Last week, I introduced the essential components needed for sustainable systems transformation. I explained how the integration of human development, organizational development, and leadership development creates conditions where systems transformation can occur. All three areas work within an organizational context, which is the focus of my consulting practice. Yet they also work for the many networks—formal and informal—that exist across organizations and communities.
This week, I’ll explain more about the big role human development plays in system transformation. But first, you’ll need to check your assumptions at the door.
When employees are merely pawns in the game
How do you see your employees? Are they chess pieces for organizational leaders to move around? Are an organization’s successes mainly attributed to the skill of its leaders? If so, you may not pay much attention to your employees’ individual and collective capacities and talents.
This is a mistake. An organization’s success relies heavily on the quality, talent, and consciousness of its employees, if not their quality of life. Its profits, impact, and sustainable resilience are a collective result of all the individuals who work in the organization.
A leader can’t accomplish anything without the active support of the people who work there.
When we engage in large-scale systems change work, our people will help or limit our success. If we create a vision for our organization’s future that causes our employees to question their ability to be successful in that future, they will resist the change. Moving our organization forward depends on the individuals and teams that will facilitate the change. It is our job as organizational leaders to develop the people who work in our teams and organizations.
Human development is the first thing to go
It’s stunning to me that human development, and specifically employee development, is not a key focus in management theory. Topics like planning, communicating, delegating, motivating, and the like are written about in detail. But studies and articles that describe ways to help people develop, creating environments where people can grow and evolve their personal and professional skills as well as their worldview, are harder to find. When I worked in higher education, professional development funds were the first to go when budgets were tight.
For some reason, we don’t talk about developing our staff as something that leaders and managers are supposed to do. And if we do support their development, the focus is on functional work skills. This view of staff development limits what we think is valuable. Anything that isn’t directly related to their current job should not be supported by the organization. In my work helping organizations and systems evolve, I have found that certain developmental tasks set a baseline for what we need to encourage and support in our staff.
The benefits of developing your staff
Extraordinary things happen when the members of your team understand why systems change matters to them and to the organization. When they have the skills to co-create organizational transformation, they actively support and shape positive systems change. And that’s when the magic happens.
I’m sure you’re asking where to start when it comes to human development. Next week, I’ll explain the essential areas to focus on so your people can not only support but also champion system support and transformation.
Kathleen, your insight is brilliant. . . as a former HR Director, I frequently bumped into the corporate/employee development brick wall. Employee development was always an ongoing topic in many meetings, however, many plans were delayed, postponed or simply denied due to budget constraints. It takes a believer and leader to invest in employees.