Dan Hanson is the President of the Fluid Products Division of Arden Hills based Land 0'Lakes. He is the author of two books, A Place to Shine and Cultivating Common Ground, both addressing themes related to providing meaning and purpose to employees and the importance of caring relationships at work. He is also a speaker and consultant in organizational change and a part-time instructor at Augsburg College. For 25 years he held key executive positions with four Fortune 500 companies. Dan offers a unique combination of hands-on leadership experience and academic credentials that make it possible for him to apply theory to real-life situations. Through his work, he has helped organizations deal with the delicate issue of building and sustaining healthy human relationships that bring out the best in the person and the group while responding to the demands for change.

Tell me a little about how you came to your views on community and caring at work.

Among other things, I had a midlife bout with cancer that was a catalyst to encourage me to think more about caring. Cancer became a metaphor for organizations. There was a cancer in the organization that keeps people from connecting with each other. Caring relationships are the immune system that keeps people healthy in a social system.

As a society, do you think we are making progress in these areas?

There's a tug of war out there. There's a lot of fear. There are forces out there that are fighting against the more caring programs. On one side you've got a lot of books and a lot of programs about creating meaning, caring relationships, and spirituality at work. But then on the other side you have the "We've got to get competitive. We don't have time for this touchy-feely stuff." We want more out of people. We want to cut costs. Short-term "bottom lineism" is still very much around. There has to be a practical side of it.

How do (or should) training and development professionals' work in organizations affect the levels of community and caring at work?

It somehow has to translate into real life and people have to believe its going to make a difference. One way to do that is to get the commitment at the top with "Thou shalt buy into this program." That certainly works because people say, "Oh. I'm going to be evaluated on this? Okay, I'll do it."

The other way is to get people to buy in with their hearts and souls, which I think is certainly the longer-lasting, more permanent way. It helps people get through those tough times when they truly do believe it is going to make a difference. It really takes a change of heart to make it work.

On of the criticisms I have had is that we used to take people away for a day and then expect them to come back and apply all they have learned. We would be better off with more just-in-time training in the work itself.

Is the training and development role in organizations changing? If yes, how? If no, should it be changing and why?

I see a greater appreciation for the Training and Development profession, if nothing else in the area of skill development. We are beginning to realize skilled workers are in short supply, especially in certain areas. There is this awakening of the need for training and development that is far greater than it has ever been before. I think an important piece of that is the integrating of it into real needs and real jobs. There is recognition of the immediate need.

I think there is also a recognition that there is value in learning. Not just for the skills but for the empowerment of it. When people are learning and growing, they are empowered by that. There is a new energy level. I think Peter Senge's Fifth Disciplined has awakened people to the truth that learning organizations are only that way because of learning people. If you don't keep up (as an organization) the people who are really into learning are going to go somewhere else. So there is this need to keep up just to retain the workers.

How would you describe a "successful" organization?

One of the key things is success over the long run. It's easy to be successful short-term. The quickest way to get someone to do something is to hit him with a stick. But if you want their hearts and souls, and if you want people's energy long term, you will tap into human energy by aligning personal goals, visions, and values with company goals, visions, and values. If you give people a reason to work, or a place to shine Ð the title of my first book Ð you get people's hearts and souls and energy for a long period of time.

From a personal standpoint, I have to ask is success short-term quarterly earnings? Or is success providing meaningful work for people that over the long haul translates to sustainable profits? Profits become more of a by-product than the goal. At some point, I think it takes educating the board to buy into taking a long-term view. The board also needs to be committed to the vision and values so there is alignment all the way through.

As we move into the next century, will organizations need to make any significant changes in how they operate in order to remain or become successful? If so, what changes?

First, there is a need for development of the knowledge worker, and also the increased skill development needs.

Second, people are hungry for meaning and purpose. If organizations aren't providing meaningful work, and perhaps even work-life balance, and others are, then you lose good people. So there is a challenge to make people in leadership positions more accountable.

Another issue is time. This is a training and development issue in and of itself. How do you make sure there is time for communicating, creativity, and learning, while remaining efficient so that everybody wins, from supplier to customer? Call it supply chain creativity. How do you keep creativity in the chain after you have driven out all of the costs?

Do you see globalization as having any effects on community and caring in organizations?

There are increasing training and development needs in terms of cultural training, diversity training, and understanding different cultural mindsets and world views. We need this not just from an altruistic perspective, but from a practical perspective to be able to appeal to a whole new workforce and customers. I see this as being an increasing need in the next 10-20 years and we need to prepare for it.