Personal development is hot. A training here, a workshop there. All very useful, good that it is being done and let’s continue doing it. But it should not be a replacement for facilitating personal development on the job. From my perspective, this often seems to be the case.
Making mistakes is allowed. I phrase I often hear. However, where does this actually happen? How many employers give an employee an assignment that is perhaps slightly above their current capabilities? When you are truly allowed to make mistakes, this should not be a problem. I rarely see it, especially in companies who mainly deliver to external customers.
Investing in employees can be done differently. Sell a project that a senior employee can do in 100 hours, for 100 declarable hours. However, let it be executed by a junior or medior employee and give him/her 150 hours and an experiences buddy to fall back on if required. De junior/medior will truly be in the lead. See the 50 hours as an investment in your employee. Offer challenge, give freedom and make sure he/she feels safe with the buddy.
Jochem, what does this have to do with building a bike? Well, through building my back I came to the above realisation. I recently build my own road-bike. With the full triathlon ahead I wanted to exchange my aluminium bike for a carbon one. Since my budget was limited, I went to look for alternatives. A friend of mine (Matthijs), is an experience bike builder, and therefore one of the options that I investigated was ordering all separate parts and assemble it myself. I would save 50% – great plan!
I had always planned to expand my knowledge on bikes and their maintenance. I had looked up a few tutorials on google, but didn’t really get into it much yet. So 1+1 = 2 in this case, as bike maintenance and getting a new bike goes hand-in-hand.
I was in the lead. I looked for parts, made sure I had everything that I needed. I used YouTube to learn about specific proceedings. And yes, it often took more time than needed. An experienced bike builder would have needed maximum 20% of the time I required. Matthijs was my back up. I knew I could count on his abilities to fix my mistakes. He would come by from time to time to see my progress and assist with difficult technicalities. Thanks again Matthijs!
I have learned so much. I had the responsibility and the freedom to do it my way, but I felt the safety and security of a knowledgeable back-up.
I believe this recipe could help more people. Let a person do something that is ‘slightly out of their league’. Truly give him/her the responsibility and freedom, together with safety. And consider the extra hours as an investment in personal development.
The same is possible in a work situation. Just like I did when I was building my bike. The only difference is that I could make the decision myself, whereas at work you are depending on your manager. I secretly hope, that through this blog one employee is going to get a challenging assignment. Obviously with the necessary support.
For the Dutch version of this blog, click here.