The Optimized People Development System

Category: Retention

  • Now vs Next – A Retention Challenge

    Now vs Next – A Retention Challenge

    “Let’s get married! After all, we can always get divorced if things don’t work out…” Nothing shouts commitment like a good caveat. Although it’s not a new phenomenon, the trend of “I’m in…maybe” is growing between employers and employees in today’s workplaces. More and more, survival in the current employment environment means keeping options open and viewing your exit as a given, instead of a possibility. Looking for the next opportunity, even as you’re starting a new one today.

    If the mindset is always what’s next, how does that impede team development? If the team doesn’t develop as a committed unit, what happens to employee engagement? The impact of engagement is undeniable, which is why an optimized people development system, one that seeks to understand those it serves, is so important.

    It is easy to understand how this dynamic has developed. This is self-protection in an era where the meaning and purpose of a job continues to change. In a thought provoking Forbes article, Nirit Cohen shares some compelling reasons for these changing dynamics in modern workplaces, “People will not anchor their identity to institutions that do not help them grow. The organizations that succeed will not be the ones that demand commitment, but the ones that remain useful. When work no longer defines who we are, the only organizations that matter are the ones that help us become who we need to be next.” Useful. How does a company remain useful to employees who define a career path so very differently?

    Loyalty went away

    This evolution of attitude goes back further than Covid and AI. Gallup’s annual survey and others show that the trend has been developing for 30 years or more. Even before that, we saw loyalties – from both the company and the employee – began to change back in the 1980’s. When various shifts brought an end to the idea of lifetime employment and a happy retirement with one company. Each party has become expendable in the view of the other. The pandemic and technology only exacerbated the situation.

    Today, people relate to their jobs differently. Cohen opines that, “Perhaps disengagement is not withdrawal so much as diversification. People who no longer define themselves by a single job experience layoffs as a transition between expressions of their capability, not as a collapse of self. The job mattered. It simply did not define them.”

    The article focuses on knowledge workers; however, other industries should pay attention as well. Attitudes toward work tend to seep over boundaries and spread as workers mix and mingle and share experiences and ideologies.

    So, is there a next here?

    “When people can walk away psychologically before they walk away contractually, retention strategies built on fear, prestige, or inertia stop working.” Underneath Cohen’s statement are some simple questions and a challenge; do we know what our retention strategy is built upon? How can we improve our strategy in this area and create significant distance between now and what’s next?

    The obvious starting point is a careful examination of the current retention strategy. Gather the PDS stakeholders and explore the foundational elements of this part of the system (the Talent Stream Map can help with this). What assumptions are at its base? Does the process value individual growth? What adjustments should be made to ensure that these values are embedded into the delivery of retention efforts across the PDS? The team will undoubtedly have many questions.

    Although the article does not address the relational aspects of a job, we know relationships are a vital part of retention. In fact, a great deal of individual growth is supported in and through relationships with colleagues. Relationship building is facilitated through a strong PDS. Coaches that help explore one’s potential and can help team members see what’s next within the organization help keep those members engaged. Look at the PDS and assess the system’s ability to train and deploy a cadre of coaches.

    Teams that tackle meaningful challenges together can also create stickiness. Those charged with leading these teams should be trained in emotional intelligence and should understand that team building is one of their primary responsibilities. Does the PDS support leaders in this way?

    With the new mindset as described, tracking development and growth is another way to promote retention. An optimized PDS uses tools like development pathways to communicate what is expected but also these serve as an effective reminder of their growth trajectory. Development pathways provide a connection between the organization and the individual where both can explore and continually focus on the value each brings to the equation.

    We may not like it, but market dynamics are what they are. Employee engagement is an emotional response, and, in this environment, people seem less compelled to connect and commit at this level. The optimized PDS is empathetic, fosters relationships through coaching and team building, and constantly communicates with team members that the best “next” is right where they are, on this team.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • 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 

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

    Image by Pexels from Pixabay

  • People Centric Workplaces

    A strong people development system within any workplace exists among other systems. Here’s an article I recently wrote as part of a University of Tennessee initiative that underscores the importance of seeing these systems within systems. The impacts are far-reaching.

