Additionally, people can now be hired from and work virtually anywhere. That means talent can leave at any time fairly easily. According to this article in the Harvard Business Review, “at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, talent literally left the building, and we’re now beginning to realize that in many places, it is unlikely to come back. Technology is moving humanity away from the office and back into homes across our nation every day. We are building culture outside of buildings, with work that supports life on a more even playing field, with talent that can come from anywhere.”
Finally, if the geographical location does not limit employment opportunities, what kind of employer will people prefer? Ninety-four percent of employees say if their company invested in their continued learning and skills development, they would stay with the company longer.
Do you assess what skills are necessary to succeed? Do you continuously develop and support your employees to gain these skills? Do your employees follow through with actions?
These are important seeds to plant and grow. Consider these SEEDs to improve your organizational readiness to succeed:
S – Skills: Identify what skills are paramount for your organizational success. The Future of Jobs Report, 2020 shows that employers see that “critical thinking and analysis as well as problem-solving, and skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility” is on the rise. LinkedIn’s 2020 Workforce Learning Report also reinforces that the shelf life of technical skills is relatively short while “soft skills will reign supreme” regardless of an employee’s functional role or how the technology landscape evolves.
E – Education: There are different ways to educate your employees: through formal education and other channels. There are organizations and consulting services that offer professional development; you may have access to a professional network that is skilled at competencies you are seeking to develop as well as understands your specific challenges. Identify the best ways to get the education for yourself, your employees, and for the teams they engage with.
E – Environment: Design a professional environment to support employees through the process of gaining knowledge, embodying skills, and building the capacity for change and organizational readiness. Your organizational culture, leadership, and change management practices are important considerations.
D – Doing: As Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton showed in their research[1], knowing what to do is not enough. “The knowing-doing gap arises from a constellation of factors and it is essential that organizational leaders understand them all and how they interrelate.”
If managers understand what may prevent turning knowledge into action in their organization, then the education gained by their people will be consistently translated into meaningful actions and, in turn, will produce sustainable results.
SEED for organizational readiness to overcome challenges and continue to thrive.
[1] The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action, Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert I. Sutton, 1999. Chapter 8, Turning Knowledge into Action, p. 246
Olga Kipnis is the Assistant Dean for Organizational Excellence at the School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis.She brings uncommon combination of analytical and human skills and experience to create positive and sustainable impact in people’s lives and their organizations.
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