Symptom: People aren't acquiring the modern tools and learning the knowledge, skills, and methods they need to stay competitive.
At every level in every profession, people need time to keep their professional skills fresh. This means keeping up with the literature, experimenting with new tools and techniques, attending professional gatherings, and periodic training (professional development).
Effective professional development begins with people who are challenged to grow. Then, people must be given access to the resources needed to develop themselves. Resources include both skills training and professional education, in a balance tailored to each job function.
Education differs from training in that it builds a broad awareness of an area of professional knowledge, whereas training gives people the "tools of the trade" necessary to deliver the group's products. Education prepares people to see opportunities and define problems, not just solve well-defined problems. It should include exposure to leading thinkers within a discipline, contact with peers, and internal exchanges of ideas.
In a healthy organization, people feel challenged by their jobs, and get the resources they need -- including tools, skills training, and professional education -- to grow. People should have access to learning opportunities in the form of both training and on-the-job experimentation.
And of special importance, they should use their own products and services (practice what they preach). Personal experience as a user develops knowledgeable and credible professionals as well as improves their effectiveness. To understand the impacts of their work, and to speak with credibility, staff must experience the products that they recommend for others. This need not be in the form of an expensive show-case, but rather of widespread staff use of the organization's product line.
Some organizations cannot afford to invest in their own future viability. They may get today's work out the door, but by letting themselves get obsolete, they may not even be a contender for tomorrow's work.
In other organizations, people may not take the initiatives they should to develop themselves and the organization.
In either case, people's qualifications and capabilities will erode over time, and the organization's performance will suffer.