    People-Centric Workplaces

  • The Milieu of Leadership

    The Milieu of Leadership

    We ask a lot of leaders. They are guides, managers, problem solvers, and organizers. They are caretakers and decision makers. Leaders are also integral parts of several important organizational systems, and we ask them to make decisions and choices within the circumstances and contexts of those systems. Systems that are unique to each organization and behave in certain ways. Typically available, generalized leadership training may or may not add value if the systems that leaders belong to are not considered; or worse, are not fully understood.

    According to Cambridge Dictionary online, a milieu encompasses the people, physical and social conditions, and events that provide the environment in which someone acts or lives. The leader’s milieu would necessarily include the way the organization recruits, trains, and seeks to retain people. This of course is what I refer to as the organization’s people development system or PDS. The leadership skills exercised in this particular system fall within these contexts – training, recruiting, onboarding, retention, performance management.

    I’m most interested here in leadership at the frontline, in the trenches, and in the middle, not so much in the upper ranks. Although, they too work within a system that they should thoroughly understand. C Suite and upper management teams generally get most of the training and development though.

    Obviously, a significant portion of what leaders do in front and middle operations is tied to their team’s performance. Meeting deadlines, producing results, and simply getting things done. Though much of this is managerial in nature, the way that leaders get things done requires that they use leadership skills like emotional intelligence and proper communication techniques.

    There are many generic, widely taught leadership training courses available covering important subjects such as communication, emotional intelligence, delegation, etc. For these leaders-in-training an important consideration is, how are these matters generally handled in their current organizational systems?

    Imagine that a newly promoted manager completes a workshop to improve their delegation skills. When, in fact, the people development system that they work within does not really focus on developing and training people. Nor does it have a well-defined and properly utilized performance management process. Delegating successfully in many regards becomes challenging in these system dynamics.

    Perhaps the organization needs to expand its capabilities and wants to be more innovative. So, leaders are given some basic training and asked to lead the team in this new direction. Only, their PDS isn’t structured to promote a learning culture or foster creativity, so the training only frustrates the team.

    What if the company’s leaders bring in a consultant to teach leaders how to be coaches, but the PDS doesn’t effectively facilitate relationship building? This would also be an important system consideration regarding more EQ training for leaders.

    No doubt, leadership training is valuable. However, if these leaders do not understand the PDS they are a part of, or if this important system is not well run, the value that training could bring will be limited and will most likely fail to have the desired impact.

    In conjunction with leadership training classes or workshops, the whole team should strive to understand how their internal workforce development efforts are designed and implemented.

    What are the tools used across the PDS? What data is captured and analyzed to understand system performance? How well connected are the five functional areas of the PDS? How does communication across this system work? Among the most important considerations is how well each PDS stakeholder understands their role in the system.

    The milieu of leadership is complex. And while training for leaders is important, it is also important to understand the system to which they and their team members belong. With this understanding they are more likely to be successful in all the important things that are asked of them.

    Image by Daniel Roberts from Pixabay

  • The Wider Meaning of Technology Adoption

    The Wider Meaning of Technology Adoption

    Acceptance, embracing, agreement, endorsement…these are some of the synonyms of the word adoption. These words point toward a shift in thinking. However, when conversations about adopting technology happen in the manufacturing realm, the general meaning seems to always be related to application or implementation. The adoption of technology involves more than just getting a bunch of new machines though. Adopting tech has other important implications.

    Manufacturing has embraced the use of technology for years. Known widely as Industry 4.0, a lot of the emphasis has been on robots, sensors, and data analytics. Though now, AI is quickly making its presence felt in this important sector too.

    Typically, operations and production systems come to mind when considering how to apply technology in manufacturing. This is due in large part to the fact that engineers and tech pros tend to focus on the technology itself. The machines are cool. They do cool things.

    Last year McKinsey & Co. conducted a survey around the use of AI . They found that employees are taking the initiative and learning about it and using it at an ever-increasing speed. More so than many of the organizations that employ them. Apparently much more.

