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TIPS Talks with Artur Moura Queirós | Founder and CEO of Encouragement

Artur Moura Queirós is our guest in this section to understand what a personal and professional development plan is, what tools exist today for people management and how we can and should work on the culture and values of companies. At the end, we will evaluate why all this is important for the success of organizations.

1. What is a personal and professional development plan? And what is its importance for an organization?

It is a strategic and practical tool within a people management system to work on the development of each professional within the organization and that is fed by different channels and indicators (performance, feedback, motivations, etc.). This tool, in turn, has a concrete objective of continuous improvement in a constructive logic, in the sense of making the person feel aligned with the organization.

This improvement is always diagnosed based on the importance of its concrete evolution and can involve the degree of skills, the training level in a professional or academic aspect, and also the development of specific potential for a certain area.

2.Is this plan a recent process? How is it being adopted in organizations?

Currently, there is a much greater prevalence because the way organizations look at people has changed. People have come to play a central role in the organization, where there is an increasing effort to humanize the management process as well as the organizations themselves.

On the other hand, people have started to have a more active voice in the context of their own personal career management, as the respective models have also evolved and today there is a deeper and more detailed listening to their opinions.

3. What tools exist to ensure that People are consistently heard?

It is a very relevant point. To listen to people, spaces and moments need to be created to make this circumstance possible. But above all, it is fundamental to create an organizational culture that has as its substrate to listen and consider people.

This reality cannot be applied coldly as it is based on the organization's values and its genuine concern for people. This flow should occur daily, generating continuous feedback and not just seasonally, without prejudice to formal evaluation moments.

Intentionality brings meaning to what is done daily. If people perform routine tasks, they are at the mercy of monotony, but if there is meaning in each task, it is very likely that there will be greater motivation.

4.How should an incentive system be designed?

In a personal and non-standardized manner because motivations are intrinsic. Daily motivations are distinct among people. Without prejudice to having a transversal base with a set of offers that generate value or well-being in daily life, there must also be individual care, respecting the uniqueness of each person.

It is important that this process is seen as a culture and not necessarily as a tool, in the sense of breaking the idea that has existed over the past years centered on the “high potential elements”, because all people have a relevant role within the organization.

When we talk about culture, we are not referring to a program aimed only at high-potential individuals but for all people, regardless of the quadrant they occupy in the talent matrix of that organization.

5. How is the potential of people worked on in a positive way?

Through the promotion of a process of self-knowledge and self-discovery on the part of the collaborator, which can even surprise both the individual and the organization. There are people who turn out to be excellent leaders when given concrete opportunities, although something may have convinced them otherwise.

Sometimes there is a labeling phenomenon that needs to be tested: people, when they arrive at companies, become "hostages" of a first impression, through which an expectation is created that can influence all their actions, so it is relevant for the process to be continuous to see people being able to transform themselves – "Today I am this but tomorrow I am completely different".

6. At what point is the relationship between people and organizations on the topic of mental health?

Various studies have reported the impact of mental health on the productivity of people and organizations. There was a negative impact from the pandemic, but also positive aspects such as greater sensitivity to the topic.

It is understood that this topic is no longer a stigma, giving way to greater relevance of its cause for people's health and for the role of the organization in promoting healthy work environments. People themselves also started to play an important role in interpreting this whole reality and believing positively in this dynamic.

7.Are people more determined to live their lives in a more sustained balance?

There is a lot of talk aboutwork-life balance, but this concept should essentially focus on life balance. Indeed, people are beginning to look at themselves in a more holistic way and in an integrated manner in their personal dimension, in which it is fundamental to see work as an integral and rewarding part of life.

It is important to ensure in the so-called "4-day weeks" – where there seems to be an excessive focus on maximum efficiency – that all the effort made in processes ofteam buildingand of promoting intra and inter team relationships is not lost in this system.

A company that wants to promote a culture ofwork-life balancecannot look at this in a standardized way without addressing the uniqueness of each person in the different teams.

8.What has changed in career management models?

There was a significant change because the old models were too closed, linear, and with little flexibility in their criteria: without meritocracy and based on seniority in a particular position rather than the skills developed and what they deliver to the organization.

Today there are models that allow respecting the matricial culture of the organization with greater mobility through various paths, where people can evolve in different ways: in the technical, leadership, or management profile (or even mixed).

One of the main critical success factors is the leadership competence in middle management because these are clearly influential positions. On the other hand, people have difficulty knowing their skills (they have become accustomed to listing a set of skills that the market values) but do not know how to demonstrate where they are competent, for example, through stories that become part of the culture of organizations.

9. How can smaller companies implement these models?

It is important to have some solid foundations and resort tooutsourcing that help these companies to be more dynamic on the subject, and above all to access knowledge and tools and processes, adapting them to the specific reality of each company to create good principles and best practices in people management.

This reality is progressive, leading the company to adopt new tools tailored to its needs and growth.

10. What trends exist and what practical advice?

The focus on individuality has been a trend in this area. Although it requires more time investment initially, it allows for anticipating future gains in people, who will become more autonomous, satisfied, motivated, and self-determined.

The objective of the various approaches discussed throughout this conversation is not to instrumentalize, nor to place people "within a system" or "imprisoning them" to a set of rules, but to improve living and working conditions, considering quality in day-to-day life, each person's motivations, and the work environment, consolidating the organization's culture.

The tools evolve but the mentality sometimes remains unchanged. It is essential that organizations evolve in their mentality and the change agents themselves as well, understanding the role of psychology in organizations.

Any organization that wants to evolve must see the tool and the process as being at its service and never the other way around – work the tools of today with the mentality of tomorrow.