Employees commonly leave their jobs if they sense there's a lack of growth opportunities, even if they enjoy their roles. However, this doesn’t have to be the case for your business. By building strong career pathways and offering meaningful training programs, you can retain top talent and help them thrive within your organization.

Providing employees with clear options for advancement and skill development keeps them engaged and invested in their future with the company. To help you do this, Forbes Human Resources Council members share their advice on developing better career pathways and training plans to support employee growth.

1. Encourage Employees To Join A Nonprofit Board

Serving on a nonprofit board is an excellent way for employees to enhance their careers and expand growth opportunities. Board service allows professionals to develop critical leadership skills and broaden their experience in areas they have no exposure to, such as finance or strategic planning. Hands-on exposure builds valuable skills while positioning you for future leadership roles within or outside of your organization. - Ann Piccirillo, JDA TSG

2. Get Feedback Regularly

Generic plans often miss the mark. Conduct stay interviews, performance reviews and career discussions to understand each employee's strengths and development needs. This ensures alignment between their goals and the company's needs. Implement tools to identify existing skills and knowledge gaps. This data helps tailor training and point areas for improvement, leading to more effective development. - Raunak Bhandari, Google Asia Pacific

3. Be Transparent About Future Opportunities

Transparency of options using a skills-based approach is key. What can’t be seen doesn’t work. Training should focus on mindset shifts. For the employee, it's about understanding that “up” is not the only direction; in fact, it's limiting. Broadening skills improves their chances in the long run. For managers, it’s about countering talent hoarding and shifting mindsets toward exporting star talent. - Tonushree Mondal, Tonushree Mondal Consulting LLC

4. Cultivate A Supportive Environment

Building career pathways and training plans to enable employees to grow is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Programs that support professional development are valuable when leaders focus on creating a supportive environment and a sense of purpose. Mentorship, coaching, cross-training and continuous learning programs are great initiatives that support career path promotions or career transitions. - Thalia Rodriguez, Tase Creative Solutions

5. Leverage Skills Data

Build a skills-based organization where decisions around hiring, promotion, mobility and upskilling are driven by skills data. This approach breaks roles down into their core components, offering greater flexibility in assigning people to positions. It moves beyond traditional experiences and education, enabling more dynamic and inclusive career pathways. - Shiran Danoch, Informed Decisions

6. Give Employees A Say

Help employees outline potential progressions within the company, coupled with training plans that address both the company’s needs and the individual’s career aspirations. Cross-pollinating their current skills in different roles diversifies their experience and opens up new opportunities. By investing in their development, you retain top talent and build a more skilled and dedicated workforce. - Tammy Harper, CAI

7. Promote Communication Across All Teams

Dual career conversations let employees share growth opportunities that interest them. Relying solely on a manager for support can fail, as even the best managers may subconsciously want to keep top talent on their team. To build better career pathways, ensure open dialogue across the organization, involving multiple stakeholders to support employees' growth aligned with their goals. - Jane Binzak, BAXIMUS Enterprises LLC

8. Demonstrate Potential Pathways

Launch an internal talent marketplace and show the horizontal and diagonal career pathways to your top talents. We also follow short-term and long-term talent exchange programs to promote an employee's development and career progression. Remember, the top is always narrow, so keep your great talent in good books and even look for rehire opportunities (boomerang employees). - Kannan Raghavan, Kemin Industries

9. Provide Alternative Advancement Opportunities

Leaders must demystify that there is not only one way to advance in the workplace. Leaders often focus on the career ladder over the career lattice. With this said, early- to mid-professionals, particularly, may not see the plethora of opportunities available to them in making lateral moves that provide exposure to various functions, roles, regions and skill sets within the same organization. - Chelsea C. Williams, Reimagine Talent Co.

10. Promote Employee Self-Awareness

To build a better career pathway, you have to ensure that the individual in question has built self-awareness around their strengths and weaknesses, along with their passions and capabilities. This self-awareness alone does not determine outcomes. Individuals may be motivated to learn new skills and develop competencies to succeed. It needs a combination of self-awareness, work ethic and resilience. - Subha Barry, Seramount

11. Highlight Internal Mobility

Internal mobility within a company is one of the most important aspects of building a positive, productive employee culture. Employers can create better mobility by creating a clear outline of the career paths, offering training or professional development and encouraging upward mobility through promotions or role changes. - Nicky Hancock, AMS

12. Emphasize Learning And Development

To build better career pathways, organizations must set a learning, development and career strategy with a clear definition of growth. The strategy should future-proof the organization with the capabilities employees need today and in the future. The capabilities are the anchor for developing career pathways, training plans and development opportunities. - Shayla Atkins, The Atkins Impact Consulting Firm

13. Hire Employees Who Want To Grow

Transparency is key. During the recruiting phase, clearly communicate potential career pathways and available training opportunities. This ensures alignment of expectations and empowers individuals to envision their growth within the company. By proactively fostering an environment of development, you demonstrate your commitment to your employees' success and create a culture of growth. - Michael D. Brown, Global Recruiters of Buckhead

14. Develop Personalized Growth Plans

To build better career pathways, start by creating a culture of continuous learning and development. Implement personalized growth plans that align individual aspirations with organizational goals. Encourage regular career conversations. Offer diverse learning opportunities, mentorship programs and access to courses. This approach empowers employees, fosters engagement and builds loyalty. - Bala Sathyanarayanan, Greif Inc.

15. Connect Talent Acquisition And Employee Management

Bridging the gap between talent acquisition and talent management can help organizations develop stronger retention strategies. Without a clear line of sight, from day one, it becomes difficult to see what's possible, and some will lose their way. Weaving career development and training into the fabric of your people strategies is necessary to boost overall retention. - Caitlin MacGregor, Plum

16. Celebrate Employees’ Ongoing Learning

Career development should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a linear journey up a ladder. By dismantling rigid hierarchies, companies can create environments where employees evolve and expand their skills in multiple directions—not just upward. Roles are fluid rather than fixed, expanding as individuals gain experience, fostering a culture of continuous learning and engagement. - Katrina Jones

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