The Optimized People Development System

Tag: Workplace Culture

  • Avoiding Slow Surrender in the People Development System

    Avoiding Slow Surrender in the People Development System

    They are usually abandoned gradually, though unintentionally. They live on determination, but when discipline fades, these are among the first attributes to disappear. Ironically, growth and success often cause them to be compromised and quietly forgotten. They are the fundamentals, the essential, bedrock practices so vital for success.

    It’s been said that fundamentals win championships. Look up almost any famous athlete and they often point to their mastery of the fundamentals as the main driver of their success. The concept applies to organizational habits as well; especially when it comes to developing and keeping a strong workforce.

    “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a human being.”

    Football is a complex game. When coach Vince Lombardi embarked on a journey to build a championship team, he went all the way back to the most basic concept. He reintroduced his 1961 team to the football, not to a strategy, to some new rules, or to new ways to play the game, but to the ball itself. He refocused their attention on the most basic of the basics. A detail easily taken for granted. This article from James Clear discusses the impact of Lombardi’s simple idea.

    At its most basic level, an optimized people development system is about people. Its role is to serve people well, treat them well, and keep them well. To do this, the system must value relationships and foster effective communication. Appreciating the whole person and committing to their development and growth are basic principles for an effective PDS. But it’s easy to lose sight of the basics.

    Fast-paced workplaces busy trying to remain competitive and satisfy customers, can let important practices drift, and begin to assume that the basics are somehow happening. Surely everyone knows that the organization values people, right? A detail easily obscured by daily pressures.

    If your PDS seems to have lost something, has grown weak, or worse, has never been strong, perhaps there’s a need to revisit the fundamentals. Was there a time when the PDS was more focused on people? When the basics of valuing every individual were much more prevalent? Has the system crept away from this basic tenant?

    Of Great Consequence.

    Merriam Webster.com offers another nuanced meaning of fundamental, “It applies to something that is a foundation without which an entire system or complex whole would collapse.” The role of the PDS is fundamentally important.

    This system supports all other organizational systems. Practically every organizational system requires people (sounds basic, doesn’t it?). If those people who operate all the organization’s systems are unhappy, underdeveloped, or undervalued, there can be serious consequences. However, when systems are difficult to see (as the PDS is), it is easy to forget how important they really are.

    In practice, this means that leaders and stakeholders of the PDS must constantly assign high levels of importance to the PDS and be disciplined about maintaining this focus. Previous posts on this blog explore this idea in more detail.

    Avoid a Slow Surrender.

    Mahatma Gandhi once said, “All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.”

    Abandoning the fundamentals that empower an organization’s people development system is a slow surrender. It starts when the stakeholders fail to value relationships. When they forget that treating people with dignity and respect is non-negotiable, when they fail to encourage their people to learn and grow, they give up future potential and miss the opportunity to deepen engagement. Communication weakens and powerful components of success slowly disappear.

    When the perceived importance of the PDS diminishes, training gets pushed off and staff development sees little or no investment. When leaders take the PDS for granted, they can inadvertently compromise the organization’s vision.

    Modern methods for finding, training, and retaining people are very complex. In the spirit of Vince Lombardi, leaders should ensure that the basic practices that support their people development system are not lost in the melee. In addition, they should strive to constantly highlight the importance of the system to the organization’s goals.

    To keep the fundamentals at the forefront of the organization’s collective mindset takes discipline and determination. Champions pay attention to the fundamentals. They commit themselves to them and practice them consistently. Building a championship-caliber people development system requires the same level of commitment.

  • Who’s in? – 4 Tips to Win a Competition You May Not Realize You’re in

    Who’s in? – 4 Tips to Win a Competition You May Not Realize You’re in

    An employer of choice makes better choices about who to bring on board because they have made good choices about their people development system and the culture they want to build.

    In this blog series, we’ve been exploring how all employers are competing to be an employer of choice, even if they don’t realize they are in the game. To improve their position in this race, the first tip is to learn about other competitor organizations they are up against. The second, is that the stakeholders of the organization’s people development system should realize that the potential employee they are after isn’t the only one making choices.

    In addition to hiring decisions, stakeholders of the company’s PDS make crucial choices about the way the system is administered and supported. Those decisions feed back into the employer of choice calculus.

    The third tip relates to the people who own the PDS.

    Let the whole team in on it.

    “That’s HR’s responsibility.” I often hear responses along these lines when I ask leaders about their internal workforce development efforts. It takes more than just the HR team to make the PDS work well.

