Mending the shoes of cobblers’ children

When was the last time you developed your personal skills? What made you do that? What do you normally do to improve your own performance?

I've been reflecting on this as we're currently reviewing our own competency framework internally and advising a number of clients on development options for their own HR teams.

Ironically, L&D practitioners - the very ones who actively champion the benefits of development - are often the least likely to actually take the time to develop themselves. Many are so focused on other people that their own needs can get left by the wayside, which is a shame as - aside from the obvious performance benefits - I think there are valuable lessons for us to reflect on when considering the challenges of targeting and conducting our own personal and team development. This exercise can shed useful insight into our advice and solutions for others.

For example, it's easy to find an excuse not to keep up with your own development: the day job gets in the way; perhaps the time and space to build your own skills is often over taken by other priorities. But, come on, it's all very well dishing out advice to other people on how they can do their jobs better but shouldn't we all practise what we preach?

Those who advise on development but don't develop themselves are like cobblers' children (who go without shoes). It's a common problem. However, we all know that lack of development can get us stuck in a rut or mean we miss the opportunity to perform better. So it has to be worthwhile to stop and think about what you could do to enhance your own role and the performance of your department, whether through formal interventions or, as is most likely, through ongoing informal collaboration with others as part of the day job.

Every day, L&D practitioners ask essential questions of others who are contemplating development: What is the problem you want the development to solve? What changes might you expect to notice afterwards? How would you describe a successful outcome? It's a good discipline to hold the mirror up and to ask ourselves these questions from time to time.

What stops you performing better? It could be that your organisation has poor business planning, poor performance reviews or even poor management. If so, is there anything you can do to try to improve these things?

As we all know, the classic training model is to consider the knowledge and skills that an individual currently possesses and then to fill any gap between this and what the business needs them to be doing now and in the future. How many in L&D actually do this before embarking on an intervention like the ones listed above? What would you say to a manager in your business who acted this way?

No doubt we're all familiar with a goal-setting process but, rather than directing that at someone else, turn it around and put yourself under the microscope. What challenges do your internal customers have? Are you able to meet these? Can you clearly identify what you need to do better or differently to improve your performance? What development options are available for that? What about informal learning and social learning? Can you make use of these to help you do your job better?

It's important to be specific here. For example, in terms of development and aspirations, some L&D practitioners might be interested in developing towards a strategic business partnering role. They want to become more involved in longer-term horizon planning with business areas, rather than classic design or delivery activity. The question here is what specifically do you need to do differently in this role that you are not doing already? How can you develop that aspect in yourself? How much better could your organisation perform if you did successfully develop that aspect?

Reflective questions can offer useful insights. I'm not trying to teach grandmothers to suck eggs. I'm simply suggesting that cobblers should, when appropriate, take the time to mend their children's shoes. You might be surprised by the innovation that this triggers to provide an even better service for others.

Al Bird is learning consultancy director at KnowledgePool. He can be contacted at al.bird@knowledgepool.com