The Optimized People Development System

Author: Tim Waldo

  • Can Your System Achieve Employee Engagement?

    Can Your System Achieve Employee Engagement?

    For over a quarter of a century employee engagement has been dismal. Difficulty in defining the concept has had a lot to do with this stagnation. However, a shared vision of a truly engaged workplace by all stakeholders is possible with an attentive people development system. A PDS intent upon moving the needle on this stubborn but important metric.

    When the phrase appears, employee engagement generally implies that an individual has a deep level of commitment, a strong willingness to be involved, or a high degree of dedication to being a part of the team and excelling at their work. The word excitement often shows up in the definition, sometimes the word motivation, and happiness might also appear.

    Some explanations seem to border on the concept of achieving a state of mental flow, suggesting that engagement is being fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about the job. Some days, yeah. Some days, no. Several people that I’ve worked with in the past who were very much bought into the success of the company could seldom be described in these terms. Nevertheless, they understood their connection and responsibility to the team, and they did, on a regular basis, contribute a great deal.

    It’s a complicated concept; one that has changed over the years. Tony Martignetti and Moe Carrick, business leaders and authors, compellingly argue that employee engagement is being replaced by a sense of employee connectedness. Pointing out that the move toward connectedness has been driven by social and cultural forces that have obvious impacts in the workplace.

    Along those lines, I prefer to think of employee engagement as a mutually beneficial harmony reached when both employer and employee recognize and accept their responsibility for the success and well-being of the other. It takes all parties to achieve this harmony, and it takes a responsive PDS to promote and protect it.

    A Shared Understanding.

    Since all stakeholders have a vested interest in this, it seems like a good idea to start by understanding employee engagement very clearly. And though it sounds simplistic, getting all PDS stakeholders on the same page is a good first step in building stronger allegiances.

    It is talked about so much in certain circles that it can lead to assumptions that everyone knows what engagement is and how it matters, which is obviously not the case. Getting everyone’s mental models of this vital connection out in the open and agreeing upon a unifying model can reduce misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the concept.

    Leaders of organizations, just like individual workers, have the right to think about engagement what they will and to have certain expectations about what it takes to achieve this state of harmony. There may be very little distance between the two ideals, or there could be a chasm. Alignment of expectations and agreement around everyone’s responsibilities could mean the difference between dismal performance for another quarter century and levels of engagement that are truly beneficial for all.

    How Far Apart are We?

    One of the primary roles of the PDS is culture building. An engaging culture connects people, shares openly, clarifies goals, promotes learning, and ensures that stakeholders share responsibility for outcomes.

    An optimized PDS helps create space for dialog and allows the whole team to debate the definition of engagement and agree on ways to improve it. This falls easily under the training and development function of the system.

    Start by creating small cross functional teams and share the data – turnover, average tenure, survey results, etc. Let the team know how these numbers impact both the organization and every individual within it. Then ask the teams to help improve the numbers. Everyone benefits when these indicators improve and self-interest is a powerful motivator.

    Part of the retention efforts of the PDS should be to bring senior leaders into community with frontline workers through one-on-one coffee breaks, lunches, or small group brainstorming sessions. These are perfect times to bring up the topic of engagement. Ask questions about engagement, extend the dialog created in the cross functional groups. Discuss the roles that each stakeholder plays and then help them play those roles well.

    These interactions are also great opportunities to further explain how being engaged is in everyone’s best interest. Thanks to the proverbial grapevine, these conversations will find their way back to the entire team. Done well, this can feed into other positive conversations, helping to drive higher levels of commitment.

    Of course, this means that the leaders must be educated on those impacts and trained in having these coaching/development conversations. Another job for the optimized PDS! To be effective, leaders must understand how important employee engagement really is and how they impact it.

    Measure it…But Differently.

    Employee engagement is usually measured via a survey asking people about their state of mind at a particular time. Which can skew the results dramatically, depending upon moods, circumstances, and other life situations.

    Instead, look for and measure individual behaviors that tend to be driven by a higher level of buy-in or consensus. These might include:

    • Number of teams/groups individuals have joined,
    • Number of requests individuals make for development opportunities,
    • Levels of development attained (individual development plans are great for tracking this!),
    • Number of ideas generated per individual,
    • Involvement in and contributions to events (improvement events, community-facing events, peer support events, etc.),
    • Relationships developed (social connections with co-workers, coaching, etc.),
    • Willingness to be part of initiatives,
    • Changes in attendance patterns,
    • Personalization of workspace.

