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."

Learning Checklist for Fostering Meaningful Conversations in Teams. HRDO 561

Team learning is the "collaborative effort to achieve a common goal within the group. The aim of team learning is to attain the objective through dialogue and discussion." Great leaders today are engaging with employees in a way that resembles ordinary conversation versus commands. To host successful organizational conversations, I will develop a learning checklist for fostering meaningful conversations in teams:

1. Talk with employees, instead of ordering.
2. Communicate personally and transparently with employees, even when out of reach. (HBR)
3. Build trust through authentic leadership. (HBR)
4. Be attentive and listen well. Know when to stop talking as a leader and listen. (HBR)
5. Conduct 360 reviews to obtain feedback on leadership styles. (HBR)
6. Interact with employees versus speaking at employees. (HBR)
7. Expand roles and allow employees to become cross functional. (HBR)
8. Give storytellers a space to communicate stories about the company

https://hbr.org/2012/06/leadership-is-a-conversation

Why Organizations Are Approaching Learning All Wrong! HRDO 561

Learning is an absorbed process, not a quick fix. 

Currently, there is a shift in the culture of Human Resources in organizations. The shift is the extreme focus on people development. Companies use data analytics to research, identify, and implement models exemplifying change management. Whereas the idea previously was that training would alleviate any issues with learning, organizations are finding that it takes much more than providing a training class to their employees.

Imagine an organization that has several highly skilled employees in specific areas of the business. The employee body consists of baby boomers preparing for retirement and millennials trying to find their career path within the organization. Every other day a baby boomer is retiring leaving the organization scrambling to fill back their position. Millennial are screaming for the opportunity to develop but cannot access developmental opportunities because there are none. There is no department head for learning and development and the employee body has lost hope in training and development opportunities. A cultural shift is occurring due to the reorganization of the hierarchy and the morale is low. What do you do?

Do not throw the employee body into worthless training sessions! It will not fix the issue.

The first step is to understand the science of organizational development. Understanding the systems approach to cultural shifts and changes and learning and development would help an organization experiencing this type of disconnection re-prioritize its focus. The example provided shows there is no succession planning, a lack of development, mentorship, and coaching and as a result of that employees are losing trust, hope and faith in the organization's ability to express and show value in developing employees. An assessment of the organization's culture is extremely important. This will allow key stakeholders to offer input on what has happened, what is currently going on, and what need to happen in order to be the organization it has been set out to be. If this means a change in the  mission statement to represent the final decision on culture, so be it. The person leading the assessment for the culture should be someone who has a great understanding of the science of organizational development.

Once these factors are aligned, the conversation begins. Employee engagement surveys, one-on-one's with key individuals, and an evaluation of the different types of leadership styles represented will help the organization assess needs, barriers, strengths and opportunities.

Then, specific training sessions can be offered based off of the findings from assessments. And, it may not be training for a "process" rather, training for behaviors. Organizations are guilty of assuming training for a process will uncover  or reveal bad behaviors that hinder a culture. Training and development should always support the culture in which it thrives. Learning is an ongoing process so companies have to continue to feed the hunger of adult learning in the workplace. Otherwise, complacency becomes a part of the norm or culture and that's where development stops. Human Resources departments can no longer thrive without having a  focus on organizational development within the organization.

Modeling the Way - HRDO 590

The term "expectation" means "an awaiting." It is the belief that someone will or should achieve something. Early on in my career I began my very first management position at Target Corporation. Target set the bar for professionalism, attitude in the workplace, development, and team achievement.   I seemed to fit in quite well with my "A-type" personality. Type A personalities are extremely competitive with a very strong sense of urgency. And, as we all know, there are pros and cons to any personality type. When I began working at Target I worked alongside managers that were just like myself. We all strived for greatness within our roles. Some employees had been there longer than I had. As a part of my developmental plan I was connected with a top performing Executive Team Leader to train and learn the "Target Way." I shadowed this person and learned specific processes for the teams I would oversee. I learned what the expectations were for interactions between managers, upper management and bottom line employees. I was expected to perform well according to the core competencies for managers. The daily operations required managers to be extremely organized and knowledgable in order to make quick, sound decisions according to the business needs. I trained and coached on the information I would need to share with my peers and my manager.

In order to keep track of my progress I kept a spreadsheet indicating which goals I was working on and which goals I accomplished. Each goal was aligned with strategic goals for the store and then for company goals. I was expected to complete Leadership statuses on a monthly basis, which allowed my manager and myself to discuss good/green metrics and areas of opportunities. This process also allowed for corrective actions. Through my rigorous development I was able to mirror the expectations bestowed upon me to the 6 direct reports I had. I also created the same expectations for our team. We were able to build upon our areas of opportunities and created a solid training process. Eventually, I was able to help promote two of my direct reports based off of expectations set and proactive steps taken by them to develop themselves further into the business.

Inspiring a Shared Vision: Share the vision for the future of your organization. HRDO590

           

I am a visionary by nature. What is a visionary? Webster dictionary says, "A visionary leader is one who thinks about or plans the future with imagination and wisdom." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, John Rockefeller, Warren Buffet, and Steve Jobs are all great examples of visionary leaders. I encourage you, the reader, to think of examples of visionary leaders, what made them successful and why.

