Term: Employee Development

What Is Employee Development?

Employee development is the ongoing process of helping employees build the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and capabilities they need to perform effectively, grow in their careers, and prepare for future roles.

Effective employee development connects individual growth with organizational needs, helping businesses build the capabilities required to achieve their goals.

Why Is Employee Development Important?

Employee development helps organizations:

• Build skills and capabilities internally
• Prepare employees for future roles
• Address talent and skills gaps
• Strengthen leadership pipelines
• Improve employee engagement and retention
• Align individual growth with business goals
• Support long-term organizational growth

What Does Employee Development Include?

Employee development can include:

• Development Plans – Setting specific goals and actions for individual growth.
• Training and Learning – Building job-related, technical, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
• Coaching and Mentoring – Providing guidance and support for professional growth.
• Career Development – Helping employees understand and prepare for potential career paths.
• Behavioral Development – Using behavioral insights to identify opportunities to improve communication, collaboration, leadership, and other workplace behaviors.

Employee Development and Talent Planning

Employee development is an important part of talent planning. Talent planning identifies the capabilities an organization needs, while employee development helps build those capabilities within its people.

Connecting the two allows organizations to develop employees based not only on their individual goals, but also on the organization’s strategic priorities.

Employee Development for SMBs

For small and midsize businesses, employee development can help build talent internally rather than relying only on external hiring. A structured approach can help leaders identify development needs, create meaningful growth plans, and prepare employees for greater responsibilities.

MyTalentPlanner connects employee development with talent planning, behavioral science, and business strategy, helping SMB leaders turn development needs into actionable plans.