How do you handle disruptions that affect staff development?

For those who are fundamentally committed to growing, disruptions are often reframed as opportunities. Staff development isn’t a series of continuing education units, or a handful of seminars or digital courses — rather — its developing a culture to help people become one’s very best… to make dynamic micro-decisions that line up the company purpose with the individuals first principles in life.

In the realm of organisational behavior and change management, it's well-understood that continuous staff development is vital for optimal organisational performance. To counteract challenges, organisations must adopt a multifaceted approach. Development must be enshrined as a non-negotiable priority, warranting exploration of cost-effective, yet impactful, training modalities. Modular and diverse training formats, such as webinars or peer-coaching, offer flexibility in delivery. A robust staff development approach integrates both proactive and reactive measures, ensuring resilience and continuity in evolving organisational landscapes.

The key to success is to adopt a strategic and empathetic approach. Engage with your team to understand the nature and extent of disruptions. Make adjustments to your development plans based on this information. To accommodate personal or professional challenges, training schedules might need to be adjusted, learning objectives might need to be reprioritized, or flexible learning options might be offered. Provide additional support, such as mentorship or counseling, to help employees cope with disruptions.

According to a Harvard Business Review article, interruptions are a fact of organizational life and can endlessly fragment our time and attention. Our brains find it difficult to switch attention between tasks, and part of our attention stays focused on the interrupted task, which can lead to poor performance on interrupting tasks 1. The article suggests creating a “Ready-to-Resume Plan” to overcome the negative effects of interruptions and prevent attention residue 1.

Disruption is not lightning that’ll change things overnight. It’s a process of well thought ideas, plans and a complete orchestra of transformation. People growth will multiple of its done the ray it is supposed to be done. -Plan it around people. - Customise it for your business. - Make sure it’s not based on hit and trial theory. - Don’t expect results overnight. Organisations and People who thrive to grow look at such opportunities like a bouncing board rather roadblocks.

While you’ll never avoid disruptions, you can dramatically reduce the fallout from them if you are intentional about open, vulnerable, and transparent communication. There’s a tendency to clam up when things aren’t going well, which is the opposite of what you should do. This includes having a diverse approach to building and maintaining lines of communication. Every employee is unique, so don’t assume the channels comfortable for you are enough for everyone. It may feel like it’s slowing things down or taking a lot of time, but it’s a time investment that frees up more time on the back end and improves overall team effectiveness. You’ll also need to actively seek feedback on improving because needs will be constantly changing.

Operate a No-Surprise culture within your teams combined with regular 1:1s and dedicated 1:1s every month which focus on development. The purpose of the latter is to keep development conversations on going, while the former is a space for you to keep staff informed and hold space for when they may need to talk about disruption. Thus, your teams will trust you to always have their development interests at heart, while helping to adapt when change and disruption comes.

During disruption, formal "development" is often limited, and innovation and risk-taking become essential to an organization's ability to thrive. During these times, we must set the conditions for innovation and underwrite risk for our teammates. This can mean facilitating/building diverse teams and redeploying/reimagining talent, but most of all, it should manifest in encouraging collaboration. Collaboration, when it pushes us to think/do/reflect differently is the most effective "development." By setting the conditions for meaningful collaboration through which our teams can safely think differently, try, gain, and fail, the failures and successes that emerge can provide immeasurable learning, personal growth, and development.

I have been involved in staff development at my organization. In the process, I have developed a solution which is by way of blending both online and offline modalities. I have written my PHD Thesis on this. My thesis has both local and global perspectives. Online collaboration is an effective way. The research methodology in this regard is ethnography- online for that matter.

Effectively managing disruptions in staff development involves comprehensive analysis, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive strategies. It begins with diagnosing the causes of disruption and assessing its multifaceted impact. Agile prioritization and resource optimization ensure alignment with strategic goals. A versatile learning ecosystem and personalized approaches foster continuous development. Strategic foresight anticipates future disruptions, while executive support is crucial. A learning loop perpetually applies lessons learned, ensuring adaptability and growth in the face of challenges.

