Professional development program features and benefits are magnets attracting new high-caliber employees in tight markets. But for existing employees that don't qualify, these programs can stress and alienate. What should you do? Ensure a balanced approach, with equitable offerings and broader recognition and inclusion; a win-win for employers and employees.
Technical and specialty companies must attract upper-echelon talent and recent high-quality graduates and cultivate the in-house business knowledge and unique technical acumen to support company growth and success. One great way to do this is through professional development programs (PDP). The depth of these programs varies, but can contain some or all of the following:
Exclusive and high visibility participation
Rotations into multiple key areas, round robin into different business units
Structured mentorships
Career, professional, and life coaching
Cohort gatherings in exciting locations
Strategic, diverse project management
Temporary leadership roles and assignments
Formalized learning, on-site, remote, and/or university administered instruction
These programs accelerate professional and leadership skills development, and fast track high achievers through the business and even the ranks. If you are selected for one these programs, your success is almost guaranteed, and your career path visible, and mapped out to your satisfaction.
With the investment into high potential candidates in the upper percentiles of education, leadership, and success, the company increases the probability their investment will yield a substantial return. So what is wrong with that?
Unfortunately, the inclusion of the often young and new employee, white-collar group with incentives and investments, excludes existing (often experienced blue collar) employees. To make matters worse, many of these existing employees must support the program, showing the trainees "the ropes", over and over again. This perception of special treatment and embracing the value of engineers and white-collar employees over blue-collar employees, has been exacerbated by the resentment buildup of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most blue-collar employees and their supervisors never stayed home or worked remotely. Not only did white-collar employees work safely at home during the pandemic, but they also continue to advocate for remote work arrangements! Further, recent characterizations like "quiet quitting" and "The Great Resignation" have increased awareness to discrepant treatment and feelings of malaise at work. Finally, work-life balance is another area where blue-collar workers often carry the bigger burden with repeated, if not constant, mandatory demands for overtime.
What we are really seeing is the incentivization of one small group to engage and commit to the company, and an unrewarded expectation for the rest to accept the status quo. This singular approach might have worked in the past, but the enlightened workers of today are no longer accepting disparity and are beginning to realize their own worth. The resulting conditions are either unhappy workers and low productivity, or employees that find their voice through unionization, or just leave.
To improve job satisfaction for every type of worker, companies just need to realize there is special value to every position. In fact, market issues are trending to be more universal in their impact. Today, there are not enough hourly, skilled workers in the market to support output demands. in the future, the types of workers we need will be influenced by technology, workflows, and robotics. Artificial intelligence is quickly upending our closely-held beliefs of who can be replaced with technology! The last thing we want to do, is limit our options and growth, by choking ourselves off from any workforce needs.
Through systems thinking and review of today and future business needs, we can ensure professional development programs are cultivating the special roles needed to facilitate company success, across our staff. Here are some aspects to consider, to improve your approach to PDP:
Foster mindfulness and reduce stressors. What are the participant and general populace beliefs of the PDP? For example, candidates that enter these programs are often signing agreements they will relocate to a potentially unknown location and commit to the organization for a specific timeframe; this is a significant sacrifice that others should understand. Conversely, new young employees should understand the significant commitment of tenured, skilled employees. They should also appreciate the level of complexity of work variables is not less for blue collar employees. By developing shared mental models, managers can gain understanding, appreciation, and respect between these two very important groups.
Reward trainers and mentors. Who are the employees supporting the PDP administration? We often have "go-to" people when showing someone around. Reward employees that play such roles with increased pay, bonuses, and their own professional development. Seek their feedback regarding PDP rotations to ensure complete training. The last thing you want to do is shepherd these high caliber individuals through the company, with incomplete learning. Red flags fly quickly and more freely on the shop floor. Make sure you understand the nuances of the PDP cohorts and address counterproductive personality traits and attitudes.
Implement training to foster engagement and transparency. Is there company-wide training on systems thinking, engagement and collaboration? Companies often train PDP cohorts on leadership, lean manufacturing, six-sigma, etc. But these approaches do not facilitate employee engagement practices and collaboration. These PDP cohorts are the leaders of tomorrow and their ability to transform the organization will hinge on their soft skills for engagement and ideation. Companies believe transparency is achieved through open doors and communication; it is only achieved when we all share mental models of our environment.
Alternative Professional Development Plans. Are there paths for the development of all critical roles, for current and future needs? Don't just think in terms of positions, but rather, visualize functions, roles, or skills. If we are going to need to be more agile, we need to make sure we have agile systems and processes. What training and roles would we need to support this? Project management, systems thinking, agile mindsets, etc. Design the PDP to support future-ready functions with inclusive development programs. More people will get excited about future-readiness when they have a vision of what the future will hold and can see themselves there.
Finally, remember exclusivity is a filter funnel--you exclude capable, even stellar performers that don't make the (really) ambiguous requirements. Companies that look for ways to include high potential outliers and keep options open, will be more inclusive and successful. For example, award a certain number of seats in the program every year to a reach-out candidate that doesn't meet the full criteria, but has that "extra-something". This will incentivize you and your management to understand and know the capabilities of your workforce and the market.
Reach out to me with any questions! I can't cover everything here, and there are unique aspects to every business as it relates to professional development plan improvement.
Lori G. Fisher, PMP
PLS Management Consulting
Purpose | Leap | Surge
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