It’s highly motivating for people to be able to determine their own development goals and growth path. Much more so than having to work towards goals that were set by a manager. The stronger its culture of self-direction and self-development, the greater the flexibility of an organization. But perfect agility isn’t something that can be forged overnight. We help organizations take a major step in this direction by empowering people and giving them ownership of their development.
Through the years we’ve worked with all possible types of organizations, from family businesses built on craftsmanship with hierarchic leadership models to start-ups with highly autonomous Scrum teams. In essence, the transitions we support are all about the same thing: increasing effectiveness and flexibility. The way we achieve this is in the first place by thoroughly embedding the concept of ownership in the organization. Employees and teams learn to take responsibility for their decisions, which allows them to better meet customers’ demands, respond more directly to change and stay on a path of continuous improvement. It won’t come as a surprise that this greatly enhances job satisfaction and commitment, while significantly boosting the organization’s performance financially and otherwise.
Taking ownership of growth
Self-direction is about more than taking responsibility for day-to-day tasks. It’s about taking ownership of personal and professional growth. Where do employees see opportunities for development and which steps are they going to take? If they can make these decisions for themselves, they can start from a much more positive attitude and their motivation will be felt more deeply. Growth curves will be steeper than ever before. The environment that allows for the greatest room for growth is an agile organization: a flexible, learning organization in which employees and teams can take responsibility in an atmosphere of open communication.
The key to a learning organization is a feedback culture. The best way for employees to become aware of their opportunities for growth is to exchange experiences with the people around them: colleagues, managers, external relations. After all, if we don’t know ourselves, how can we know the ways in which we want to improve? As they ask and receive feedback on their actions, employees are able to deepen their self-knowledge and take control of their development, the right way.
The Spiegelapp, a valuable tool in a culture of development through feedback
H+C’s Spiegelapp is a feedback tool that is perfectly suited to the process of personal and professional growth. It provides an interactive learning environment in which employees can ask for feedback on specific competencies in their job profiles, at the time of their choosing. They can cask any question that is relevant to them. They can choose who to ask feedback from, including colleagues and people outside of the organization. They can record personal video messages to explain what they aim to develop and why – the perfect incentive for people to share their observations (feedback) and tips (feedforward). Who wouldn’t feel honoured to receive an invitation like that? It’s truly rewarding to take part in a process of feedback and feedforward in such a positive and safe environment.
The learning effect in this encouraging setting is much greater than when feedback is given only by a manager at fixed moments in the performance management cycle. Also, the Spiegelapp creates extra focus, as the person asking for feedback can point out exactly which competencies, questions and behaviours to address. This ensures that feedback and tips can be put into practice without delay. And thanks to the Spiegelapp’s goals module – combining personal growth ambitions and the objectives of teams and the overall organization – employees never lose sight of the relevant dots on the horizon. Real-time reports can be generated at any given time, which present a crystal-clear visual analysis of their results!
Self-direction, feedback-feedforward and self-knowledge contribute to an inspirational growth culture that perfectly suits an agile, developing organization.
Learning together
Here’s an example: We recently introduced the Spiegelapp in a group of programme and project managers of one of the larger municipalities in the country. The group’s manager wanted to strengthen the team by developing a learning culture with a high level of self-direction. Requesting and receiving feedback through the Spiegelapp set in motion an inspirational process of professional growth and greatly improved the quality of internal communication. In the evaluation, the manager told us that interviews in the conventional performance management cycle have vastly gained in depth. The programme and project managers are much more proactively involved in the preparation and agenda-setting of these interviews, and they are therefore much more in control. Similar results can be achieved in any organization and at any level. Not all employees will be immediately able to take the lead in the conversation, but with a little help from their managers they will certainly get the hang of it. The exchange of direction and the development of ownership is a learning process.
Thanks to the Spiegelapp, this municipality’s programme and project managers are learning all the time. Each and every one of them is positive about the freedom the app provides: they are able to ask for or provide feedback at any given time, solicited or unsolicited, and even from the comfort of their home! This makes it much easier, for instance, to share compliments when they are due. Appreciation and rewards – in any shape or form – remain an important incentive to all of us. We’re all just human, after all.
Towards an agile organization
We understand that not all organizations are ready to switch to 100% agility, in which teams and employees are in full control of their goals, activities and development. We would like to stress that regardless of the situation, the Spiegelapp can have clear benefits in embedding a degree of ownership and self-direction on the work floor – without letting go of all organizational parameters, as managers will still be able to establish team competencies or set individual competencies for their employees. Still, the more room employees can have to make their own choices, the greater their commitment and motivation. The better their ideas and achievements. The more impressive their learning and improvement results.
A coaching and serving style of leadership (which can set organizational goals to provide a clear framework without imposing a fixed route towards those goals) is the style that is best suited to this type of organization. And you know what? It is just this type of leadership that appeals to young, eager employees!
Striking a fresh balance
In the transitions we support, a fresh balance is struck between individual ownership and ‘imposed’ organizational framework. The outcome will be different for every organization, but we’re always at least a step closer to greater agility, meaning the organization becomes more flexible and future proof, with employees sharing a place at the helm of their own development. Not just for their own benefit, but in order to be able to put their wonderful talents to use for the sake of the world around them.
Next blog: Big data as a basis for HR and development policies
The HR work portal – part of the Spiegelapp – offers anonymized data analyses for further development of people and organizations.
Would you like to know more about what the Spiegelapp can mean for self-direction and self-development, along with the transition to a more agile organization?
Call Krista Beilschmidt on +31 (0)70 346 92 05 or +31 (0)6 41 27 30 20 for more information and relevant references in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. Krista is an HR consultant, business administrator and organization specialist, and a managing partner of H+C.