HOW YOU CAN START TO DE-RISK THE RISK OF BRAIN DRAIN

How equitable is your approach to people development?

Take a moment and think about whose job is it to come up with new ideas in your organization?

See ideas are not just the job of leaders and how we develop ideas tells us a lot about the cultures of an organization. And what it values in terms of how people contribute and whom.

If we are serious about creating the environments and conditions for continuous learning, we need to create space and time for people to come up with new ideas on a regular basis.

Not just within the leadership team but across the entire workforce as part of a collective approach to learning and development.

Think about it.

Is it any surprise that ambitious employees don’t stay in an organization where all the focus and opportunity is given at Management and Leadership level?

Let’s not ask why are they leaving but shift the perspective and ask what’s the incentive to stay with your organization.

WHERE DO YOU START TO DO DIFFERENT?

So you have a genuine interest in building a continuous learning approach but not sure where you stand in regards to the above?

The first step must always be to understand the current workplace reality of your people.

This means undertaking a critical self assessment to see how fair and equitable the spread of learning and development opportunities are currently across roles, teams and functions.

To truly understand a client's workplace reality I always start with these four questions.

1. What type of growth/stretch opportunities are provided to people?

2. Who within the organization is given these opportunities – think about the roles and positions they hold?

3. What story does it tell about how the organization values certain people and positions?

4. Where’s the evidence of fairness and equity in how learning and development is delivered across the workforce?

From my own industry experience this is likely an exercise only the brave are willing to do but the insights are worth feeling uncomfortable.

Now is the time to change not only how we see ideas but how these are created cross roles, teams and functions.

Ideas matter but how we create the experience to gather these ideas within and cross teams matter even more I would argue.

We need to create new ways to engage employees whatever role they may perform in the organization and design diverse teams from a mix of roles and realities that are committed to creating ideas to replace ideas.

But thinking differently and generating ideas is a learnt skill and knowledge set that needs to be consistently invested in in terms of time and space.

TO BE PREPARED CREATE ‘THINKING TIME’

Leaders must be bold and make the investment in allowing their teams time to stop, reflect and think regularly.

This requires foresight and understanding that you will not always see immediate return on thinking time. Think of it like an investment into the future both from a financial but equally important people perspective.

Without it you are going backwards.

Here’s some food for thought

3M dedicates 15% of all employee time to thinking.

Take time out to reflect on this stat. How does your organization compare and if it is falling short; why is this?

ADDRESSING THE ORGANIZATIONAL BRAIN DRAIN

Invest in ideas. Always.

Building a portfolio of ongoing ideas that are seen as an investment across all roles and departments is vital to preparing for challenge and change.

This requires a cultural shift from a focus on building leadership capability often at the expense of other roles within the business.

Time is now for businesses to open up the definition of what leadership is today and how they want to build talent and confidence in roles often overlooked.

A focus purely on developing leaders makes little sense both from a business and people perspective.

When creating ideas is only seen as the responsibility of Leaders and Managers this is the outcome I’ve observed first hand out in the field.

1.? It places the organization in a vulnerable position when the leader leaves and takes all the intel with them.

2.? If not a leader, or identified as an emerging leader, other employees are at risk of feeling neglected and unworthy of developing.

People leave when there is no opportunity to develop and be stretched through new learning and development experiences.

Spread the risk by having a plan to build entrepreneurial talent across other levels and roles in the business.

And share the lessons and insights cross teams as a result of build this entrepreneurial muscle in roles you would not expect it.

As you consider the process for making thinking and reflecting part of the daily operations in the search of new ideas, take time to consider the following questions:

-??What is seen as a worthwhile idea and who makes this decision?

-??How do you measure what is valuable in terms of new ideas as a workforce and business?

?- How can you build innovation capital (talent/knowledge) throughout the team and organization ? Not just at leadership and management level.

?-??What are the key roadblocks and risks to building entrepreneurial and creative thinking across all levels, not just senior leadership?

The answers to these questions are never static and will change as does the talent and potential of your people and the broader objectives of your organization.

When you are ready to have these conversations as an organization then you are ready to create the conditions and environments for continuous learning.

But this comes with a word of warning.

To try and skip the above steps is like baking a cake that needs two eggs but you don’t have any and then wonder why it tastes rubbish. This is no different, cut corners and the outcome will not be what you hoped for.

Written by Ali Uren Founder of Kiikstart – Creating continuous learning environments where teams own the approach and outcomes. And generously share their insights and expertise.

Please follow or connect with @AliUren if you’re a purpose led Leader with an interest in creating continuous learning environments.