An interview with Tom Pennings, Founder and CEO of Onsophic – by Ton Dobbe – Chief Inspiration Officer, Value Inspiration
Accelerating human potential
I got inspired by the big idea behind Onsophic, hence I invited CEO Tom Pennings to my podcast. We explore how the education process is broken and how that creates a gap between HR and the business objectives organizations have. We also address what questions business leaders should really ask, and what mindset they should embrace to succeed with Digital Transformation, customer centricity, risk and compliance, and learning 4.0. Here are some of Tom’s quotes:
“We bridge the gap between HR and the business objectives by correlating training with on-the-job performance.”
“There are over 500 different LMS solutions out there. The challenge is, in our view, not with the delivery process. It is about guiding each and every individual.”
“Ultimately, Onsophic’s goal is accelerating the human potential.
The biggest win is an acceleration of the human potential.”
“Many CEOs underestimate the value of the people in their company.”
“It’s really the people that drive a company.”
“It’s really important to make sure that strategic decisions are made to get the most out of these people.”
“I’m not talking about getting more performance out of people by implementing rules to make them work harder. No, it’s about making, really, the work lighter on the human potential to get the most out of it.”
The thing that triggered me most from my interview with Tom
“You can optimize a set of your workforce through automation, but, at the same time, this means you need to increment the capabilities of your human workforce that is now going to handle all the special cases.”
Why did this trigger me? What’s the bigger value here?
If you only try to improve work processes and people in isolation, you are probably not improving. It doesn’t create a competitive advantage, it possibly only drives the bottom-line (which is good, don’t get me wrong). But to stay relevant in today’s business climate you have to get better all the time. So, while we are bringing in new technology, we have to ensure that the combined effect of the technology and the people equal more than the sum of its components. Worse – that it doesn’t create less than the sum of its components. Simply compare it to cars. If you’re used to driving an 80 hp Ford Escort, and suddenly get the power of a 580 hp Ford Mustang Shelby then you need to learn some extra skills. The big opportunity is in using this combined (Human & Machine) power to drive extra value. That’s what Onsophic understands really well, which makes their idea remarkable.
What’s the bigger question/opportunity that raises?
The opportunity that arises these days is that we can create far greater value by going beyond ‘just’ the process. The process has always been there, but now the technology is there to provide the insights for individual guidance. Hence, we should revisit every aspect of the solutions – not to optimize output (volume), but to increase outcome (impact) by accelerating the development of human potential.
Listen to the big idea behind Onsophic, and why it has the potential to transform the way we approach learning.