    There are many stakeholders of an organization’s workforce development processes. These include frontline supervisors, line leads, department heads, and senior managers. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget to tell many of those stakeholders that we are aiming to be a preferred employer and that we need their help in doing it.

    They don’t know what they don’t know.

    Leaders at all levels influence the culture. A great example is their attitude toward training. If they are unwilling to give their team members time to attend training or if they complain about the process, their team will be negatively impacted. By extension, if they do not understand and appreciate the need for a learning culture, they will short circuit efforts to build such a culture.

    Stakeholders are important connectors across the five functional areas of the PDS – recruiting, onboarding, training, retention, and performance management. Do we let them know this? Do we train them to be good stewards of the PDS and the people that this system serves?

    Recruiting great potential talent is wasted when those new hires are passed on to team leaders who do not play their part well. Conversations that begin in the recruiting phase should continue through the onboarding and into the training and retention phase. The PDS should allow this communication to happen easily and consistently.

    If all stakeholders do not know the extent of their influence, and how to make that influence positive in nature, how can the company become an EoC?

    Help them see their part.

    Much of the leadership development that is offered to frontline and mid-level leaders is focused on the leader and their ability to engage people. Making good decisions, communicating well, and thinking strategically are all important learnings for leaders.

    It is just as important that all the leaders and stakeholders of the PDS see the system and understand their role in its performance. They also need the training and development to help them fulfill that part of their responsibilities.

    Building a healthy and vibrant company culture depends on the efforts of all the players. Get them involved in the competition for EoC by telling them who they are competing against and why winning (or at least moving up the rankings of employers) is so important to the company’s future and theirs.

    Once the stakeholders on board and collectively pushing to win the competition for EoC, the system must be able to sustain your new status. Which is the topic of our next post.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • Who’s choosing? 4 Tips to Win a Competition You May Not Realize You’re in

    Who’s choosing? 4 Tips to Win a Competition You May Not Realize You’re in

    Every employer is a competitor in the race to be a preferred employer, that employer that draws people in and keeps them engaged for long stretches of their careers. There are some leaders who have a watchful eye toward the goal of being an employer of choice. However, there may be quite a few who aren’t watching the race at all. If there is a list of 50 or 500 employers in your neighborhood, your company ranks somewhere on the scale of great, good, or bad places to work.

    My last post advocated that a good first step toward improving your position is to understand the nature of the competition. Recognize your competitors, get to know them, learn from them, and develop a strategy to move up the rankings. The second tip has to do with choices.

    It’s not one-sided.

    Most literature promoting the idea of becoming an EoC is written with the employee as the one whose choice is of paramount importance. While it is true that they are the focus of this competition, they are not the only ones making choices. Employers must also make important choices, and these decisions inform the EoC rankings by communicating with current and potential employees about the company’s attitude toward people.

    Consequences of choice.

    Bad hiring decisions can harm any previous efforts taken to become an EoC. If, for example, a poor choice of candidates is made because the organization’s people development system is unclear on the team’s needs, the new hire will likely leave prematurely and perhaps with a not-so-good review of the experience.

    Some choices made by employers are made well before the hiring process. Long-term decisions to support or not support training delivery will have future impacts on the morale of the existing team and therefore the atmosphere within the organization. Culture is the key to becoming (and continuing as) an EoC. Having a great benefits package within a poor culture won’t move your company up the rankings in the minds of employees. The point is that, in addition to hiring decisions, leaders and stakeholders of the company’s people development system make other crucial choices about the way the system is administered and supported. Those decisions feedback into the employer of choice calculus.

    Positioned to choose.

    The company’s PDS is the primary system within the organization that nurtures culture. It is the system that facilitates communication with employees. Ultimately, the PDS is the system that decides if you are an employer of choice or not. This is why it is important to ensure that it operates effectively and efficiently.

    Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay

  • What it Means to Optimize a People Development System

    What it Means to Optimize a People Development System

    In some instances optimization is a moving target. Continually improving a system that is influenced by several stakeholders and operates on many levels is challenging. Add in the fact that many system functions can occur at many different times – some overlapping, some sequentially, some unknown to most stakeholders – and you have an idea of how much the target can move. That is the nature of an organization’s people development system. Interestingly, these dynamics present some unique enhancement opportunities.

    The Obvious

    On one level, optimization of the PDS means striving to continuously improve the system’s functions by identifying efficiencies. For example, how people are logically and effectively moved through the system, how data is captured, how PDS tools are deployed, etc.

