Company Performance: It’s Time to Reinvent the Wheel
Companies often get berated for the lack of investment made in the development of employees, and whilst it’s an accurate observation in many situations, just how much responsibility are employees taking for developing themselves?
The answer is very few. In the main, corporate employees still behave as if their employer is responsible for their personal development. That is not the case.
A company’s responsibility is to train people to ensure they are competent at the job/function they are responsible for. It’s then a matter of employing leaders (not managers) with the specific responsibility and capability to continually improve performance by drawing untapped potential into performance.
But what about the employee’s responsibility to develop themselves? The vast majority of people employed by a company still abscond the responsibility of making any kind of investment in their own personal development, and yet many are the first to criticize their company for not nurturing their talent.
This kind of limited thinking is the consequence of cultural imprinting. It was the default mentality of the working masses in the industrial age, a throw back to when people often worked for a single employer for decades, if not their entire working life.
The job for life is confined to the museum of employment history. Employees can expect to have, on average, 6 to 8 employers in their careers, and whilst the changing dynamic of business life is something to be celebrated as it offers more choice and diversity, it brings with it greater responsibility to both employees and employers.
In the pursuit of greater career success and fulfillment, individuals need to be willing to contribute at least 10% of their income to their own personal development, that is, improving their self-awareness, developing their emotional and spiritual intelligence, creating a clear vision for personal success and underpinning that vision with meaningful, personal goals (not simply working to the numerical target given by their employer).
For companies, it is time to get beyond the conventional approach of sponsoring leadership talent onto MBA’s, we are in a new age and it requires a radical rethink of how to nurture talent in the pursuit of performance.
Self-leadership is essential for success and should be encouraged at every level by offering employees access to professional coaching and personal development programs that individuals choose to invest in. Many companies shy away from this approach, fearing employees will frown upon having to invest in themselves. It’s incredible short-sighted and constrains performance.
Developing a culture of self-leadership is a win-win situation. Employees grow, stretch, become more creative, effective and resourceful, performance improves, retention increases, and the next generation of leaders emerge. It also offers any company a clear insight into who the real leaders are, for those willing to improve themselves become increasingly skilled at doing the same for others.
