Promote Employee Aspirations There are particular characteristics of an organizational culture that make it more appealing for employees to realise their ambitions and aspirations. Finding and attracting permanent talent to an organization isn’t always the easiest of tasks. An inspired employee is an asset for every organization. It is the organization’s responsibility to provide the right culture in order to provide a platform for an employee to aspire more. Culture plays a vital role in providing the environment to employees to explore a more aligned career growth. Following steps can be taken by the HR to support the employee aspirations: Map employee goals: One of the very best initiatives that you can undertake today is to roll-out a programme right across the organization whereby you map the goals of your employees. It costs nothing but considered thought and time to implement but the potential rewards are there for both parties. Mapping goals is simply a means of understanding the current professional and personal drivers, aspirations and objectives of your employees and putting the steps in place to help them achieve them and remain satisfied. Allow employees to make mistakes: Unless and until an employee tries the best way to work effectively and with maximum output, the organization needs to have an understanding that mistakes are the part of the job. This will give the employee room to grow through trial and error, take the ownership, and in turn build credibility for the organization. When an organization provides the culture where there is room to make errors, it becomes a conscious approach for an employee to evaluate the best option and at the same time align her or his own work methodology with that of the organization. The employee who is aspirating for better growth may not only judge for the designations but will also acknowledge the liberty of making mistake while trying out his or her own individual style of working and learning. Allowing employees to express their prospective about a situation: All employees want to be heard but aspiring employees want to express their views on how he or she would have handled the situation if they were in a leadership position. It is mostly observed that in a traditional organization, the leader shares his experience and then considers that to be the best way of handling a particular situation. Hence, it’s the work of the line manager and HR to create a culture that talks about giving an opportunity for employees to express their perspective in handling the crises. And this talks about the open culture of an organization. Providing a platform for an employee to understand aspirations: Management development, dialogue, fast- tracking employees’ growth, job enhancement, these are goof HR practices, but what is more important is providing a culture where employee aspirations can be nurtured. This can be done by providing a clear career path and culture where employee desires to fulfill his or her aspiration could be captured and accordingly the path is designed, may or may not be in the same job. Develop a hierarchy free environment to empower the aspired employees to take decisions: Freedom to work plays a vital role in setting the enlightened culture. When people aspire, generally line managers plan it through promotions and salary hike. But in a right organizational culture, these factors are secondary, when the aspirations of the employee are captured it is understood that aspirations are towards, giving the opportunity to take more challenges, risks and accountability for the tasks and results. Hierarchy free culture promotes collaborative and transparent working as the factors delaying the task is reduced and it results in employee satisfaction. Keep the lines of communication open: Many employees can be under the impression that they cannot be open and honest about any changes to their circumstances, whether it is planning a sabbatical, reducing hours to spend more time with the family, wanting a change of direction, or perhaps planning for early retirement.  Sometimes, you may not like what you hear but knowing in advance empowers you to plan more effectively for any change and consequently minimizing any potential disruption. This will help in coming to a resolution that works for both parties. Lawrence Coelho Email: secular@sezariworld.com There are particular characteristics of an organizational culture that make it more appealing for employees to realise their ambitions and aspirations. Finding and attracting permanent talent to an organization isn’t always the easiest of tasks. An inspired employee is an asset for every organization. It is the organization’s responsibility to provide the right culture in order to provide a platform for an employee to aspire more. Culture plays a vital role in providing the environment to employees to explore a more aligned career growth. Following steps can be taken by the HR to support the employee aspirations: Map employee goals: One of the very best initiatives that you can undertake today is to roll-out a programme right across the organization whereby you map the goals of your employees. It costs nothing but considered thought and time to implement but the potential rewards are there for both parties. Mapping goals is simply a means of understanding the current professional and personal drivers, aspirations and objectives of your employees and putting the steps in place to help them achieve them and remain satisfied. Allow employees to make mistakes: Unless and until an employee tries the best way to work effectively and with maximum output, the organization needs to have an understanding that mistakes are the part of the job. This will give the employee room to grow through trial and error, take the ownership, and in turn build credibility for the organization. When an organization provides the culture where there is room to make errors, it becomes a conscious approach for an employee to evaluate the best option and at the same time align her or his own work methodology with that of the organization. The employee who is aspirating for better growth may not only judge for the designations but will also acknowledge the liberty of making mistake while trying out his or her own individual style of working and learning. Allowing employees to express their prospective about a situation: All employees want to be heard but aspiring employees want to express their views on how he or she would have handled the situation if they were in a leadership position. It is mostly observed that in a traditional organization, the leader shares his experience and then considers that to be the best way of handling a particular situation. Hence, it’s the work of the line manager and HR to create a culture that talks about giving an opportunity for employees to express their perspective in handling the crises. And this talks about the open culture of an organization. Providing a platform for an employee to understand aspirations: Management development, dialogue, fast- tracking employees’ growth, job enhancement, these are goof HR practices, but what is more important is providing a culture where employee aspirations can be nurtured. This can be done by providing a clear career path and culture where employee desires to fulfill his or her aspiration could be captured and accordingly the path is designed, may or may not be in the same job. Develop a hierarchy free environment to empower the aspired employees to take decisions: Freedom to work plays a vital role in setting the enlightened culture. When people aspire, generally line managers plan it through promotions and salary hike. But in a right organizational culture, these factors are secondary, when the aspirations of the employee are captured it is understood that aspirations are towards, giving the opportunity to take more challenges, risks and accountability for the tasks and results. Hierarchy free culture promotes collaborative and transparent working as the factors delaying the task is reduced and it results in employee satisfaction. Keep the lines of communication open: Many employees can be under the impression that they cannot be open and honest about any changes to their circumstances, whether it is planning a sabbatical, reducing hours to spend more time with the family, wanting a change of direction, or perhaps planning for early retirement.  Sometimes, you may not like what you hear but knowing in advance empowers you to plan more effectively for any change and consequently minimizing any potential disruption. This will help in coming to a resolution that works for both parties. Lawrence Coelho Email: secular@sezariworld.com