    This survey was aimed specifically at generative AI use across multiple industries. Obviously, in most industries, people will be impacted when technology solutions are deployed. The same is true for manufacturing. Maybe to a greater extent than in other industries.

    For this reason, it is important to look past the shiny robots and the slick AI generated solutions to ask some very important questions. What about your people? How will technology change the culture of an organization? How will the organization need to change to take advantage of technology? What does becoming a tech savvy team actually look like?

    McKinsey’s Relyea et al cautioned that, “Technology adoption for its own sake has never created value, which is also true with gen AI. Whether technology is itself the core strategy (for example, developing gen-AI-based products) or supports other business strategies, its deployment should link to value creation opportunities and measurable outcomes.” The people development strategy should certainly be included.

    The report clearly makes the connection between deploying technology and preparing/supporting the teams that use the technology. This is where a higher level of tech savviness is needed.

    In the future, being technologically savvy will mean more than just knowing how to create a prompt or program a robot. It will be more than just learning how the hardware and machinery works. It will also include thinking. How to think about technology. How to think with technology. Thinking about data and thinking about problem solving from a new angle.

    It is more than just training savvy people to do certain technical things with automation. It will be about learning to imagine where technology can be placed, uncovering the data that can help determine whether the change has been successful, learning how to tap into the strengths of generative AI when it is appropriate, and learning to properly evaluate the answers and suggestions given by an AI assistant.

    It will require tech savvy leaders learning how to coach their team to a higher level of tech savviness. Embracing new solutions influenced by technology as opposed to being rigidly connected to traditional ways of doing things.

    The implications will stretch across the organization’s people development system as people learn to harness the full potential of technology. The culture of the organization will need to adapt to these new realities. Developing leaders will include helping to instill this new thinking paradigm. Learning organizations will thrive in this new environment.

    Today employees are learning about and using AI on their own. They might be seriously trying to use it to make work easier and more efficient. Many may just be using it for entertainment. Recent studies have shown that they are also concerned about the impacts of automation, and they recognize that they must learn to work with these new tech tools. Technology has everyone’s attention.

    Workplaces that help people attain a holistic understanding of technology can create and promote a culture of acceptance and endorsement of these new methods and tools. These workplaces can help people embrace technology in the workplace and perhaps understand how to use it constructively beyond their workplace. These types of workplaces can bring team members to an agreement that becoming technology savvy requires that everyone involved must learn to think and apply these concepts together.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • Chasing and Catching in the People Development System

    Chasing and Catching in the People Development System

    I wonder if coach Vince Lombardi was a lean practitioner. Over 60 years ago he effectively harnessed the fifth lean principle when he encouraged his football team saying, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Sure sounds like a lean mindset.

    The fifth lean principle, pursue perfection, is really that, a mindset. It is a discipline that helps teams develop habits around constantly looking for better ways to serve their customers’ needs. So, how do we apply this chasing and catching mindset to the system that organizations use to find, train, and retain people?

    Define What to Chase

    Applying the second lean principle helps determine the current state of the people development system. In this case via the Talent Stream Map. From this current state map, we can begin to envision and construct a future state map. If we were to actually capture perfection, what would that look like? Obviously, there’s a need for a realistic vision, but this is the chance to dream big and set stretch goals. Ultimately, what type of people development system do we want?

    Once the future state is articulated, the team can rally around the vision, understand the direction, and see the challenges ahead.

    The duration of the chase

    My team uses the word optimization to capture the spirit of continuous improvement. Admittedly, it’s semantical, but useful and it makes a nice acronym. Apparently, we get extra points for catchy acronyms. The idea is the same, we look for ways to make the system better, more efficient, and more effective.

    We see at least three levels of optimization:

    • System functionality. How well is the PDS working? Can we improve the connections between the five processes? Is data being collected and used effectively?
    • People centeredness. Is the system really focused on the people it serves? Can we expand our definition of development? Does the system help people adapt to change?
    • People + machines (Industry 5.0). Does the PDS help people become technology savvy (where tech might be applied, how to use data, etc.)? Does the PDS promote applied systems thinking to all stakeholders? Is the PDS capable and ready to aid in the transition into I5.0?

