If you ask a group of managers to write down the top two or three things that have been instrumental in their professional development, it’s not likely that training classes will appear on that list.

In the same way, businesses too often concentrate the majority of their efforts on formulating or evaluating development plans for their employees, but not very much time in executing that plan, says Todd Safferstone, a trainer with the Learning and Development Roundtable, a program of the Corporate Executive Board, a management consulting group based in Washington, D.C. Additionally, that group’s research has shown that a few key activities, many of which can occur informally during the workday, provide the biggest benefits to employee performance.

The bottom-line argument for managers becoming more involved in their employees’ development is compelling, Safferstone said. Active manager involvement has been shown to increase employee performance by 25 percent over those whose bosses aren’t involved in their development.

Safferstone was among several human resources experts who spoke last week during an inaugural in-house employee development week held by Principal Financial Group Inc. for its Des Moines workers.

“We constructed it like a conference or seminar so that people could choose the sessions that made the most sense for them,” said Sara Wille, a senior communications consultant for Principal. In addition to breakout sessions targeted to both managers and lower-level employees, the week featured keynote speakers and an exhibit hall format in which employees could speak with development consultants or explore educational and volunteer opportunities.

Based on research findings from the Learning and Development Roundtable, Principal recently adopted a formula that recommends that 70 percent of employee development be conducted informally, 20 percent by classes or seminars and 10 percent on a mentoring or relationship basis, Wille said.

That informal training should take place in conjunction with specific work projects or assignments, Safferstone said.

“Development is most powerful when it’s most directly related to the work,” he told a group of Principal managers during a breakout session. “Fundamentally, development is going to have the most impact when it’s woven into my work on a day-to-day basis.”

In the Roundtable’s 2003 Employment Development Survey, the Corporate Executive Board polled nearly 13,500 employees and managers from 14 organizations. Based on the responses, it found that the three most effective manager-led development activities are:

– Explaining performance evaluation standards;

– Ensuring that projects provide learning opportunities;

– Providing experiences that develop employees.

While there are other activities that are also beneficial for development, “these are activities that will give you the biggest bang for the buck,” Safferstone said.

Principal officials will now evaluate the week’s activities, Wille said.

“We hope that it would be an annual event,” she said. “This was a very foundational year of helping get people their minds directed to employee development.”