HR & Reversing the Effects of PDD

HR is an important asset for organizational growth. Without the process for managing employees, the workforce would be filled with chaos and untapped potential. Unfortunately, many HR professionals do not realize that there is an unseen enemy that undermines the productivity of the workforce.

Companies invest a lot of money on training employees only to get the same results. Statisa.com reported that workplace training in the U.S. rose to around 92.3 billion dollars in 2021.

While it’s great to see organizations invest money into training their workforce, it’s alarming that little to no dollars are spent on training that treats the disease that is responsible for poor training outcomes. ?

Training dollars are spent on treating symptoms like poor leadership, discrimination, workplace biases, poor teambuilding, poor communication skills, etc. Over the years, the importance of personality profiles emerged as a foundation for building a more collaborative workforce. However, employees still lack skills on how to treat the disease behind the symptoms mentioned above and grow beyond their personality profiles and types.

Most employees are excited about the possibility of trainings, but training is still categorized as a check the box exercise and employees are left with low expectations for changing the workplace culture.?

Treating the disease behind poor training outcomes

An important shift in the training industry is the shift from treating symptoms to treating the disease that is responsible for poor training outcomes.

At the foundation of the shift is an important strategy related to the growth potential of employees. Robert Kegan, a forty-year retired professor of professional development from Harvard University describes the process of growth as, “…the evolution of meaning, marked by continual shifts from periods of stability and instability leading to reconstruction relationships between person and their environment” (Patton et al., 2016. P. 356).

It is important for HR professionals to know that one of the most vulnerable periods for employees after training is the period between stability and instability. During this period, the risk is high for growth potential to break down due to the lack of skills on how to treat the disease called Purpose Deficit Disorders? (PDD). ?

The training environment provides stability on what it takes to change the culture. However, when employees return to work duties, they are faced with the instability of implementing their classroom training. Before long, PDD attacks their growth potential, and they return to behavioral norms.

PDD attacks during the most vulnerable time where training deliverables are expected to show up. The symptoms of PDD are addressed during training. However, changing a culture requires reversing the effects of PDD.

When training deliverables include treating the PDD disease, training outcomes will go from a check the box exercise to a check the heart experience that leads to real change within the culture.

The Future of HR

The future of human resource management must include reversing the effects of PDD, which is more sophisticated than knowing who is working for your organization. To reverse the effects of PDD, you must know what you are working with to help employees navigate the transition from periods of training stability to training instability.

Robert Kegan’s process of growth describes what HR professionals are working with to help employees treat the PDD disease. When employees develop skills for creating the conditions for purposeful interactions with their surroundings, they will engage in the process of growth needed to change the culture.

Click Here to schedule a free discovery call to discuss how your organization can create a culture for reversing the effects of PDD.