How can I develop My Own Leadership Opportunities?

Learning is a life-long, constant process. And, it's a process I'm willing to participate in. Currently, I've had the wonderful blessing of fulfilling the role I've desired for several years. Within this role I've made it a priority to seek out my mentor within the same organization. He helps guide me and really appreciates my talent. We've collaborated on our shared vision and goals for the organization and for ourselves. I admire the work he's done and I aspire to be able to have the same type of impact. There are several projects I'm working on to help create visual knowledge of the direction of my role and department for the organization. 

I've made it a point to become a part of professional societies and groups relating to the work I do. I've developed a network of working professionals within and outside of the industry I work in to include friends I know and people in similar positions and departments. I'm also making it a point to stay in contact with students whom I've had the pleasure of having class with over the past three years. And, most importantly, I'm keeping my mind open to new and different information. I'm embracing a "4 Columns" exercise I completed in class to unleash a style of learning I wasn't able to access because of what I became immune to from my childhood. 

My opportunities are endless and I can't wait to explore the future! 

Leadership Philosophy. HRDO 590

I've spent some time in my new role getting to know people within the organization. Throughout these informal conversations I've learned about where the organization was, where it is now, and where it wants to be in the future. My role was long sought out by my manager and her boss because of the need for learning and development within the organization. Naturally, when I started people really wanted to know what my background was, what my thoughts were about leadership, and my plans for all learning and development. Prior to creating the framework, I purposefully gathered information so that I'd be able to at lease describe my philosophy for learning and development and what that meant for the current leadership team. 

My leadership is as follows: a leader creates the vision for the organization. The way that leaders implements any changes needed for the vision is through people development. Understanding that it's people, then processes, that encourage successful change is key. How does a leader motivate employees? By serving them. By leading in such a way, and by example, that describes a selfless leader willing to give themselves wholeheartedly by teaching and training the next emerging leader to be better than the current leadership in place. 

Encourage the Heart. HRDO 590

Over the past few weeks I've encouraged 3 people on a job well done.

1. I congratulated my husband on his promotion at work. We appreciate the work he does every day to make sure we, as a family, are provided for. He really appreciated the acknowledgment and it felt good to connect with him to tell him the same exact things he's proud of me for, I am proud of him for.

2. I told my friend she has done an amazing job on taking critical feedback about her leadership style and changing the dynamic of her team for the better. As a result she will get an increase in pay and eventually another promotion. It was great to see her reaction to being acknowledged but also to know the advice I gave her was spot-on and vital for her leadership.

3. I told someone a job well done that I hardly ever speak to and interact with from a distance. I told this person how proud of him I was for the efforts and strides he's made in fatherhood, work and his committed relationship. I told him there are many young boys that look up to him. He walked away from this feeling wonderful and ready to conquer the day. As a result, we've built a solid working relationship and now have meetings regarding his learning and development. It was really nice to know I  could encourage this young man to do better just by acknowledging the great job he's doing all the way around.

Enable Others to Act. HRDO 590

Does education trump experience? This question has brought up many debates regarding the value of education vs. the cost of education and real world experience.  I want to share a dilemma one of my friends faced in the workplace and speak about the advice I gave her that led to her immediate success.

There are two supervisors working in supply chain management. Supervisor X is a semester away from receiving a master's degree in management and supervisor Y has 7 years invested into the organization with no formal education certificate. Supervisor Y has worked in every position in the organization beginning with the bottom line employee and working their way up to management. Supervisor X has never been a manager in supply chain management and has little to no experience in the field. Supervisor X's goals are to become the CEO of a company within 5 years. Supervisor Y's goals are to continue to advance in the company he/she works for and eventually become the manager of the entire facility. Supervisor Y will eventually go back to school to obtain a degree but wanted to make sure it was cost effective first. Not a bad idea!

Supervisor X recently joined the organization and has displayed a confident attitude. It has been perceived Supervisor X is not favorable towards female authority and has not learned much from the training he received from Supervisor Y. Both supervisors manage the same shift of employees. Supervisor Y has had a difficult time proving her authority and knowledge to the staff she manages daily. And, at times, has caused her to question her leadership and assume she has to give in to the employees more so than usual. This was a tactic used to try to obtain their buy in. When Supervisor X joined the team, initially, the team of mostly males, gravitated towards the new male supervisor. This caused supervisor Y to work even harder to win their buy in. At first, there was some hesitation about supervisor X joining the team and there were even comments made about not seeing eye-to-eye with him because he came into the organization assuming his education would catapult him forward in respect and promotions. Supervisor Y felt she'd lose her influence over her team because of this dynamic. She thought because she didn't have a degree in supply chain management her team wouldn't respect her.

