Christmas is over, so let’s ditch hastily made commitments?
It could be worse – read the link below!
https://www.reuters.com/article/oukoe-uk-germany-odd-christmas-idUKL1413862320080114
Symbiotic relationships – consider your last personal development plan or coaching session – maybe there was even a bit of a 360 constructive feedback!
Imagine it was between you and I, your employer.
So we both agreed to change – but like the best resolutions and as we approach the end of January, will we stick with it past the end of January?!
Remember, like a pet, a career is for life, not just for Christmas. Maybe that’s not really a saying, but we are definitely in this together, you and I!
We need to put in the hard yards, to draw on our joint resources and, most importantly, find the fun!!!
Engagement makes it so much easier but, like Mutley’s ‘medal, medal, medal’, a bit of kudos, recognition, or progression towards relevant accreditation can make all the difference!
What deal can we strike to make our commitments work?
Remember, I’m not going to do it all for you. Like that already-fading ‘2022 = Gym’ commitment you need to take part 😊
To paraphrase and repurpose JFK – ‘Ask not what you can do for (insert your logo here) ask what you can do for (ditto)’.
We have something in common you and I – I want to grow and secure the health of my organisation; you want to learn, grow, succeed and build your brand to greater value?
So where is the mutuality / reciprocity??? How do we build trust and become vulnerable enough to share our own gaps and fears enough to grow together and better our collective futures?
We need a safe place we can keep going to until it feels real. A solid foundation with a clear and easily navigable framework to grow. An Academy is a virtual place of trust, growth and affirmation. We invest as both individuals and organisations, in the belief that a commitment to a joint journey (underpinned by the right tools, resources and opportunities for growth) will deliver a tangibly productive outcome.
Academy – What is the basis for an academy? The name traces back to Plato’s school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece.
Academy – https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/academy
“An organization intended to protect and develop an art, science, language, etc., or a school that teaches a particular subject or trains people for a particular job:
a military/police academy
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art”
Academy – https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/academy
“Academy appears in the names of some societies formed to improve or maintain standards in a particular field.”
Following Josh Bersin – additional background on a move to Corporate Educational Academies – https://trainingindustry.com/articles/workforce-development/storytelling-and-corporate-academies-a-powerful-duo-for-workforce-development/
- “many organizations are turning toward dynamic, scalable learning environments that are rich in social and collaborative features that aim to develop skills for long-term career advancement. At the forefront of this movement is the rise of corporate education academies. Through these learning environments, there’s a growing emphasis on fostering “human” skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and collaboration”
Building an academy is an investment, a serious undertaking, but it is also a big statement of people intent.
So of course there are also some examples of ‘academy as a service’ out there – https://home.kpmg/in/en/home/services/learning-academy.html
For this journey, the organisation provides the intelligent ‘sat nav’, full of routes and POIs, whilst the individual plots with their universe of contacts a mutually beneficial route to an attractive and worthwhile destination. The individual is engaged, personally motivated to succeed, feels supported and a real feel of ‘this is going to stick’ garners belief. Sustained growth occurs and this repeated, personal, but aligned activity builds a core capability.
We commit, we strive, we endure, we trust, we are open, we learn, we try, we change, we grow, we repeat if it feels good!
Sustainability in this context is the ongoing commitment to personal / organisational health through the above.
Triple pillars of sustainability – Harvard Business School
The second component of the ‘triple bottom line’ highlights a business’s societal impact, or its commitment to people.
It’s important to make the distinction between a firm’s shareholders and stakeholders. Traditionally, businesses have favoured shareholder value as an indicator of success, meaning they strive to generate value for those who own shares of the company. As firms have increasingly embraced sustainability, they’ve shifted their focus toward creating value for all stakeholders impacted by business decisions, including customers, employees, and community members.
Some simple ways companies can serve society include ensuring fair hiring practices and encouraging volunteerism in the workplace.
Harvard Business School – “Consider the triple bottom line, which refers to how a company’s actions impact profit, people, and the planet. With this framework in mind, you can develop a sustainable business strategy that’s also profitable.” – https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-sustainability-in-business?tempview=logoconvert
Then, as a real world delivery vehicle for sustainable talent goals, consider the following commitment to your people – https://joshbersin.com/2019/10/the-capability-academy-where-corporate-training-is-going/
Definition of sustainability for our purposes?