I had the opportunity to speak with a young girl at the organization I work for. She currently works in the Development office and helps to obtain grants and additional funding for projects the organization wants to promote. She sought me out for lunch because she noticed that I was the "new girl" in my department. Based off of my position, she was eager to share her knowledge and learn about my role and vision for success. I think it's appropriate to mention she is a millennial. The reason I mention this is because the organization I work for comprises several people that have worked there for 20+ years. There is a new wave of leaders coming to work for the organization whom are younger and do not have as much time invested. As we engaged in conversation I explained to her my passion for training and development and professional development. I was able to share with her my ultimate goal of setting our organization as the platform for training and development in the industry. She then mentioned her desire to help develop for the future. She shared with me that she wants to engage in a corporate culture that fosters more professional development and creates a feeling of connection. She envisions other organizations seeking to learn about our processes to lead change in our industry. One thing that stuck out to me during our conversation was her desire to recruit young leaders into the organization. I can identify with this vision because the next wave of leaders will be young and there's a desperate need for succession planning. This is certainly an area of interest for myself to develop processes for succession planning. 

This conversation let me know that my goals, my vision, and values align with where the organization is and where it's headed.

Top 5 Reasons why learning in the workplace is important to me and should be for you! HRDO 561

Top 5 Reasons Why Learning in the Workplace is Important:

There are several different learning styles employees use to develop themselves in the workplace. Depending on how an employee chooses to engage with their surroundings, coworkers, and outside influences their perspective on the importance of learning in the workplace can vary. Here are my top reasons why learning in the workplace is important to me and I'll explain why it should be for you.

1. Learning is a constructive process - As time goes on and people experience different phases in life, new perspectives on those experiences help to shape new ideas. In the workplace, as new ideas are formed, employees add to their base knowledge and skill set they began with. This allows the employee to refine their skills and adapt to changes within the organization over time. It is critical to be flexible with perspectives on learning and gaining knowledge to continue growth and development.
2. Learning and development go hand-in-hand - Continuous learning in the workplace leads to development. Without this action, development does not occur. In every organization there is the employee that wants to learn more (engaged) and there are employees who want to remain stagnant and go home when the work day is over. Often times I've heard an employee say, "I just want to come in, do my job and go home. That's it." That statement makes me cringe. Every day is a new day to learn something knew to develop your experience, your mind, your learning and skill set. Successful organizations are constantly developing their employees by giving opportunities to learn.
3. Constant learning in the workplace fosters understanding and an appreciation for different perspectives - As an employee continues to learn in the workplace, that employee can and should develop and appreciation for other learners working along side them and their perspectives. This is what allows the creative process in an organization to develop. Every organization should allow for a creative space for employees to share ideas and implement new processes. Product development is one area where continuous learning and appreciating a different perspective would be very important.
4. Learning introduces change for organizations to stay competitive and current - Change is good. Change is needed. Change is inevitable. When change occurs, learning is synonymous with development. New processes are formed, new policies, new initiatives, new ways to communicate, and enhanced organizational cultures stem from change. To stay competitive with other companies in the market organizations must be able to adapt. And, that usually means change. 
5. Learning in the workplace is a benefit to the employee and the organization - As an employee learns new things that individual will apply those new learnings to what they are currently doing within the organization. The organization can benefit from this tremendously. The employee is engaged and the organization is invested.

This list is certainly not exclusive. What are your top 5 reasons? I encourage you to find 5 different reasons!

Does Leadership End Well?

Perception.

This question triggered me to think about perceptions. How close are you to your perceptions? Leadership ending well versus not ending well depends on what you perceive to be leadership and what it means to end well. Steve Jobs passed away from a chronic illness, however that didn't define his leadership ending badly. Steve may have created a very competitive organizational culture that fostered competitiveness, cut throat practices, unrealistic deadlines for project completion, or promotions that may not have made sense to someone else however, that didn't mean he wasn't a great leader with tremendous end results. Leadership, for some, can be measured quantitatively. That would include shareholder value, revenue, salaries, market share, stock prices, etc. Leadership for others is measure qualitatively by impact and meaning.

How do you measure leadership? Does it ever really end well?

Why does Leadership matter?

The topic of discussion is: Why does Leadership matter? Here is the list we came up with as a class:

1. Leaders set the vision
2. Leaders motivate and inspire others
3. Leaders lead change
4. Leaders have an external focus
5. Leaders delegate appropriate tasks
6. Leaders are adaptable to people and needs
7. Leaders are romodels

Considering this list what do managers do that leaders do not do? While managers implement, support and carry out the vision, leaders set that vision. Leaders are visionaries, considering all things possible, that set the overall vision for those needing purpose. By purpose I mean a reason do to something, a reason to perform, a reason to model leadership behaviors, a reason to connect emotionally to learning, mindfulness, and the ability to be impactful in a way that creates dollar sense, increased shareholder value, market share, profitability, and status. Impactful leadership transforms the individual's learning style to have a deeper, cognitive meaning. There is an implicit connection by way of culture, similarities, difference, moral relativism, and experience. 

Adult Learning & Development in the Workplace - Joyner

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my new interactive blog highlighting opinions, theories, experiences, and thoughts on adult learning and development in the workplace. This blog has been inspired by the current class I'm taking at St. Thomas University. I hope that you will share your journey with me this semester to create a space of learning for HR professionals.

Enjoy!

-Briana Joyner