You probably are well aware that you’re competing against other businesses for customers. But not all business owners realize they’re competing for employees, too.

Over the last few years, unemployment has been so high that talent development hasn’t been a major worry. As the job market improves, though, 2015 will be a year when high-performance staffers begin to dictate who they will work for.

This is important because, as a company acquires or invests in its talent, its overall value grows. People are an increasingly valuable source for sustainable competitive advantage.

Are you prepared to invest in your employees? Here are a few strategies for building up your team—and, ultimately, your profits.

Teach Problem-Solving

Step one is to establish a systematic process for solving problems across the organization. There are few things more frustrating, expensive or time-consuming than a problem that has been identified—but hasn’t been addressed because of limited knowledge and skill in solving problems.

Entrepreneurs need people who can quickly assess a situation and then implement results-based solutions. You can encourage problem-solving among your staff by teaching them the following step-by-step process:

Problem statement // Describe the problem. What is its potential impact on the business?

Root cause analysis // What’s causing the problem? Be careful not to confuse symptoms with triggering events.

Potential options // How could we solve the problem? Is there an immediate work-around? What actions could solve the problem over the long term?

Testing // Talk through each possible solution—how it would work, what it would require, what the possible obstacles might be—and select the best solution.

Verify // Implement the solution, and then follow up to see if it worked as designed.

Encourage Change

Step two is to enable every employee to be a “change agent” with the ability to grasp the reason for change, see the benefit to change and be a champion to make change happen.

After all, change is happening in every business. Those organizations with an intentional plan to manage change outperform their competitors. A flexible team will be able to adjust to any circumstance encountered in the day-to-day operation.

These are the stages you must lead your team through in order to implement strategic change:

Awareness // I must be aware of the need for the change before I can act or react.

Understand // I cannot lead a change I do not understand—educate me.

Accept // Once I accept the value of the change, I can get enrolled in the change.

Commit // I can now make a commitment to support and enable the change.

Lead // I can now become a champion for the change.

Apply Situational Leadership Skills

According to situational leadership theory, different people require different levels of interaction and direction to perform their roles. Some people need to be told exactly what to do while others need only a broad outline. It all depends on the individual’s skill level, confidence and motivation.

High-performance companies invest in developing situational leadership skills, so they can give employees the leadership that’s most effective for them. Here are some quick tips for better direction:

Foster a helping-others-succeed mindset // Healthy organizations help others reach their potential. Situational leadership is ultimately about enabling employees to be successful.

Hold a situational leadership workshop // The Ken Blanchard Institute offers some very effective training materials on situational leadership.

Know your style // While it’s important to recognize the right leadership approach for a given situation, also make sure you understand your own preferred method of instruction or giving direction.

Role play // Test your leadership abilities using your own real-world assignments.

Invest in Knowledge

High-performance organizations recognize that business intelligence is critical for success, so they make it easier for employees to continually learn more—to turn knowledge into a habit. Knowledge is an accelerator enabling a person to make quicker informed decisions, to recognize and adjust to situations without delay, and to deliver a greater customer experience.

Here are some ways to increase company-wide knowledge.

Knowledge center // Create a resource library with training materials and professional-development books.

Continuous learning // Encourage your team to actively learn new skills on a daily basis.

Innovation // Encourage every person to identify meaningful ideas for improvement. For example, take time during the weekly staff meeting to solicit ideas, or set up a dedicated email address (“ideas@yourcompany.com”) where workers can send their brainstorms.

Document // Sponsor a project for team members to document their personal knowledge—tips, tricks and traps—that could be useful to others in your organization.

High-performing talent enables business leaders to take more calculated risk, tackle tough projects and make commitments that separate them from the competition. Talent is productivity. By investing in your people, you’re really investing in your business.