    Keep doing engagement surveys, one on one encounters, and peer evaluations to assess the harmony. Even better, be creative in identifying other more meaningful metrics, realizing that being engaged influences several behavioral and personal performance indicators. Share these measures liberally with the team, encouraging them to value these outcomes.

    Old Systems Will Struggle.

    According to Martignetti and Carrick, “To build connected organizations, leaders must shift from driving engagement to designing relational ecosystems and from motivating individuals to strengthening networks.” Here’s a pressing question; can the organization’s internal people development system support this shift in thinking?

    Look more closely at the system level for opportunities that can move the conversation in the right direction. Systems thinking is one of the three guiding principles of the Optimized People Development System framework because the PDS is a dynamic system and difficult to see. It is also the most important organizational system for fostering connections and relationships.

    Employee engagement has languished far too long. Establishing a shared definition and innovative measures of employee commitment and their wellbeing can help move the numbers in the right direction. An optimized PDS, one that fosters a new mindset around engagement and connection can help keep that movement going.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

  • Time to Challenge the One-Sided Employee Engagement Push

    Time to Challenge the One-Sided Employee Engagement Push

    Stickiness hasn’t changed in the last quarter of a century. According to Gallup’s long running, annual surveys, employee engagement has remained around 30% and active disengagement around 17% since Y2K was a thing. Gallup’s surveys and others confirm that getting people to consistently participate at a higher level desperately needs to be improved.

    Employee engagement is a prime area where improvement can benefit everyone. People are frustrated. Money and productivity are being lost due to low engagement and the negative impacts of a disengaged workforce show up at multiple levels beyond just the workplace.

    Why haven’t we been able to move the needle on the levels of engagement? It’s not like we haven’t been trying. I, and many of my workforce development peers, have been preaching to employers for years the need to create an engaging workplace. And most have been sincere in their attempts to do this demanding work. Still, we hear very regularly that these same employers are struggling to find people who want to work, people who will stick around long enough to see the benefits and advantages of being on the team. Some, including the MikeroweWORKSFoundation, have lamented the loss of the will to work. Maybe we’ve been focusing too much on only one side of the equation.

    Limits to an Engaging System

    Each team member is a system, just as the organization is a system. When these two systems are integrated, both are impacted. So, the probability of success by the organization in building an engaging environment will be limited if the newly integrated systems do not share a common goal around, or even a unifying understanding of the purpose and value of work. If the individual system is unaware of how to engage, unable to engage, or unwilling to engage, how successful can the organizational system’s attempts at engagement be?

    Focus on the Other Part of the Equation

    Here’s a potentially controversial solution – let’s help individual team members appreciate the many values of work and why engaging at work is in their best interest. There are distinct and powerful reasons for individuals to pursue being engaged at work.

    Beyond the obvious economic benefits, work is good for the health – physical, mental, and yes, spiritual health. A good day’s work influences positive feelings toward life. Workplace stress is well documented. How much of this might be relieved with a healthier view of work? Family life benefits when things are good at work. A different mindset about work could help promote this.

    Work is an integral part of the human experience. Always has been, always will be. But it goes beyond just the part of work we get paid for. The theme of work runs all the way through the Christian scriptures starting with the first verse of Genesis. I’m no religious scholar, but a cursory search indicates that work is pretty prominent in many other belief systems as well. We need to help people take a holistic view of work. The whole person comes to the job, so the whole person should be taken into consideration, including the spiritual side.

    Other Benefits

    In future posts we’ll unpack some more details of the benefits and values of work. Looking at the definition of engagement is helpful. So too the way we measure it. Engagement at work is very much an emotional reaction. How do we feel about the work, the people, the mission, and vision of the organization? It is emotionally intelligent for everyone to engage at work. How might we bring EQ into the solution to this challenge? Other topics might find their way in as well. Your thoughts and insights could add immeasurably to this exploration, so I invite you to opine as we explore.

    For years we have, in my opinion, pushed employee engagement mostly from the employers’ side of the equation. Certainly, there is still work to be done by employers; however, the other stakeholders must also take responsibility and do their part to engage and be engaged.

