Client Conversations: Insights into the State of Employee Development
Jul 21st
Over the past few months we have been checking-in with Global Novations’ clients regarding the current state of their employee development programs. So many aspects of the workforce have been impacted by the recent economic headwinds and we wanted to hear directly from clients about how they were affected. The following two posts were an outcome of those conversations, originally published on the ViewPoint blog: http://www.novations.com/blog/
Client Conversations: Managing “What’s In It For Me?”
Motivating employees to embrace learning & development opportunities at a time of increasing disengagement is no small task (see the ConferenceBoard report “U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades”). It requires a purposeful acknowledgement of the “what’s in it for me” factor behind employee motivation. We culled the following approaches to this dynamic in recent conversation with clients:
1.) People want to be part of delivering great results
2.) Ongoing development paves the way for future opportunities
3.) Local recognition is motivating
Read the complete post here: http://www.novations.com/blog/?p=177
Client Conversations: What Employee Development Programs Look Like Today
For the past 15 months the Learning & Development professionals we work with at Global Novations have had the unenviable task of balancing the reduction in formal learning investments with the need to continue increasing the capabilities and contribution of reduced workforces. What resulted are some valuable lessons-learned that will shape how we manage employee development moving forward.
Employees own their own development: This was a consistent theme from clients; the pervasive belief that development may still be a shared responsibility, but employees are responsible for owning and driving the process.
Lateral movement: increasing contribution doesn’t mean changing roles: Too many employees and managers operate with an outdated belief that you need to move “up” the ladder with a formal role change in order to increase your contribution to the company. This belief-system is at odds with the current trend of organizational flattening
Development on the job: As most industry indicators continue to signal a steady reduction in formal training investments, client organizations continue to embrace the “development on the job” approach; leveraging carefully selected “stretch” job assignments, job shadowing, and job-sharing as formal learning opportunities.
Read the complete post here: http://www.novations.com/blog/?p=163
The Vice-President and the F-Bomb
Mar 25th
People can say what they would like about Joe Biden’s vice-presidential slip, but I, for one, appreciate his candor.
Too often messages today are sugar coated, and no where is this more true than in business. Employers toss around certain lines as often as Vice-President Biden apparently throws around the F-bomb.
You are not the right fit. Your skill set is not what we had in mind. We are looking for someone with more industry experience.
For once it would be refreshing for a hiring manager to simplify these words, to cut through the static, and to tell it like it is. Because, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that 95% of the time any iteration of one of the statements above basically means, “In our opinion, you are not smart (or talented, or able) enough to do this job.”
Sure, hearing the truth may sting momentarily. Like the quick removal of a band-aid, though, it seems as if the truth is easier to take than the confusion as to what went wrong.
We have all experienced the “it is not you, it is me” conversation during one break-up or another. Whenever a soon-to-be-ex-significant other uses these words, you can be pretty sure of one thing – the problem definitely has something to do with you. The same is true in business.
Tell me like it is. Tell me that I am not smart enough, or tall enough, or creative enough, or outgoing enough, or fill-in-the-blank enough to be successful in your organization or at your company. But, tell me the truth. I want to know what to work on and, perhaps, what to look for in a future job and I can only do this effectively if I understand what went wrong this time around.
Sure, Biden’s f-bomb may not go down in history alongside Lincoln’s ‘Four score and seven years ago’ or Kennedy’s ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’, but I give the Vice-President credit for saying what was on his mind.
And, I am going to follow his lead. From now on, I am going to be clear from the start. You know, I will tell my next interviewer, “I am a big f—ing deal and you would be lucky to have me.”
I will let you know how it goes.
This original post, and other twenty-something ideas, can be found on my blog: http://twentysomething-tryingtofigureitout.blogspot.com/
Learn more about Lindsey by accessing her bio at: http://humanelementblog.com/about/about-lindsey-schantz/
