Workplace Culture Check-ins
How to: Create Genuine Opportunities & Challenge in Any Workplace
Growing your people when there's no ladder to climb.
When did someone on your team last learn something new at work because you made room for it?
(Working out how to restart the EFTPOS machine in the middle of the lunch rush doesn't count. Although, credit where it's due!)
This is the second post in our workplace culture check-in series, working through the six Talent Magnets from O.C. Tanner's 2024 Global Culture Report. We kicked off with purpose, and today it's opportunity - and how to give your people real growth opportunities even if you can count your team on one hand.
If your idea of opportunity is promotions and pay rises, it's easy to decide a team of three doesn't have any to give. There's nowhere to promote anyone to!
O.C. Tanner see it much more broadly. It's the chance to learn new skills, feel challenged, have a voice and grow, or in their words, "inviting them to the table".
Why growth opportunities matter more than you think
There's a very common worry sitting under this one. If I train them up, won't they just leave?
That's not why most people want to learn, though. Only 22% of workers said they'd want to build new skills so they could leave for a job in a different field. The top reasons were getting better at the job they already have (54%) and their own personal growth (53%).
Meanwhile, organisations that offered no skill building at all had 72% lower odds of their people wanting to still be there in a year. So not training them doesn't exactly keep them either.
I know what it's like when opportunity quietly dries up. When I went back to work after having my two boys, it became pretty clear I wasn't going to progress any further unless I went full time. With two little ones not yet at school, that just wasn't where my family was at. My skills hadn't gone anywhere, but it didn't take long before I stopped feeling like I held the same value in that workplace.
I think about that a lot when I look at small teams. The part-timer, the casual, the uni student who only works weekends... they're so often the ones who get skipped when something interesting comes up, simply because they're not around enough. And they might be the ones who'd love it most.
How to create opportunity without a career ladder
Ask before you assign
90% of people said having a say in what skills they learn is an important part of their experience at work. So before you decide your front-of-house person should learn the booking system, ask what they're curious about.
Remember our barista from the purpose post? Maybe they've been watching you dial in the grinder every morning and would love to learn how. Maybe they've got opinions on the pastry order (they definitely do).
Invite them to the table
Having a voice counts as opportunity too. It can be as simple as bringing someone into a decision you'd normally make on your own in the car on the way home. New supplier? Changing up the roster? Ask the person who does it every day, and see what they come up with.
Stretch them, don't dump on them
The report mentions something workers are (fairly) suspicious of, sometimes called "quiet hiring" - being trained up to do more without it showing up in their pay. So be upfront about it. A stretch project with a clear start and finish, where they learn something and you both know why, is a very different experience to "oh, and you're doing the end-of-month stocktake now too". If the role ends up growing for good, that's a pay conversation.
Make time on the clock
Learning that only happens after hours is basically unpaid homework. When people were given time during work hours to do training, they were 4x more likely to take part.
Practical steps you can take this week
Ask what they'd like to learn
If you don't already have regular one-on-ones, this is a great excuse to start (fifteen minutes over a coffee counts). Ask: "Is there anything in the business you'd love to learn or have a go at?" Then write the answer down somewhere you'll find it again.
Hand something over
that you currently do yourself, with the why attached. Ideally not the job you hate most! Pick something with a bit of challenge in it.
Bring someone into a decision
before you make it. Ask for their take, then go back and tell them what you did with it (even if you went a different way). The report found people were much keener to stick around when they could see their feedback had gone somewhere.
Cheer before the finish line
When someone's learning something new, notice it while it's happening as well as when they're done. The report compares it to cheering on a runner before they cross the line, which I love. People who got that encouragement along the way were more satisfied with their training than those who only got a pat on the back at the end.
The bottom line
Promotions and pay rises are great, and if you can offer them, you probably should! But most of the opportunity in a small team looks more like a new skill, or a job that used to be yours. I'd bet there's more of it hiding in your business than you realise.
Next in our workplace culture check-in series: How to celebrate success at work in a small team.