    An Optimized People Development System can be a strong vehicle for change in this effort. Examining the concept of engagement while looking closely at the internal system we depend upon to find, train, and retain people can offer strategic opportunities for improvement. Improvements to the system and the philosophy under which it operates could certainly help the organization and each individual within it, stick together longer over a shared appreciation for the true scope and amazing values of work.

    Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

  • Patience is a Virtue, and Soon, a Crucial Leadership Skill

    Patience is a Virtue, and Soon, a Crucial Leadership Skill

    It’s ironic that a technology that drastically speeds things up will require people to slow down in many areas of their work. Leaders in the AI era will have to develop something that we’re not typically known for…patience. In a sped-up world, the ability to play the long game will be a needed leadership trait.

    This Fast Company article is a great read for leaders, highlighting the need for different ways of thinking in the fast paced world of artificial intelligence. This new approach to leadership will also require ways of measuring certain outcomes differently. Outcomes that may take some time to materialize.

    Most business leaders have been conditioned to chase short term measures – this week’s production numbers, this month’s sales, this quarter’s financials. Generations of managers have been trained this way, and this has filtered down and out across the workforce.

    McDearmid captures the frenetic tension quite well. “For years, we filled our calendars, stayed visible, and kept the machine moving. Our worth was measured in hours, output, and presence. It had to be. Humans were the system, and the system required us to keep it running. We didn’t question it because that was how things got done.”

    The repetitive stuff was the work, and the measures by which the work would be gauged. Fueled by numbers relatively easy to get, requiring minimal patience. However, the human work of curiosity, collaboration, and changing mental models can be slow to unfold. Exploration can take time. Intentionality too.

    The article describes the directional change that leaders will need to make. How their focus must change from tasks to direction setting, seeking clarity for the initiative, and clarifying vision with the team, to name a few. It also points to the fact that leaders will need to be able to think differently about how long it will take to see some important deliverables.

    “AI has taken the repetitive pieces off our plates and has given us back the chance to think, create, and build with intention. It gives us room to lead.” In this new, redesigned space for leadership the ability to ponder and contemplate could be useful skills. Leaders with imagination and a gardener’s mindset will have an advantage. Systems thinking will be highly prized. Because ushering slow moving change through a system previously built for speed will require a shift at the system level.

    It may seem counterintuitive to work on the skill of slowing down in a sped-up world. However, learning to wait calmly for important and often subtle changes is a skill that itself takes time to develop. The sooner we start training leaders to slow down and wait, the faster we can realize the advantages of AI.

    Image by Annette from Pixabay

  • A Strong Start to a Long Journey: A PDS Sweet Spot

    A Strong Start to a Long Journey: A PDS Sweet Spot

    We often use the journey metaphor when talking about starting a new job. And if you’ve ever had a bad start to any journey, you know how the beginning can impact the whole trip.

    TalentLMS and BambooHR recently presented a research report titled Next-gen Onboarding: Redefining the New Hire Journey. While this paper points to generational differences and to the prominence of AI, looking closely at the findings can also help leaders identify system designs and system behaviors that, with targeted improvements, could help people stay for longer journeys.

    Ensuring that new team members get a good start is what makes the onboarding portion of an organization’s people development system so very important, and a prime area for system optimization.

    6 questions to ask of your PDS.

    1 – Is our onboarding approach still heavily orientation focused?

    The paper points to the need to invest more time and effort into this early stage. If your approach to integrating new hires is speed oriented – get it done and get to the workstation – then you are probably going to continue to struggle to keep new hires. Orientation is different from onboarding. Many organizations miss this opportunity. Spread the onboarding process out over a long period of time and drop the firehose.

    2 – Is our onboarding process informed by and shaped by our retention and training processes?

    “65% of employees view onboarding as the start of a continuous learning journey…” So, what happens after onboarding? Does the initial phase of the plan connect seamlessly with the other PDS systems – retention, training, performance management?

    Speaking of that continuous learning journey,

    3 – How does the new hire know how we will help them grow?

    If you’re not using development pathways, now’s the time to start. Share the map of the journey since they are at the starting point. Having an AI assistant involved at this point could be highly effective.

    The survey found that during the onboarding process, 39% of new hires admitted to having second thoughts about their decision to join the company. For the youngest generation it was 49%.

    4 – Does our onboarding approach instill confidence?

    Full customization to suit each person may not feasible, but some adjustments that consider generational differences could help drive success rates higher. An exploration in this area could be very fruitful.

