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The dynamics in and around companies and organizations are greater than ever, changes are occurring at breakneck speed. More and more companies are therefore taking the path towards sustainable organizational development. In practice, the focus is often on structural operational results. An essential point of attention: don't forget your people!
Achieving operational results and the development of people and organizations are communicating vessels. Do you only focus on results? This will undoubtedly lead to better performance in the short term. But in the longer term you get stuck. Productivity decreases because there is no focus on the optimal employability of colleagues. Anyone who consciously focuses on the roles and behavior of people and their mutual interaction is truly on the path to sustainable organizational development, continuous improvement and structurally better performance.
Entering into a conversation about this is not a matter of a top-down meeting or training outside of everyday reality. There is a good chance that everyone will then absorb the content and then return to work in the old, familiar way. The optimal conversation about how we can achieve better performance together takes place during the day-to-day operation itself. And can be initiated by anyone in the organisation. During the work-day. In case of disruptions in processes. When making - extremely educational - mistakes. At those times, people are asked to do more than just perform their duties. Precisely these are openings to enter into the most valuable conversations about improvement and progress. Not just about where things went wrong, not about questions of guilt. But about how people analyze together that things can be improved. Who has what role and can provide what? What can we do differently and better? What behavior is associated with this? And do we actually dare to speak to each other? Once the conversation has started, ideas and solutions often come naturally. Because being heard, making valuable contributions and achieving better performance together gives every person energy. And that is the sustainable fuel for every organization.
Of course there are bumps to overcome. Especially in operational processes, there is often still a culture of little real conversations and just doing and moving on. At most, people talk about the business. Not about people, their roles and what is expected of them in addition to performing their primary tasks. There are sometimes barriers in people's minds that make it difficult to have this conversation. 'Do I want to stand out and be that one exception who draws attention to something that could be improved or different?' 'It is not part of my position and role, it is up to the management.' 'I have the feeling that something is going wrong, but I don't know exactly where and why, so I'll just keep my mouth shut." "If you don't bother me, I won't bother you." But do you create an atmosphere of openness and safety to be able to say everything? Then tongues will loosen and conversations in the operation between colleagues and with managers will become the new normal. You can bet that opportunities will then surface and the path to increasingly better performance will be open.
Truly sustainable organizational development is therefore initiated on the basis of the energy, strength and talents of people. Teams and employees are not only guided by results, but people also receive individual clarity about which roles they must and may take and what behavior is desired. If these goals are also measurable and linked to a timing, it is completely clear to everyone what is expected of him and her. Blockages disappear. An agile organization is created in which there is room to think independently and together about improvements, possibilities and opportunities. In other words: people's true potential is fully utilized.
This gradually creates an organization of people who work together efficiently and enthusiastically, are alert and continue to communicate. An organization where people's talents emerge and opportunities for professional and personal growth arise. An organisation which is able to bind and fascinate people. And where the company is seen as an attractive employer by future employees in the already tight labor market. This way, the organization will develop in a truly sustainable way and be even more successful in the longer term.
Arianne van Tongeren and Bettie Vermeulen
Development partners
'Making valuable contributions and achieving better performance together gives every person energy. That is the sustainable fuel for every organization'