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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!