Human Asset Development - Individual Development Planning
"We are on a collision course with ourselves as long as we continue to ignore potentialities associated with personal growth and self renewal." - Anonymous
Despite the fact that almost every individual and almost every business talks about human asset development - few actually do anything about it! Something that has seen individual development planning become one of the weakest links in Australian business.
The subject of individual development planning invites a variety of opinions and debate however we should look at some of the changes that have changed the way we used to go about development. Firstly, development planning has shifted from a corporate responsibility to an individual responsibility. Secondly, development is now a bona fide necessity not could or should do luxury. Thirdly, the rate of change has continued to increase every year - a fact that makes development a must. Standing still has never been an option and it never will be.
Some contributing facts are microchip technology and the job market. Micro chip technology has changed the way human beings live, work, play and communicate. Courtesy of microchip technology companies are reinventing themselves every three to five years, meaning that people have to reinvent themselves to keep pace. Whilst job security is still a basic psychological need for personal security, the once proclaimed, secure and or normal jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate as the world continues to experience accelerated and unprecedented change. As a result people must develop, personally and professionally, even if only to remain current.
People must change and they must be prepared to accept the responsibility for personal futures and personal development and not wait for an unidentified somebody to come to their rescue. The realities are that today is what we have, this is it, No one is coming to toast promote or rescue us and that in the end despite wanting people to care about our futures - we do it because we care - nobody else ever does as much as we do!
This is it: - all you have available to you, to perform at your absolute peak is today. It makes little difference what happened in the past, as you don't live in the past and despite the urge to cast longing glances into the past, one can never go back. All you have is now - whether you like it or not - this is it.
Nobody's coming: - there is no unidentified person, knight in shining armor or saving grace coming to help promote or advance you. You choose to make it happen or you can choose to let it happen - either way you choose. In the past you may have had a great boss a good mentor; but when you reflect on your achievements you will discover that you made it on your own. Nobody did it for you and nobody will do it for you in the future. Nobody is coming.
Nobody Cares: - Despite the fact that we would like to think that others are concerned for us and our future, the truth - the harsh truth, is that nobody will ever care as much as you! Whether you make it in the business world or merely skate through is your personal choice - however, don't ever believe that your destiny is in the hands of others. Every decision that you make is your decision and whether people care or not, is largely irrelevant. You do what you do because you care, you have your personal desires and you have your own set personal expectations. Remember this is it - nobody is coming and nobody cares!
At first these are difficult to accept however there is a time that you come to learn that people are neither for you, nor against you. They are too busy and too consumed with thinking about themselves. You learn that no matter how hard you try to please people, there are people in this world who are not going to love you. A lesson that at first is somewhat troubling, and then really quite relaxing.
The New Dimension
As technology continues to change the world and life, the rules for work are also changing. Expectations of employers are increasing, consumers are more demanding, and competition has exploded as international borders collapse, courtesy of an electronically connected global economy. All of this has contributed to people being judged by a new measure, a new dimension.
This new measure has little to do with what we were told was important at school. It is not based on how smart we are what qualifications or expertise we have, but rather is based on how well we manage ourselves and interact with others. This new yardstick, 'emotional intelligence' is increasingly important in corporate decisions regarding who will be hired, who will not, who will be retained, who will not, who will be recommended for promotion and who will not.
To a large extent technical know-how and academic ability are taken for granted. Most companies assume that if people apply for a role they have the necessary academic ability to do the job. What they are more interested in is how you will fit into the team - how you will handle difficult situations and what a personal qualities you possess. Qualities such as initiative, empathy, adaptability, persuasiveness and positive mind set. They are interested in how you handle confrontation and manage conflict, how you manage and accept change and your ability to deal with challenges and adversity.
This new measure predicts who is likely to become a star performer and who is prone to derailing. And no matter what field of work we are currently in, it measures traits that are crucial to our marketability for future jobs. A future controlled by speed, connectivity, complexity and ubiquity.
As social structures, technology, businesses and the evolution of a connected and competitive global economy continue to reshape and reinvent the world; people must ensure that they also change. They must strive to develop new skills and new behaviours supported by new paradigms. In other words, people must strive to re-invent themselves through personal development to remain competitive and to remain marketable.
Human Asset
Extensive research into human asset development discovered it as one of the weakest links in Australian business today. A subject that when after all is said and done - more is actually said than done. A particularly disturbing fact, given that world events; require people to develop, personally and professionally, intellectually and emotionally.
