I ALWAYS believe that opinion columns such as this are supposed to influence leadership more than criticize them. While the need to occasionally criticize leaders who make poor judgments is very much called for, criticisms without an offer of alternative solutions are equally faulty. It just adds fire to the flame.
Allow me then today to coach leaders who are handling a team of employees that are tasked to implement targets and goals so they can better forge development. Specifically, this goes to department heads of local government units.
Perhaps the most terrible crime any department head or any unit head in a government or even in private companies can commit is to settle for “business as usual” operation in running the office.
And yet this is almost always the case. You see, business as usual is the safest way to proceed. It is predictable and it secures one from making big mistakes that may cost the company or the unit probable damage. So long as things still work then there is no reason to change anything. But business as usual if not disturbed will also lead to stagnation, and poor practices sadly get perpetuated.
For any office to level up its performance in its outputs and outcomes, it has to take new steps. But such new steps should not be traversed carelessly. It should be planned and calculated so as to cushion any adverse impact it can bring to the company. Thus, all agencies should have a system for learning and development.
Learning and development is a human resource management system that is geared to capacitate the employees of the company not just to be good at what they do but to equip them with news skills needed by the company to level up its services and outputs.
Learning and development, therefore, is anchored on the vision or the future plans of the company. It is an investment whose objectives are yet to be realized.
Let me cite an example to simplify my point. For instance a city has a level I public hospital. As a primary hospital it is only mandated to provide primary care of basic illnesses such as infectious diseases, gastroenteritis, pneumonia, UTI, birth deliveries and minor surgical cases such as caesarian and appendectomy. Now if the city only does what it always do then it will only get what it always got. It will remain a primary hospital in all eternity.
But a strategic department head would think of how he can level up the hospital in three to five years’ time. If he plans to make the city hospital a tertiary hospital to cater to complicated cases such as heart problems or kidney problems then he can already anticipate what kind of skillset a nurse or a doctor in a tertiary hospital needs.
He would design a learning and development plan for his nurses whom he wants to operate the intensive care unit (ICU) for instance or the operating room (OR) and have these nurses get accredited with certificates needed. In like manner, he would also need what specializations should his doctors pursue so they can be accredited to serve a tertiary hospital as well. By the time they can already afford to install an ICU or an OR, their personnel complement are also ready to handle new demands.
By the way, even drivers and janitors also need learning and development program. Because without L&D janitors will only retire as janitors too.
With a well-planned learning and development for each employee, we can expect that there is progress in terms of skills from each employee as well as quality of service that the unit provides.
It should be noted as well that L&D is not just the job of the Human Resource office, in fact it is most effective if the main crafter of this are the department heads and their respective employees who know better what their gaps are and what challenges they face in their offices.