An effective organization requires a solid foundation, but establishing one can be easier said than done. One of the best ways to achieve business success is to ensure your employees are engaged in the organizational vision since people who seek out roles aligned with their career goals are generally more engaged in their work.
According to SHRM, HR professionals indicated that their top priorities in 2024 are "maintaining employee morale and engagement" (81%) and "retaining top talent" (78%), but only 29% of HR workers said their organizations were effective at retaining top talent in 2023.
That’s why the forming process is so important! Organizations must become more intentional in how they steward their culture and mission, as people are becoming more discerning in where they contribute their talents. If a company is not a fit for an individual’s personal mission, they will likely continue to search for something that is.
How can your organization engage employees, sustain talent journeys, and create a positive organizational culture?
What is the Forming Process?
The forming process is how organizations build solid foundations for their employees and customers. It's about setting the stage for a mutually beneficial journey for both individuals and organizations, where purpose, expectations, and goals are established.
What Does the Forming Process Look Like for Employees?
The forming process isn’t just important for organizations; employees can set a trajectory for their own careers by doing some perfunctory self-work before joining an organization.
You begin your talent journey from the moment you ace your first interview and land your first job. It extends as you complete schooling, certifications, and life experiences, leveling up your skills and positions. Digging into a purpose-driven career, however, requires just that: purpose. Are you looking for a job, a career, or a calling?
Answering that question requires the development of self-awareness—the ability to recognize and understand your strengths, passions, and abilities. Focusing on understanding yourself will help you identify your needs along your personal talent journey and set realistic goals for your current skill set and position.
Establishing your values is another key part of the forming process. By understanding what motivates you, you can search for work that fuels your fire. Even better, you’ll know what values to look for in the organizations you join to anticipate a good fit.
Focusing on exploration as you form the foundation of your individual talent journey will help you shape a purpose-driven career–one that inspires you, fulfills you, and serves your life goals and aspirations.
What Does the Forming Process Look Like for Organizations?
On the organizational side, forming takes a different approach. Creating a talent journey for employees requires a clear vision and mission. Does your organization have an ultimate goal? Is it clearly defined? Is it understood by all involved, not just leadership?
That goal can be realized through working on a vision statement, which is “a written declaration clarifying your business’s meaning and purpose for stakeholders, especially employees. It describes the desired long-term results of your company’s efforts,” according to Business News Daily. A vision statement should be worded simply and express an attainable vision for the future.
After the vision statement comes establishing core values. These values are the guiding principles and fundamental beliefs of the business. They are important to forming an organizational ethos. You must decide how core values influence decision-making and how those core values are demonstrated to stakeholders, including employees, customers, partners, and the broader community.
When thinking about forming, I often think about my time at a large Fortune 500 company. Our mission and corporate values were printed on my security badge, but I never saw them in practice. In fact, I often saw things that were directly in opposition to what was printed, which ultimately led me to find a better opportunity. That approach did not connect to my personal direction and was clearly not an authentic expression of their actual culture.
Why Does Forming Matter?
The forming process is key in creating successful talent journeys for both individuals and organizations because it attracts, develops, and maintains top talent. When an individual knows what they want out of their career and seeks out a role that will fulfill them, they’ll be more engaged and invested in their work.
A recent study from Gallup revealed that despite a general downturn in employee engagement in most teams, there are organizations that have found a way to thrive. Organizations with exceptional levels of engagement “integrate engagement into every stage of their employee and manager lifecycle … For these organizations, engagement isn’t merely a buzzword—it’s a practice that transforms employees into champions for their work and employer.”
Forming is crucial for establishing long-lasting employee engagement. It’s the foundation that creates a positive employee and manager lifecycle, and it is transformational for an organization’s overall success.
Form Talent Journeys That Work
The forming process is essential for guiding both individual and organizational talent journeys. It lays the groundwork for creating a solid foundation where purpose, expectations, and goals are clearly defined. By focusing on self-awareness, goal-setting, and personal development, individuals can carve out meaningful, purpose-driven careers, while organizations establish a clear vision, mission, and core values to help in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.
When your organizational mission and purpose align with the needs of your team, the potential for long-term success is greatly amplified. Organizations that invest in the employee experience, that are careful stewards of their culture, reap greater rewards.
A strong foundation will support the organizational development that will transform the talent journeys of both businesses and individuals.
If you want to learn more about how to develop the forming process for your organization, TTI can help.
