The Situation – Career Prospects And Expectations

“Destiny is not a matter of chance but of choice. Not something to wish for, but to attain” – Williams Jennings Bryan

1. New/Young employees often come in with high expectations but sometimes encounter harsh realities when things don’t go as the expected. They wonder what it would take to succeed in the organisation, but find no one ready to tell/show them. Some search for help from bosses, seniors, books etc. Others give up.

2. Old/Experienced employees have been around for a while and passed through the phases being undergone by new/young ones. As a result, some are highly enthusiastic, because things worked out, while others are frustrated. Each person’s state of mind affects the way he does his/her job. And they also bring their “attitudes” to bear in their interaction with new/young entrants.

3. The Decision Makers/Organisation have a vision – the achievement of which will depend mainly on the performance of the workforce. Some decision makers therefore pay attention to building and maintaining employee “morale”. Others don’t.

The Problem Identified

Some oganisations simply send employees on routine training. They neglect to investigate what an individual employee’s REAL developmental need is. Many times, this requires involving the employee - else the training expenses and time/resources committed towards making it happen will end up effectively wasted.

a. The need to be a “meaningful specific”: Most employee’s fail to realize they are primarily responsible for their own development. They wait on the organisation – and end up losing out.

b. Developing the new &/or experienced Managers: Does employee training really work? Organisations fail to evaluate employee training by measuring subsequent performance for improvement. So, many times, they waste money, since the desired improvements are not achieved.

Is it the number of training courses someone attends (and where!) that determines if she/he will become a “high-flyer”? Or is it the learning impact of the developmental experiences afforded that person? Does it always have to be a training course? Why not a coaching session with an experienced other, or an external consultant. What about regular cross-training secondments?

c. The “Mental Attitude” of many employees: What should qualify you for promotion, salary increases or secondment opportunities? Is it your “number of years in service” or the number of certificates/degrees you have? Or should you be looking at how much you have improved in your ability to do your job?

Would you develop stage fright if asked to do your boss’ job for 24 hours while s/he goes away on a sudden trip? If yes, why not learn all it takes to do THAT job now, by working more closely with/studying your boss? That way, when the opportunity comes, you’ll perform well enough to get recommended – and promoted.

d. Absence of a culture of “sharing”: Some people fear sharing what they know with others, because they think it will make those they share with exceed them in performance. Is it wise for you to teach others around you what you know? Does “sharing” your knowledge with others in anyway help YOU to progress?

What happens when the older/more experienced people fail to share with the newer/younger ones? One thing at least: the organization loses/suffers. Avoidable mistakes are repeated. People continue to have longer – instead of shorter - learning curves. There is needless negative competition, which ultimately leads to politics, bad blood = LOW MORALE = POOR PRODUCTIVITY.

e. Decision Makers! Who sets the example for others to follow? If leaders outlaw the habit of “Knowledge-Hiding”, and promote the active exchange of ideas or knowledge, with frequent, open recognition of individual contributions, would things be better? I say YES.

The Alternative Proposed - Specific Actions That Organisations Can Take To Boost Employee Productivity/Job Satisfaction:

1. Deliberate Exposure To Developmental Job Experiences: What can an organization do to ensure an enabling environment is created for her employees to continuously deliver exceptional performances on the job?

Organisations’ decision makers need to do MORE careful thinking so as to discover better ways to provide job-based developmental experiences for their employees in a more deliberate and constructive manner. Numerous successful career persons interviewed on the “secrets” of their successes, have repeatedly acknowledged their on-the-job experiences – both good and bad – as having had the greatest impact on their development.

It is instructive to note - and I can confirm this based on my personal experiences,and observations in paid employment - that certain types of jobs offer MORE potent developmental benefits for employees than others. A company that seeks to help employees develop fully, would therefore be wise to take time to identify such jobs, and structure the development of her employee talent/pool around them. For instance, depending on the organisation's intended career destination for a particular individual s/he would need to be put into jobs that offer experiences which force the employee to develop competencies that give him/her a better chance of succeeding.

ONE EXAMPLE: Line Managers Are Potential Top Executives/Managing Directors

Some people start out as line mangers with responsibility for managing large workforces, to meet challenging output goals within tight deadlines. If they demonstrate a capacity to adapt to staff or executive roles, where softer skills and tasks delegation take priority, they are likely to achieve rapid career advancements, and eventually, occupy top positions in the company. Line management roles (e.g. shift duty management of a bottling line workforce) build mental toughness, quick thinking, inside knowledge of what happens in the lower cadres, and other qualities that facilitate leading assertively at the corporate level.

All the time I spent in my last workplace(a fast-paced multinational manufacturing company), I noticed - for instance - that virtually every single HR Manager(and even the Organisational Development Manager, one step above the HR Manager) that was appointed had - at some point early on in his/her career - been a shift brewer. The shift brewer's job in that company typically involved supervising brewing operations on an eight hour shift, while doubling as responsible manager for other operatives across the entire brewery - especially on night shifts, and public holidays.

It is my considered opinion, that the experiences gained in taking complex, sometimes delicate decisions, and handling people belonging to different work groups across the brewery, effectively prepares managers who are lucky to work as Shift Brewers, to function in the role of an HR Manager quite well. One reason why I am so sure about this is that my ability to excel in virtually every position I was put from the time I started work in the company as Shift Brewer was based on many challenging experiences I had learnt to successfully handle in the course of many shift duties. It's one job that I would recommend highly for it's management talent development potential.

