The effects of this global episode are going to be deep and far reaching in so many different areas of our lives. We are however, beginning to see the sunbeams shining through the clouds!
As with every shake-up, I see the biggest opportunities for the best ‘new’ to emerge, for most of all it is a time when change is accepted and even expected by most.. and the natural tendency of mindful people is to change for the better!!
Stay safe, stay mindful!
What are the drivers for an industry? This is a question that gains significance as we try to grow an industry, leveraging the drivers to drive faster and farther.
The Automobile industry, for example, is driven by our needs as people, to travel safely and comfortably, from one place to another in as short a time as possible, affordably. Similarly, the Films and Entertainment Industry is driven by glamour, and the Food industry is driven by hunger and our need to be healthy.
Learning and Development is an Industry of Hope.
• Hope – of improved Competencies improving Performance, this is the entire raison d’etre for training.
• Belief – in People’s abilities impacting Performance, People’s Responsibility. Hope is not enough, it needs to become a Belief, a conviction.
• Trust – in Teachers, to learn from them. Without Trust, our minds do not open to receive.
• Integrity – of Teachers and Learners – with their Hope, Belief, and Trust. The Integrity of purpose, and commitment to meet it in the simplest form is an imperative attribute for generating the value of new knowledge.
• Responsibility – of everyone – buyers, sellers, learners, teachers, and leaders – Responsibility about the Integrity and how it is manifested.
Training and Development of Human Resources is an industry of hope. This is so because the relationship between people’s capabilities and their performance is only a matter of hope for most managers.
Managers are not very sure, even if they feel responsible, about how they would convert a competency into performance. It is a heuristic for them to imagine how they would get more or better performance from someone with a better skill or knowledge.
This decision is driven by the managers’ wisdom, which depends on the understanding they build from their awareness, experience, and beliefs.
What managers must also realize is that their people’s performance depends not only on their competencies, but also on the goals, processes, plans and leadership they receive from the organization. Competent people are only the ‘raw material’ or ‘resource’ needed for performance.
To grow, we need to acknowledge the drivers and grow them so that there is (more) movement of business (value) across the various stakeholders of the industry. We also need to recognize that without the understanding and belief in the drivers of this industry, businesses only become more expensive, not wealthier.
Is it a surprise then, how Learning & Development is an industry that needs the highest standards, values, and skills to be transformed into a business by all its stakeholders.
For many of us, most often, fear is the key. Our actions are driven by fear, just as much as our lack of action might be. What are we afraid of?
Wikipedia says – “Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response) but in extreme cases of fear (terror) a freeze or paralysis response is possible. Some psychologists such as John B. Watson,Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that fear belongs to a small set of basic or innate emotions. This set also includes such emotions as joy, sadness, and anger…”
It is interesting to note that fear is a feeling, and therefore something we can control (can we?). Fear is also based on perception and awareness, again something we can control. But Wikipedia adds:
“It is worth noting that fear almost always relates to future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable. Fear can also be an instant reaction to something presently happening. All people have an instinctual response to potential danger. This emotion is described as fear and it is pre-programmed into all people.[2] Fear, whatever its source, can become a controlling factor in a person’s life.[3]Fear can channel one’s energies away from areas of perceived threats and into directions that seem safe.[4]“
It seems fear is an “instinctual response”. How do we control it then? Well, the first step is to recognize it when it happens. It is for us to understand it better, and identify which heuristics are leading to it in our mind. Our first responsibility to ourselves is to think!
Our problem might be in how we think about responsibility. Almost always, people relate responsibility with a burden, with the liability or the blame we carry about something. This thinking itself is the result of our perception and awareness, and therefore has the same opportunities of correcting our perception by increasing awareness. We must distinguish between ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’ in our mind.
Responsibility is what we carry before something is done, and Accountability is what we have after we have done it. It is responsibility we need to do something, to begin doing something,… and accountability for having done it.
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