Cycle of Self Development starts with Attitude

Cycle of Self Development starts with Attitude

ATTITUDE ----- KNOWLEDGE ----- PRACTICE ---- SKILL

There are four distinct aspects in a person’s development

1. Attitude

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.
Zig Ziglar

The three attributes of attitude are the need to, want to and can do. It is often said that our attitude determines our altitude in life and this is so true!. As Steven Covey emphasized, we need the battery within ourselves to push ourselves into action. How we perceive things and problem solve or “think out of the box” or come out of our comfort zone depends on whether we view half a glass of water as being half full or half empty. Of course the optimist who sees half a glass of water as half full is more likely to succeed than a pessimist who sees the glass as half empty and feels fearful and negative. The optimist will be more proactive and posess a “can do” spirit and will try until he succeeds. The pessimist on the other hand will be fearful of failure and becomes inactive when he faces difficulties.

2. Knowledge

With the correct attitude to desire to seek knowledge, one will find that knowledge can be attained formally in a school or college, or informally on the field through hands on work experience or even listening from other peoples’ experiences and stories. I am sure that we all have gained incredible input from friends, relatives or even strangers with active listening for new market trends, clients’ challenges , product innovation etc. This knowledge composes an understanding of how things work, techniques and processes in the business that we are in . What is required here is an open mind and the right attitude to desire to learn. One can read trade magazines, surf the net, join social clubs, interact and therefore become more knowledgeable in his own field.

3. Practice

Practice is the action part , where one goes “ hands on” down to work. This initially requires coaching and supervision of a new employee in the office or factory. Of course in any job situation, or even cooking a meal and studying a recipe are entirely two different tasks requiring different attributes like stamina, patience, creativity , organizational and management expertise in the practical cooking. By observing the person at work we will be able to identify the talkers and the doers! We can understand why employers pay a premium for experienced staff who can join an organization and be productive and straight away contribute to the organization.

4. Skill

As time passes , practice makes perfect and the worker becomes skilled. Now he has developed the skill, gained his promotion and is ready to return back to the organization to train the next person in the same process he has gone through . Skill is developed and polished with time, practice and learning with the correct coach. A golfer or tennis player becomes better at his game after long practices on different fields, using different tactics and techniques and developing his winning strategy. So also in an organization, problem solving for management becomes easier for those who have already been through the same situation or crisis before. Systems will eventually be set in place to provide the checks and balance.

Application to Problems in Organization

Now these four aspects of personal development can be similarly applied to solving problems in an organization. When a problem in an organization arises, we can ask “Is it due to:

1. Poor Attitude of workers, low moral due to unsatisfactory working conditions, maternity benefits, low pay etc. Then we brainstorm and identify the actual grievances and try to create the happy working environment that we require. Maybe we need to identify and nurture a culture or group identity to make the workers more responsible and aware of the corporate vision and mission .
2. Lack of Knowledge, workers without the proper or required technical knowledge for the job requirements. The recruitment method can be analysed and improved, the pay structure, the screening tests and interview process also can be changed. The structure of the whole compensation package can be reviewed to encourage workers who need to obtain paper certificates to get promotions to move up in the organization. Incentives, loans or scholarships can be made available with proper planning for the management development and future expansion of the organization in mind.
3. .Lack of Practice or inexperience; workers too young, wrong gender, not properly trained, not qualified etc. workers without training, supervisors not qualified trainers, no standard operating manuals, lack of supervision. So the solutions can be to raise the entry requirements of new employees, send the current workers for training and have regular tests that they need to meet to ensure they are up to the industry standards. It will be good if workers do research on other competitor companies and come back to management with their findings to propose a comprehensive training programme for themselves.
4. Lack of Skill or No System : no specific guidelines, targets and Standard Operating Procedures. Company probably grew too fast that the concentration to meet market demand and increase production made management to overlook other areas of management.

It is therefore essential to look at the four aspects of the self development and growth of the individual . We can also problem solve any problem of an organization along the same lines. The Japanese style of management practises this method of Plan, Do, Check Act in many factories for continuous improvement in their quality control. Once the cycle of the four actions, starting with Plan, Do, Check , Act, is completed , a new cycle begins with, Replan, Redo , Recheck and ReAct where and when necessary.

I hope this article is useful to the reader who can apply this model for himself and his business.