Organizational development is the second most important task for a company. The first, of course, is developing and marketing an excellent product or service. But, to stay relevant, a company must work on organizational development, so it grows proportionally and efficiently with its market growth.

The number one factor in creating the right environment for development is creating a healthy company culture. The hallmarks of a healthy company culture are active employees who are engaged with the company’s values and goals.

Begin At The Beginning

The best way to develop those kinds of employees is to encourage them to increase their responsibility and improve themselves with education and experience. Then show them the reward is a promotion to higher levels of responsibility and pay. This has to be evident to new hires and exhibited throughout all levels of the company.

But, it’s not enough to only promote to middle management, you should also develop your exceptional middle managers to the executive level. When new employees see how the work of people in the company is rewarded, it lets them know they can succeed by producing good work, expanding their education, and working towards advancement.

Conversely, if you routinely hire your executives from outside the company, then middle management becomes the end of the career line for your current employees. Once people reach the level of middle managers, they won’t see any reason to strive for more.

However, you don’t want to promote people from middle management to executive level only because they have worked there for a long time. You want to train them to the executive level.

Prepare your middle managers for their next career step by creating a mentorship program, establishing educational opportunities for them, and letting them know they are being considered as possible candidates for promotion.

Once newer employees see other’s progress, it naturally leads to a positive company culture. Employees who see a future of opportunity in front of them are motivated and loyal. They will be your bedrock for continued organizational development in every department.

Make Choosing Hard

Ultimately, what you want to do is make the job for your executive team difficult when they have to choose from the pool of applicants. A positive company culture will create excellent candidates.

Equal Parts Consulting works with companies to help them build a positive company culture. We have seen how grooming and promoting the right middle managers builds morale and efficiency. If you are an expanding company, we can help you with your organizational development and provide expert guidance as you prepare for your company’s future.

Schedule an appointment, and we will show you how we can work with your leadership team.