Companies must help workers reach personal goals, experts says

THE importance of employee personal goals is not well understood by most companies, which must find ways to help them achieve their own milestones while also contributing to productivity, a human resource association said.

Philippine Society for Talent Development (PSTD) President Fe Marie R. Cabantac said instead of training workers to meet company standards only, management should guide workers towards outcomes that meet both personal and company goals — an approach she called “disciplined dreaming.”

“When we say ‘disciplined dreaming’, it is the convergence of organizational and personal ambition. We are not discounting organizational ambition here. In fact the individual should contribute to the achievements of the organization’s mission and vision but at the same time, the organization should realize the dreams and aspirations of the individual,” she said in an interview with ����ý Tuesday.

The PSTD, a network of human resource professionals, backs an approach that focuses on talent development. The association’s Talent Development Framework focuses on enhancing whatever skills and knowledge are already present in the worker.

Civil Service Institute (CSI) Executive Director Arthur Luis P. Florentin, who supports the framework, said that employee talent “is beyond standards.”

“The more that we have talented people, the more they will contribute to the competitive edge of the company. I’d like to differentiate competence and talent because when we talk of competence, we say that people are doing well and they are performing according to certain standards but we stop there at certain standards. Talent is going beyond the standards because it’s already been personalized,” Mr. Florentin told ����ý Tuesday.

Mr. Florentin said talent development is different from training, adding “training is a limited approach in developing people.”

The framework starts with “Pagmulat” (enlightenment), which means discovering the latent talent to be developed; “Paghusay” (practice) which is practicing that talent until one becomes a master of it; “Paglaya” means freedom from standards that constrain progress of one’s talent development; and “Pagtagumpay” is affirming that talent.

During the PSTD National Convention held on Tuesday, Ms.Cabantac also added that there is also a need to make development more personal so it won’t be focused on the product and output of companies but also in a more invigorated workforce. She said during the event, “We need to humanize the way we train and the way we want people to learn.”

Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Dean Jikyeong Kang said a talent-centered workforce is vital to all industries but it still must be prepared for technological disruption especially now that industry is facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She told ����ý on Tuesday, “Whether you’re a tech company or non-tech company, what’s really important is to focus on people acquiring the right talent and making sure you train.” — Gillian M. Cortez