The Optimized People Development System

Tag: lean thinking

  • Is Your People Development System Invisible?

    Is Your People Development System Invisible?

    I learned to see in my twenties and I haven’t looked at things quite the same since. I’ve always had good vision, thank God, but it took me a while to understand the difference between seeing something versus simply looking at something. This deeper, more intentional way of seeing has been very valuable, especially when it comes to systems and the relationships supported within them. To improve a system, you first have to see it. And with the people development system, that takes some effort.

    Back then, with a manual SLR and dreams of being the next Ansel Adams, I spent hours reading about photography and experimenting with the systems that yielded unique images. Some of them actually turned out quite nicely. Most of them, not so much.    I remember one writer emphasizing the need to see things… really see things. Spend time absorbing details, appreciating them, and considering how the elements interacted. He used the example of looking at the lawn versus seeing the details of a blade of grass. It was an obvious point; obvious, that is, once the concept was pointed out to me.

    Well, of Course it is!

    An organization’s internal workforce development system is an open system. It flexes to operate as data flows, demand changes, and circumstances dictate. And it does this at various times, in multiple places, at different levels, involving many stakeholders. A previous post explores this idea in depth. It is a common system within most organizations. And that often causes it to be taken for granted.

    Of course, the functions of our people development systems are connected! And, of course, this critical system is connected to the other systems that make up the whole organization. That assumption, “Well, of course it is!”, can dismiss the need to purposefully study the system. To see the connections and explore the gaps and opportunities. Some important functions just seem to happen – people come to work, they move around on the org chart, some training goes on, conversations are happening. These activities go on as seemingly automatic reactions in the background.  

    Lack of Familiarity Breeds Contempt

    If something fits into the “Well, of course it is…” category, there can be a stubborn, embedded belief that it simply does not warrant deeper exploration. Expectations have been set and accepted without question. Because of this, some not-so-obvious options to improve the system can be missed, forcing it to continue to operate below its optimal levels. Most people in the organization know at least something about the PDS. They are familiar with many of its functions. They may know some of the various stakeholders. They can see the artifacts that speak about the system, and they most likely understand something of the complexities involved. Unfortunately, some people will develop negative opinions about the whole based on their knowledge of the parts. This could be avoided if the system were more visible and more information about the system made available.

    Bring it up, Talk it up, Build it up

    What is the current state of the PDS? A mapping exercise can help the team see how the system connects and how things flow through the system – things like data, communication, and of course, the people. Hang it on a wall for all to see. Use flip chart paper and sticky notes; the more paper, the better.

    Getting all stakeholders to appreciate the system, its complexities, and how they contribute to its functioning can help identify potential leverage points to help improve the system. Let all stakeholders speak into the mapping process, and they will begin to appreciate the dynamics of the PDS. What works and should stay? What doesn’t and should go?

    Once the current state map of the people development system is captured, use lean concepts to minimize waste. Look at the various tools used in the system, and evaluate their effectiveness. Consider the data captured from the system and how that data is used.

    The PDS is the main tool for engaging the whole team. How does it communicate to all stakeholders? Where does it promote the concepts of a learning organization? Does it celebrate learning? Does it say we value learning and development for everyone? It is difficult to improve something you can’t see…or that you don’t take the time to thoughtfully examine. An optimized people development system is one that is continually scrutinized and examined for improvement opportunities. Leaders peer intently into the details and ask questions. Like all continuous improvement efforts, it never truly ends. And it could help your team see this important system in a whole new light.

    Image by Oliver Kepka from Pixabay

  • Change for the Change Maker

    Change for the Change Maker

    I believe we humans have gotten better at adapting to the pace of change. But the big, pressing changes often distract us from paying attention to other, less obvious adjustments that might make our systems work more effectively. In the last post, we looked at the internal people development systems of organizations and how they are all about change management. These systems manage change and can instigate change. They are also open to transformation to make them more effective.

    Seeing the system might be the first change needed

    The connections seem obvious; but it is easy for stakeholders to lose sight of them. The PDS is a complex, dynamic system operating at various times, in multiple places throughout the organization, and involving multiple people. The difficulty lies in seeing the whole system in operation.

