Why Human Resources Development needs new DNA

A guest lecture by Dr. Asoka N. Jinadasa at IPM (Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka) on 8 October 2009

The global financial meltdown in 2008 and its impact on Sri Lanka have highlighted the increasing volatility, multidimensionality and unpredictability of the financial and business worlds. The HRD function now faces the daunting task of helping organisations to develop their staff to meet impending post-meltdown challenges, which are likely to be even more complex and harder to predict.

The Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) has taken the initiative to invite Dr. Asoka N. Jinadasa to address this dilemma facing HRD in a guest lecture on Why the HRD function urgently needs new DNA based on new thinking. Weaknesses in current MBA and HRD programmes Most companies hit by the global crisis were guided by MBAs from the world's leading business schools.

They are being increasingly blamed for the most severe, globally synchronized recession in modern economic history, as well as subsequent poorly-conceived recovery packages, excessive bale-outs, and resurgent protectionism. Many top business schools are accepting the fact that they helped to create the mindset that led to this unprecedented global crisis in the financial markets. They are recognizing the need to recast their MBA programs to cope with larger crises expected in the years ahead, which could devastate the financial and business worlds.

Top business schools in the world, and HRD programmes in Sri Lanka, are both facing the same dilemma: What new capabilities need to be developed in managers to help them achieve sustainable and robust corporate growth in an increasingly unpredictable world, which is changing almost everyday in everyway? There is an urgent need to complement the wide range of analytical managerial topics that are being covered at present, with totally new dimensions such as Innovation based on intuition and creativity. These new competencies are essential for sensing, understanding and thriving on turmoil, and reinventing the product, market and business models accordingly.

New challenges facing HRD

How can HRD professionals turn Innovation from a great concept into an operational reality, which involves everyone in the organization and guides thousands of decisions made everyday? How do we integrate Innovation into the culture of a company so that it becomes permanently embedded in the attitudes, behaviour and performance of everyone in the organization?

We can teach exciting new concepts such as `Blue Ocean Strategy' to open up new marketspace instead of battling competitors in existing overcrowded markets using similar strategies, But, how can we unleash the creativity needed for formulating such new strategies, and the passion for achieving successful implementation? How can we make people bold enough to attempt change, risk being shot down, and still carry on regardless? How can HRD empower ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results against all odds using limited resources, which will be the only formula for corporate success in the difficult years ahead?

The great challenge facing HRD today is to unleash the intrinsic creativity and passion found within every individual, and channel these into an everyday corporate business innovation ideology. Only then will the familiar teaching of skills & knowledge, tools & processes lead to lasting company-wide implementation.

To meet this complex challenge facing HRD, we need to look at totally new paradigms. We need to deploy a combination of western science and eastern methodologies to empower people and unleash their almost limitless human potential. We need to help them develop five intelligences to understand and master any situation, no matter how complex or ambiguous. We need to gear the development of their mental, emotional and physical competencies to the achievement of individual and corporate success, especially under unfavourable conditions.

Four dimensions of Success

I have integrated the key human competencies that will always guarantee success into a universally applicable new paradigm called the 4 Dimensions of Success. This new paradigm governs corporate as well as individual success, even under the most adverse circumstances.

HEART governs emotional intelligence for empathising with subordinates, colleagues, superiors, customers, suppliers, etc, through compassion, understanding and caring.

MIND governs creative intelligence for mastering any complex situation, through analysis, intuition, creativity and innovation.

PASSION is the emotional fuel that enables ordinary people to align their hearts, minds and effort, and achieve extraordinary results, through vitality, commitment and motivation.

WILLPOWER is the mental focus that propels people towards difficult goals, through strength, endurance and persistence.

Fo r example, Barack Obama used all four attributes of Heart, Mind, Willpower and Passion to win the presidential election in a country regarded by many as racist and right wing. Despite being black and fairly unknown until about two years ago, and having Hussain as his middle name, he won by a solid margin against all odds, illustrating the power behind the 4 Dimensions of Success.

Developing the 5 human intelligences

Different situations in personal and business arenas require different thinking styles, just the way different driving conditions require shifting gears in a motor vehicle. We need to develop 5 intelligences to understand and master any situation we may face, no matter how complex or indeterminate:

Concrete Mental Intelligence for deductive reasoning, linear logic, memorization of facts, etc; Abstract Mental Intelligence for nonlinear logic, exploring wider possibilities, creating new realities, etc; Emotional Intelligence for understanding oneself and others, profiling people, building relationships, etc; Intuitional Intelligence for instinctive insights into complex situations, sensing trends, guiding creativity, etc; Spiritual Intelligence for using a higher level of consciousness, seeing beyond current realities, understanding the bigger picture, etc.

Traditional corporate and training focus on Concrete Mental Intelligence is clearly inadequate when dealing with rapidly changing situations that are hard to predict. The other four intelligences are essential for managers who have to factor uncertainty into their strategies for achieving sustainable corporate success, and lead their teams through market, financial and business mazes wrought with unprecedented dangers.

(To be continued)

Next: Key ingredients of personal success.