Career Development, Internal Mobility and Competencies

Business leaders often tell us that employees are their organisation’s most valuable asset. No one wants to suddenly hear that one of their star talents is leaving, plunging that part of the business into an operational crisis and what could be a costly recruitment process.

Lack of career development opportunities is one of the top listed reasons why an employee will look for a new employer. Clearly, it’s never been more important to create a culture that allows for career development and internal mobility within the organisation.

Here are some points that if put into practice, go a long way to supporting internal mobility and career development within the organisation:

1. Develop career streams. It’s important to develop career streams – clearly articulated paths or ladders for career development – so that employees can see what their potential for growth is within the organisation. Make it easy for employees to seek development within the organisation rather than looking elsewhere.
2. Trial employees in new roles. More companies are employing training schemes that allow employees in one department to apply to train in another department. Essentially, a form of employee work experience, providing them the opportunity to develop skills whilst determining if a new role is right for them.
3. Re-train rather than buy talent. Rather than immediately going for the recruitment option, try to gauge the skills that your workforce already has and assess whether with some suitable learning interventions employees would be more effective and happier in a role that better suits their talents.

Our experience has been that using the above approaches help clients to greatly lower employee turnover and retain their best performers. This in turn helps the organisation to maintain operational stability and meet its business objectives. The point is, make mobility part of your culture.

At Lexonis, we understand the importance of internal mobility and career development for your organisation. Our competency frameworks and software are geared towards ensuring that your employees have and can clearly see their opportunities for career development; In addition, we help our clients to identify the people who can help drive their organisation towards meeting their business objectives.