    Change ripples through the system. The training function expands abilities and capacities. Recruiting alters team structure and makeup, while onboarding aims to change perspectives and motivations. Retention seeks to strengthen relationships and boost trajectories while the performance management function improves capabilities and potential. Together, these all work to sustain or change the organizational culture. Inefficiency in one area flows through the system and impacts the other areas.

    Weak, neglected connections still allow the system to operate, but with less effectiveness. On the other hand, enhanced connections share data, ensure consistent communication across the PDS, and use tools like training matrices and development pathways to engage teams.

    Constant change, aka continuous improvement

    It’s often easier to improve a visible, linear system like a production line that makes widgets than to improve a non-linear system that lives within larger systems. But lean thinking can be applied to the PDS.

    Adopting a continuous improvement mindset within the team can help ensure that the processes that make up the PDS are focused on delivering value to all of its customers.

    Lean thinking is about eliminating waste, which certainly exists within most PDSs. It might be the waste of time that occurs with outdated training methods or poor training tools. It might be wasted opportunities when performance management efforts are ignored. Wasted effort of underdeveloped trainers is another example.

    Learning organizations are always changing  

    Grow the individuals within the system, and the system itself will change. The optimized PDS appreciates and cultivates the love of learning throughout the organization. The effects of this level of improvement within the PDS show up as improved engagement, more ideas generated, and deeper relationships formed. This improvement radiates outward to all other organizational systems.

    Changes to chase

    Other changes that can impact the PDS. One is a change in expectations. Expect the system to operate better, then put in the work to make it happen. Changes in perception. Help the team see the system, understand its power, and challenge the status quo. There are also changes in the level of dedication to constantly improve the PDS. It takes concerted effort and determination to improve this system. This level of improvement requires strong leadership and commitment from all stakeholders.

    Some of the improvements we can make to our people development systems are subtle. But the system is open to continuous improvement. If it is restricted and ignored it will never be able to be the change maker it is intended to be.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

  • The Most Important Element in the People Development System

    The Most Important Element in the People Development System

    Time has a way of pressing in on our awareness. Although the clock and the calendar can exert multiple influences, this awareness does not always lead to the same level of appreciation for time. I saw this recently on an exploration of the dual vocational training system in Germany. The Germans have developed a practical patience with regard to training their workforce. Their approach is underpinned by a deeper appreciation for the impacts that time can have when it comes to developing workers. At the organizational level, time affects all of the functional areas of the people development system.

    Obviously, time is not the only key element in the PDS. There’s also money, commitment, information, and leadership. Like the element of time, each of these is directly linked to all five functional areas of the PDS and each requires significant investment to optimize the system. What is unique about time is the speed at which impacts can appear. Typically, the consequences caused by the others, whether by absence or by presence, can show up rather quickly. This is not always the case with time.

    For example, an underappreciation of time in the PDS can:

    • Short circuit training efforts.
    • Rush recruiting initiatives.
    • Reduce onboarding to just orientation.
    • Dramatically lower the probability of retention.
    • Reduce the effectiveness of performance management.

    The outcomes of each of these failures, and many others related, may only show up in the future as low morale, weak overall performance, or lack of company growth, just to name a few. Unpacking the impacts of systems thinking in The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge memorably pointed out, “Decisions and actions taken at some point in time have a delayed reaction or impact at a later time.”

    Operation of the PDS is suboptimal when time is undervalued. This is particularly true when it comes to human interactions. The wider role of the PDS is to facilitate;

    • Learning and development
    • Communication
    • Value exchange
    • Relationship building
    • Maintenance of the culture

    If process steps are truncated for the sake of expediency or the tyranny of the urgent, the organization and the individuals slowly suffer.  

    When the time for people to connect is actually invested, there are still the tools of the PDS to consider. Recruiting plans, onboarding plans, development pathways, and the process of performance management all require time to develop, deploy, and deliver results, not to mention the activities involved in training.

    Optimization, the actions of continuous improvement for the PDS, is an ongoing process that requires investment in all the elements listed above. If stakeholders who watch over the PDS are unable or unwilling to be patient; to invest adequate time for the system to operate properly, then the PDS cannot perform at its optimal level.

