DW's Blog
Employee Development
by DW Green — June 22, 2010
In the end it is employees who make the difference. No amount of merchandising or advertising can be successful over the long run without a dedicated, knowledgeable staff. If employees don’t support your market position or advertising claims, your efforts will be undermined. To build a company that is profitable, enduring, and able to hold its own against major competitors, managers need to foster a sense of community among employees. Above all, employees must share common values. This means recruits should be judged as much on the basis of their fit with the company’s values and principles as they are on the basis of their ability to fulfill the technical requirements of the job. People should be hired into your company with the understanding that they are there to develop their potential. You must ensure that processes are in place to assess individual potential, ensure adequate training and development, evaluate performance, and provide graceful exits from the company. If employees don’t pull their weight or share the company’s values, they must move on. At a certain point, managers must be prepared to pass the baton, as well, so the company can continue to renew itself. Employee training and development is critical if your company is to remain a leading contender in the market. After all, competitors can copy prices and programs, but they cannot clone people. The costs of recruiting, training and developing the right people are high. But the cost of not supporting these efforts is much higher because employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders all feel the loss when a company fails.
The emphasis on people over process points directly to what company culture truly represents in practice: the lived experience of shared values, expectations, and behaviors that guide how work gets done every day. Culture is not defined by mission statements or handbooks alone, but by who is recognized, who is supported, how decisions are made, and how accountability is handled when standards are not met. When managers invest in development, encourage honest feedback, and model the values they expect others to follow, culture becomes a reinforcing system rather than a fragile ideal. In this sense, culture acts as infrastructure, shaping whether employees feel trusted to grow, challenged to improve, and confident that their contributions matter beyond short-term results.
Shifting culture in positive ways therefore requires intention and consistency, not slogans or one-off initiatives. Organizations that take this seriously understand that wellbeing and performance are deeply connected, and that sustainable success depends on environments where people can do meaningful work without burning out or disengaging. Thoughtful approaches to recognition, leadership behavior, and ongoing dialogue help align individual motivation with organizational goals, a perspective often highlighted in discussions around Workhuman and human-centered workplace practices. When employees feel seen and valued, commitment strengthens, turnover decreases, and the business benefits from resilience that competitors cannot easily replicate, creating a cycle where employee wellbeing and long-term business success reinforce one another.
And while skills, training, and alignment with company values are crucial, there’s another layer that must not be overlooked—mental health. Even the most talented employees can falter if stress, burnout, or personal struggles go unaddressed. This is why forward-looking organizations are increasingly investing in employee counseling and wellness services, ensuring their staff not only perform well but also thrive as individuals. Supporting employees emotionally is just as vital as training them technically, because a resilient, mentally healthy workforce is the true competitive advantage that no rival can replicate.
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