We are all about transparency at Winning Workplaces.  Longtime readers of this blog have been privy to information on applicants and honorees of our Top Small Workplaces recognition project with The Wall Street Journal such as:

• Metrics they're using to measure the ROI of employee engagement
• Employee engagement strategies to motivate workers
• Benchmarks for medical insurance premium coverage for employees and their dependents
• Vacation leave best practices
• Elements of a strong employee ownership culture
• Trends of applicants over the last three years when it comes to revenue, revenue growth, and turnover

Today I'm continuing this trend by providing you with leading-edge employee development strategies as used by our 35 finalists for Top Small Workplaces 2009.  Check them out:

1. 30-day orientation for new employees
2. Future leaders groomed with a mix of executive education, developmental assignments, job rotations, mentoring, diagnostic skills testing, and coaching
3. 3x3 performance/potential matrix to tailor development
4. In-house sales coach
5. Open books, share financials, and teach employees how to read financials (note: not for every company)
6. Weekly "storytime sessions" to instill a sense of community and provide a mechanism for open timely communication to paint the big picture
7. Learning across and between teams
8. Tuition assistance – up to $5200 annually per employee
9. Informal mentoring
10. Task forces including exploration of career paths for non-traditional employees, communication of "essence of firm," pairing younger employees with management group, and soliciting feedback
11. Hiring a training coordinator
12. Lunch & learns
13. Leadership training
14. Recruit internally for new positions and leadership roles before seeking outside candidates
15. CEO conducts one-on-one career advancement meetings with those interested in a leadership role
16. Multifaceted development program: outside professional instructors + classroom training + experiential on-the-job learning
17. Outside coaching resources made available to all directors and senior leaders
18. Employees not only encouraged to bring their ideas, but to take the lead in realizing those ideas
19. Extensive cross-training allows employees to be added to on-call staffing list in case of an after-hours emergency
20. Company employees active in local university curriculum (community outreach)
21. Series of educational seminars over a six-month period provided employees with a common vocabulary to discuss work phases and preferences
22. Performance evaluation – review previous performance and establish continuous improvement goals for the coming year
23. "90 percent solution" – employees given 90% ownership in each project
24. All goals set by department heads according to the mantra "How can you be best used?"
25. Ownership classes on topics including making fiscally sound business decisions, incentive plans, key performance indicators, finance for non-financial managers, and the basics on profit and loss
26. Every employee required to attend course in conflict management and dialogue skills
27. Weeks with no travel are set aside each year with a focus on training and development
28. Mentorship program focused on developing younger industry talent in light of approaching talent crunch due to retirement
29. Sales Professional Development Day for all account executives on business skills, knowledge sharing, coaching, mentoring, and software training
30. 10-minute daily stand up meetings in departments

If you find this list of employee leadership development strategies helpful, I invite you to share them with your team using the button below.  Thanks.