How to Encourage Employees to Tackle New Challenges and Responsibilities

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If you want your employees to grow both personally and professionally, then they need to be taking on new challenges and responsibilities. Not only is this invaluable for them but also is crucial for the overall success of your organisation.

In this article, we share 5 ways you can create a culture of continuous development and empower your employees to tackle new challenges and responsibilities.

1. Provide Growth Opportunities

If you want your employees to take on new challenges and responsibilities, then you need to provide them with the correct learning and development opportunities so that they can gain the skills and knowledge they need. A recent study shows that 30% of employees consider career development opportunities very important, however, a shocking 30% of employees are happy with the current learning and development situation within their organisation. There are several growth opportunities you can offer employees such as workshops, training programmes and self-directed learning. When you invest in the development of employees, you not only show them that you truly care about their growth and success but are also equipping them with newfound confidence to go forth and complete new tasks and situations.

2. Create a Supportive Working Environment

If you want employees to feel safe, supported and comfortable when taking on new challenges and responsibilities, then you need to first work on fostering a supportive working environment. A good workplace environment comes with many benefits for both employees and the organisation, such as improved employee morale, better conflict resolution and enhanced innovation. With 85% of employees stating that they believe that the workplace environment not only impacts their overall mood but also their productivity, it’s essential to create a space where open communication and support are a priority. This will help boost the confidence of your employees and motivate them to step out of their comfort zone.

3. Regularly Provide Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of both personal and professional development. Feedback helps your employees feel seen and heard, whilst providing them with the opportunity to gain valuable insight to help them tackle new challenges and take on more responsibility. The data speaks for itself, employees crave feedback in their careers. A massive 96% of employees say that getting regular feedback is a good thing, with 41% of employees leaving a previous job because they felt they weren’t listened to. By regularly providing feedback through things such as performance reviews and constructive feedback, you acknowledge their growth and can identify areas in which they can continue to develop and tackle new challenges in the workplace.

4. Celebrate Success and Learn From Failures

We’re only human, we make mistakes, but we also achieve some great things. It’s essential to recognise employees, not only does it create a positive working environment but also directly impacts employee productivity and engagement. The statistics speak for themselves, with 83.6% of employees feeling that recognition impacts their motivation to be successful at work and 71% of employees revealing that they would be less likely to leave an organisation if they received recognition regularly. When you actively celebrate the achievements and successes of your employees when they take on new challenges and expand their responsibilities, then they feel more motivated to do so in the future. It’s also important to recognise failures as opportunities for growth and learning, but not punish them. This emphasises the importance of resilience which is essential when tackling new challenges.

5. Provide Mentoring Programmes

There are many ways mentoring programmes can be used to help employees overcome new challenges. More importantly, employees are now expecting mentoring to be offered by the organisation they work for with 86% of professionals claiming that having access to a mentoring programme is an important factor in them staying with an organisation. From the mentor offering guidance and advice to the mentee to help them navigate new challenges to mentors providing encouragement and support to help the mentee build their confidence and change their mindset, mentoring programmes offer the support your employees need to navigate new problems and develop personally and professionally. To learn more about mentoring and how it can be used in your organisation to meet your organisational goals, then book a free demonstration with a member of the PushFar team today.

Final Thoughts

By implementing any of these strategies, you're on the right track to creating a workplace environment that fosters employee development, and growth and encourages all employees to embrace new challenges and handle new responsibilities. When employees thrive, so does your organisation. Embracing new challenges and responsibilities enables employees to continuously learn and adapt, to flourish in the ever-changing workplace and help your organisation reach success.