    Time can be a powerful partner or a formidable foe in our efforts to find, train, and retain talented people. We can’t control time, and it’s not enough to simply acknowledge its pressing influence. A more balanced approach is needed. One that keeps the sense of urgency to make progress and solve problems against the tension of the long-term investments in the system’s strategic success.

    Image by Tumisu from Pixabay 

  • Identifying Waste in the People Development System

    Identifying Waste in the People Development System

    Some types of waste are easier to spot than others. In many industries, lean concepts aim to identify, from the customer’s point of view, what adds value and what does not. Whether in a product or service, those non-value-adding wastes are to be ruthlessly hunted down and banished. The wastes in an organization’s internal workforce development processes can be tangible and intangible.

    Tangible Losses

    Most organizations invest money, time, and effort in their people development system. Naturally, waste can cause losses to all three resources. The negative costs of a poorly managed PDS can occur at multiple levels over both the short term and the long term.

    Within the PDS examples of tangible wastes can include:

    • Paying people to attend ineffective training; this wastes the wages, time, and effort of participants and trainers. 
    • Wasted personnel hours in unproductive recruiting.
    • Onboarding that does not effectively engage new hires, resulting in their premature departure.  
    • If the new hire leaves before an ROI can be realized, other cost of a hire factors (pre-employment testing, advertising, placement agencies, etc.) are wasted. 
    • Mismatching people and jobs. Instead of optimizing the talent, all the effort to train them, manage their performance, and retain them in jobs that are below their potential results in a lower ROI than might have been realized if they were properly matched and thriving.
    • And, of course, there are the quality issues caused by poor training.

    Some of these costs are often captured in a cost-of-hire calculation. It is surprising though, how many organizations do not fully understand all of the costs that go into developing people.

    To prevent the PDS wasting time, money, and effort requires stakeholders to look more deeply at the system. Is data being collected that can help evaluate the effectiveness of training and recruiting? Are development pathways in place that guide the growth of each team member? Are they actively involved in constructing and managing these development plans?

    Intangible Losses 

    Then there are the wastes that are more difficult to see. These include lost opportunities, lost potential, and missed relationships. These might look like:

    • Missed business opportunities (increased productivity, launching new products, continuous improvement efforts).
    • Opportunity for teams to get a well-trained member when they need them.
    • The potential to put the right person in the right position.  
    • For recruiters to be connecting to better sources.
    • Employees are not allowed to pursue a personalized development pathway.
    • The opportunity to gather more and better data that could help improve the PDS.
    • Not using tools that connect people (development pathways, coaching, etc.)
    • Leaders not fully utilizing coaching and training techniques.

    Understanding the intangible losses that can occur in the PDS requires some reflection by all stakeholders. Does the system reliably identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for each position? Do we really understand the strengths and weaknesses of our team members, and have we properly aligned their development plans for their success? Does the PDS promote and help sustain meaningful relationships for mentoring and coaching? What opportunities are being missed, and what potential is being overlooked?

    Lean thinking, rooted in manufacturing, has enshrined eight types of waste to be eliminated. Some of these traditional wastes, but not all, can be identified in the systems used to develop people. However, recognizing that waste is present in the PDS, though it might be hidden or difficult to quantify, can help leaders to focus continuous improvement efforts on this very important system.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • Four Important Characteristics of a People Development System

    Four Important Characteristics of a People Development System

    Some are open, some are closed. Some are simple, while others are complex, ranging from a mostly linear flow to interwoven layers of relationships and connections. Systems come in all shapes and sizes. An organization’s people development system is a great example of a complex and interrelated system. These internal efforts at workforce development have certain characteristics that make it challenging to optimize them.

    The People Development System

    Difficult to See the Action

    There are usually artifacts that help leaders see what the PDS is doing. Training matrices, development pathways, and performance management tools provide some visibility. However, the actual operations of the system, the functioning of various elements, are scattered around the organization and can happen at various times.

    The recruiting process occurs at different levels, at various locations, and in different ways. Training schedules share some insight; however, some valuable training activities may take the form of a one-on-one encounter on a production line. Other forms of training come from informal learning opportunities, mentoring or coaching interactions, or even self-directed learning.

