Wiring your organisation for wisdom

Are you ready for the next big leap forwards? 

‘We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world

henceforth will be run by synthesizers – people able to put together

the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and

make important choices wisely’.    Edward O. Wilson

This is an exciting era for talent management in organisations; specifically for generic and leadership competency development. After years of personal and organizational development theory, in the past couple of years we are beginning to understand the incredible physiological and functional potential of the human brain. More importantly for organisations, we know that there are simple practices for developing and managing it well. The first step towards ‘wiring’ the organisation for wisdom is to encourage individuals to ‘wire’ their own brains.

We are at a point in time where we are on the verge of an explosion of human potential equivalent to the emergence of technical potential through the internet in 2002. In the next five years, technical and human capability will magnify performance more than ten fold for those organisations who invest in both. Without the equivalent human development, the enormous potential of technology will be either wasted or will overpower employees with information and knowledge.

Technological development is already embraced in most large Corporations as well as smaller businesses. Managing talent through managing minds is not; that is about to happen.

Interestingly, recent research shows that brain development is not only a base (human) competency that can be used as a basis for all other competencies, but it is becoming clear that those who manage their minds consciously will develop wisdom with age. Wisdom differs from knowledge – it involves the best and right application of knowledge in each situation. This is an important finding for managing talent at a time when the working population is ageing. It creates the opportunity to retain ‘home grown’ talent (good for the cultural memory of the organisation) and also to benefit from the power of wisdom combined with the energy of younger employees. It is essential to employ leaders who can role model and mentor through personal wisdom.

Better and more collaborative thinking leads to better results, higher engagement and a more healthy culture through diversity and balance. However, ‘older’ only correlates with ‘wiser’ if the individual has developed wisdom – it does not arrive as a gift! As I commented in a previous blog ‘all wise people are old but not all old people are wise!

Start thinking and acting on this development now by ‘wiring’ your organisation for wisdom. Organisations that manage and develop wisdom through building brighter brains will vastly outperform those who don’t. Employees with wisdom will choose to join organisations that respect and assist with this area of personal development. Those who remain will probably be those who are simply old. Developing human potential through brain competency and wisdom will be as important in the future as embracing the internet was ten years ago.

Workplace Wisdom offers exciting speeches, workshops and development programmes that are at the forefront of this development.