Growth and development icon Growth and development

Provides workers with encouragement and support in the development of their interpersonal, emotional and job skills.

“Age is only a bad thing if you’re not growing spiritually, personally and professionally. Period!” – Jeremy Coates

Overview

What is growth and development?

Growth and development is present in a work environment where workers receive encouragement and support in the development of their interpersonal, emotional and job skills. Such workplaces provide a range of internal and external opportunities for workers to build their repertoire of competencies, which will not only help with their current jobs, but will also prepare them for possible future positions.

An organization with good growth and development would be able to state that:

  • Workers receive feedback at work that helps them grow and develop.
  • Supervisors are open to worker ideas for taking on new opportunities and challenges.
  • Workers have opportunities to advance within their organization.
  • The organization values workers’ ongoing growth and development.
  • Workers have the opportunity to develop their people skills at work.

When workers feel that their workplace cares about their growth and development, they are more likely to commit to their goals and the organization, as well as feel greater job satisfaction. This also directly enhances staff well-being. Providing opportunities to develop personal and interpersonal skills, aside from learning specific skills for their role, is an important component in promoting caring for oneself, strengthening relationships and relating to others.

Workers who are not challenged by their work will become bored, their personal well-being will suffer and their performance will drop. If opportunities to learn and improve interpersonal and psychological skills do not exist, this can result in high turnover rates, varying degrees of conflict, disengagement and distress.

FAQs

  • Ensure workers are aware of the value the organization places on the development of interpersonal and emotional competencies. Interpersonal and emotional competencies refer to skills related to managing emotions and relationships, including effectively solving challenging interpersonal problems at work.
  • Emphasize the importance of people skills for all, but particularly for those in leadership roles.
  • Provide a range of resources and training to develop and enhance interpersonal and emotional competencies (e.g. onsite library, intranet, webinars).

  • Obtain staff input regarding the training they need to enhance their professional and personal growth and development.
  • Provide opportunities for job-shadowing, job-sharing or mentoring that facilitate interpersonal and emotional skill development.
  • Provide dedicated time and funds for training that includes a focus on developing workers’ interpersonal and emotional skills.

  • Ensure those who have displayed excellent interpersonal and emotional skills throughout the course of their work are acknowledged.
  • Ensure that leaders provide frequent and constructive feedback on their direct reports’ performance and offer further skill development opportunities and supports.
  • Widely communicate internal and external opportunities for personal as well as professional growth and development.

  • Create and maintain detailed development plans for staff that include goals for interpersonal and emotional skill development, and review these in regular performance check-ins and reviews.
  • Provide opportunities for staff to develop skills that make them competitive for internal career postings.
  • When considering a promotion, ensure the team member has the interpersonal and emotional skills required for the position.

Action

Next steps: Encouraging growth and development in the workplace

A work environment where employees receive encouragement and support in the development of their interpersonal, emotional and job skills.

  • increased employee competency
  • retention of skilled staff
  • effective succession planning/internal promotions
  • enhanced product/service quality

  • Do issues related to growth and development present a greater risk to particular groups of employees (e.g. new employees, certain jobs, shift workers, etc.)?
  • What are the strengths in your workplace in terms of growth and development (e.g. what do you do well and what should you continue doing)?
  • What could your workplace do to improve in this area (e.g. what could you do more of and what could you do less of)?
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Growth and Development is psychosocial factor 6 from CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ 9700-803/2013 – Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Retrieved from: https://www.csagroup.org/article/cancsa-z1003-13-bnq-9700-803-2013-r2018/. See also Guarding Minds at Work (Samra et al.): Retrieved from https://www.guardingmindsatwork.ca/resources.