HR Elevated

Continuous People Development As the name implies, continuous people development is about embarking on a journey of never-ending personal and professional improvement. The approach I’m sharing today is a perpetual cycle of four key phases: seeking feedback, planning development, increasing knowledge and skills, and implementation for improved results. This is a cycle that revolves around the individual's and organization's core values and is most effective when it follows the fundamental practice of being employee-driven, leader-guided. Phase 1: Seeking Feedback Seeking feedback is the most productive way to gain insights that will reduce the inevitable blind spots we all have. (See the Johari window model by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham .) The broadest and richest source of feedback comes from a combination of personal introspection and input from the individual’s external stakeholders. I suggest starting with a personal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opport

People Optimization Model This may be a leap, but I’m going to assume in this edition of HR Elevated that we are on the same page with regards to three points. First, our working definition of optimization - to make as effective, perfect or useful as possible or to make the best of. Second, our goal is to optimize our organizations. This means that in for-profit organizations we are striving to maximize shareholder value in both the short and long term. Third, organizational optimization is a function of people optimization. (See my last blog post. ) Running with my initial assumption, let’s discuss an approach to optimizing our people. The People Optimization Model is borrowed from the great research and writings of David Ulrich and the lessons learned from many attempts to apply his teachings. I must acknowledge that some attempts failed and a few succeeded. The failures are not a reflection on Dr. Ulrich’s work, just my poor understanding or execution. The model focuses