Job Shadowing By Broc Edwards
Business success relies upon people .
• Who wants your employees to know more ?
• Who wants your people to better use the knowledge they already have ?
• Who wants those working for you to perform better ? If I had 100 successful business leaders in a room and asked them the above questions , I bet their answers would all be a resounding ,“ I do !”
Moreover , how many of those same leaders would quickly agree that improving the performance of their people and , therefore , the organization , is one of their top priorities ? How many would say their success hinges largely on the ability of their employees to perform , innovate , and adapt ? Silly question , right ? Of course they would all agree . But I have another question for you : how many of those same leaders eagerly train and develop their employees ? The answer , unfortunately , is disconcerting . The same leaders who want higher performing employees often quickly declare they don ’ t have the time , money , or resources for professional development .
Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying if he had six hours to chop down a tree , he ’ d spend the first four hours sharpening his ax . To that end , when leaders don ’ t invest in employee development but expect higher performance , it is like expecting employees to chop down more trees with a dull ax .
Every business has more priorities than it has time , energy , or money and , because of this , training often gets set aside for other priorities . However , I know of an organization who got creative , who thought “ out of the box ” and , to their distinct pleasure , saw some incredible results .
As a regional bank with 400 employees in over 20 locations spread across a fairly significant distance , it needed to develop its workforce , reduce silos , and improve communications and processes . That is a lot to ask of any organization and would seem overwhelming to most . However , the bank ’ s solution was a simple job shadowing program .
28 January 2017