    The important point here is that, like other systems, there are many opportunities to improve the PDS, so the journey is a long one. Done well, it can be a very fruitful one as well.

    Determination in the chase

    We use maps to go on journeys and journeys take time. Leaders and stakeholders of the PDS help keep the momentum of continuous improvement by constantly pointing toward the future state and reminding the team of the value of striving in that direction.

    As easy, early gains give way to slower and more hard-fought progress, the determination to keep pressing forward is vital. Resolute leaders and effective communication are needed.

    A chasing and catching culture

    Coach Lombardi may not have been a lean guru, but he certainly understood the power of building a culture focused on constantly pushing the limits. He wanted his whole team to adopt high standards and to strive to reach a level of performance that was only possible if they reached those standards.

    The fifth lean principle serves as a cultural anchor. When the whole team is fully committed to continuous improvement, the chasing of perfection becomes a way of life within the organization. Appling this type of lean thinking to the PDS can help stakeholders to catch a level of excellence that will benefit the entire organization.

    Wrapping up the principles

    Over these last six posts, we’ve explored how to apply lean thinking to an organization’s internal workforce development efforts.

    The five principles of lean follow a logical thought process. We identify what our customers want (first principle); we know our system (second principle); we fine-tune and make our system efficient (third & fourth principles); and, from the fifth principle, we pursue the perfect system.

    Although the PDS is a non-linear system that can be difficult to see in operation, these five principles are still useful when trying to find ways to reduce waste, find efficiencies, and generally make improvements. If your team hasn’t applied these guiding principles to this especially important system, try it. And then share what you learn!

  • Demand in The People Development System – Lean Principle #4

    Demand in The People Development System – Lean Principle #4

    In the context of the PDS the fourth lean principle can be challenging to envision, because of the element of time. Still, the concept can be useful to stakeholders.

    Principle 4 – Establish pull.

    Like the principle of flow, this principle is about movement through a system. If you can’t attain one piece flow in a production system, then the goal would be to establish pull, whereby the next operation gets what is needed, when it is needed so that various types of waste are minimized.

    Using this lean thinking to monitor movement through the PDS helps by reminding stakeholders that progress and movement should be constant. People should be advancing. How many are moving? Which areas need more movement? If there is no movement, what actions should be taken to restart it? Having this mindset focuses attention on the near term by keeping the team engaged and growing, and on the long term by ensuring that the future talent needs of the organization can be met.

    How Pull Happens in the PDS.

    New opportunities create pull in this system. People are needed (pulled) into new roles when new capabilities and capacity require people to take on new challenges. The principles of flow and pull help PDS leaders identify which positions/disciplines are moving through the other organizational systems. Keeping a watchful eye on these two forces can inform stakeholders about needed adjustments to the system.

    In the PDS, a type of pull is established when the organization or the organizational systems have a need for people due to three factors:

    • Growth – new business, new capacity, acquisitions
    • Expansion – addition of new technology, new capabilities, or products
    • Success – increase in business, new markets, or productivity

    Advancing through the PDS is usually gradual and repetitive in nature. Some of the operations of the system – training, performance management, etc. – happen over and over again, making them difficult to track. 

    In this case, pull is accommodated not only by promotions, but also by skill level advancement and growth in leadership, cognitive training, personal goal attainment, knowledge acquisition, coaching ability, cross training in other areas, concept understanding (such as lean, kata, systems thinking, etc.), strategic thinking, etc.

    Seeing the movement in the PDS.

    Systems thinking really helps when applying these principles to the PDS. Is the system moving people along their development pathways? This requires the PDS to prepare people through the performance management process and through the training process using tools like the development pathways. Of course, retention must be strong as well.

    The pull effect can be identified by monitoring the needs of the three internal PDS customers and ensuring that people are positioned to move at the appropriate time. Timely data and effective communication practices are necessary for this to occur.

    Bottom line, using the lean principles of flow and pull to manage the PDS helps all stakeholders monitor the progress people are making as they prepare for new roles and work to gain new capabilities to help the business succeed.

    Next time, the fifth lean principle – the pursuit of perfection!