    Retention might be strengthened through a simple conversation or in a review of a team member’s development pathway. Many of these important PDS functions are facilitated without schedules or plans and are done with little or no fanfare.

    Plays out Over Time

    When does recruiting, onboarding, performance management, retention, and training happen? When each one needs to. When other organizational systems send signals. When the market sends signals. All five functions could potentially be operating at different places and at different times due to a wide variety of factors that moves the system to act or to react.

    Several of the outcomes of these functions, although connected, sometimes develop slowly; for example, communication, relationships, and engagement. These can all happen unpredictably and at varying speeds.

    Results come at staggered intervals too. The impacts of training require follow-up to show effectiveness. Time to fill an open position is an important metric for recruiting. The effects of performance management become evident only after some interval of time has passed.    

    Multifaceted

    People entering the PDS, eventually work their way into all five functional areas of the system. Some of these interactions occur simultaneously in multiple parts of the PDS. For example, they will experience training at the same time as they experience retention efforts and at the same time that performance management support is given. Recruiting, onboarding, and retention are all tied together in the optimized PDS.

    Multiple stakeholders

    Many people play a role in the optimized PDS. As the system supports each team member, various leaders connect with those team members and with other leaders involved in worker development.

    Direct supervisors encourage training and influence retention. Department heads along with supervisors get involved in the early stages of recruiting and onboarding. Senior leaders make decisions based on the performance of the PDS. Essentially, everyone is involved with the human resource management function.

    ­­­­Let These Characteristics Guide

    Optimization requires making the invisible visible. Map the PDS and show how data flows, where communication should occur, and where leaders need to collaborate in support of the system and of the team members.

    Greater visibility gives stakeholders a more holistic view of the system and allows for better and more timely decision-making. Honoring the interconnectedness of the PDS helps team members experience a smooth development journey and it promotes deeper levels of employee engagement.

    Developing and maintaining an engaged workforce requires a dynamic and complex blend of processes that occurs across the whole organization. To continuously improve this internal workforce development system, it is imperative to appreciate how interdependent it really is.

    Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

  • 3 Reasons to Optimize Your Internal People Development System

    3 Reasons to Optimize Your Internal People Development System

    Practically all organizations practice workforce development. In many instances, these systems can be underdeveloped leading to less than stellar performance. Here are three compelling reasons to enhance this very important system.

    The PDS Supports Culture.

    “Talent acquisition and retention are as critical to culture as fuel is to a combustion engine.”

    Throughout their book, Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch, Coffman & Sorensen describe the attributes and qualities of high-performing cultures and how these are established and sustained. The tools and processes that enable and empower such cultures form a connected system; one that can be continuously improved.

    The optimized PDS understands that the people brought into this culture are on a journey that begins with recruitment, gains momentum at onboarding, is propelled by training, and enhanced by performance management. Retention begins at the recruiting stage and ushers those people along their journey.

    The PDS Supports all Other Organizational Systems

    “How we manage our people is the fluid that connects all the working parts and brings them the oxygen and nutrients to keep them all working as they should.” Toyota Culture; The heart and Soul of The Toyota Way

    Jeffrey Liker & Michael Hoseus explored Toyota’s HR philosophies and practices that support their famous Toyota Production System. These researchers described culture as the “blood flow” that makes the TPS operate.

    A reliable system to manage this “flow” hangs on a framework supporting systematic recruitment, robust onboarding, deliberate training, and dynamic performance management. Long-term retention anchors the whole process.

    The PDS Aligns

    “The visionary companies translate their ideologies into tangible mechanisms aligned to send a consistent set of reinforcing signals. They indoctrinate people, they impose tightness of fit, and create a sense of belonging…” Built to Last.

    Jim Collins and Jerry Porras follow this statement with a list of ways these visionary companies accomplish this. Their list describes training and onboarding practices, communication methods, and tools that include incentives and advancement criteria along with relationship-driven dynamics.

    All of these require a PDS that is visible to all stakeholders, clearly connected across the organization, and in lockstep with organizational goals and objectives.