In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Paralleling ecological sustainability with organisational people sustainability – “We need to be more efficient in our use of available resources, find new ways to harness currently underused resources and reduce our consumption in the process.” – Process.st
Why sustainability and where does a leadership or capability academy fit in?
We have now put academies and sustainability in the same mix. Organisational health must be part of that consideration?
Have you heard of social sustainability? From McKinsey
McKinsey’s view – “how well it renews itself over time, which basically means two things: one, looking outside, staying in tune with the customer or its clients, and two, having an internal innovation engine so that you can allow those insights to be brought into the organization and turned into something useful in terms of driving innovation and new capabilities”
Summarising McKinsey’s ‘4 Recipes for Organizational Health’ above
Leadership Factory – deriving a competitive advantage from building a strong leadership advantage – overinvesting in leadership development, putting leaders in stretch opportunities to try to enable that development to happen more quickly, and derive a competitive advantage.
Market Shaper – organisations that have an outsize emphasis on shaping the market, shaping customer preferences, and building goods and services to meet those needs—and even creating goods and services not only to meet a need but also to actually create something that customers didn’t even know they needed in the first place.
Execution Edge – organisations deriving competitive advantage from getting better every day. This is where you would see some of the classic lean principles playing out, e.g. management practices that focus on innovation and leveraging the full power of the workforce. You see employee involvement, you see performance transparency—holding people accountable in visible ways.
Talent/Knowledge Core – emerges more as an industry-specific type, e.g. organisations that are involved in professional services, R&D and some of the sciences show up here – innovation.
The organisations here are focused on sourcing and cultivating the best talent and expertise to stay ahead of the competition. Giving people great career opportunities, rewarding and recognising them. ensuring that their recruiting engines are always best in class.
“An increasingly competitive business landscape, rising complexity, and the digital revolution are reshaping the mix of employees. Meanwhile, persistent uncertainty, a multigenerational workforce, and a shorter shelf life for knowledge have placed a premium on reskilling and upskilling.” – https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/organization/our%20insights/elevating%20learning%20and%20development/elevating-learning-and-development-intro.pdf And again from McKinsey – “To be effective, L&D must take a hard look at employee capabilities and determine which are most essential to support the execution of the company’s business strategy. L&D leaders should re-evaluate this alignment on a yearly basis to ensure they are creating a people-capability agenda that truly reflects business priorities and strategic objectives.”
“The most effective companies take a deliberate, systematic approach to capability assessment. At the heart of this process is a comprehensive competency or capability model based on the organization’s strategic direction.”
Furthermore –
“After identifying the most essential capabilities for various functions or job descriptions, companies should then assess how employees rate in each of these areas. L&D interventions should seek to close these capability gaps.”
And finally –
” The main objectives of a learning journey are to help people develop the required new competencies in the most effective and efficient way, and to support the transfer of learning to the job.”
You need further proof? How about some ROI???
“A learning strategy’s execution and impact should be measured using key performance indicators (KPIs).
- The first indicator looks at business excellence: how closely aligned all L&D initiatives and investments are with business priorities.
- The second KPI looks at learning excellence: whether learning interventions change people’s behaviour and performance.
- Last, an operational excellence KPI measures how well investments and resources in the corporate academy are used.”
As regards technology – “with technology advancing at an ever-accelerating pace, L&D leaders can delay no longer: human capital is more important than ever and will be the primary factor in sustaining competitive advantage over the next few years.”
Conclusion
So how do we bring a bit of uplifting and hopeful December sparkle to a dark and unflinchingly realistic New Year? How do we avoid throwing ourselves out with the Christmas Tree? How about a joint love of building sustainable capability through an academy approach?
Seriously, bear with me! Other notables believe in a shared commitment towards a beneficial long term outcome…
True community is based on upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.
— Pauli Murray
“A little reciprocity goes a long way.”
“We dream the same dream we want the same thing” – Belinda Carlisle, 1989
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