Intellectual Wellness and Training and Development (Jamie Spreeman)

Intellectual Wellness for Employees

Intellectual wellness is the perception of being internally energized by an optimal amount of intellectually stimulating activity and research suggests that overload or under-load could adversely affect health (Adams, 1997). This is crucially important when it comes to employees because a large portion of their time and effort is spent in the workplace. You would like to think that your employees enjoy their jobs and a great way to keep them motivated and energized about their career is to keep them intellectually stimulated through training and development programs pertinent to their career goals and objectives. A study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that people who participated in intellectually stimulating activities were:

•          more alert and active
•          more actively interested in their environment
•          more sociable and self sufficient

Intellectual growth and stimulation are things that employees need in the work environment to maintain constant fulfillment out of their careers. Proper intellectual growth of employees can also help reduce turnover for the company.

Designing a Training and Development Program

It is important to understand an organization’s mission, goals, and objectives so that those can be parlayed into a training and development program for employees. Training refers to teaching employees the skills they need to develop their careers. Development for employees involves giving them opportunities for career growth and advancement (Mathis, 2011). A company’s objectives should be aligned with the objectives of a training and development program because this will help the employees grow within the company, and help the company grow because of increased productivity from a highly skilled staff.

Training-needs analysis is a great way to assess the company’s needs when it comes to a training program and identify potential employees that need training. Poor performance, lack of basic skills, legislation requiring new knowledge or skills, new technology, customer requests/requirements, higher performance standards and new jobs can all be reasons to conduct a needs analysis to determine what is included in the training and who should be trained (SHRM, 2009).

Employee Development Strategies

There are many ways to accommodate a variety of learning styles when it comes to employee training. It is important to offer a variety of training methods so that employees have opportunities to learn in a way in which they are most comfortable. Examples of different development methods are (Bliss, 2013):

• Coaching – a more skilled or experienced employee provides advice and guidance to a less experienced employee with the intent that the employee will gain new skills.
• Mentoring – matches skilled employees with less experienced colleagues through a formal or informal program. A formal program holds both parties accountable and asses the progress of the programs goals in the relationship.
• Individual Development Plans – outlines an employee’s growth goals, intentions and learning outcomes, then documents support necessary to accomplish these goals.
• The Nine-Box Grid – evaluates an employee’s present and future contributions to the organization. This tool is mostly used in succession planning.·         Cross Training - training employees to perform job duties other than those normally assigned. Skill diversity can help employees meet future career requirements. Cross-Training has two basic steps: 1) identifying the KSOAs needed for the new duties, and 2) evaluating that list with the employees current KSOAs.
• “Stretch” Assignments – accelerate employees potential by allowing them to experience cross-functional projects, handling tough challenges, and being involved in high-risk/high-visibility experiences.
• Job Enlargement & Job Enrichment – expanding an employee’s job by adding more tasks and duties (of the same complexity) and building more depth into jobs through increased control, responsibility and discretion. When jobs are enlarged (expanding) but not enriched (no added depth) employees will lose motivation. It is important to do both when reevaluating positions.
• Job Shadowing – gives employees the opportunity to view the organization from a different perspective and learn firsthand the challenges employees in other departments face.
• Job Rotation - a combination of Job Shadowing and “Stretch” Assignments. Job rotation gives employees an opportunity to explore a different career path and helps prevent stagnation and boredom. There can be certain costs associated with lost productivity and a learning curve when considering job rotation.

Participation in Development Activities

Variables to consider when determining employee involvement in development activities are employees’ self-efficacy, work environment characteristics, learning attitudes, employees’ perceptions of the work environment, and perceived benefits of the training and development activities. These variables are highly related to employee participation because they all influence an employee’s perception of his or her self within the company. A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that employees generally have positive attitudes about learning and perceived benefits of the activities and employees also have high self-efficacy. These would lead to higher participation in development programs. It is important to note that when employees’ work environments are lacking or overly constrained in time, budget support, and equipment it can have an adverse affect on the employee’s ability to attend training because they will be caught up in trying to complete their daily tasks. The study also found that communication and exchange of information, challenging job assignments, and managerial support for development activities also had a positive effect on employee participation (Noe, 1993).

Works Cited

Adams, T. J. (1997, Januray/February). The Conceptualization and Meausrement of Perceived Wellness: Integrating Balance Across and Within Dimensions. American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 11(No. 3), 211.

Bliss, W. (2013, January 8). Developing Employees. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from SHRM: http://www.shrm.org/templatestools/toolkits/pages/developingemployees.aspx?controlmode=edit&displaymode=design

Mathis, R. L. (2011). Human Resource Management (13th ed.). Mason. OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Noe, R. A. (1993). Investigation of the Factors That Influence Employees' Participation in Development Activities. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 78(No. 2), 291-302.

SHRM. (2009, January 18). Conducting a Needs Assessment. Retrieved April 11, 2013