    The system that organizations use to find, train, and retain people is a system within a system. This PDS serves as the connector and communication mechanism. It facilitates relationships and in so doing, directs the fuel that drives culture, provides needed substance and support to help sustain it, and ensures that important signals can pass through the system consistently.

    Such a critical system can offer great rewards from continuous improvement and optimization.

  • Optimized People Development Systems Drive Better

    Optimized People Development Systems Drive Better

    The car is sliding sideways, the engine screaming, rear tires smoking, the front tires turned into a series of long, violent skids that change quickly and often. Everything is moving fast as the driver uses a combination of the car’s controls to keep the tire smoke boiling and keep it swinging wildly into the next turn.

    This is one modern-day definition of drifting – lots of speed, lots of adrenaline. Course adjustments yield instant results. The ability to guide the speeding car effectively is a critical skill.

    Steering something that moves at a snail’s pace offers a whole new set of challenges and requires unique skills for those doing the steering.

    Workplace culture moves slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, and sometimes when we wish it wouldn’t. Gallup recently published an insightful article called How to Steer a Drifting Culture in which they highlighted some of the dynamics that cause this slow drift.

    Alongside some great advice for managing constantly-shifting cultural influences, there is also an underlying challenge for organizations to consider how well their internal workforce development system functions as a whole. In other words, is their people development system optimized to help provide the guidance required?

    The People Development System

    The article highlights three important system requirements:

    • The system must provide clear feedback.
    • The PDS should be purpose-driven.
    • Communication and relationships across the PDS are vital.

    Information Needed

    The authors suggest, “…leaders should measure the strengths and weaknesses of their one-of-a-kind culture…”

    The PDS has to provide various types of information to help determine conditions. If the recruiting is strong but training is weak, culture will be negatively impacted. If retention efforts are weak, a strong onboarding process will be less successful. A robust performance management element will help bolster retention. An optimized PDS provides this data.  

    Communication transmits culture. And that flow of communication starts at recruiting and continues all the way through to retention and performance management. Capturing strengths and weaknesses in this type of system can only happen when communication is open and flowing through an optimized PDS.

    A poorly connected siloed PDS will be unable to read the culture properly. Continuously improving the PDS ensures that leaders are getting useful and timely feedback. 

    Purpose Drives Culture

    “…the best leaders consider their purpose and brand when designing their culture…”

    In a recent post, I suggested that a workforce optimization system that understands its reason for being will behave differently than a system that simply aims at obviously significant goals. Taking this idea further, the Gallup article highlights the connection between purpose and brand and how employees can be motivated if they understand both.

    Optimizing the PDS helps to refine the system operation so that these two important drivers are clearly embedded as team members encounter the system from beginning to end.

    Clear, Continuous Communication

    The authors suggest four questions helpful in determining where and how culture drift has occurred. These questions relate to:

    • Subtle unseen changes that occur within the system.
    • Affected perceptions of employees (and other stakeholders).
    • What the PDS is promoting about the culture.
    • The employee value proposition (telling the organization’s story to existing and potential team members – from the start of the conversation (recruiting) all the way through to retention).  

    All of these dynamics can be difficult to ascertain. The system has to be able to understand subtle shifts and monitor things like mood and attitude. As I see it, the only way to effectively answer these questions is by having an optimized people development system operating as a system, not as five siloed areas. A system that is sharing data and having connected conversations.

    Drifting cars require several system elements for control – brakes, throttle, transmission, steering – all working in concert. Steering a slowly evolving culture also requires a system that works together.

    In short, if the system that organizations use to find, train, and retain people is taken for granted; if it is not subjected to continuous improvement and optimization; if its complexity is unappreciated and unaccounted for, it will struggle to guide critical adjustments over the very slow drifting cultural journey.

  • After A Great Start

    After A Great Start

    Growth requires the ability to maintain a type of momentum. The Aspin Institute hosted a webinar today, one of the best I’ve seen in a while, titled Opportunity by Design: A Discussion on Growing Worker Skills and Talent in the Workplace.

    The panel included representatives from two large employers, a national labor/management organization, and a researcher from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

    The discussion was very insightful, with the panelists sharing best practices and describing innovative programs they had launched. The research findings described the needs, as well as some of the gaps that exist. Personal reflections and advice were offered, with a high level of passion that each felt for their work.