Fast forward to our conversation on a warm evening in August. Supervisor Y explained the situation going on at work. I used the art of story telling and the exercise used in class, not even aware that I had already done this exercise, to understand and challenge her assumptions. My assumptive questions to her were: Are you assuming your team doesn't respond to the way you had hoped because of the fact you have no degree? Could the lack of buy in be caused by the transparency of your own insecurities? Are you assuming your team wants to hear you say, "I know I don't have a degree but everything I do has been learned over several years and I do it for you all?"Are you assuming you will have no influence over the new supervisor and how he perceives you and your leadership? Are you assuming that because the new supervisor has a degree that he will be more successful than you?

Once I posed these questions, she began to think internally what could be done to change her insecurities and views of the new supervisor. I strictly encouraged her to stop admitting her downfalls to the team. She must command the respect she deserves as a veteran in the organization. I also told her to lead by example. She had struggled with the team listening to her because they didn't view a woman in the role she was in. The industry is male-dominated and she happens to be one of the few female supervisors for this organization. I encouraged her to teach and train the new supervisor to the best of her ability despite her thoughts on how he behaved or treated others. Then, I told her to think about leadership and what it means to be a good leader. From that she developed a list: honest, trustworthy, persistent, urgent, the ability to develop people, and someone who leads by example. So, when her team questioned her on certain things she would do the activity or work with them showing them the correct way to perform a duty and then would discuss it afterwards. This helped to build credibility and trust. Soon, her team began to perform very well under her and eventually became the best performing team. Supervisor X eventually left the company because he realized he didn't have enough knowledge of the industry and didn't know how to lead alongside someone who had been with the company for years. It was the best decision for him to leave the company in the long run.

An Innovation that could help the organization I work for. HRDO 590.

I was sitting in class listening to my peers present on their group's findings. We had been given the task to research several HR related topics and post on Pinterest. One of the most interesting articles details Google's corporate culture. I learned from a peer in class that her brother works for Google. One of the ways Google allows employees to recognize one another is through an app downloadable on their mobile devices. At any time, an employee can choose to recognize a coworker, submit a caption, and a monetary gift. The receiving employee will be notified of the recognition and gift.

This type of recognition program could certainly work for the organization I work for. There are several different departments and each department can determine how to recognize one another. If we implemented a budget for a recognition program this innovation could work. We have several different departments and locations so the app would allow employees to connect with those they may not work closely with. And, often times, we learn about all of the wonderful things employees do but don't take the time to recognize the employee outwardly.

Read here: https://www.quora.com/What-sort-of-rewards-recognitions-does-Google-offer-to-their-employees-How-do-you-earn-them

Infographics

Here are 3 ways my colleagues and confidants can support and challenge my learning in meaningful ways:

1. Understand I'm a critical thinker.

I am an INTJ: 

2. Do your research on the field of learning.

3. According to my Learning Style Inventory I had a 50/50 split between Reflective Observation and Abstract Conceptualization.

"Getting it Right" A Top 5 List Describing "Best In" Class Learning Organizations. HRDO 561.

Before we being the list of "Best In" Class please read the following article: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/207074/file-2084802044-jpg/images/Best_in_Class.jpg This is a great read and introduction to learning organizations.

This is a great magazine to reference as well. http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/714072-aug-sep-2016/16?m4= for the following list:

1. Veteran's Affairs Acquisition Academy - "The Warriors to Workforce Program supports the VAAA's mission to support the Secretary's commitment to Veteran employment and succession planning for the acquisition workforce. W2W is a one-year transition program at VAAA that offers Veterans an opportunity to build a new career in the federal government by applying their military experiences and skills to the acquisition field. The program focuses on transitional support, mentoring, professional development, and foundational career training activities to equip wounded veterans with skills and experiences that allow them to serve a new mission as federal civil servants."

2. Scripp's Health - "Scripps invests more than $35 million a year in employee learning and development. Scripps Center for Learning & Innovation offers a full range of programs, performance consulting, clinical trainings and leadership education, talent development, career services and coaching to maximize the employee's career potential."

3. Allied Command Transformation - NATO - "E-Learning is new for NATO. The organization has taken it from virtually unknown to 90,000 users largely due to Allied Command Transformation. Allied Command Transformation acts as a think tank for capability development, education and training and exercise planning for NATO."

4. Sapient - "Salesforce On-Boarding and Adoption Program. It has a 50 percent increase in early-stage entry, improving the accuracy of its forecasting and pipeline. It also has a 75 percent engagement in Salesforce, showing that the team is opting in and making use of the company's major investment."

5. Amazon Web Services - "Outcome-Based Account Management (OBAM) is the process, tools, competencies, and dialogue architecture for initiating and solidifying customer relationships through focus on the journey of the seller in a lifelong strategic relationship. The program offers a number of components which is what makes it effective including pre-call, pre-work, one-day live collaborative training session, three post-workshop coaching calls and on-demand OBAM playbook."