The Workplace Coach

There is an old joke about the dangers of investing time, money and effort into your people…

CFO says: “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave?”

CEO says: “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

I’m not sure why people think this is a joke because the reality of it is that many organisations have this irrational fear of investing in people only to have them walk out the door.  I have even seen some employers try to impose a return of service obligation on people.  If they make the investment in the employee’s professional development, then that employee must commit to stay on for some specified period of time to ensure that the employer gets some value back from the investment.  I’m not even sure that is legal…

Here is my point.  As an employer you want your people excited about coming to work, feeling positive about their future prospects, and continuously upskilling and developing their capability. 

Most organisations will have a suite of essential training that employees will complete on induction.  This will cover things like work, health and safety and code of conduct and perhaps some diversity training.  Your people are unlikely to get too excited about this type training.

What will excite your people are training or development opportunities that are going to either make them better at their current job or prepare them for their next job.   I am assuming, as you might too, that most people actually want to come to work and do a good job.  It is unlikely that anyone gets up on a Monday morning and decides they are going to a lousy job today. A fellow by the name of Douglas McGregor developed a whole people management theory around this back in the 1960s. 

Now keep in mind that you are unlikely to inspire peak performance or lifelong loyalty by simply plugging someone into an off-the-shelf generic training program that you think they might benefit from.  Of course, you might be right but you can do better than that.  If you aspire to wear the crown of ‘manager of the year’ or ’employer of choice’ then you are going to want to take a personal and personalised interest in the development of your people. 

You might have some experience with the 9-box grid as a tool for evaluating which employees to spend your time and development dollars on. I feel like there is a simpler and broader way to look at the people in your team. The one-on-one development discussion is is a great way to work out which category each person falls into, and how much you might be prepared to invest in their development.

Broadly speaking you will have three categories of learners in your team:

1. The Go Getters – these guys and gals are going to find the development they need to move ahead and become experts with or without you.  You might provide some guidance here but really they are probably just going to be looking for you to maybe invest some dollars to help offset the costs.  They will likely go ahead with the development even if you decide not to help out financially, but then you will have missed an excellent opportunity to build your relationship with them.

• The Baby Birds – you know the baby birds in the nest?  They can’t go out and find their own food, but they will gobble up anything that the mumma bird brings them and ask for more.  These people feel like it is your responsibility, as their employer to develop them.  They don’t really have a sense of what they want or need, so this is your chance to steer them towards best options for them and for you. Be cautious though, some of these baby birds are just looking to pad out the qualifications section of their resume.

• The Cacti – every team has a few of these and that’s okay.  These people aren’t looking for development and just want to left alone to do their jobs.  They aren’t overly ambitious, they may have found their level and are comfortable with where they have landed.  This is not a commentary on their performance, simply that they don’t feel the need to learn new skills.  Now if there is a skill gap or a capability deficit that needs to be addressed then its up to you to point that out and nudge them towards the necessary training.  This is about ensuring that they remain skilled as their role evolves.  If they don’t need training then let them happily get on with their work and revisit the issue again in six months.

Now you might think that you don’t have time to have all of these conversations, and wouldn’t it be easier just to have an organisational program that you can just plug everyone into? My advice would be to make the time because it is really important, and yes it would be easier but less effective. Sometimes plugging people in to a whole of organisation training program will actually have a negative effect on employee engagement.  We have all seen those people in training sessions with arms crossed and bad attitude.

So now you might now be asking the question about whether your managers have the necessary skill sets to actually have these conversations with their direct reports.  If you are unsure, please feel free to touch base with us at info@theworkplacecoach.com.au We would be happy to work with your managers across any people management challenges they might be facing. 

The Workplace Coach