A question of priorities ....

It is not uncommon to find that most HR organizations spend more than 90% of their budget for learning and development in two directions: leadership development and personal development. Yet, if you ask CEOs what functions or people are most crucial to the success of the business, you will hear sales, manufacturing (product development & delivery), and finance, or people within these functions.

Learning and development responsibility for these three functions is often abdicated by HR to the respective function.

To my knowledge, functional heads are not experts in people or organization development but, regardless, they are left to their own devices. Some will find innovative ways to address their needs, but many will do nothing. In my view, this is a dangerous strategy or lack thereof.

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to assist a newly formed consulting firm based in Bahrain. The issue was sales force development. Many need it but very few do it well. Yet, we continue to hear how important it is to have a well-trained sales organization. Our discussions revealed that sales training seminars per se were not enough, that a much more comprehensive development strategy was needed.

In the sales organization there are several distinct roles with different sets of competencies. To fully develop the whole organization, and not just one part (sales people), a different approach would be needed -- one that permitted to custom design development strategies that would fit individuals' as well as organizational needs. The approach we came up with was:

1. Assess each individual's development needs based on his/her role in the sales organization.

2. Compile an organization-wide composite view of the development needs.

3. Look for similarities and differences between the different roles.

4. Separate the strategy into two components: individual development plans and organization development plans.

5. Develop and implement pilot projects that would address both tracks.

6. Adjust the pilots based on participant and management evaluation.

7. Roll out the projects organization-wide.

8. Follow-up within 60-90 days to determine what worked, what did not and why, and take up any corrective actions.

10. Conduct a new assessment and measure improvements as well as unfinished business.

We then took this approach, coupled with appropriate diagnostic tools and overall learning strategies, to a number of prospective clients, nine to be specific.

The feedback was extremely positive. Several clients indicated that they had struggled for years in search of a comprehensive approach, but, to their chagrin, had not found one. They also all confessed to being inundated with many consultants promoting the merits of their workshops or seminars. In essence, training solutions looking for a problem. Off-the-shelf one size-fits-all approaches, so to speak.

While it is too early to determine how much impact this new approach have, one thing can be said now. HR has to revisit its priorities and better allocate its funds and energy to better address the core needs of the organization. Focusing just on leaders almost exclusively is an incomplete task. Spending money and energy on new age personal development initiatives is akin to polishing the brass when the ship might be taking on water or worst sinking.

Let me have your reactions to this topic. Enjoy the journey along the learning curve. We still have much to learn!