    Preparing for Momentum

    As I listened to the exchanges and read the comments that came across the chat window, I couldn’t stop thinking about the small to midsized employers. How would their internal workforce development efforts need to change in order to handle these new approaches to finding, training, and retaining people?

    Unless their people development system (PDS) is optimized, it is unlikely that they will be able to sustain this new direction.

    The People Development System

    Small employers typically have limited resources. It is difficult for most of them to launch new workforce initiatives, connect to external workforce development systems, or secure funding. Although, due to the volatility of the labor market, many are open to these changes. However, there is the challenge of sustaining these efforts, once they are underway.

    Managing Momentum

    The panelist talked about building career ladders and development pathways. These are extremely important and versatile tools that take time to design and implement. Using these tools effectively over time requires a strong training element within their PDS. It also requires that all the PDS stakeholders utilize these tools in a timely manner as the person climbs the ladder or travels their path.

    It is one thing to attract new talent and quite another to retain it and continue to help those folks develop as they grow into their career. Enhancing the retention and performance management elements of the PDS will also be crucial to sustaining momentum.

    Connecting to the greater workforce development system offers another sustainability challenge. The webinar participants encouraged these connections, as did many attendees via the chat box. The internal workforce development activities must align with these external systems in several important areas to take full advantage of these options and to ensure that new momentum lasts.

    Sustaining Momentum

    Most organizations have an internal system for finding, training, and retaining people. Many do not actually see it as a connected system that could benefit from continuous improvement; what I call optimization.

    Being a system, it can benefit from a systems-thinking approach and from lean thinking. Helping organizations build a culture of learning, actually seeing themselves as a learning organization, can also aid in building the type of PDS that can make a lasting impact with these new approaches to job designs and learning opportunities.  

    Done well, designing jobs with advancement in mind and expanding learning opportunities for workers would definitely produce growth for small to midsized employers. Though, it seems that most of the discussions around these opportunities center on the need for change and the importance of implementation.

    If these initiatives are to have staying power, the company’s internal workforce development system has to be ready to take the momentum from these opportunities and translate it into sustainable practices. Helping them optimize this system can ensure successful implementation and translate into long-term success.

  • Optimized PDS Drivers

    Optimized PDS Drivers

    This is the system that gets things done. It is arguably the most important system within an organization; literally empowering all other organizational systems – production, procurement, quality, and business operations. It is the system that cultivates talent and creativity, supplies ideas and powers implementation. It puts faces and names to the organization’s culture by attracting, training, and retaining people. Practically every organization has this workforce development system in some form, operating at some level of performance, although, it is a very difficult system to see. Its elements function at multiple levels, with many different stakeholders, and at various times as the organization marches toward its vision. Because this system is so vital to the overall organization, it makes sense to continuously improve its capabilities. It makes sense for all stakeholders to optimize their people development system (PDS).

    Four Key Drivers

    An act, process, or methodology of making something (such as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible – this is, according to Merriam-Webster.com, the definition of optimization. Continuous improvement is to pursue optimization relentlessly. For the PDS it means an intense, long-term effort to:

    • Optimize the purpose
      • Know the why behind the objectives that drive the PDS.
      • Establish higher standards and expectations.
    • Optimize processes
      • Make the complete system visible.
      • Understand and improve the connections between system elements.
      • Remove waste and inefficiency.
    • Optimize performance
      • Utilize system elements more effectively.
      • Use more and better data to make decisions.
      • Sustain the system.
    • Optimize people
      • Expanding the idea and concept of development across the system to include:
        • Professional growth
        • Personal progress
        • Facilitating relationships
        • Enhancing culture

    Three Key Tools

    Optimizing the PDS is the ongoing process of improving and aligning these key drivers so that all other organizational systems have the support needed to achieve business goals and objectives. There are three key tools that support this journey toward a more powerful and effective people development system. Systems thinking brings connections to light, illuminating system behaviors. Lean thinking helps to identify waste and keep the team focused on continuously pursuing perfection. And foundationally, the concepts supporting a learning organization help to sustain a more robust PDS and enhance employee engagement.  

