Employee Development Practices - Essay Example

Don should have meetings with Gary, in which he should make him recognize that he has certain weaknesses. The first step is the recognition of weakness. Once he starts recognizing the fact that he can become an effective leader if he overcomes his flaws, he will start striving to diminish his weaknesses, and learning skills that he is deficient in. Second, Don should motivate him to attend training sessions in which he learns skills to cope with stress at the workplace. Since Gary is not very good at coping with stressful situations and brings out his frustration and agitation on other employees and customers, this negative point surpasses all his positive ones, and he becomes ineffective as a leader.

Hence, training will make him learn how to stay composed and calm when he faces a stressor, and he will prove to be confident and solemn. Don should also encourage Gary to focus on his strengths and shine the capabilities that he has, through practicing them.It is all about employee development. Employee development is a kind of strategy that employers adopt to increase employees’ knowledge, talents, and expertise in particular areas they work in. It is important for Don to create a balance between Gary’s individual career objectives and organizational milestones, in order to make him achieve employee development.

Don should use techniques of training, coaching, and empowerment (Ellinger et al.) to enhance Gary’s development as a leader. Employee development activities that Don should use include (1) stress-coping training courses in work time, (2) work-based development activity in work time, (3) career planning activity in work time or in Gary’s own time, and (4) voluntary learning in Gary’s own time (Birdi, Allan and Warr). All of these development activities will produce beneficial results and commitment to work.

If Don is training Gary himself, then the training aids that he can use include: presentations, slides, projectors, movies, charts, graphs, flashcards, pictograms, handbooks, manuals, libraries, internet, reading rooms, posters, and enlarged drawings. Certain techniques help employees to bring out their leadership skills and learn a new ones. For example, teamwork creates such an environment in which employees can learn new leadership skills and competencies (Gallie et al.). This is because the employer distributes tasks on a multi-functional basis, requiring different people with different skill sets.

This system of work organization requires employees to work on a collaborative platform on which they share their ideas, and get motivated by each other’s talents and capabilities. This makes them learn new leadership skills to accomplish the tasks assigned to them. Constructive criticism and further appreciation motivate them, leading to successful employee development.