"Antifragility," a philosophical term coined by Nassim Taleb, goes beyond resilience. It isn't just about surviving chaos, it is thriving it. This is what "adapting AND innovating" is all about. Disruption is never a threat. It is a catalyst for innovation. It is envisioning the best possible outcome. It encourages organizational imagination: to explore better paradigms to encourage and grow. To be agile is key. Customize. Provide modular trainings for your organization that can easily be integrated regardless of the roles and skill levels. In this age of technological innovation, use VR and AR to give an immersive experience tailored to your staff. They are engaging and can be measure through data analytics.

Regarding disruption, one of my favorite statements is 'improvise, adapt, and overcome,'. When disruptions come knocking, it's essential to view them as opportunities rather than obstacles. As leaders dedicated to fostering growth and excellence in our teams, we must embrace these challenges with a mindset of adaptability and innovation. The question to ask ourselves: How can we use disruption as an opportunity to learn, experiment, and ultimately, enhance our staff development initiatives? Data-driven decision-making becomes paramount during times of disruption. What's working well, and what requires improvement? This process of assessment and continuous improvement enables us to fine-tune our approach. Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!

Support and motivate staff during disruption: - Communicate clearly and frequently. - Provide support and resources. - Recognize and reward achievements. Benefits: - Staff copes with change, stays productive, and remains positive. - Company and customers benefit.

One of the innovative feedback mechanisms I've implemented in my classroom is a simple yet transformative process that engages students. Every week (last meeting of the week), I exit the classroom 10 minutes before the session concludes, giving the floor to a class representative. The class discusses the STRENGTHS and AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT specific to that week's class. This is real-time evaluation. It students to voice their concerns openly. The class rep consolidates this feedback and sends through email. This serves as a pivotal input for my teaching strategy for next week. It's not a matter of making minor tweaks; it's about evolving my methodology and classroom nuances that directly responds to the students' experiences and needs.

In my opinion, implementing a structured plan for staff development in academia could greatly benefit both educators and students. To alleviate the heavy workload, it's advisable for universities to allocate at least two days exclusively for staff training conducted by industry experts. This would enable educators to gain practical insights and domain-specific knowledge, enhancing their ability to teach theoretical concepts effectively. Educators can fully engage in industrial-level training during these designated days, allowing them to focus on hands-on practical guidance from industry experts. These additional days could also serve as an opportunity for staff to engage in research activities, fostering innovation and collaboration.

To acknowledge staff and stakeholders: • Recognize achievements through awards. • Host appreciation events. • Provide personalized feedback and growth opportunities. To showcase results: • Create reports and share success stories. • Utilize digital platforms for dissemination. To create a positive culture: • Encourage continuous learning and open communication. • Lead by example in staff development. To leverage best practices: • Establish knowledge-sharing platforms. • Promote collaboration and mentorship. These steps help celebrate and share staff development achievements, fostering a culture of growth and innovation.

I embrace the idea of celebrating and sharing staff development achievements. It's not just about acknowledging the big milestones but also creating and celebrating small wins along the way. Staff development is a journey, and recognizing the incremental successes is vital. These small wins serve as motivation and encouragement for our team members. Whether it's a successful workshop, a positive feedback session, or a newly acquired skill, each small victory contributes to our overall growth. When individuals see their efforts recognized and valued, it fosters a sense of belonging and motivation. It's about saying, "Your hard work matters, and it's making a difference."

Experience is the greatest opportunity for development. Provide opportunities for employees to grow and learn through experiential learning. Get them involved in a variety of work, special projects and leadership opportunities. Provide mentorship, tutorship, peer support and coaching. Provide room in your organization for them to grow and learn by doing. Make it ok to make mistakes, take corrective action and learn. It’s a win-win. Employees will appreciate these opportunities and company’s can leverage employees better. Stagnancy is the greatest killer of motivation and job satisfaction. Don’t keep employees stagnant because they will lost interest and they will leave.

In my experience, staff development is very critical for any organisation to keep the growth engine running. In the current VUCA environment, continuous development of the employees’ skills and capabilities make them well prepared for any disruption. The initiative for staff development needs to be holistic in design and has to address the current as well as future needs. Experiential learning opportunities with well defined KPIs and measurement criteria should be part of the design. The employees should also be given enough opportunities to implement the learnings on job. Staff development enhances employee engagement and keeps the organisation a high performance organisation

It's important to remember that "positive" disruptions happen too, and they can equally affect your staff development initiatives. For example, a new strategic plan, a change in technology, or an emerging opportunity to expand products, programs, or services may prompt you to identify a new set of skills that staff need to be successful.