Rapid change has produced previously unrivalled tension and pressure on individuals, tension that is causing a total upheaval in concepts, values and beliefs, methods, processes and structures of the companies we once knew as inflexible and predictable. Developments responsible for creating new challenges for individuals and businesses, particularly those individuals entrusted with the responsibility of managing and leading people.
Despite our evidence proving conclusively that people need to change and that the best - known resource available to generate personal change is personal development, some fundamental and limiting issues still exist in individual development planning. The conventional approach to development planning is that, if time permits, at the conclusion of performance reviews, training and development needs are discussed. This approach was identified as one that was totally inadequate and lacked any genuine commitment to human asset development.
The Facts
More than two thousand people surveyed on the subject of personal development discussions with their employers revealed a number of shortcomings. Seventy-one percent of people labeled discussions as shallow, unsatisfactory and rarely if ever, delivering any notable or measurable outcomes. Essentially, respondents felt that discussions lacked any genuine commitment to the process of human asset development.
The second shortcoming was is that few people were taught the finer points of how to do it! It’s ironic that millions of corporate dollars are spent training managers on how to conduct selection interviews, how to read financial statements and how to run computer programs yet they (Companies) seemingly assume people know how to develop themselves and others in a purposeful, strategic and effective way. Not so.
The third outcome from the survey was that many people live on "Some Day Island" - someday I’ll get around to it. This was premised by the fact that most people are so obsessed with trying to cope with and make sense out of the present, that they lose sight of the fact that the majority of life will be lived in the future. A future of extended electronic connectivity and information over-load. A future where knowledge is power and development of intellectual and emotional intelligence is a must.
Rising Discontent
The most prevalent responses gathered from our survey across a range of industries were:
I. Seventy-four percent of people revealed a haphazard approach was exercised in development planning and failed to divide development into two distinct categories; "development required for improving current role" & "development required for progressing future careers". This was identified as an approach that contained little objectivity, other than satisfying internal audit requirements.
II. More than fifty-five percent described their managers as ineffective at providing genuine assistance in formulating development plans. Comments included a distinct lack of know how, lack of creativity and standard topics such as time management and new software were regularly approved as development solutions. Cause and affect principles associated in performance were seldom if ever explored.
III. Making up the top three responses was crisis management, (a common event), when pressure to meet deadlines was intense, managers requested, (in some cases demanded), that all training and development programs be cancelled until the business returned too normal. Unfortunately, normal was never clear by definition, and hence training and development initiatives were again placed on the end of priority lists.
Perhaps the most disturbing and largely predominant fact revealed from research was that in many cases a reckless and neglectful attitude was evident. "Some day we'll get around too it" was commonly referred to when development was discussed. Not only was this projected by majority of the companies but also by a large proportion of individuals.
Fading Loyalty
Individual personal development must be viewed by businesses, as a tangible and important resource for improving business outcomes. It must take priority at the top of, "things to do lists". Not only on those of the people responsible for driving the business but also on those who will gain maximum advantage. The people.
It needs to be recognised that traditional employment relations have changed to the point where organisational career planning, has become an oxymoron. The facts are that a career is now an industry, a chosen field of endeavour and not an organisation. Companies all over the world are moving out of the loyalty business and can no longer be relied upon to "take care" of individual futures. Instead, the responsibility of companies today is to ensure staff receive competent and professional support in their endeavours to maximise, "human asset development", as change will continue to modify the paradigm of a career.
Whether in finance, manufacturing, construction, design or technology, changing market conditions will determine skills, capabilities and individual emotional competencies needed. This together with the need to service existing clients and build sustainable relationships with new clients will be the future challenge as individuals are selected according to skills and competencies, not how long they have been with the organisation or what they did in the past. Today is a new day and loyalty, (as unfortunate as it may be), will not play a part.
Normal jobs as they were once called, those based on a forty hour week and lasting for almost forty years are gone, a fact that is challenging traditional and primary definitions of security…that of "having a job". As a result individuals must take literal responsibility for personal futures. They must take responsibility for planning and implementing development initiatives as a basis for creating a personal competitive edge and securing a future for themselves and their families.
A number of important essentials are necessary to make development purposeful and effective, none however, are more important than personal beliefs and values. Ordinarily, people who express little value or belief in development are ineffective in driving individual development. They have a tendency to interfere and resist development, based on a perception that training and development is a waste of time. They fail to recognise that by definition development is an evolutionary process, necessary for all growth, progress and change.
For information regarding individual development planning e-mail info@epsolutions.com.au