#002 - Treat them like a kid, adult, and blend...

Read time: 3:00 minutes

Hey! Humberto here.

Here’s the second issue of Invest in the Message to help you build a sustainable operation with people in mind inspired by company culture as a competitive advantage.

Click here to read online.

Enjoy!

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Big thank you for taking the time to check out my newsletter!

What drives my thinking on this issue got inspired by a rabbit hole that piqued my curiosity this past week.

The idea of programmed sequencing popped into my head, which led to adult learning theory.

Programmed sequencing because I wanted to understand how our brains process repeated actions.

My initial thought, identify ways to reprogram our actions to better manage organizational change. Meet the rabbit hole I almost went down!

But, it got me thinking of how our neuroplasticity decreases as we age. Here’s where adult learning principles comes in.

To operationalize culture, you need to understand the work.

So, let’s dive in.

As adults we rely on past experience to make sense of the world and solve complex problems. We filter past challenges to identify a similar situation. Then apply that knowledge to navigate the situation towards a solution.

Our work needs to become intrinsic and align with our purpose.

As leaders, we leverage hands-on experiences and need less instruction to take ownership. Our focus centers on understanding the “why” around the work we do.

These are the foundations of adult learning theory (andragogy).

The other side represents younger organizational talent, “leading the young” (pedagogy). This learning style shows up in four different ways:

1) Bahaviorism: affected and reinforced by external forces rather than internal forces

2) Constructivism: learnings based on previous knowledge and experience

3) Social constructivism: blending of two methods and incorporates teacher-guided and student-centered instruction

4) Liberationism: placing individual opinions at the center of developing the learning environment and managing in a democratic way

Let’s apply these concepts to develop front-line work in your business operations. Focus on building bottom-up work directed by top-down direction.

There are three stages of people in operations:

Stage 1: New talent coming into your company

Stage 2: Transitioning talent developing/strengthening their capabilities

Stage 3: Legacy talent leading your organization.

Stage 1 – Foundations for Sustained Success

Younger talent looks upward for guidance and direction. They want connection to their leaders, but want independence in their work.

As leaders, structure their learning and maintain an experimental environment.

Establish structured onboarding to speed up assimilation. Develop targeted training for a strong performance foundation.

Introduce allies to begin building a collaborative work environment.

Last, but not least, go beyond team intros and establish team norms and dynamics to form trust.

Once they’re up-to-speed, provide support for customized work to take place.

The intent, let them grow into their role and deliver results that align with individual purpose.

The outcome, younger talent will learn from their leaders and team members. Work gets accomplished through a mix of dependent and interdependent work.

You’re building their readiness and capabilities to take on more impactful work by investing in personal and professional growth.

Stage 2 – Doubling Down on Growth

I believe this is a crucial stage for people at your organization, it’s the fork in the road. The work needs to feel challenging because without it growth plateaus.

When company scales, this stage validates whether people are in the right seat.

It provides an objective opportunity to ensure roles have adapted with your company’s growth.

Co-create work objectives with your people. Their operational insight is key to achieving short-term and long-term strategies.

It demonstrates how your people have grown, showcases new skills, and strengthens individual capabilities.

Stage 3 – Promote from Within

Experience gets validated with greater responsibility. It lays the stage to mentor, coach, and guide others towards success.

Validate experience with greater responsibility by leveraging legacy knowledge. At this stage, leaders fully understand the “why” and purpose of your organization.

They will shape the future of your organization while maintaining the impact and value delivered to customers.

These leaders will establish, maintain, nurture, and growth a steady stream of stage 1 and stage 2 talent.

Most importantly, this stage fully understands how to communicate strategy with clarity. Without it, resources don’t get maximized and operations become siloed.

Build work that allows knowledge to get transferred downward to grow upward.

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Until the next one, stay present, celebrate the small wins, and involve your people.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can provide support to help you’re company out:

1.???????Personal consult for organizational leaders where we’ll discuss scaling changes and you’ll walkaway with 3 actionable leadership strategies.

2.??????360° Operations Audit covering an end-to-end assessment of your company to create sustainable operational alignment.

Cheers!??

Humberto