depends in part on individual effort.

Contributor

Contributors focus on value addition. Contributors recognize that the next stage of personal development is tied to what the business has to offer and what the business is doing. Contributors know that delegated roles are not just "more work" rather they are opportunity to display talent and potential. Contributors are proactive, work with business goals and accept responsibility for the success of any initiative they take on. The achievement of business goals mean as much to the business as to personal success. Success is mutually beneficial to the employee and employer. In this phase of personal development, motivation dramatically switches to internal drive. The contributor is fully aware of business goals and relates them to his own success.

Owner

Owners live responsibility. They face challenges with a will and intent to succeed. Owners demonstrate a relentless sense of purpose. Owners do not own the business. They own the purpose. A doctor who works for a hospital may never own the hospital, but he or she can  be a great doctor - on purpose. This is a personal decision, personal aspiration and personal commitment. Owners do not need external motivation they are driven by internal passion. Employers actually need owners to realize the full potential of their business. You cannot pay owners enough to do what they do out of choice. They do it freely!

Are you an owner or just engaged?

Allan Bukusi, 2009

shaping minds that shape AFRICA