| Development Cultures are great ideas that need more fully encompassing approaches. The Author appropriately suggests that the emphasis in our workplaces should be adding value and thus creating opportunities for continued careers. She also appropriately suggests that skills are a necessary element for adding value. Missing is the acknowledgement that performance requires both skills and attitudes-both the ability and the inclination to perform quality work. Conspicuously absent are any emphasis or ideas for motivating and satisfying the people that are being asked to change. Developing additional skills takes time, energy and motivation. As all change leaders understand, those being changed invariably ask, "What's in it for me?" Until this question is adequately answered, the potential for Development Cultures appears bleak. While some might boldly suggest, "Having a job is what's in it for them," others might aptly rebut "With more skills, those employees will be more attractive and tempted away by other employers." The bases for high performance work cultures are apparent in the Author's obviously thorough research. Her enumeration of Schein's "Basic Career Anchors", Gottlieb's "Transformational Leadership", and Bechhard's "Organizational Transitions" are excellent starting points. These considerations are sorely absent from integration into the Author's Development Culture model (p. 93)-a model that focuses predominately on tasks and systems while ignoring the human elements of meaning, motivation, discretionary contribution. Development Cultures are needed in today's workplaces. To be successful, these cultures must complement and balance developing worker skills with developing meaning for the workforce. Until we practitioners commit to implementing more fully encompassing solutions, we will continue achieving inadequate results. |
