Recently we tweeted a quote by Lawrene Bossidy from GE, “I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not strategies.” What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Disagree?
I love this quote and believe it to very much be true! When we are hiring people, we may not find the ultimate fit in terms of all the experience and qualifications we are looking for, but if we find fit otherwise i.e. right person, right attitude, mesh with our business culture, ability to challenge our way of thinking, desire, etc., we can work to develop our talent and this talent will work toward executing on our strategies. We can have all the best strategies in the world….but strategies don’t execute themselves. Strategies need manpower and that manpower needs to have the tools to be successful – these tools need to be developed.
What training and development programs do you have in place? Do you measure them for effectiveness? Do you monitor them? When you develop business strategies…do you look at the training and development that needs to occur in order for your talent to achieve these goals?
Next time you get frustrated with the lack of goal or strategy attainment…take a step back…ask: “Did we do all we could to train and develop our team members to be successful?” “Did we help our people acquire the tools for success?” “What can we do differently to ensure the continual development of skillset in order to improve our strategy achievement?”
Strategy development is key to your business success however at the end of the day people are your key to strategy success.
New generations have new demands and desires – have you discovered this with millennial’s? I am sure you have! Have you been trying to understand what it is that they are looking for, how to retain and attract them and really how to work with them?