Michael Fors, the executive leader of workforce development at Boeing, recently shared some ideas and experience on what makes a high-performing organisation, a subject of great interest to most leaders I know.
He emphasised a critical point: the foundation of a high-performing organisation is people. Behind every brilliant business idea are the people who bring it to life. Without them, any aspirations we have to transform our performance are merely dreams.
Even if we believe we need to be serious about workforce development, good intentions are not enough to start the journey to becoming a high-performance organisation.
The question we have to ask, as Michael put it, is this: Is learning and development a virus or a vitamin in your organisation?
Don’t all leaders believe in making their people, and thus their organisations, better? I certainly have known experienced leaders who might not believe this deep down. Often this is due to their experiences with failed promises and ineffectual results from traditional learning approaches.
Leaders may resent their people being away from the workplace for extended periods, or they may believe that the only relevant learning is on the job. Unfortunately, some organisations may have leaders who see learning as a virus that impedes progress and achieving urgent objectives.
Senior leaders must ensure that learning is a catalyst for success — an essential vitamin that fuels innovation and drives businesses forward. Moreover, they must ensure learning experiences align with specific objectives and that this new worldview sticks. This happens when we spend training baht on things that help people quickly deliver strategic imperatives.
Becoming a future high-performing organisation depends on how senior leaders think about and execute their people development approaches. Human Resources and others can help, but success depends on us.
How can a leader approach this?
Put strategy at the centre and keep it there. Encourage people to learn what they need but always relate it to the strategy. This requires strategic conversations with senior leaders, HR professionals and learning experts to ensure everyone is clear on the direction.
If workforce development initiatives do not align with the business objectives, we are not empowering our workforce to contribute directly to our success, and are only wasting resources.
Focus on increasing innovation capabilities. Innovation is hard, and everyone and every organisation needs innovation skills. This need will only increase in the future. It is sad, but traditional workforce development approaches no longer meet the demands of our rapidly evolving business landscape.
Instead of spending big on generic training courses, build the innovation skills that simultaneously support people’s growth, and equip them to meet continuously changing organisational needs.
Design for your future workforce, not for today. Remember, you will soon primarily lead a Gen Y&Z workforce, so you must consider and understand their unique characteristics, preferences and motivations. They know about technology, but recent circumstances mean they might not have fully developed skills we take for granted — people skills among them. They need a variety of training programmes, mentorship opportunities and continuous learning initiatives.
Reimagine learning as opportunities (or missions), not courses. Companies can get stuck in seeing learning as courses. A number of learning and workforce development professionals do not know any other approach yet.
But continuously investing in courses gets expensive. We have to break the mode of this old style of workforce development. As leaders, we can quickly get tired of shouldering this cost if it is not hitting the target. We have to become laser-focused on workforce development and upskilling. More learning assets do not mean better people. We need to make the right recommendations and provide the right advice so people can upskill quickly.
Consider the future capabilities leaders will need. Traditionally your leaders are the main recipients of big-ticket learning investments. Accept that you will need a new kind of leader to support your people in becoming the backbone of a high-performing organisation. It is only by building leadership capabilities can we ensure the workforce thrives.
Reconsider what your talent will look like. Future demands mean all organisations will need a more diverse and skilled talent pipeline. At Boeing, Mr Fors used initiatives like apprenticeship programmes to identify individuals with aptitude. These programmes allowed him to provide them with comprehensive training and on-the-job experience. The outcome was more diverse individuals and a more sustainable supply of talent.
Top leaders are essential in creating high-performing organisations. How we reframe and adjust the views of our leadership groups can unlock the full potential of our organisations. It is up to us to decide how we are going to build a workforce for the future. You will know you are making the right choices when you see performance improving more quickly than ever before.
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