By Andrew Calvert
In writing my most recent blog post I was searching around for something pithy and clever to use as a theme. In vain (as we all know working to a deadline is a killer to creativity...). But then I saw this gem:
If you want to be prosperous for a year, grow grain. If you want to be prosperous for ten years, grow trees. If you want to be prosperous for a lifetime, grow people. –CHINESE PROVERB
Too often in the hectic pace of today’s just-in-time, make-it-now, instant-return world we forget that the development of our people – at all levels of the organization – is a long term investment in the future.
When you grow anything (and I have several years experience as an organic farmer to back me up here) you start by preparing the soil. You create a fertile environment where the all the prerequisites for growth and development are abundant. As plants respond to warmth, light and nutrition so employees respond to respect, collaboration and support. Once the soil is ready, you choose the right seeds to get the plants you want when you want them. So managers need to get the right people into the right positions so as to take advantage of the available conditions. Just as weeds (i.e. a plant in the wrong place) can consume vital resources, so employees in the wrong job can take away from the environment you strive to create. As a gardener prunes and weeds, and manager coaches and develops. Harvesting in the garden is a time of plenty, in the workplace it is a time where matured employees move onto the next suitable role for them in the organization.