Developing the skills of the workforce is a clear way in which capacity and productivity can be increased. Indeed, it is an approach often advocated in this blog.
However, there is quite a lot of evidence that at the moment significant (and large) number of employees are pushed too far (or push themselves too far) and are suffering ‘burnout’
If burnout leads to tensions within a group (as it often does),some managers turn to ‘playing nice’ and/or ‘team-building’. However these cannot compensate for burnout. Workers become exhausted, demotivated, disinterested, unengaged and group performance can enter a downward spiral. No amount of group activity can remedy this situation.
Similarly with training and development. An employee who is already burnt out (or considers themself to be so) will look upon training as an additional imposition and burden n ot an opportunity to learn new skills.
Such employees can be taught new skills – but they will not learn/develop them effectively … and the processes/procedures/activities that rely on these new skills are very likely to fail – or at least operate with low performance.
Employees then go into ‘defensive mode’. They become less co-operative; they form silos against other individuals or groups, they communicate less.
Managers may take actions which worker feel are punitive and increased resentment fuels their burnout, making it worse.
Training is important.
But it is training for managers that is needed; so they can stop treating their workers as ‘machines’ and start to understand the pyschophysiological make up that is the human being at work.