Much has been written about the work/life balance, or trade-off, where one always seems to win at the expense of the other. However there are companies that are refuting this and instead are seeking to become entities where the continuous development of every employee is the critical ingredient for the company’s success. These companies are identified as Deliberately Developmental Organisations (“DDOs”) by authors Robert Kegan, Lisa Lahey and Andy Fleming in their Harvard Business Review article of January 22, 2014.
The article can be read here, and is worth the time. But for those of you who are in a rush, the essence of a DDO is that every employee, every day, is also working on themselves, to be better than they were at the start of the day. This happens in meetings, discussions, wherever, but it occurs. They define a “good fit” employee as some who “…does not yet have all the necessary capabilities to perform the role at a high level, but we will help her [him] to develop them, and when she [he] does, she [he] will have outgrown this job, and we will need to find her [him] another.” The pillars of the process are that it is universal (no one is assumed to have “made it” and achieved all they can be, no matter who they are) and continuous (and therefore habitual).
I challenge you to take some time and consider whether the organisation you work for is seeking to help you develop continuously so both you and the organisation wins, or seeking to use you so that it wins at your expense. And if you are a leader of an organisation, what do you need to do to become a DDO?
The Avondale Business School can advise your organisation on being effective in these areas – find out how by contacting Warrick Long at the Avondale Business School.
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