How do you feel about your organisation’s prospects for 2023? Optimistic, or concerned by ongoing uncertainty? A bit of both?
After New Year, we tend to be somewhat refreshed, with time to develop ideas and opportunities further. Employees have had a bit of time and space and return fired up. But I have noticed there is always a disconnect.
Most businesses want to implement new approaches. They may want to try new ways to start the year with good sales numbers or develop new capabilities. Their people may be fully committed yet they find it difficult to do new things or do things differently; they all too often fall into the familiar old ways of doing things. Results fail to materialise, and unless leaders plan for this, they risk 2022’s frustrations becoming 2023’s.
Leaders need to help their people break this perennial Catch-22 of feeling they don’t have time to learn and practise doing things differently (due to eagerness and pressure to start the New Year strong).
Leaders should also remember that the younger generations are interested in developing their capabilities, and development is a driver of their engagement and retention. Do not write off the opportunity based on previous failures. Instead, walk the talk, and try something new to get your people to do something new.
Leaders at all levels should start by showing a bit of empathy. Why won’t people do new things? People are reluctant to step out of their comfort zone because they don’t want to look stupid, fail, or be perceived as incompetent. Or they don’t want to do things differently because it transforms the nature of their job.
I have seen these defences pop up in my own company. I found when I took the time to explain how the roles of my facilitators would change, some chose to leave because they did not want to adopt the new requirements even though that was our business direction.
When I asked my salespeople, for example, to adopt new things in the crisis, some just doubled down on the old things (which were no longer feasible). They didn’t want to start from zero. Recently we have relaunched Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), and I am anticipating more of the same reactions, but this time I will provide more support, tools and coaching to help my people adapt successfully.
The second perennial barrier is the challenge of time. It’s been a few years since the HR researcher Josh Bersin claimed that people have only 29 minutes a week for learning. Whether you agree with that figure or not, indeed, people (or businesses) don’t have time or resources to cover people being in workshops for days on end. This means we need to find ways to do more in less time and ensure our development investments empower results. Here are some ideas:
Unleash your coaches: Despite spending more than three decades in the development business, I will be the first to admit that sometimes internal experience is the best teacher. You do need skills and a process. Start by finding people who are ahead of the curve or have relevant experience and make them coaches.
Internal coaches cut through the theory straight to the application, and they can speak in the language and context of your company. Do it as a group or as individuals across generations and levels. It can be done just in time and go on as short or long as you like. It is a great way to create a learning lab in your organisation.
Cross-train staff: Build them into comb-shaped talent. There is so much cross-over between disciplines these days that cross-training can be surprisingly fruitful. For example, HR success today needs an element of what would traditionally be considered marketing. The need for sales to be more like consultants (in many businesses) is another that springs to mind.
Centring people around shared interests and opportunities to try and do new things (e.g., help out for part of the week in a different department in the same value chain) promotes and empowers learning from each other. Consider setting up interest groups and communities of practice, but ensure they have a chance to unpack their developing group insights. This also helps you in the long term by developing your people for your business and not for specific jobs that may soon be obsolete.
Create challenging projects and have your people share their learning and results: Most people love a challenge, and the need to show proof of their results at a pre-set time is an excellent driver of learning, and results. Ensure your people don’t learn anything without first agreeing to show and tell their results. This will ensure they find both the time to learn, and learning turns into on-the-job results.
Turn to technology: Many companies have a learning management system, but there is so much free, inexpensive and high-quality content available online that can be accessed individually. Have your HR team curate resources they can send to individual learners to meet their specific needs, or provide a budget for individual learners, and ensure you link it to the sharing conditions above.
Success in 2023 will require innovation and evolution, abandoning old ways of developing people (despite previous investments) and doubling down on practicality and application in the business. Ensure your people understand the imperative of levelling up their capabilities, and your development team understands that these activities must be in the context of your people, not your development providers.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer, Managing Director, and Founder at SEAC — Southeast Asia’s Lifelong Learning Centre. She is fascinated by the challenge of transforming education for all to create better prospects for Thais and people everywhere. Reach her email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa