Good morning. In the 1960’s there was a hit show on Broadway titled Stop the World I want to get Off. In this chaotic world we are living in I understand that is a intriguing concept. Spend the rest of your life living on some exotic island where the chaos is absent. I am sorry but that is not what I am suggesting. I ask you to not just skim through this edition but stop your world and get off the whirlwind for just five minutes at a minimum and truly contemplate why you are here.

A major responsibility of management is to develop the value proposition for the total organization. Kaplan and Norton in their book Strategy Maps tell us that the meaning of the value proposition is to determine what is important to us. So what we are asking of you today is to determine what is your personal value proposition from the perspective of your organizational functions.

Many of you who read this newsletter every week have taken the professional step to earn your SPHR or SHRM-SCP. Congratulations on this accomplishment. From personal experience I know it was not an easy path. But I pose this question to you – Is that all there is to your value proposition development? I would suggest not. You can always supplement it by getting other alphabets after your name. I even saw years ago one professional who had so many additional certifications the alphabet went all the way around the sides of the business card. While all these have their importance they are still routed in the functional side of business. Some of you have even earned your certification as a project management professional (PMP) but that too is narrowly focused. So, what is the answer to our question?

The expectation of management is that everyone involved in solving the pressing issues facing the organization must understand and speak the language of business. I totally agree. The certifications you have earned to date do not provide you with the knowledge and the ability to speak the language of business.

Invest in certification that will add a SSYB, SSGB or SSBB after your name. Why? Each of these cortication’s take your functional knowledge and expands it to the total organization. It takes you from a very narrow perspective to one that involves the characteristics of an experiment into how and why your organization functions. It is rooted in the total organizational operations.

In looking at your organization from this perspective we become involved in looking at the organization from a systemic view. While the problem is critical, we also need to address the critical factor of what is holding up the process. It is asking us to change our focus to finding the root causes of the system constraint and removing them. The system thinking view is grounded in looking at the organizational development phase of the process. How do we incorporate everyone not just a select few in the improvement process.

Do not misconstrue what I am saying. The functional knowledge you gained from your other certifications all contribute to the systemic knowledge, but they are not the whole picture. In our Yellow Belt training, we use the analogy of the holiday party where you serve only a third of a pie. I doubt your guests would appreciate arguing over the sliver of dessert. 

Consider the total picture. Part 1 of the pie is your functional area. Part 2 of the pie is the organizational area, and the final part is to look at the business ecology via the systemic review. The TLS Continuum brings all the parts together in a concise model to obtain continuous process improvement within your business.

Let’s return to the beginning and respond to the initial question. You are where you are because you bring value to the total organization. Not just from your knowledge of your functional area but also of the total language of business. You totally understand how each part of the process is interrelated to the next. You understand how the internal and external factors are critical to the organizational success. You also need to be cognizant that this is just the beginning because this new focus is a case of never-ending knowledge acquisition. Every time we take the steps to learn how to remove the system constraint, we learn something new, we are in a constant state of inquiry.

Do I think this new perspective is easy? No. Do I think you can achieve your goals without it? Probably but not completely. Do I think the invested time in learning this new approach is critical to both your career and to the organization as a whole? Definitely without any hesitation.

Finally understand we are not talking about a process where you can read a book and say you have done it. The minimal time allotment for the Yellow Belt certification is 21 hours of instruction. It can be done in person, online and numerous other methods. We offer one-on-one coaching through the process over 12 weeks.

I have kept you off the world for long enough today. Time to get back on. Consider my suggestions further and see if it is a good fit for you in establishing your value proposition to your organization and to yourself. Did we pique your interest, feel free to reach out to us if you would like to discuss this idea further at dan@dbaiconsulting.com.

Next Week: The Challenge of Diffusion

About the author: Daniel Bloom knows HR and Change Management. He’s a speaker on transformational HR, a strategic HR consultant and trainer. Looking to ways to enhance your vale to your organization? We now offer virtual fully accredited six-sigma yellow belt certification training. Learn more at https://tls-continuum-learning-center.thinkific.com/courses/the-roa...