Taking an Employee-Centric Approach to Organizational Development in the Modern Day

Jessica Mente, Director of Training and Development, Royal Farms

Gone are the days when organizational development was purely about structural changes within a company. In a time where the American workforce includes four different generations, from Baby Boomers to Generation Z, the same tactics we’ve used in past generations of growing the business solely through process evaluation and improvement, innovation, and a keen focus on increased profit, just don’t land the same way they used to. Today, companies must embrace the unique make up of their individual workforce and understand that the success of their organizational development initiatives must serve the employees just as much as they serve the company. Centering your company’s OD strategies around the employees and leading them with an agile mindset will allow your organization to naturally achieve some of those old-school OD targets such as increased efficiency of processes, results, profit, and growth.

As the Director of Training at a mid-sized company in a high growth period, I’ve worked closely with other members of the Human Resources team to help both develop and implement our organization development strategies that have helped to serve that growth. As I look back on our team’s progress over the years, successes, and opportunities, these are my key takeaways to the outlook of organizational development.

When it comes to OD, an important perspective for any HR professional to have, and to help their organization’s senior leadership understand, is that organizational development is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process of adaptation.

With ‘continuous improvement’ as one of my company’s core values, our team has set out in relentless pursuit of improvement of our strategy through our people. At the end of the day, we know that if we can make our employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered, that we can win the game.

“Organizational development is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process of adaptation.”

How we’ve been able to achieve this is by offering employees opportunities for skill development, clear career paths, and channels for their voices to be heard. All of these must of course be supported by a healthy feedback forum, regular performance reviews, and a supportive leadership team. Together, these components are essential to an employee-centric approach to OD.

Organizational development, however, isn’t solely about individual employee growth; it extends to leadership development as well. HR leaders must recognize that effective leadership is pivotal in guiding any company through growth phases. HR insights underscore the need for leadership training programs that equip managers with the skills to inspire, motivate, delegate, and manage diverse teams. A company’s success is often a reflection of its leadership, and investing in development initiatives is a wise and strategic move.

The business landscape will always be dynamic in nature. A modern-day approach to your organizational development strategy must be able to directly respond to that ever-changing landscape. Companies and HR leaders can ensure that we are responding effectively by leading with an ‘agile mindset’. In contrast to the age-old, top-down, ‘bureaucratic mindset’, the agile mindset is a thought process that involves understanding, collaborating, learning, and staying flexible to achieve high-performing results. An agile mindset starts with leadership and is most successful when leaders embrace change in the most holistic sense rather than fight against it. By embracing an agile mindset, HR professionals can develop and implement OD plans for their organizations that adapt to emerging trends, challenges, and the unique makeup of their workforce.  

While modern-day organizational development strategies should be developed using an employee-centric lens, that doesn’t mean we completely dismiss the core components of OD, namely the data-driven decision making that takes place in these practices. The influx of technology and the availability of data have revolutionized HR practices, including OD. HR leaders must leverage data analytics to make informed decisions. When leaders put a greater weight, however, on the data directly relevant to employee feedback and performance, they can better tailor their OD initiatives to the specific needs and aspirations of our workforce, ultimately driving greater success.

At the end of the day, a great organizational development strategy isn’t about new versus old. It is about keeping the employee at the center of your decision making and being able to balance a little bit of tradition with innovation and adapting to the needs of your organization and your people. 

Agile