Initiatebalancedapproach

The sensible but challenging task is to well manage the talent pipeline including training and talent development. Forward-thinking organizations need to integrate people management with change management, performance management, culture management, in order to fill the variety of gaps, build people-centric organizations.

Listen & tell: A learning organization can leverage a number of emerging technologies and messaging platforms, in an integrated manner to enforce communication and manage talent holistically. People down the organization need to be encouraged to listen carefully and speak up courageously, to tell the truth to power, but avoid personal attacks or misrepresentation of ideas. It is difficult to do and it’s often uncomfortable to hear. But leaders recognize the value of the information and what a great advantage to their organization is to have people provide invaluable feedback for making continuous improvement.

People are encouraged to apply critical thinking to challenge the “we always do things like that,” mentality, initiate ongoing digital dialogues, inspire constructive criticism, make meaningful arguments, stimulate creative debates, involving opposing viewpoints; deliberation; consideration. If your organization is going to survive through change and build long term advantage, it would better be a listening and learning organization. If not, its survival horizon can be really short. People need to be learning agile, improve their professional competency by updating their knowledge and skills, brainstorming fresh ideas, and collaborating cross-boundary to solve problems thoroughly.

Collaborate & compete: The amount of segregation and number of silos, the lack of cooperation and amount of unhealthy competition in the workforce are still the business reality today. Negatively competing against one another slows the team down and can stall innovative thinking. There are some traits that come in pairs and act in opposition to each other. The business management needs to build a competitive workforce, it takes both complementary actions and competitive actions in the constructive/professional way to build a trust in teams, compete with great ideas, but collaborate to implement the best ideas with continuous deliveries.

Complimentary teams focus on giving and taking, thus making them and the other teams stronger. Collaborate to achieve common goals in one area but compete in the other area. Otherwise, the negative competition via negative intention or approach can have the bad effect. Either at the individual or organizational level, competition shouldn’t mean we want to be the same, but means to be authentic and self-aware, to become the best we can be, to define our own success formula, or put simply, compete for uniqueness and build our own set of competitive advantages. In an advanced digital organization or society, the goal of positive competition with fair rules should stimulate innovation and accelerate progress.

Trust and control: In contemporary companies, the more we trust, the less we need to control each other. When we start to lose trust, we begin creating rules and trying to control others. So, it would seem reasonable to suggest that in whatever environment you are in, if there is a lack of trust, or if you don’t have the collaborative framework with checks and balances within the teams. then there would most likely be an over-abundance of control mechanisms. Control is about micromanagement if you will put checks, not balances, around things where it’s not required. True trust has to be nurtured from the soil and in combination with appropriate micro and macro climates

Trust but verify; in order to get more trust, one not only has to communicate but also demonstrate through actions. The complementary actions provide the basis for the trust but the competitive actions in a constructive way strengthen that trust. There are fewer obstacles and pitfalls to navigate and overcome when team members trust one another. Modern digital technologies bring unprecedented convenience for people to learn and collaborate, improve their productivity, learning agility, and innovativeness, unlock their potential and drive transformative changes. The organizations are becoming more people-centric with autonomy and collaboration.

People are often the weakest link but one of the most critical success factors of the organization. When you find the talent, make sure they get placed into the most conducive environment in which they can flourish and make the maximum contribution not just to the business but to their own life. People want to believe that they are appreciated and cared for in a trusting community. What succeeds is to set the right principles for developing talent with intelligence, values, learning agility, motivation and mind fit.