In an age where people are starting to matter to organizations again, Human Resource Development (HRD) has become a fairly popular subject. Yet, despite the attention it’s garnering and the handful of shining examples we can point to who practice it well, most organizations are either ignoring it or don’t know how to do it effectively.

From my experience, I believe the reason is because, HRD is something that we love in theory, but hate in practice. We romanticize about it, because; we know morally it’s the right thing to do. Also, research tells us that today’s top talent (and even not so top talent) is seeking more from their jobs than just a paycheck and some cut-rate health insurance policy. If you’re not willing to go that extra mile, your people will leave and find someone else who will.

So if HRD makes good business sense, why do we hate it in practice? Because, at best it feels like a nightmare to quantify and at worst it can be nearly impossible to justify to key stakeholders. The first question is usually, where’s the ROI? If you don’t have a plan to answer that you could find yourself looking for a new job. That alone is enough to scare most people away from HRD.

This leaves good managers and executives in an exhaustive juggling act of trying to keep those beneath them happy and growing, while remaining financially competent in the eyes of those they are accountable to. A juxtaposition that no one will ever envy, I promise!

How do we fix it? Here are five simple steps to get you pointed in the right direction:

Get back to the basics – We’ve over-complicated the issue. Development comes through learning. This can happen in a multitude of ways and cost effectively at that. Of course there are nuances, because it’s HR, but by and large when we’re talking about HRD we’re talking about learning. So let’s not make it bigger than it has to be.

Know the difference between training and development – Contrary to popular opinion, these two words are not synonyms. While there are many differences, the biggest in my mind is that training is about building a skill set and development is about building the whole person. The former has its rightful place, but the latter will pay bigger dividends in the end.

Let people explore their passion – To do so might sound pointless to some and to do so while on the clock would be heresy. After all, we want productivity not passion, right? Well, Google allows room for this type of exploration and by all accounts they’re a pretty productive outfit. When you let people exhibit what they’re truly passionate about, sometimes it will align with your business goals and sometimes it won’t. When it does, it will transfer to the bottom line. When it doesn’t, it might be time to let those people move on. You’re better off in the end either way.

Allow room for creativity – Your organization likely has problems, probably some big ones. Your people were all born with an imagination (even though we’ve tried to teach it out of them). Let them use it for a change and give them the freedom to actually express their thoughts without the fear of rejection. You might be amazed at the solutions they come up with.

Have meaningful conversations – Some of the most important development I experienced early in my career was when a supervisor or manager asked me to coffee or lunch. Those times away from the chaos of the office allowed me to attentively listen while they shared their personal wisdom and experience with me. I still carry snippets of those conversations with me to this day. Don’t underestimate their importance.

These steps are important because, they lead to learning. When people learn they grow. When people grow they become more confident. When people become more confident they perform better. When people perform better more work gets done. When more work gets done your organization is more successful. It really can be a beautiful thing if you just give it a chance.