Professional Development Or Shooting From The Hip

I couldn't resist putting this Dilbert strip here. Scott Adams nails it and how true it is in many of the organizations of our day.

Professional development for employees and management is key as we nurture and grow talent. If we don't nurture and grow the talent we have they are bound to leave. It is innate in the nature of the human being to grow, to develop and be rewarded for that development. It is not surprising that money is not the top most factor in organizations with high turn over. From my observations the top three factors boil down to employee-employer relationships (trust), lack of growth/career path, and finally lack of commitment or alignment to employee's purposes with the vision-mission and goals of the organization.

Training and professional development of an individual to equip him/her for the tasks/projects of the organization. They should be aligned with the three factors that I mentioned in the last paragraph. Budgeting and planning should include this vital piece and HR management professionals who have these skills in closely grafting this in with the finance & functional managers are the ones to keep cherishing in the organization. Plus if you have a matrix for measuring the outcomes of this development in the execution of projects, that becomes the meta-data for future training and development programs. Retaining and keeping talent is important for the competitive edge in the marketplace.

Cheers,

Sam Kurien