    There are also opportunities to engage all stakeholders through stronger communication and more robust connections. This might look like monitoring the types of messages being sent and received across the PDS, fostering relationships through mentoring, and creating strong visual communication pieces such as training matrices.

    This is the practical, operational side of the PDS. Other improvements at this level might involve upgrading tools like individualized onboarding schedules and development pathways.

    The Less Obvious

    Because the system is concerned with people, there is another level that is more intuitive and driven by emotion. On this level, optimization can mean things like strategically aligning the values of all PDS customers.

    The customers of the PDS are 1) the people being trained, 2) the organizational teams that those trained people will join, and 3) the organization itself. Each of these customers bring specific values and expectations, some of which are often unspoken. The PDS is responsible for facilitating the exchange of these ideals. This requires constant attention and constant affirmation that the value brought is appreciated.

    As the PDS continues to improve and become more effective, it allows each customer to consistently contribute value to the other customers and fulfill certain expectations of growth, performance, and of learning.

    Optimization on this level can also include creating and sustaining a very particular awareness. It needs to register with the individual at an emotional level that the organization wants them to grow and thrive. This perception feeds self-efficacy and helps create and strengthen bonds.

    This is more than overt communication. This type of awareness is ultimately fed by the culture, the level of enthusiasm that leaders exhibit about learning, the consistency of the expectations to learn and grow, and even the amount of money invested. These types of signals speak volumes about the organization’s level of commitment to developing people.

    At this level of the PDS, personal commitment and a willingness to engage are nurtured. Optimization requires first that leaders understand the nuances of this level of performance in the PDS and second that they maintain a commitment to constantly monitor it for improvement.

    Appreciating the Levels

    Due to multiple levels of complexity, it takes a very focused effort to see the complete PDS that operates within an organization. Seeing the obvious opportunities as well as those less obvious but still powerful movers requires that all stakeholders have a holistic understanding of the system, including those influential levels where bonds are created and emotions are engaged.

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

  • Just how Powerful are Your People?

    Just how Powerful are Your People?

    Everyone has some amount of power – even if it isn’t much. I remember discussing this idea on several occasions in my graduate studies in educational psychology. The learner has power in the system meant to grant them access to knowledge.

    They have the power to choose to participate; they can determine at what level to affect outcomes within the class; and, if given the opportunity, they even have the power to shape the curriculum.

    The point is; they bring something to the table that is important for the system’s success and survival. They also bring this type of power to the workplace. 

    Some may look at an organization’s people development system and think that generally the power flows in one direction. After all, the organization offers training, development, and other growth opportunities. Employees receive these benefits and find security, safety, potential success, etc.

    However, the caretakers of an optimized PDS understand the nature of shared power and seek to use it to continuously improve their system.

    According to the American Psychological Association, reciprocal determinism, “…maintains that the environment influences behavior, behavior influences the environment, and both influence the individual, who also influences them.” A concept largely attributed to Albert Bandera’s work in social learning theory.

    The people served by the PDS are beneficiaries but also benefactors; customers but also value adders; free agents that can either help or harm.

    Respecting and enabling these give-and-take relationships can help ensure that the undeniable power possessed by employees gets invested back into the organization.

    The Power to Choose

    People get to decide whether or not to contribute; they can selectively add value; they can deliberately enhance organizational pride; they can intentionally choose to be a positive force in the culture. They can do all of these and more – or not.

    They can choose to learn, to strengthen communication, or to underperform. They can elect to exercise their power to help attract talent, to help train that new talent, and to help retain it. Even if they are not directly involved as stakeholders of the people development system.

    The best people development systems use tools like development pathways that help clarify available choices and encourage greater engagement. These top-notch systems acknowledge contributions and are careful to recognize the value that each person chooses to bring.

    The Power to Effect

    The collective motivations of individuals drive an organization’s efforts. Inspired people pour extra energy into their work and their teams. That extra energy underpins stronger relationships, fuels creativity, or simply adds to a heightened level of determination to excel. Uninspired people are generally unconcerned about the affect they might have on the team and the organization.

    Leaders of an optimized PDS develop a new appreciation of the idea of engagement. They understand that the power of influence ripples throughout the organization and can enhance the environment even more.

    The Power to Change

    Being adaptable in today’s workplace is a much-desired skill. People who possess the power and willingness to change, continuously upgrade, and repeatedly step out of their comfort zone are highly valued.  