    5 – Does our PDS support growth for new hires?

    According to Talentlms.com onboarding can often fall short. “When it comes to skill-building, new hires are rushed, left without follow-through, and handed training that doesn’t match their role. If companies want new hires to grow, they need to design onboarding that actually makes room for it.”

    Aligning with the onboarding, an optimized PDS supports growth by using personalized development pathways. These help communicate the potential growth, keep team members on track and motivated to achieve the growth, and ensure that all parties benefit from the growth.

    6 – Is the communication in the recruiting process supporting onboarding success?

    The conversation that began at the recruiting stage should grow and take firm roots in the onboarding process. Showing the prospective team member a template (the development pathway) is also a great start to a successful journey. Communicating with the other PDS stakeholders so they can continue the conversation is also vital.

    The onboarding process can often be overlooked when considering continuous improvement opportunities for the people development system. This is a helpful report for teams searching for ways to make improvements to this critical system. It validates the need to understand the supporting elements of the full people development system. Here’s to starting more journeys off well.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • The Same Kind of Same as Me

    The Same Kind of Same as Me

    Ever see yourself in the reflection of another generation? This sometimes happens to me when I see a survey about the differences between the age groups. Recently I saw one by ResumeTemplates.com on Gen Z workers.

    I am not from Gen Z. Along with everyone else though, I have been placed within an age group, one that has progressed through life with all kinds of expectations. But I have chosen the ones that I value. Experiences and circumstances have shaped all parts of my life. And I have adapted to what life has presented. The generation that raised mine was motivated by a few different things, some of which I rejected. And I now understand that everyone from any generation can claim these statements as their very own.

    Actually, we’re not all that different

    I don’t see anything in this particular survey that I could point to as something my cohort didn’t do at some level. A few yelled at the boss. A few cried at work. Most of us complained about the boss, been unprofessional, etc., etc. Maybe the percentages were different.

    A quick search will proffer many surveys over the years comparing Boomers to Gen X, Gen X to Millennials, and Millennials to Zs. Seems like they all focus on the differences and try to explain the reasons for those differences, justify the changes in attitudes, or rationalize the shifts in behavior.

    Surveys help us take a pulse of how things are going and how people feel, but they also tend to feed a narrative that can make people believe that the generations before and after them are somehow unique. Often, they cater to confirmation bias, confirming that something is dreadfully wrong with that bunch!

    Been there, done that

    On occasion though, observations drawn from these studies do more to show the similarities between generations. “Gen Z doesn’t need to suppress who they are,” says Chief Career Strategist Julia Toothacre. “But learning to read the room and adjust accordingly is what builds long-term credibility.” Yep, we had to learn this lesson too. Every generation has. Perhaps we could help each other?

    It could be beneficial and constructive if we focus less on our differences and try harder to recognize similarities and learn from each other. Someone should do a survey that asks, “How many similarities are there between this generation and those others?” Surely, it’s been done before. If so, please share. I’d love to see them.

    An opportunity for the PDS

    Comparisons are a thing, as we’ve seen, and since this is a blog about workforce development, here are four ideas to optimize your people development system to help generations take advantage of their similarities and their shared values.

    1. Avoid highlighting differences! We would certainly benefit from identifying as one team with diverse gifts and levels of wisdom instead of saying things like, “We have four generations on our team and we’re all different!”

    2. Intentional team building. Activities that bring generations together in cross-generational, cross-functional teams connecting different perspectives in the spirit of solving problems and learning from each other.

    3. Bridge the divide with coaching. Train up some coaches on this specific topic and turn them loose within the team. Ideally, you’ll have coaches from all generations!

    4. Communicate. Ensure that everyone on the team understands that the goal is to identify and capitalize on commonalities and similarities across the whole team.

    The divide between generations is largely a self-inflicted malady. An optimized people development system can go a long way in providing a cure and building bridges to connect all ages represented on your team.

    PS…Props to the movie Same Kind of Different as Me. It’s about seeing the value and purpose in other people. Check it out.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • Gen Z Thinks Differently, 3 Ways Your PDS can Still Get Their Attention

    Gen Z Thinks Differently, 3 Ways Your PDS can Still Get Their Attention

    Your system is open. Your people development system that is. Being an open system means that it is influenced by and therefore obliged to react to outside signals and influences. Some of those powerful influences include the mindset and motivations of generations of workers.

