A Manager’s Role In Career Development

Career development is a lifelong journey of self-awareness and professional growth.

As a manager, you are responsible for the success of your team. It is your responsibility to motivate your staff so that they, as well as you, may attain higher levels of success.

However, with career development, it’s not always clear where such responsibilities begin and end.

Yes, you should assist your team in setting goals. Yes, you should keep track of their progress, encourage them to complete tasks, and provide direction. But what part do you play in an employee’s long-term professional development? What, if any, role do you have in an employee’s personal development?

You’ll likely get different replies depending on who you ask. Some people believe that it is the employee’s obligation to develop.
Others say that the effort should be led by a manager. So, who’s right? The truth, like with most questions, lies somewhere in the middle.

As a manager, when you encourage your employees to invest in their professional growth, you increase their motivation and engagement, increase productivity, and improve your organisation’s reputation.

If you invest in your employees’ growth, you’ll not only have a consistent supply of highly skilled staff, but you’ll also be able to recruit and keep even more top talent.
While employees should be in charge of their own professional development, you should be supportive of them.

Get to know your employees, share your ideas, and provide them with opportunities. It’s a straightforward method that benefits your employees while also benefiting your organisation as a whole and helps you to stand out as a manager.

The key takeaways

When managers encourage and support their employees to invest in their professional growth, they increase their staffs’ motivation and engagement, increase productivity, improve their organisation’s reputation and helps them stand out as a manager.

Investing in employees’ growth, means managers also have a consistent supply of highly skilled staff, and able to recruit and keep more top talent.