How to promote internal mobility among your employees?

Internal mobility refers to employees moving (vertically and laterally) inside the same organization to new career and development possibilities. Internal mobility promotes career agility by relocating workers to new jobs, projects, activities, and even coaching opportunities, allowing them to become more nimble as individuals and team members.

Empowering employees to enhance their skills and knowledge prepares them for changes, while a diverse workforce benefits the organization. Promotions, mentorships, new roles, cross-team or extra tasks, demotions, work shadowing, and job swaps are examples of internal employee mobility.

Internal mobility can be encouraged among employees in the following ways:

1. Encourage and celebrate employee mobility within your business

Internal mobility must be encouraged at all levels of a company for the plan to be successful. Measurable objectives assist to guarantee that this occurs. A transparent structure must be built around a firm, for example: if employees are scared to inform their bosses they wish to change jobs, mobility will be hampered. It is critical to communicate opportunities through all media to sustain dynamic, strategic Internal Mobility. To model success and promote adoption, publish instances of employee mobility throughout an organization.

2. Give your staff challenging projects

Stretch projects allow people to gradually broaden their skill sets by working on new assignments that challenge their norms. Be honest in assigning these duties and explain why employees were chosen for these initiatives. Make certain that your personnel are set up for success. Continue to discuss these stretch initiatives throughout the year.

3. Demonstrate potential prospects by work shadowing

Not every employee will follow a straight route throughout their career. For some, career mobility simply means switching to a different team for a better-fitting role. Job shadowing allows an employee to spend time with someone who is actively performing the duties of their desired position. Remember, job shadowing does not have to be a structured program. Employees should go into each job shadowing experience with some ideas of what they want to get out of it, as well as a list of questions and an open mind.

4. Establish a culture of continual feedback

A continual feedback culture facilitates communication by making it detailed and unbiased. Employees are recognized on a timely basis. Because there is an opportunity for free communication, it aids in improved goal alignment and teamwork. Businesses must adopt a culture of continual feedback if performance management is to be relevant and foster internal mobility. Employees and management may learn where to improve by providing continual feedback. Regular check-ins discuss performance versus goals and assist personnel in improving.

5. Ensure that the appropriate technology is in place

Businesses must ensure that the necessary tools and technology are in place to enable and encourage internal mobility, as well as to produce a data-driven strategy. Employees may use applications, the internet, and SaaS-based platforms to uncover current openings, control and update their talent profiles, and help internal talent acquisition teams identify the necessary capabilities in searches for specific posts. Employees that are equipped with the necessary tools to handle and analyze data help the company to better evaluate gaps, spot trends, estimate demand, and deploy talent.

6. Make Learning Opportunities Available

Employee development is the ongoing endeavor to improve job performance through methods such as coaching, training sessions, and leadership mentorship.

Internal or lateral changes frequently need additional training to prepare employees for new duties and abilities. Ensure that these learning opportunities are adaptable and nimble so that your staff can fully benefit from them.

7. Remove any impediments to adoption

Internal Mobility may be hampered by long-standing obstacles and processes. Organizations must work hard to identify and eliminate these impediments. Employees may feel prevented from changing positions owing to their geographical location, however agile working approaches might eliminate these constraints. Some may believe that the training provided is insufficient for their professional goals, or that they are unaware of the options accessible to them. Internal Mobility commitment includes ensuring that protocols are in place, easy to follow, and clearly articulated.

8. Create an inclusive atmosphere that celebrates the variety

Every employee has unique or distinctive features that make them unique, such as their place of origin, cognitive process, gender orientation, and generation. Creating an atmosphere in which differences are respected encourages them to bring their best selves to work. An effort to create an inclusive atmosphere that celebrates variety makes employees feel secure in the face of abuse, harassment, or unjust criticism.

9. Spend money on mentoring and coaching

Mentoring and coaching have a big positive influence on businesses and are becoming more prevalent in organizations. Employees who participate in mentoring programs are more likely to feel engaged and appreciated, and firms that provide such programs are more likely to retain their top talent and produce future leaders. According to a study, millennials who wish to stay with a company for at least five years are twice as likely to have a mentor as those who do not.

10. Spend time thinking about succession

According to one survey cited by the CIPHR, while 92 percent of respondents thought it was harmful not to have a succession plan in place for important personnel, just 25 percent believed they had identified the proper candidates for the jobs. Less than half of the organizations had a structured framework in place to create these individuals. Internal Mobility contributes to effective succession planning by assisting firms in identifying possible successors and encouraging people to acquire skills that will lead to their next post.

11. Assist managers in identifying high-potential employees

Employees with high potential have the talent, desire, values, and dedication to advance within your firm and succeed in increasingly crucial roles. However, not everyone wants to be in charge of others. Leaders and HR may better decide which sort of mobility will best meet their development requirements by determining who the high potentials and top achievers are in your business.

12. Encourage Career Transitions in Multiple Directions

The only way to go is up. Allow your staff to use their skills and abilities where they make the most sense when the organizational hierarchy flattens due to more cooperation and cross-functional teams. Allowing employees to choose their career paths helps them accomplish their professional goals and find more fulfilment.

13. Make every effort to increase involvement

Employee engagement is a critical component of the employee experience and a key driver of internal mobility. According to a study, highly engaged teams are 21% more productive than low-engagement teams. Employees are engaged when they are learning and growing, when they can express their thoughts, and when their employers provide them with meaningful employment. Employees that are engaged and appreciated repay their employers with their devotion.

14. Create Your Own Internal Mobility Plan

Internal mobility benefits both businesses and individuals since it allows people to further their careers while also allowing organizations to retain top personnel. Collaborate with workers to develop a career path that fulfills the requirements and goals of the company as well as the person.

If an employee in your business is seeking a new opportunity, don’t wait for them to go elsewhere. Show them the opportunities that exist inside your firm.

Employees must know that they have opportunities for internal mobility. If your company does not promote mobility, you would lose out on good employees. Working to incorporate the tips mentioned above would help a great deal.