Hiring the Right People or Building the People Right?
The 21st century foresees a rapidly changing business world, especially with the fast and mass adoption and innovation of digital and frontier technologies like A.I, which promises nothing short of uncertainties in the future workplace.
Many organizations are talking about the importance of staying relevant and agile to survive the tide. But what does it really mean? For me, the key is always about how fit the team is in the organization.
Hiring the Right People
How do we ensure that the team is fit? Back then, it has always been about hiring the right people. And when changes demanded new skills, the ‘right people’ might seem not right anymore. And what happens then? Layovers. And the long time consuming and expensive talent hunt starts all over again.
Instead of keeping finding the right people, why not relook and review the talent and skills within the organization? Why not steering also towards building the people right as one of the imperative strategies in People Development? Why not invest in people that are already in the organization who are ready for growth and development? I believe it’s a better option for organizations to move forward in this era.
Building the People Right
I believe Building the People Right starts from aligning everyone from top to bottom towards the same direction. How? By ensuring that everyone understands the company’s VISION and feels connected to them emotionally and strategically. Emotionally – in the sense of they believe in those VISION and is on board, wanting to achieve it together with the company. Strategically means that now they know how to contribute to that journey.
Next is instilling the company’s values and cultures that everyone should withhold in moving towards the VISION. I would say that everyone in the company acts as this ‘instilling agents’, especially for leaders – to implement the values and cultures in everything they do even in their day in-day out tasks.
Once everyone is aligned and having the right values and cultures, the next thing to do is driving the people towards personal and professional development in order to innovate, advance, and create more possibilities in the organization. You will see tremendous change and how agile not only the team but the whole company could be if you move forward as one.
People Development
Building the People Right also means investing the time and money on them – training and upskilling them. If you already have a dedicated team assigned to manage people training and development, then that’s great! You can get them to identify the following:
a. Whom amongst your employees is ready for growth?
b. In which area do you want them to grow?
c. How does their new or enhanced skills, knowledge and attitude benefit the organization?
d. How do you measure this?
e. What training should they go for?
f. Which training provider?
Take your time to research and analyze your data, and then make your decision and measure the outcome. If you do not have the capacity to do all that on your own or within the organization, get help. There are many professional training consultants in the market.
Building the People Right could bring positive changes to an organization:
a. More employees with enhanced skills, knowledge and attitude
b. People are empowered to voice out amazing ideas
c. Teams are ready to face challenges and shared responsibilities
d. High team morale
e. REAL communication among team members
f. REAL feedback given
g. Meaningful and purposeful employee engagement
h. High level of trust and transparency within the organization
i. Long-lasting talent retention
j. High appreciation towards Company
k. People are willing to go the extra mile for you and the company
l. Lower down turnover rate
Now, compare the above-mentioned benefits to the people investment that you made. It is going to be totally worth it!