A company that is able to identify what competencies a particular job can build in an individual, can therefore be more deliberate in assigning their employees with noticeable talent to it. They would in effect KNOW what to expect to see in the manger AFTER s/he has been in that position. If s/he displays evidence of having acquired the desired competencies, it would be a sign for them to proceed to the next stage of his/her developmental plan. It would also be confirmation that efforts to help him/her develop are unlikely to be wasted.

"The Lessons of Experience" - GET THIS BOOK AND USE IT!

A reference that I consider too authoritative and practically relevant to ever become dated or obsolete for application today is: "The Lessons of Experience" by Morgan McCall Jr., Michael Lombardo and Ann Morrison(Lexington Books, 1988 - ISBN 0-669-18095-5). It is a published study of the careers of about 200 highly successful corporate executives which revealed that virtually all of them attributed their achievement of significant workplace successes to the daily, on-the-job experiences and challenges they had -especially those which required them to succeed at the first attempt, at things they were previously UNFAMILIAR with.

Yes, I know it's been almost 2 decades since this book was published. However, I also KNOW from reading it, that EVERY single chapter in it contains extremely valuable insight - timeless, experience based wisdom - for the successful development of management talent in ANY organisation. Wisdom, that a decision maker who wants results would find invaluable.

Take it from me. It does not matter how many new management fads have come up since when this book was published. If you have not read this book, you are unlikely to be doing ALL that you can, as well as you have the potential for, to get the most out of your employees!

Why am I so sure? Well, I owe quite a lot of the significant career achievements I recorded, in a relatively short space of time while in paid employment, to my application of the ideas contained in this book for myself. And that's the other thing that makes the book a must-have. It actually provides, for the individual, inspiration and plenty of relevant advice on how to make the most of workplace assignments and develop skills to deliver satisfactory performances consistently.

2. Get Buy-In Of Senior Executives. Their “buy-in” and commitment is crucial. They, all through the cadres of management leadership must show - consistently - a clear commitment to sustaining whatever initiatives the organisation chooses to promote for adoption by employees. If this does not happen, very little will be achieved.

3. Concentrate More On In-House Training Sessions. Why send another group of employees out to attend a training course, when a competent, experienced employee who has attended the course (and has shown evidence of improvement on her job) is available? Apart from being familiar with the peculiarities of the working environment of her colleagues, such an employee would also be able to develop case studies by drawing from her personal experiences. These she could then use in giving illustrations, which the others are likely to be more familiar with – and able to relate to. The learning experience thus becomes more real - and successful.

Project based in-house employee training could be considered. In this case, employees is could be made to learn by working together in multidisciplinary teams on meaningful problems drawn from their working environment. This kind of approach in the end will result in a self-help, mutual learning atmosphere which enables the organisation recognise and utilise fully “trapped pockets" of experience and wisdom.

4. Encourage A Self-Development Oriented Reading/Thinking Culture. The employee must be made to understand and appreciate the fact that s/he is ultimately responsible for his/her career development. The organisation will however also need to create an environment that stimulates, in the employee, a sustainable interest in taking control of his/her development.

A good library well stocked with relevant books, magazines etc all loaded with up-to-date information, will not get visited, if employees are not made aware of the existence and availability of its contents. Employees should also be encouraged to purchase useful (“How To”) books and do it yourself tools (e.g. Typing Tutor CD, Presentation Skills Tutor CD etc).

Decision makers/leaders, who are in a position to influence, should themselves set the example by adopting a healthy reading/thinking habit. Among other things, they can take time to stimulate the thoughts and interests of their reports by sharing insight they get from reading. Before long, the culture will spread across the departments, and the organisation as whole, with very noticeable benefits.

There is of course the need to strike a balance between reading, and reflection on what is read. This last point underscores the fact that reading should not happen without proper evaluation of the information/knowledge encountered prior to its application.

“Reading without thinking gives a disorderly mind, and thinking without reading makes one unbalanced” - Confucius

5. Use Job Secondments More Consciously - And Deliberately - For Development. This is partly related to the first point raised in 1. above. Secondment of employees to higher or parallel positions to the one they are already familiar with, could be better utilised to develop them. One thing that might need to be done is for the organisation to make every employee realise that going on secondment is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. In other words, going on secondment is meant to be a developmental move.

Further, upon completion of the acting assignment, the boss to whom the seconded employee reports needs to challenge him on what learning he picked up. In fact, it has been recommended that upon returning from such secondment, the employee should be made to take a short break to reflect on his experiences, and submit a written report on resumption.

Nothing helps to cement learning achieved from experience better than a review via personal reflection. During this activity, all actions carried out during the secondment are evaluated on their own merit, and decisions reached by the employee on how she would behave when confronted with similar challenges in future.

6. “Experience Sharing” By Older/Experienced Employees With Newer/Younger Ones. This can be done with a view to shortening the latter’s learning curve - and is strongly recommended. For those who had the opportunity of living with aged parents or grandparents/elders, the value of key life learnings picked up from those who experienced them will remain immeasurable.

We sometimes hear people talk about some young man or woman having an “old head on his/her young shoulders”. Most times, such person(s) - when asked - attribute the qualities for which they have been acknowledged, to the time they spent with older persons while they grew up.

The foregoing makes it clear that it would be more profitable to get older/experienced employees to share what they know, with younger/less experienced ones, so the latter can leverage that knowledge to deliver satisfactory productivity, with less effort, at less cost(to the company - especially in terms of mistakes on the job) and in less time.

Summary

Any organisation that can commit to a sustainable application of the strategies outlined above - in conjunction with the use of many practically relevant insights available from the reference book I described earlier ("The Lessons Of Experience" by Morgan McCall Jr., Michael Lombardo and Ann Morrison) is quite likely to boost her employees' productivity and job satisfaction, without necessarily having to continually increase salaries or offer other "traditional" incentives.