Training & Learning
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Aug 11, 2022

What Are Professional Development Skills?

Professional development skills support employees in their day-to-day work, making your firm stronger, more productive, and more profitable. By investing in continuing skills training, your workforce will better understand its roles and responsibilities, resulting in happier and more motivated teams that comprehend your company objectives, policies, and procedures. Learn the answer to the question "What are professional development skills?" and how online video training can teach these skills to employees across your organization. 

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Professional Development Skills, Explained

So, what are professional development skills? These soft skills help employees learn new abilities that further their careers and benefit your organization. Employees might complete the following in a professional development program:

  • Undertake formal coursework or assignments in career-related subject areas
  • Earn professional credentials such as academic degrees and diplomas
  • Attend conferences on professional development topics
  • Participate in informal learning opportunities such as group sessions, workshops, and webinars
  • Shadow senior colleagues and get 'on-the-job' training for their future careers

Professional development has been described as intensive and collaborative and might include an evaluative stage, where employees identify career goals and reflect on workplace-related topics. 

Consider your industry when answering the question "What are professional development skills?" Employees working for a tech or data analysis firm, for example, might develop skills such as innovation and critical thinking. On the other hand, employees working in sales might learn listening and negotiation skills. 

What are the Benefits of Professional Development Skills?

Some of the benefits of investing in professional development training:

  • Employees can improve their knowledge about career-related topics and use their newly developed skills in their jobs
  • Employees can learn about industry trends such as new technologies 
  • Professional development training can improve compliance with industry guidelines, helping your enterprise become a more accountable and transparent organization
  • Professional development enables employees to apply for more senior roles in your organization, reducing the need to hire outside workers for these jobs
  • Training and development can result in happier team members
  • A more-informed and skilled workforce can help you achieve your organizational goals 

Professional Development and Video Training

When it comes to what professional development skills are, it's essential to recognize the power and influence of video training on employees. Videos can simplify the learning experience for team members by breaking down complicated professional development topics into manageable chunks and presenting complex information visually, improving information retention and memory recall. 

Video training can also make professional development programs more effective and engaging for learners, especially if you incorporate interactive elements into videos such as calls-to-action (CTAs). Live streaming professional development topics can further improve engagement, allowing employees to access learning resources in real-time. Some video hosting and management platforms enable you to add surveys, polls, and live chat to streams, providing audiences with an opportunity to ask questions and give their opinions about professional development subject areas. 

Video training can also be more efficient and cost-effective than traditional learning methods. That's because learners can watch pre-recorded professional development videos in their own time, reducing the need for one-on-one training with an instructor. You also won't have to hire an event venue for instructor training or pay for employees to travel to that venue. 

A trustworthy enterprise-level video platform like Viostream lets you host, share, manage, and track professional development content. Start your free trial now to optimize your video content management strategy. 

Related Reading: What Are the Best Professional Development Tools for Instructors?

Different Types of Professional Development Skills

In addition to role-based areas, there are various types of professional development skills from which all employees can benefit.

Management

Management skills include communication, delegation, problem-solving, decision-making, and business planning. Employees who learn these skills can make better managerial decisions in the workplace and make your firm more productive and profitable. 

Leadership

Leadership skills include patience, empathy, and active listening. Employees who learn these skills might become more successful leaders and help you grow and scale your business. 

Teamwork

Employees who develop teamwork skills work better with other team members during projects, meetings, and more. Investing in teamwork skills development could help your enterprise become more profitable because employees can collaborate more effectively, improve workflows, and complete tasks successfully.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training will bring new perspectives, understanding, and accountability to your organization, which can drive business outcomes and reduce conflict in the workplace.

Related Reading: Is Professional Development Worth It?

What are Professional Development Skills in Your Business?

Managers wanting to improve their workforce often ask themselves, "What are professional development skills?" These skills help employees develop new capabilities and become happier in the workplace, making your organization more profitable and productive. Using videos to teach professional development skills to employees can be more cost-effective and efficient than traditional training and help you convey complex information about management, leadership, teamwork, DEI, and other career-related subject areas. 

Use Viostream to upload pre-recorded professional development training videos to a secure environment and share these videos with employees via the internet, intranet, a content management system (CMS), or a learning management system (LMS). Other features include live streams, branded video galleries, advanced analytics, BI integrations, and CTAs. Start your free trial now and use this trustworthy platform when answering the question "What are professional development skills?"

Stuart Auld
Stuart Auld (Head of Infrastructure) is a multi-disciplinary engineer with broad-ranging experience at executive level delivering operational best practice across customer engagement, technology, change management and process improvement.
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