    I look forward to exploring the different facets of optimization for the PDS in future posts. I would love to learn from your experiences too. How have you seen this optimization play out within your organization?

  • How Well do You See This System?

    How Well do You See This System?

    Most organizations have this system but many are missing the opportunity to optimize it. That’s because nearly everyone is familiar with each system component, however, few see how they work in concert. This difficult-to-see system is the people development system. It is responsible for many, many deliverables with regard to finding, training, and retaining people. By many measures, it is the most important system within the organization because it empowers all of the other in-house systems. The PDS underpins numerous relationships and fosters communication across the organization and, for those that choose to maximize its performance, it offers opportunities to realize gains and improvements that otherwise might go unrealized.

    More than the sum of its parts  

    The PDS encompasses all necessary steps that bring people into the organization and connects them to organizational activities. But it is more than that. It may be more commonly known as workforce development or perhaps the human resource system, but I prefer the name People Development System because it is a reminder that real people with real names and real faces are the ultimate focus of these processes. This system is the mechanism by which value is exchanged; the value that the individual brings and the value that the organization brings. The PDS humanizes business plans. That is; it facilitates the human interactions that power those plans. The five functional components of the PDS are:

    Communication Channels

    Within the system, communication should occur all through the PDS. For example, information is passed through the system to determine performance, identify needs, and for planning and additions, etc. A well-connected PDS will pass communication through these five areas so that the different stages of the systems are all aiming for the same outcomes and using the same measures. Communication from the system to the team member begins in the recruiting process and that effort should become an ongoing conversation throughout their tenure. There should be a continuity to those conversations that both parties value and honor. To optimize the PDS, the organization can closely examine these communication connections and the tools and data used. Even if the current methods are good, there might be opportunities to make them better.  

    The PDS communicates via:

    • Data – what is happening, performance measures, system conditions, etc.
    • Artifacts – development pathways, reports, storyboards, etc.
    • Leadership – talking about the PDS, conveying info through the PDS, one-on-one discussions, and generally managing the system.

    To get the most out of each of these, a close examination might reveal some improvement possibilities. Are we getting all the data we need? Can all stakeholders see the PDS and how it is performing? Are leaders (this includes all leaders, not just the HR pros) equipped to manage the PDS effectively?

    Developing Relationships

    All five functional areas of the PDS are relationship driven. When a new team member is added, the obvious intention is that they will experience all five dimensions of the system. An easy analogy might look like this:

    Creating conditions and mechanisms that foster strong relationships can add strength to the organization. Conditions are mostly a factor of the organization’s culture. Does it support relationship building? Tools can include development pathways and career ladders, while leadership development strategies can help build stronger coaches, more empathetic leaders, and better communicators. Continuous improvement here can pay huge dividends.

    Hiding in Plain Sight

    As the PDS functions, significant system processes are transactional and therefore hard to recognize. Some aspects are visible – job postings, onboarding plans, training schedules, etc. However, crucial conversations occur at different times, development plans are discussed privately, appreciation activities are held, and coaching and mentoring play out somewhere in the organization. A visible system like that involved in the manufacture of some object is easy to see. The PDS is a non-linear system, with functions happening in various places and at various times all over the organization. A system like this can be easily overlooked for improvement opportunities.

    What if you didn’t have to rely on an image that pops into one’s head when the PDS was discussed? Some system functions are invisible and happen “behind the scenes” so to speak. But a flow map and some simple graphics could help the team begin to define the connections and their importance. Development pathways (a.k.a. learning plans, progression plans, etc.) can also help because these can be used throughout the PDS journey from recruiting through performance management. Helping employees make this personal connection to the big picture could potentially heighten engagement. Ideally, making the PDS visible to all stakeholders could help them relate to the system in a more meaningful way.

    Finding the Potential

    The processes that organizations use to find, train, and retain people is a dynamic system that can be difficult to see. This system, like all others, is open to the concepts of continuous improvement. A good place to begin is to look more closely at the whole system, the connections between the five areas, the tools, the data, and the leadership that administers the system. There are certainly benefits to be found by optimizing this system. This process, like all continuous improvement efforts, takes time and effort, however, the payoff can strengthen the most important of organizational systems.