Grow your employees: Stop Mining; Start Investing

Foremost, thankyou very much for your encouraging responses to the the earlier post, both on the post and aside!  :***

Many organisations have grown from the factory floor to become successful. They started when their service was either niche or decently sought after. Most of the focus was on always getting the product or service just right and acquiring the next big customer. As times grew, customer became king and service growth modeled the growth of the customer. More and more focus went on chiseling the right go-to-market strategies and 'reading' the customer. Now, some of the best ones not only know what the customer likes to drink, but also which antidepressants he takes before going to be bed....and take pride in being as close to the customer as it gets, without getting married. And so it should be.

What gets significantly left behind mostly -  is the bespectacled man behind the computer working late shifts , travelling in local trains and going back to a home shared with 4-8 other people. Not to forget their managers, who sometimes seem to have no life of their own, working on their own bits and then working on whats left over from a disgruntled team, only to come home to a family that thinks they don't care. And then there's her.The lady working a minimum of 3 projects: office, home and kids. And hey! not to be left ,the newer generation, - who see all these global companies paying in dollars, newbies getting funded for simple innovations ,that they could have done themselves, and their own need to be someone fast - constantly struggling to understand the earlier mindset of work hard and be loyal. 
An oh !, god really help those, whose kid or parent or relationship needs more time for personal or medical reasons or if one wants to try something else in his/her life without it being termed mid life crisis.

Not taking sides or highlighting what we generally push under the carpet here, I think the bigger question now, is not whats happened in the past, but REALLY should we continue with this and WHY? WHO is getting benefited? Definitely NOT  the company who is consistently seeing the results of a non synergistic, non proactive, non engaged team despite the truck loads of 'trainings', 'feel good messages about the company' and the townhalls . And definitely NOT the people in it who continue to work robotically.

That said, I understand that organisations come together to do business and not lull the employees to a good life....and yet I feel that there is still is so much more we as organisations can do. And what is that please ?

Stop Mining;  Start Investing

In most organisations, "education"  stops after the employees join the company. After that employees become ' trained' in skills needed to do a 'job'.

However,as organisations we do not just leverage on their technical skills, we leverage on much much more ...we leverage on people life skills!  Their ability to survive a failure, to look into the eye of a much senior client and tell them ' this and not this, is the best way to do this'; to have faith in themselves and continue to come to work, even after a year of showing up and then getting a 'D', justified or not;  to feel happy with an A and a raise but no real growth in roles or responsibilities. We expect that they will do all of the above...beautifully, and most do....but WHO is educating them on it so that they rise beyond it eventually?

We as organisations need to stop mining for diamonds, we need to invest in a mine that can grow them!

To be able to do that justifiably, lets break down the areas of growth and help required.

1. Grow Technically and in their domain of choice 
This most organisation do fairly well. The only suggestion here is that they also teach them other technology and domains and skills irrespective of their relevance to the 'current' job. This allows for the person to have flexibility of technology and for the organisation to rotate him for something else if required.

2. Grow in the Industry. Something I myself picked up late but now a proponent of it. One doesn't have to be an expert to share your experience. More perspectives are always better than a few 'expert' views. Besides that, attend seminars and understand the wider industry play. Encourage all your employees to have a say 'here'. Make it easier for them to do so (and, not by mandating white papers please). Help them figure a channel they like and prefer. The idea is that they grow ; not just our whitepaper numbers in a goal sheet.

3. Grow Leadership skills. This one is a tricky one. Most of the time we talk of negotiation and sales strategies or some Management gyan as leadership . One,that is not leadership. Second, we end up giving it ONLY to the ' high end managers or high performing ones'. Please , that is a BIG mistake. Leadership has to come from the floor alike and from the managers. Changing the engine of a car is not enough to get the car to run fast unless the tyres are changed too! Plus, do you really trust the system behind these classifications, as not being biased at all?

4. Grow Culturally. Why do we miss this one big time? I know of companies who do not hire for cultural fit. Maybe because they dont know what their culture really is today, after multiple acquisitions or massive growth. Maybe in another post.Meanwhile, help your employees understand the values you imbibe (and epitomize) and help them grow into those.

5. Grow Personally ( as an Individual, Financially, in Relationships and other areas). This one is also mostly grossly missed. We have random trainings happening in obscure locations in the office, the canteen or the conference that can seat 8 ideally fitted with 40 , over a 'soft skill' session. Not only is there is no clear understanding of the value of growing personally, worse, it is sold off as something wrapped in multiple cheesy wrappers, none really getting to the real essence.
When,this is the ONLY one they need the most because ,they spent the most of their time in office growing professionally and the least of their time growing personally. The employees need tools and tips here the most and in the best way possible. We as organisations need to lay proper emphasis on this, so they know they can trust and hear it from us.

6. Grow as a Person (  Values and Beliefs, Life Purpose, Inner Essence). Wow! I love this one. We are primarily 'human' beings and then 'intelligent' workers. Our primary food is our own inner growth, as people. Most of the employees are hungry for this. That said, this is also the most difficult to deliver. Most of the faculties I interviewed can hardly walk the talk nor do their 'energies' align with their own knowledge. These are mostly people who have figured this as a good alternate career and interest. Look for people with passion and a pure inner energy, opposed to people with interest and 'some coaching' in their CVs.Their eyes will tell you.
For more depth and a framework on helping employees grow holistically, interested ones, reach out to me separately or wait for it to come out in some article:)

Be coherent in our 'People Care' messages

Lastly, most organisation DO care about their people. Most often the message gets distorted by lack of cultural clarity and depth of care visible in their other actions. There are no monsters at the top. Most have gone through the same cycle as others to get there. It's just that they are so busy fighting the beasts there; they have no time to guard their home and people. It is therefore the collective responsibility of us all at various levels of the organisation to take care of the home front for them. It is OUR job to question and assist them if they take a decision that does not support the roots of the company- its people. It is all of OUR job to remind them, when required, of the repercussions of an action (or no-action in a certain area) to the people who look up to us and work for us, ....we who inspired them to come.

So please STAND UP wherever you are and make the first noise. Trust me, people will follow. We all want it. If you face resistance, forward them the article :)

All our energies to you, those at the top and to those climbing up, to make this happen for you and your future generations! Be brave, Be kind!

Nidhi

Nidhi loves the idea of an energy rich world, especially ‘human’ energy. You can reach out to her anytime at nidhirainas@gmail.com. She loves to meet and talk to more high energy beings!

Other related posts by Nidhi
The Emerging and Unavoidable 'Real' role of a CEO
Making Happiness@Work work for your organisation
Best Employee Retention Strategy of all times