    Randstad asked some Gen Z technology workers about their work preferences, finding some differences and a few similarities with other generations. Fortunately, the feedback provides useful insights for all employers as they consider how modern people development systems might need to evolve in the future.

    This next generation of workers has different values, different ideas about work, and, like every generation before and after, will be needed in the workplace. Which means that the systems used to find, train, and retain them must adapt or at the very least, find some way to accommodate.

    Knowing that these young workers are thinking about life and work differently, here are three ways to optimize your PDS to tap into their potential.

    A grain of salt.

    Don’t paint the entire generation with the same brush. There will be those that like to work with their hands, those that prefer to be in community with other workers, and those that are inclined to stay longer than a couple of years. Influences from other generations will still be seen in younger workers.

    Optimize your people development system to tailor job postings that speak to them, job descriptions that inspire them, and recruiting methods that communicate clearly. Work on finding those outliers, they are out there.

    Focus on growth.

    The desire to learn and grow is not exclusive to this generation. What is different about their approach to work is their willingness to move quickly if they perceive that growth is limited. This is borne out again in Randstad’s survey results.

    Reenforce PDS tools such as personalized development pathways and career ladders to communicate opportunities early and often. Augment these tools with strong onboarding practices, robust training initiatives, and focused performance management efforts.

    Lean into technology adoption.

    Gen Z has never known life without technology. They expect the workplace to maximize automation and all things AI. Industry and the marketplace are also driving adoption of technology, so the PDS has to do the same.

    The optimized PDS will ensure that technology is used across all five of the functional areas of the system that supports all generations of workers. A workplace that utilizes generative AI and agentic AI will have a PDS that not only uses AI tools, but will teach people how to think about technology, how to think with technology, and how to use it safely and effectively. Outside influences are powerful forces that challenge PDS stakeholders to adjust and adapt. The system itself will need to change to attract and retain talented workers in Gen Z.

    Image by Franz P. Sauerteig from Pixabay

  • Interconnected Challenges from Far and Near

    Interconnected Challenges from Far and Near

    Here is a great article by  Mary Johnstone-Louis at Forbes.com about the importance of systems thinking for today’s leaders. In addition to sharing five useful practices that promote this thinking, she cautions, “Without systems thinking, interconnected challenges can overwhelm leaders and organizations, leading to reactive and ineffective responses, and even responses that perpetuate the problem.”

    The article focuses on global systems, those external, often far-flung connections that certainly impact the organization. However, leaders would be wise to understand the complexity of internal organizational systems as well. That’s why systems thinking is one of the three guiding principles of the Optimized People Development Systems framework.

    The way organizations find, train, and retain people influence all other organizational systems, making it one of the most (in my opinion THE most) important internal system for leaders to keep in view. When leaders see their people development system more holistically, they are better positioned to optimize it by improving connections, communication, data handling, and delivery of all people centered services.

    Photo by Getty

  • Yes, AI Will Change This System Too

    Yes, AI Will Change This System Too

    How will artificial intelligence change the internal systems that companies use to find, train, and retain people, what we call their People Development System (PDS)? It will involve more than just the AI tools manufacturing workers use; it will fundamentally change the way the PDS will need to support a culture that embraces AI.

    “The NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) recently proposed a series of policy recommendations for policymakers to drive AI development and adoption in manufacturing, which includes a recommendation on developing the manufacturing workforce of the AI age by supporting training programs and career and technical education institutions.”

    New training and strong partnerships, yes. But what must also happen within the company, especially small to midsized makers, for these new changes to make a meaningful difference?

    An optimized PDS will need to be able to support AI by:

    • Promoting systems thinking for all team members.
    • Creating new job descriptions (and then appealing job postings…these are two different things!) that identify new AI and advanced manufacturing skills.
    • Rethinking training approaches utilizing AI tools for certain but also training team members on new ways to think about utilizing AI.  
    • Recognizing the need for new leadership approaches for AI empowered manufacturing teams.
    • Developing new mindsets that allow people to think about and utilize AI and other technologies on the factory floor.
    • Creating a strong culture of learning and experimentation.
    • And so much more.

    AI will change the way manufacturing systems operate. Including the one system that manages the people who operate within those systems.

