What  does people optimization entail? In some of our discussions and feedback on our website, we've received comments along the lines, "You can't optimize people..." To which our response is, REALLY!  Further, we say, if you are a manager over a group of people and you don't have a mindset where you are consciously trying get the most from or make the most of the productivity of your people, then you are probably a bad manager.

Here are a few question to address your organization's problem-solving effectiveness:

Do the leaders in your organization understand accurately the underlying values and mindsets regarding addressing root causes or solving problems?
How much fear/paranoia (really) exists in surfacing problems, in other words, when employees see a problem or an opportunity to improve, how likely are to surface that problem even if they may believe they may have some "blame"?
How does this contribute to employees preferring to keep problems they see to themselves?
When problems occur, are employees supported in their effort to determine root causes or find solution or does the blame game kick in?
Is there a divide between those who create and those who solve problems?

When it comes to leading and managing an organization of high performers, a leader needs to focus alternately on selection, development, focus and alignment with a fair amount of reinforcement thrown in. If they do this effectively, they optimize their people. That is, they create a powerful, highly capable, enthusiastic team or set of teams that gets the right things done right and achieves goals. Unfortunately, far too many do not do this at all. 

The goal of people optimization is surprisingly not that common of a goal - at least overtly.