Appreciation of People and Potential
Appreciating performance is one thing. Understanding what kind of work someone might be in flow doing in the future, is another.
For over thirty years, Bioss has been refining a distinctive, in-depth, process for identifying the potential of people to make decisions in the face of complexity and uncertainty. We have conducted over 150,000 conversations in cultures all over the world from front line workers to CEOs and Chairs of some of the largest organisations in the world.
This process, called Career Path Appreciation, helps to uncover both current and future potential. With its connotations of both respect and growth, the word ‘appreciation’ implies mutual recognition of the current scope of a person’s ability to make decisions and the likely rate at which that ability will grow over time, so they can stay in flow.
This approach is at the heart of treating people as people.
Because we rely most on our capability in unfamiliar, volatile and ambiguous situations, the exercise of judgement is fraught with uncertainty. If our capability is out of sync with the challenges of our work, we become overwhelmed or underwhelmed. This imbalance will eventually affect not just our own wellbeing, but that of the organisation around us. The more senior the role the bigger the risk to the organisation of this imbalance.
Bioss helps individuals to appreciate their own capability and career path, and works with organisations to identify, support and cultivate the capabilities of their people.
Our research over a number of decades indicates that the Career Path Appreciation is gender, ethnicity and education neutral. One of the markets in which it has been extensively deployed, post Apartheid South Africa, was a very demanding environment in terms of such requirements. We are not new to the inclusion and diversity agenda.
Capability
Organisations are not machines.
As living systems, organisations must listen, learn, adapt and grow. Every individual working in an organisation must likewise exercise judgement, finding their own path within the structure of their work.
Rules give guidance, training builds skill sets, and education imparts knowledge. But while these are all necessary, they are not sufficient. Organisations need people with the capability to make good decisions when neither guidelines nor experience offer easy answers. When a person’s capability does not match the challenge of their work, they become overwhelmed or underwhelmed. This imbalance will eventually affect not just their own well-being, but that of the entire organisation.
Development
People naturally seek greater challenge as their capability grows.
If they are not promoted or otherwise supported as they seek more complexity in their work, they will become frustrated, and the added value they could create for the organisation will be wasted.
Career Path Appreciation is the cornerstone of Bioss’s development-planning offerings. Each individual has unique skills, knowledge, competencies, styles, cultures and motivations. A clear understanding of present and future capability helps bring all these into focus.
For extended development support, Career Path Appreciation can be combined with Linked Personal Appreciation, a process that reveals personality characteristics including teamwork, conflict handling, work and learning styles and managerial style.