  • That Thing AI Can’t do and What This Means for Your People Development System

    That Thing AI Can’t do and What This Means for Your People Development System

    There is considerable tension between these two truths – There are many things to love about the potential of artificial intelligence. There are many things to loath about the potential of artificial intelligence. AI seems to be invading all parts of life. But it is important to remember that that is the one thing it cannot do…life. And this is precisely why having an optimized people development system can help relieve some of the tension caused by arguably one of the most amazing inflection points in recent history.

    Stuff happens.

    Life is filled with complexity, nuances, and a wide variety of unexpectedness. It is where emotions, traditions, ambitions, and a plethora of other variables blend with tasks, necessities, and expectations, and they all must somehow be managed.

    At work, the systems we use to manage all of these include the people development system. Undoubtedly, AI will impact the PDS. In fact, it can improve all five functional areas – recruiting, onboarding, retention, performance management, and training. But for all its process, operations, and analytical capabilities, there are crucial functions it simply cannot do. Functions that require human finesse or just plain humanness. For example:  

    AI can’t capture and account for all the mental models of all system stakeholders, factoring them into decisions and plans. It can’t gauge the level of commitment by individuals to the PDS’s well-being. An AI entity can’t judge the exact time that stakeholders should perform certain system functions:

    • Recognizing an unexpected opportunity to have a retention conversation with an employee.
      • When and how to do opportunistic training that takes advantage of a teaching moment.
      • It can schedule performance management activities, but it can’t sense the effectiveness through behavioral observations.
      • It can help design a robust onboarding process. In the onboarding experience, it can’t communicate the level of excitement, pride, and commitment to quality that’s part of the organization’s DNA.
      • It can certainly improve recruiting and screening. It can’t sell the company or evaluate the insights gained from person-to-person interactions that come into these initial conversations.

    Can AI see the potential in someone as they go about their work? Can it observe the pep in their step, the tone in their voice, or their whistling while they work? Can it sense their attention to detail or the care they express for their team members in a shared moment at lunch? Can AI detect the level of influence of a person with a servant’s heart as they interact with the team? Can AI “read the room”- see the expressions on the faces of people in the moment and discern a next step? That is intuitive. That is still a human quality.

    In real time.

    The PDS is dynamic and influenced by perceptions, being both pro-active and reactive to different signals and situations. Many of its behaviors require in-the-moment recognition and decision making for the system to perform optimally. This means the humans involved with the system must learn to recognize these nuances by relying on their own humanness. In some cases, maybe many cases, this could require some retraining.

    They must learn to think about how the PDS is behaving alongside how individuals are behaving. Systems thinking leaders will be able to connect the dots between these two and use those connections to serve both. Being able to identify intangible forces like mood, tensions, and influential energies can help in managing these varying behaviors.

    The humans in the system will need to understand context. What is happening in the moment and why? What might be influencing how people are reacting? What is coming that will change things? What are the best decisions based on these contextual factors?

    Optimize for people!

    Will AI create more engagement? Maybe. Will it strengthen relationships? Perhaps. Will it recognize subtle changes in the system or among the people, or connect two seemingly disparate situations that are not so disparate? Probably not. However, as AI continues to advance, there is a need to look at how it will impact key systems within the organization beyond the obvious.

    Whether you love it or you loath it, artificial intelligence is here to stay. In the case of this people-centered system, within each of the five areas that comprise the PDS, AI can help. But it shouldn’t fundamentally change the focus of the system – it is for and about people. This presents an opportunity for stakeholders to emphasize their place as important constituents, forces for optimization, within the PDS. Those elements that understand how life works and that use this unique knowledge and skill set to make the system work better for all.  

    Image by amyelizabethquinn from Pixabay

  • Want Your Employees to Stay? Three Ways to Help Them Unpack

    Want Your Employees to Stay? Three Ways to Help Them Unpack

    You start trying to keep them even before you get them. This idea that efforts to retain employees should start in the recruitment process often surprises some stakeholders of an organization’s people development system. Retaining good employees is a long journey and like any journey, a time of reflection can add meaning to life and cement the impactful parts. In fact, reflection might well be one of the most powerful yet often overlooked ways to inspire people to stay.

    Many employee retention efforts, center on benefits and incentives for individuals and for the whole team. To keep people, we invest in their development, we provide great benefits packages, and we strive to help them see a version of their success that excites them. We give bonuses, we throw holiday parties, and company picnics. All good and all necessary. Although these can help promote engagement, their commonality limits their effectiveness.

