In recognition of this need, organisations invest immense resources - time and money - in training and development. Nevertheless, such initiatives often fail to achieve desired outcomes. Leadership off-sites, management workshops and training seminars are seen as a distraction from the 'day job'. HR professionals are derided for being out of touch with real business needs. Change that does occur is short-lived as people soon revert to familiar, now out-dated ways.
The first reaction to such problems is to invest more aggressively in training and development programmes. However, such efforts will fail when the established norms that make up a firm's culture are pitched against individual learning. Three institutionalised myths about development enable this subtle, often unintentional and yet powerful resistance to change.
First is the myth that it is the firm's responsibility to drive learning. Clearly, company strategy dictates overall needs; HR professionals offer training products, standards and metrics; line managers provide guidance and encouragement. However, such endeavours are effective only when an individual is committed to understanding his own development needs, directing his own learning, and pursuing chances to enhance performance. Development is a journey: others can help along the way, but only the individual can take forward steps.
The second myth is that competitive performance may be achieved through occasional learning. An annual review, quarterly off-site or monthly seminar can boost an individual's efforts to develop. However, our fast-evolving world demands continuous improvement: in practice, this means learning from day-to-day experience. Performance increases dramatically when individuals take stock of how what they do affects people and outcomes, reflect on implications for how they go about their work, and commit to changes that bring better results. To drive this process, abundant feedback we can generate for ourselves may be found in, for example: others' body language; our feelings after a client call; staff turn-over rates; the success of our networking; team members' energy levels; what keeps us awake at night. Long-term success demands continuous learning from everyday feedback.
The third myth is that development invariably should lead to enhanced performance. This is not to deny that the ultimate goal be to improve effectiveness and results. However, organisations must be sympathetic to the short-term implications of learning. An individual who feels constant pressure to succeed may shy away from trying new ideas where results are uncertain. People are similarly worried that in taking time to learn new skills they may be penalised for not prioritising immediate goals. Finally, when individuals undertake radical growth in the pursuit of ambitious targets, stress may cause performance degradation until new skills become second nature. Experimentation, re-prioritisation and disruption are inevitable: organisations must adopt a flexible, holistic view of performance if employees are to develop toward sustainable competitive edge.
The misguided assumptions behind these three myths are entrenched within the culture of many organisations. They shape how employees feel and think about, as well as undertake, their work and learning. These beliefs spoil development efforts and constrain business outcomes.
Leaders must evaluate how far these three myths are institutionalised in accepted norms and behaviours. First, a central HR function can be empowered to identify world-class products and services, and orchestrate standards and metrics. However, training and other development resources are more compelling when 'requested' rather than 'offered': what systems are in place to encourage employees to evaluate their own performance and be accountable for their own learning needs?
Second, with even well-structured programmes, there are inevitable 'gaps' between bouts of formal learning: in what ways are employees urged to reflect proactively on their experience of their own work and introduce behavioural changes for better results? Finally, people who are empowered to build their own solutions are likely to be motivated toward high performance: how much leeway do employees (outside designated 'think-tanks') have to experiment with new approaches? How much work time is endorsed for personal growth? How far are strategic goals legitimised alongside immediate targets?
Answers to these questions reveal how cultural impediments derail even the most sincerely executed development plans. By confronting the three myths about learning, leaders equip their organisations to harness the latent strength of their people to achieve enduring business success.
Quentin Millington,FlnstLM (pictured) supports multinationals in achieving high performance through effective global leadership. He is part-time specialist in cross-cultural leadership at Cambridge's Judge Business School.