    Yet change requires support from the organization. It requires a culture that celebrates learning and, to a great extent, a culture that embraces failure as a means of moving forward.

    Development processes that not only support these ideas but actively encourage them can attract people who are excited by change and motivate those who might be intimidated by it.

    Recognizing that every individual has some degree of power is a sign of respect. It is an acknowledgment that everyone involved brings something valuable to the table. And that can make a people development system more effective.  

    Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

  • A System That Never Quits… or, Shouldn’t Anyway  

    A System That Never Quits… or, Shouldn’t Anyway  

    In some systems, processes can be easily followed from a beginning point to completion. For example, production systems tend to have a start-to-finish flow. Raw materials come in, modifications occur, and finished goods exit the process. Service delivery processes can often be easily traced within systems designed for that purpose. In these systems, it is fairly easy to understand what is happening at any given time. It is not so easy with the people development system. If leaders do not understand the dynamic behaviors of the PDS, opportunities could be missed, system performance could be limited, and poor decisions could harm the system’s effectiveness.

    Phases of Activity

    I have made the case that the PDS is difficult to see in operation. This is due to non-linearity and to multiple variables that come into play sight unseen. An important implication of this is the need to recognize what parts of the system are active and when those activities are taking place.

    As an open system, the PDS operates in and is influenced by its environment, taking feedback from other organizational systems and adjusting. The system is always active at some level. When headcount is unstable, recruiting and onboarding efforts are more active. Think of this as phase one system activity.

    When headcount is stable, the emphasis shifts to retention and performance management – phase two. Training processes support both phases of the PDS, with these activities fluctuating based on several system variables.

    Something is Always Happening

    No matter which phase is dominant, activity in the less dominant phase should still be present. Does the act of recruiting ever really come to a complete stop? In an optimized PDS, there is always some effort made to improve and refine sources, improve materials, and identify potential audiences, even if there are no current job openings to fill.

    Is the training program constantly evaluated for efficacy and efficiency? No matter where the greatest workforce development activity is focused, continuously improving training should be of paramount importance. Good training has far-reaching impacts on the organization.   

    Development pathways are a tool that should be used in all phases of the PDS and are especially important in bolstering retention and performance management. Are these pathways being actively managed? It doesn’t matter where the overall system emphasis is; this training map is most effective when used at the opportune time along the individual’s journey.

    Before or After

    Typically, when there is a contraction or spike in some system performance, stakeholders respond after the fact. For example, if attrition numbers change, attendance issues suddenly develop, or some quality issue points to the need to revisit the training processes.

    The optimized PDS proactively monitors data and interacts with stakeholders and the individuals served by the system to get out in front of any potentially harmful issues.

    Why it matters

    At any given time and at various levels, the PDS is active, or should be. These activities might involve both the initial phases of adding people or the secondary phases of training and retaining them. Or, it could include robust efforts in both. An awareness of the fluctuating dynamics of the system is vital to managing it well and improving overall system performance.

    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

  • 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.

  • What is the Purpose of Your People Development System?

    What is the Purpose of Your People Development System?

    Behavior is a great indicator of motivation and that dependable old adage, actions speak louder than words, stands true for systems as well. An optimized workforce development system that understands its reason for being will behave differently than a comparable system that simply aims at obviously significant goals.

    *Donella Meadows, a leader in systems thinking, taught that “A system’s function or purpose is not necessarily spoken, written, or expressed explicitly, except through the operation of the system.” Even if its purpose is made explicit, the behavior of the system may tell a different story.

    In most cases, vision and mission statements are an effort to express what the organization believes is its driving purpose. Behind these, each organizational system – business processes, production, procurement, quality, people development, etc. – has a supporting purpose.

    If the exact purpose of these subsystems is not explored and established, their ability to support the vision and mission can be weakened. Defining the purpose of the PDS helps determine the system’s exact role in establishing and sustaining the organizational culture. This clarity can elevate the system’s contributions and inject accountability across the team.

    Purpose is Aspirational

    What is the overarching purpose of the PDS; its reason for being? Is it to help each team member achieve their highest level of individual success? Is it to create an inclusive culture? A culture of learning? Does the purpose encompass the community?

    It will certainly vary by organization, but optimizing the purpose of the PDS will reflect the values of the organization and what they believe about their workforce.  

    Not to be Confused with Objectives

    Often used interchangeably, the purpose of the PDS is different from the objectives that it pursues.

    Objectives indicate what the system has to do to fulfill its purpose. It might be stated as something like: The objective of the PDS is to support all other organizational systems by finding, training, developing, and retaining the necessary talent for the overall success of the organization.

