In times of economic prosperity employers tend to focus on finding the right employees and enticing them to stay with a combination of benefits and working conditions.
These days we face a skills shortage, an uncertain economic environment and a general reluctance to take risks. The HR priority for employers, argues Matt Moore in a recent article for Human Capital, must “shift from attraction and retention to include productivity — a rewnewed focus on what people do and how they do it.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean reaching for a copy of Getting Things Done, or starting to track the time employees spend on personal phone calls or Facebooking. Nor does it mean spending thousands on training courses or conferences of dubious value.
Rather, Moore suggests five tactics for staff development that can build upon the knowledge and skills that already exist within the organisation. These tactics aren’t expensive to implement; they do require commitment and participation from senior managers, if the program is to work across the whole organisation.
It is possible to apply some of these tactics, to start from the ground up, without a formal mandate from management. This is often a good way to demonstrate the value of what you’re doing, so that dubious executives are more likely to suport your more radical ideas.
Here are a couple of examples from my own experiences.
To start a community of practice all you need is two or three interested colleagues. Arrange to meet regularly for coffee or lunch — same place, same time, same day of the month — and talk about your common interests and challenges. Keep it informal.
Encourage attendees to tell their colleagues. Let word get around. As you discover others with similar interests, invite them to join the group. After a while, once you’ve established a small group of regulars, you might start an email discussion list or other online forum to continue the conversation between meetings.
Eventually the community becomes largely self-sustaining, with a larger number of ‘lurkers’ surrounding the core group of regulars. The individual members learn from each other, help each other to solve problems, undertake projects and improve their own daily work practices. Collect these stories and document them as evidence that the community has benefits for the organisation. Then you can ask the HR department to recognise participation as a factor in the individuals’ performance evaluations and professional development plans.
Similarly you might take on the role of mentor or teacher for a colleague who wants to develop her own knowledge or skills. This can be an immensely rewarding relationship for both sides, provided you establish some ground rules early.
Think about what each person wants out of the relationship, agree on some goals and a time limit. An early clear understanding about expectations can help to prevent misunderstandings arising later. Again, if you think your manager will be amenable to it, ask for the mentoring or teaching to be recognised in your annual performance review. When others notice your learning partner’s new skills or knowledge, encourage them to send a brief email to your partner’s manager: peer recognition is a wonderful incentive.
In implementing any of these knowledge-sharing tactics, there are no simple formulas for success. There are no ‘quick wins’ to be had; the benefits will emerge over time. Your experience will differ from mine or from Matt Moore’s. Given the current social and economic situation, and weighing the potential gains, there’s no harm in at least making a start on the journey.
Further reading:
- Matt Moore (2008) “Talent Management in a Down Economy” in Human Capital, volume 6 number 11, pp 38-41.
- Matt Moore’s Innotecture consultancy and blog
- Jürgen Kluge, Wolfram, Stein and Thomas Licht (2001) Knowledge Unplugged: the McKinsey & Company global survey on knowledge management. Palgrave.
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