    In an insightful article for MIT Sloan, Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden shared the findings from their study on meaningful work, where meaning comes from, and the mistakes managers make that can rob employees of meaning. Interestingly, the authors, in this study, found that the meaningfulness of work was not related to interactions with employers or managers. The factors were more intrinsic.

    Based on their research and feedback from participants, they offered five qualities of meaningful work; one of which was reflection, unpacking what happened in the work, what was it about, who was it for, what was the big “why” of the work, etc. “Meaningfulness,” they write, “was rarely experienced in the moment, but rather in retrospect and on reflection when people were able to see their completed work and make connections between their achievements and a wider sense of life meaning.” Confirming a widely held notion that finding meaning in work comes from an inward place.

    Knowing this, how can we optimize our people development systems (and by extension our organizational cultures) so that reflection is not only possible, but intentionally built into the system’s structure? Here are three practical ideas to start the exploration.

    1 Create space and support for reflection.

    The number one tool for reflective learning is time. It’s also the most elusive, so put it on the schedule. Consistency is key. One approach might be to have a 15 to 30 minute reflection time scheduled for the day. Then a one-hour reflection time at the end of the week to consolidate and review each day’s reflections, and a one-hour reflection at month’s end with someone (a coach or a leader) to dig deeper into any themes, observations, or opportunities that are discovered.

    Consider providing notebooks or journals. The tactile nature of writing can sometimes help by slowing down the process and enhancing the act of remembering. Although, these could be held within a learning management system along with scheduling tools that help with reminders. Aim for a structured, but simple approach.

    A place for reflection that is free from distractions and that promotes a meditative atmosphere is helpful. A quiet place to contemplate and rewind the day. Going to this place to reflect can help in the habit building stages as the learning culture takes root. Having an encouraging partner also helps. Coaches that understand how reflective learning works and how they can encourage this type of growth and development helps individuals by posing questions and guiding the thought processes so that these exercises remain focused and productive.

    2 Build reflective learning into the PDS.

    One of the guiding principles of the Optimized People Development System framework is becoming a learning organization. In such an organization, everyone engages in learning (including the leadership team) and each person should understand how this plays out for them. The theme of learning is supported by each of the five functional areas of the PDS.

    Starting with the recruiting process, explain to potential employees how learning, reflective learning in particular, is part of the organization’s DNA. Set expectations and show them how this will happen. When onboarding, give them the tools for reflection and connect them to a coach. The training process can support how to become a reflective learner and then extends through to the performance management processes in the PDS. Retention efforts then incorporate these tools, times, and steps into conversations with leaders and coaches to ensure that the learner is tapping into those intrinsic forces that create meaning at work.

    3 Learning leaders.

    You’ve probably heard the well-worn research finding that 80% of the people who quit a job do so because of a boss or supervisor. Adding to this, Bailey and Madden found that the factors that contributed to feelings of meaninglessness were, in fact, driven by how people were treated by their leaders.

    Robust and ongoing leadership development is vital to creating a culture of learning. There are many growth opportunities as highlighted in Bailey and Madden’s “Seven Deadly Sins” – a list of management behaviors that can drain the meaning from work. Each of these seven are behavior based and are indicative of leaders with underdeveloped emotional intelligence, who fail to understand the value of relationships, and who struggle to connect their behavior to the team’s success, among other things. Most of the root causes of these leadership behaviors can be addressed through training and coaching support.

    One additional way to optimize leaders’ abilities in the context of the OPDS framework is to teach them how reflective learning can strengthen them and their teams. Encourage them to share their own reflective learning experiences with the team and to ensure that the tools and supports put in place for them are being used. Most importantly, guard the time for reflection selfishly. For themselves, and their team members.

    The OPDS framework allows teams of leaders to experience their PDS as a complete system, together. In this manner, leaders learn to help each other avoid those destructive “Seven Deadly Sins” and help each PDS stakeholder see how they influence the success of the PDS. Time for reflection as a leadership team can identify ways to continuously improve this important system.

    Reflection as a retention tool.

    Finding meaning in the work we do is a personal journey. Some days the meaning is hard to find. Other days it seems to overwhelm. Without the time to reflect and remember, the journey can slip by in the busyness of the workplace and meaningful connections are lost. For the employee, a lost opportunity to learn. For the employer, a lost opportunity to create stickiness and engagement.

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