    This would then translate into the activities around attracting talent, successful onboarding, strong retention programs, effective performance management, and, of course, efficient training efforts. Beyond these, key objectives should include making the PDS visible to all stakeholders and continually promoting a healthy organizational culture.  

    Important, Now More Than Ever

    Aaron Hurst, author of The Purpose Economy, expressed the importance of a deeper understanding of the reasons that an organization exists saying, “The companies that are emerging as leaders in the new economy are truly redesigning every aspect of their business around purpose.” One of the most important aspects of business management is the way employees are developed. 

    Surely the PDS exists to do more than just keep enough people to meet production or service levels. Expressing the purpose of the PDS can help to establish and sustain a great culture. Perhaps even defining that culture. It can help to ensure that people reach their potential, thereby helping the organization reach its full potential, and providing a crucial competitive advantage for both.

    Having a clear understanding of the elements that make up a people development system is important. Constantly working to optimize the performance of that system is just as important. And, the ability to clearly articulate what motivates the system can be a subtle but powerful influence on the whole enterprise.  

    *Thinking in Systems: A Primer. Donella H. Meadows 2008. Edited by Diana Wright.

    Image by Anand KZ from Pixabay 

  • Building a Better Boat for Workforce Development Systems

    Building a Better Boat for Workforce Development Systems

    This isn’t necessarily the type of boat that Patrick Criteser was describing. He is the CEO of Tillamook County Creamery Association–a 113-year-old dairy co-op. In a Fortune.com article, Criteser highlights the innovative tenacity that drove the early founders of what would become the co-op to build a boat that could deliver their dairy products in a timely manner despite the harsh terrain and other obstacles. The real story, according to Criteser, was not the boat so much as the idea for the boat and that these farmers, “Allowed room for the kind of people who would suggest it.”

    What Type of Boat?

    Fast forward to today, and the connection of past to present that Criteser makes is the need for organizations to have a “better boat” – a culture that can work for and with many different kinds of people. More specifically, the article convincingly argues for a leader’s role in creating the environment for such a culture. He calls this a fluid culture, which, “Seeks to expand the potential of people and of the organization itself.” As opposed to a fixed culture which is, as the name suggests, rigid and limiting. Fluidity would allow new types of people to be added to the team. It would value participation and lend itself to idea generation and adventurous problem-solving. It would have hallmarks like openness and communication.

    As I pondered that idea of a fluid culture, one that, “recognizes that excellence comes from amplifying the good, not constraining the different”, the amplifying system that sustains this culture took center stage. I see this as a culture of learning, a culture of innovation that is supported by a robust people development system (PDS) that encourages growth and celebrates all who attain it.

    The Boat’s Systems

    Consider all of the system elements that are working together to find talented people for an organization. The elements that sell them on the idea of joining the enterprise and expending their energy and enthusiasm to generate great ideas in support of the organization. Think of the elements that are responsible for caring for these team members, helping them develop technical skills, and helping them gain new knowledge and additional capabilities that will meet the organization’s needs as well as their own personal and professional needs.

    The system would need to understand and align with the mission and goals of the organization. Such a system would have to communicate exceptionally well throughout the processes of recruiting, onboarding, training, retaining, and performance management. Strong leadership would be an absolute, and this workforce training system is responsible for ensuring that those leaders are developing and growing. To sustain such a culture of innovation, the system would have to thrive on relationship building and have access to data that would constantly keep leaders appraised of the system’s performance and health.

    Is a Good Boat Good Enough?

    All of this seems somewhat obvious, doesn’t it? After all, most organizations have processes in place for workforce development. They provide some type of workforce training. They work to retain their best team members. But, how good is the PDS boat…really? Criteser urges leaders to look more intently at their culture. Can it absorb new ideas, be adaptive, be flexible? Are they as leaders inviting change? Extending this a bit deeper, does the PDS support such a culture? How would it need to adapt and change in order to support a learning organization of this caliber?

    It would seem that only an optimized PDS could support a truly dynamic, fluid culture. A siloed workforce development approach can’t support a fluid culture. Neither could a system that is not people-centered. Building a “better boat” is a great metaphor for working to optimize the system that is responsible for finding people, bringing them into the organization, and cultivating relationships that makes them want to stay. A better boat that supports a robust development system that allows more room for people and their ideas, can help organizations navigate unrelenting change and chart new courses in the stormy waters of today’s marketplace.