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The Benefits of Professional Development for Remote Workers
The Professional Development Myth That's Killing Australian Businesses
A few months back, I was sitting in a Perth boardroom watching a CEO explain why their star performer just left. "Look at all the training we provided," he insisted, scratching his head. "Management programs, skill-building sessions, you name it.""
I've heard this story so many times I could write the script. Organisation pours money into development programs. Star player walks out the door. Leadership scratches their heads and wonders what went wrong.
After eighteen years consulting on workplace development across Australia, from mining companies in the Pilbara to tech startups in Melbourne's CBD, I've seen the same pattern repeat itself like a scratched record. We've reduced professional development to a bureaucratic process that serves everyone except the employees it claims to develop.
The awkward truth? The majority of professional development programs are designed to make companies feel good about themselves, not to really develop their people.
The thing that makes me want to throw furniture is watching companies position development as some sort of generous gift. A token gesture that appears magically when someone asks about career progression.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
Professional growth should be fundamental to business success. But it's turned into something that happens after everything else is sorted.
There was this Adelaide construction firm I consulted with where the supervisors could build anything but couldn't lead teams. Instead of addressing this head-on, they sent everyone to a cookie-cutter "Leadership Essentials" program that cost them $48,000 dollars. Half a year down the track, nothing had changed with their team leadership challenges.
Professional development works fine when done properly. We're just approaching it arse-about.
Companies guess at what their staff should learn rather than discovering what employees are desperate to master. That gap between assumed needs and genuine desires is burning through corporate budgets nationwide.
Genuine professional growth starts with understanding: what's holding you back from excelling in your role?
Forget what management assumes you require. Ignore what the learning menu recommends. What you understand to be the genuine barriers to your success.
I think about Sarah, a marketing professional I coached at a Brisbane business. The organisation continuously enrolled her in online marketing programs because management assumed that was the gap. Sarah's real struggle was handling her unpredictable boss who shifted direction constantly.
Digital marketing workshops had no relevance to her actual workplace obstacle. But one conversation with a mentor who'd dealt with similar leadership challenges? Game changer.
This is where nearly all organisations get it spectacularly wrong. They focus on hard skills when the real barriers are usually soft skills. When they finally tackle people skills, they use classroom-style training rather than real-world guidance and support.
You can't learn to manage difficult conversations by watching a PowerPoint presentation. You build these capabilities through genuine practice with experienced support.
The most effective development occurs during actual work, with instant coaching and guidance. Everything else is just pricey entertainment.
Another issue that sends me spare: the worship of certificates and formal accreditation. Look, I understand some jobs demand specific formal training. But the majority of roles need skills that no certificate can validate.
There are marketing executives with no formal training who understand their market better than qualified consultants. I've worked with project coordinators who learned on construction sites and outperform professionally certified project managers.
Yet we keep pushing people toward formal programs because they're easier to measure and justify to senior management. It's equivalent to evaluating a mechanic by their qualifications rather than whether they can fix your car.
Organisations that excel at development know it's not about training schedules or qualification frameworks. It's about creating environments where people can learn, experiment, and grow while doing meaningful work.
Google exemplifies this approach with their dedicated learning and experimentation time. Atlassian supports creative sessions where employees explore opportunities outside their typical role. These companies understand that the best learning happens when people are solving actual problems they care about.
Small businesses can establish these development opportunities without huge budgets. I've witnessed amazing professional growth in smaller companies where people tackle diverse roles and develop through practical needs.
The secret is making it planned and planned. Rather than hoping development happens naturally, intelligent companies design challenging projects, collaborative opportunities, and coaching relationships that push people appropriately.
Here's what really works: pairing people with different experience levels on real projects. The newer team member learns about different problems and how decisions get made. The experienced individual builds mentoring and team leadership capabilities. Everyone learns something valuable.
This method is uncomplicated, affordable, and linked to actual company performance. But it requires managers who can coach rather than just assign tasks. And that's where the majority of organisations fall down.
Companies advance people to leadership roles because of their functional expertise, then assume they'll naturally understand people development. It's equivalent to making your top engineer an engineering manager and wondering why they can't lead people.
For professional development that genuinely works, you need to develop your leaders before anyone else. Not through leadership workshops, but through ongoing coaching and support that helps them become better at growing their teams.
The irony is that the best professional development often does not look like development at all. It manifests as compelling assignments, stretch opportunities, and leaders who authentically support their team's growth.
I remember a Canberra accounting business where the principal partner ensured every staff member tackled something new and difficult each year. No formal program, no certificates, just interesting work that stretched people's capabilities.
Their retention rate was incredible. Employees remained because they were developing, discovering, and being pushed in personally meaningful directions.
This is the magic formula: growth connected to purposeful activities and individual passions instead of generic skill models.
Nearly all professional development fails because it tries to be everything to everyone. More effective to concentrate on several important areas relevant to your particular staff in your unique situation.
This leads to my greatest frustration: universal development solutions that supposedly work for everyone. These generic solutions overlook how people learn distinctively, carry different inspirations, and confront different barriers.
Some people learn by doing. Others prefer to observe and reflect. Some thrive on public recognition. Others prefer quiet feedback. Nevertheless we channel everyone through uniform programs and puzzle over inconsistent results.
Wise businesses tailor development similarly to how they tailor customer relationships. They know that successful methods for certain people might be entirely unsuitable for different personalities.
This doesn't involve establishing countless distinct programs. It means being flexible about how people access learning opportunities and what those opportunities look like.
It could be position changes for someone who grows through direct experience. Maybe it's a reading group for someone who processes information better through discussion. Perhaps it's a public speaking opportunity for someone who requires outside recognition to develop self-assurance.
The goal is connecting the development strategy to the person, not requiring the person to adapt to the strategy.
My forecast: within five years, organisations with top talent will be those that learned to make development individual, applicable, and directly linked to meaningful work.
The others will keep shipping people to uniform programs and puzzling over why their star performers move to rivals who appreciate that outstanding people want to advance, not simply gather credentials.
Professional development is not about checking boxes or fulfilling training quotas. It's about building environments where people can reach their full potential while participating in important work.
Get that right, and everything else – retention, engagement, performance – takes care of itself.
Fail at this, and you'll keep having those management meetings about why your star performers quit regardless of your substantial development spending.
Your choice.
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