What do you do if your thought leadership isn't driving employee engagement in career development?

In my experience, start by evaluating your current thought leadership initiatives related to career development. Identify what aspects are not resonating with employees and why they may not be engaging with them effectively. Gain insights into the career aspirations, goals, and development needs of your employees. Understand what they value in terms of professional growth and how they prefer to engage with career development resources and opportunities. Offer personalized career development resources and recommendations based on individual employee interests, skills, and career goals. Implement tools or platforms that enable employees to create customized development plans or access relevant content.

To ensure your thought leadership connects, first understand your employees' needs. If your messages aren't hitting the mark, they may not match your team's career goals or how they prefer to learn. Use surveys, focus groups, or individual discussions to gather insights into their career development desires. This direct feedback is crucial for customizing your content to meet their specific needs, tackling their unique challenges, and seizing opportunities that resonate with them.

To address issues with employee engagement in career development driven by thought leadership, you can take several steps: gather feedback from employees, tailor messaging to suit preferences, provide practical guidance, involve employees in discussions, offer personalized support, and measure impact. These actions can help enhance engagement and effectiveness of thought leadership efforts in career development.

If thought leadership isn't fueling employee engagement in career development, it's time to pivot. Focus on honing soft skills like active listening, empathy, and adaptability. By truly understanding team members' aspirations and concerns, we can tailor development initiatives to resonate and inspire growth. Flexibility in approach ensures alignment between thought leadership and employee needs.

The first step is to listen. Truly listen in order to understand them, then being understood. A lot of what employees say are between the lines. Regular 1:1 meetings are essential to create the space necessary for dialogue. In that space, managers and supervisors must practice intentionally listening, otherwise employees will think their thoughts don't matter.

Take time to go back to basics with your team from time to time. There will always be new tools and techniques available to become more efficient but remind people what sets your company apart. What is that something you all do better and anyone else and keep doing that.

If your current thought leadership efforts aren't inspiring employee interest, it's time to shift your messaging. Focus on problem-solving by framing your expertise as solutions to specific challenges your employees face. Make your content actionable – provide clear steps employees can take to apply your insights. Tie your thought leadership directly to your organization's goals, and what success looks like within your specific company. Lastly, don't underestimate the power of success stories! Share how employees have already leveraged career development to achieve growth and make meaningful contributions to the company. These shifts will help your thought leadership resonate more deeply, transforming it into a true motivator.

Clarity is power. If thought leadership is not effective then the translation needs to be refined and should be differentiated through stories, experiences and studies as well as in different modes such as video, audio and written. Getting early adopters and employee testimonials around the messaging is not only impactful but it also encourages connection and community. Having key lower management and employees engage the content will also encourage engagement under the idea “ If this worked for me [as a fellow colleague] then it will work for you also.”

By refining your communication to address your employees' specific needs, you enhance the likelihood of their engagement with and application of the information you share. This not only helps them deal with their challenges more effectively but also establishes you as a reliable source of valuable advice and assistance.

Diversifying the ways in which you present thought leadership is essential for engaging a wider audience, as not everyone absorbs information the same way. To ensure maximum impact, consider utilizing various formats such as infographics, videos, podcasts, webinars, and gamification. Adapting your content to suit each format will help cater to the diverse learning preferences within your organization and make your thought leadership more accessible and relatable.

I would want to know why...asking employees why and encouraging dialogue would hopefully boost engagement by all employees in this situation.

It can also include frequent one on one meetings, empowering employees to ask for feedback, supporting personal and professional development. Appreciating them for their contributions and allowing the work place not to be tensed but to be fun.

It's essential to encourage and recognize active participation and dialogue. Respond to comments, engage with employees' ideas, and acknowledge valuable contributions. By promoting a culture of dialogue and transparent communication, you can significantly enhance engagement and develop a thriving thought leadership community.

We have all felt the stifling blow of a work culture that discourages dialogue and candid feedback. Conversely, nothing breeds loyalty more than a culture that makes you feel heard and that your contributions matter. There is a story told by Jack Welch, of a factory worker at an open forum that told him that he had had the contributions of his hands for decades, but he could have had the contributions of his mind as well. It challenged Jack and as a result he made it his mission to get "every brain in the game." Getting "every brain in the game" as we work on development, is a win in every way! It fosters ownership and meaning. It is critical.

I’ve found some people naturally seek out ways to make the world better and improve themselves but often, our best are so busy doing an amazing job they need specific opportunities to discuss their ideas and desires for growth. Planning quarterly quick meetings, for positive feedback, with each person helps to be sure everyone has a clear understanding of opportunities available for growth. Early in this process our staff receive a growth packet including educational opportunities offered by our associates. We discuss how these educational steps enhance promotion opportunities. Team members study together and bring fresh new ideas to the classroom. We all need to progress and grow. Talking about it boost morale. Let’s grow!

Continuously monitor the impact on employee engagement and career growth metrics, such as participation rates, skill development, promotion rates, and employee satisfaction. I’ve used upskilling training to prepare employees for new mission focus. Success may not be 100%…however, you engage those folks that want to be engaged and for those who aren’t first adopters you create a modeling perspective on how it enhanced the work life for those who jumped in. And you gain credibility as a thought leader!

In my experience, I have wrestled with cognitive inertia. What is that you say? I am glad you asked. It is the habit of orientation that resists change and adaptation. That is death to personal progress and growth. How do I overcome this crisis of thought? The stories and conversation with others is key; the immersion into the way they think, it challenges my perspective, encourages my progress, keeps me sharp, and focuses my efforts toward growth. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Cultivate a culture where employees are incentivized and empowered to interact with and apply the insights from your thought leadership. I’ve done that by creating discussion forums, providing coaching or mentorship opportunities, and recognizing employees who demonstrate growth based on my content. This is not a one and done activity. I embed it throughout my day - every day. The trust this consistency builds is empowering for everyone!

One thing we have implemented in our organization, is stay interviews. Stay interviews provide a much-needed platform to talk to the employee about what keeps them at an organization, and how they see their career advancement. It also provides a conversation that is not related to performance or evaluation. Having these conversations create a safe space for employees to discuss what needs to happen and how they are feeling at the time. Having these conversations on a routine basis, increase satisfaction and drive the workforce to do better through collaboration.

As leaders, we often concentrate on performance. We track numbers and metrics and compare them to past performance. We want to see growth and improvement. But what if we shifted our focus toward people's potential? Where employees feel they are supported, encouraged, and inspired to be more than they ever thought possible. Where growth and performance are natural outcomes of self-belief and a drive to achieve something better. It starts with asking different questions: - What's holding you back? - What are your strengths? - What goals do you have for yourself? With an investment in people, performance and growth come organically. Empower your team, and watch them rise to the occasion.