Organizations the world over are recognizing the benefits of offering career development and coaching to their employees.

It’s a smart move–such organizations measure the results in terms of  (1) better employee retention (2) enhanced talent management (3) and higher visibility as “an employer of choice“.

Online self-assessment tools are easy-to-use and offer employees a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses–opening them up to opportunities they might have otherwise overlooked with their current employer–which benefits both the employee and the employer.

Here are 3 essential online developmental career development and coaching tools that can help you identify strengths your employees are underutilizing–which could impact their career path based on their interests, values, skills, personality, and work styles.

3 Indispensable Career Development and Coaching Tools

1. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions, and was designed to help people identify the jobs where they are the most comfortable and effective.  The MBTI helps individuals learn more about themselves and make more effective career choices.

2. Work Style Assessment Inventory

Most companies are good at screening for technical skills; the biggest area of improvement is in developing people with the right personality characteristics and behaviors (“Work Styles”).  A Work Style Assessment is an evaluation of a person’s behavior at work – how they interact with others, how they solve problems, how they get things done, and other personality characteristics. The idea here is to help you align an employee’s work style strengths with the requirements of their job. The greater the match between a person’s work style strengths and their job–the more likely they’ll make successful career choices.

3. MAPP Assessment (Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential Assessment)

The MAPP Assessment is a personal assessment that provides individuals with valuable information about the type of work they enjoy most –helping them identify their true motivations toward work, and providing guidelines to match themselves to job categories where they best fit. 

Using these career development and coaching tools, you’ll get a better understanding of your employees’ strengths and weaknesses–and will be able to offer insights and recommendations for specific actions that will help them become better at what they do, and match them with other opportunities you might have available, (or you might want to create, at your company).

The key to creating an effective workforce is to develop the top talent in your organization.

‘Employee development’ initiatives help employees work better and smarter, create greater employee loyalty, and boost your bottom-line.

To develop the key talent in our organization, follow these six steps.

6 Steps to Developing Key Talent in Your Organization:

1. Determine the required outcomes – What are you trying to accomplish? Write down your key requirements so you can focus on the critical issues. Determine how your people can help you achieve your goals. Help your key employees get on the same page so that they can work towards a clear and common vision.

2. Identify the gaps in performance expectations – You need to find the gap between desired performance and actual outcomes. What aren’t employees doing what they are suppose to be doing? Do they not understand what they should be doing? Do they not have the necessary skills to do their jobs? Are they not motivated to meet the performance standards that must be met to stay competitive? Has the communication of these standards not been clearly spelled out? It is very important to identify the gaps and work towards solving these issues. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so this step is critical to identify and understand why certain individuals are no measuring up to the organization’s performance expectations.

3. Simplify organizational processes – Often, individual performance is hamstrung by unnecessary organizational processes. Find out how the processes can be simplified to make it easier for employees to deliver optimal performance. Make sure that all employees have the resources to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Remove any obstacles and roadblocks that are slowing your employees down and hindering their performance.

4. Ensure the right job match – Your key talents can only shine if they are properly matched to their jobs. When an employee’s work style is not aligned with the requirements of his or her job then problems will eventually arise. Use employee assessments to assess employee’s key skills, interests, attitudes, work ethics, values, and work styles so that you can determine the best fit for every individual. This will result in a streamlined organization that can meet even the most difficult of challenges and still be successful.

5. Enhance individual performance – Organizational productivity is a sum of individual productivity. So focus on each individual’s development so that your organization grows as a whole. Key employee development contributes to individual effectiveness by providing each person with a comprehensive assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Assessments can provide focus on employee developmental issues by building specific plans of action, creating a coaching relationship with a mentor, and providing an opportunity for follow-up evaluations of an individual’s progress in terms of continually improving performance levels.

6. Quantify the results – Measurement is a must. Unless you can measure your benefits, you cannot determine how much you’ve achieved or how much still needs to be done. It also shows what is working and what is not.

How you develop your human capital is the single greatest predictor of your organizational performance. The quality of employee talent directly contributes your organization’s ability to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.

Focus on these 6 steps and you’ll be well on your way to developing the key talent in your organization, and towards creating a competitive advantage in your marketplace.

“The best way to be sure you have a lot to look forward to in life is to work to create a future you want to live in.” ~ Charlie Eitel

For real career success you need a plan.

I often hear the “statistic” that the average worker can expect to change careers seven times in a lifetime. While no such statistic actually exists, the truth is that you probably will change your job or career at least once or twice in your lifetime.

So ask yourself: are you really happy with what you are doing right now?

And if not, “Do you have a plan to become the best in your chosen career field?”

You’re competing in a dynamic global marketplace–and you cannot afford to stagnate.  Life is too short to continue doing something that makes you unhappy. To maintain your competitive edge and to pursue a career that makes you truly happy–you should follow these Three Essential Steps of Successful Career Planning.

The 3 Essential Steps of Successful Career Planning:

1. Understand your strengths and weaknesses

To accomplish the most in your career, you should work in a job that you find satisfying. You will perform your best in a role that you enjoy–your job satisfaction is largely determined by how good you are at it. The better your job responsibilities “fit” your work style and personality characteristics, the more likely you are going to be happy in your job.

One of the biggest problems–particularly when you’re getting started–is identifying a career in which you would have the greatest fit. The problem is you may not be aware of the opportunities where you could succeed the most. Also, you don’t know how good you are at various tasks, since you may have never tried them. Doing a self -assessment can help you in this regard; these tools help you understand your strengths and weaknesses so that you can identify the jobs that best match your talents.

Some examples of these assessment tools are: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), StrengthsFinder 2.0, and PsyMax’s very own WorkStyle Assessment (WSA).

2. Study the latest career and job trends

A career that looks promising today may not hold as much potential just a few years down the road, so you need to be constantly aware of the latest developments that are taking place and determine how best you can fit in to the changing scenario. In order to make long-term decisions to your career, you should know what kind of job growth is expected in the future, particularly in the field that interests you the most. If you plan ahead, you will be ready to take the leap when the situation demands, and not run the risk of missing out on taking advantage of an opportunity that presents itself to you

3. Establish specific career objectives and work to achieve them

As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know where you are going and don’t care, then any road will get you there.” If you do not have a roadmap for your career and you don’t care where you end up, it will be difficult for you to achieve your long term career goal and you may not be happy if you even get there.

To sum up…

Goal-setting is a critical requirement for effective career planning. You need to determine both your short-term (1-2 years) and long-term job and career objectives. Once you set this process in motion, you should continually review and adjust your actions and plans based on your progress. As soon as you achieve one goal, you need to identify and move towards the next… being on a dynamic journey of continual growth and adaptation.

If you work to understand your strengths and weaknesses, study the latest career and job trends, continually review and adjust your job and career goals, and follow through on your plans–your strengths will naturally show, the people you work with will recognize your passion for your work–and you will naturally rise to choosing a job you not only perform extremely well, but also truly enjoy doing.

Then you’ll be in a position to have a very successful career.