Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching

More on Digital Learning, Organizational Culture, and Obsolete Skills in that Culture

More on Digital Learning:

My 3rd article is up today on the MWAC Brex feature: [Brave Experiments [with] Digital Learning]. Part 3 is called What are the changes Digital Learning requires of your organizational culture?

And just for fun, there is a screenshot there of the Digital Learners who were online to check it out :)

Part of my article talks about the digital skill sets we may be expected to bring with us in today's workplace, and about other expectations in the organizational culture - your workplace may be defining you (and limiting your capacity) more than you realize.

Organizational Culture:

After posting my essay last night, I continued my reading of Rayona Sharpnack's book Trade-Up!: 5 Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life from the Inside Out and this is what she says about organizational culture: As a quick lead-in, her book is about how our lives are shaped by our context, and as she uses the word thus;

“…context is the often unexamined mind-set or frame of reference we operate from that informs our behavior and evokes behavior from others. In other words, context is the belief system you carry inside. It's your frame of reference, your paradigm, your view of reality or life from which your actions and behaviors spring.”

“Groups, organizations, and societies have contexts, too - the culture or set of norms and beliefs that provide the boundaries of acceptable behavior and predictable outcomes. Now, that may sound strange because organizations don't actually think, but organizations do have atmospheres, environments, or cultures that enlarge or suppress what people are allowed to think, say, and do, whether they recognize it or not.”

So I offer you some of that ‘recognition’ over at MWAC in regard to digital learning :)

and Obsolete Skills in that Culture:

Then this morning I'm scrolling through my feed reader, and see this at Web Worker Daily, by Mike Gunderloy:

Obsolete Skills for Web Workers
Blogger-about-town Robert Scoble recently kicked off an online discussion (and now a wiki) about obsolete skills: “things we used to know that no longer are very useful to us.” Scoble’s list covers a variety of things overtaken by technology: dialing a rotary phone, changing tracks on an eight-track tape, using a slide rule, adjusting a carburetor, and so on.

This got me to thinking: what are the equivalent obsolete skills for web workers? Of course detractors of telecommuting will be quick to put “maintaining personal hygiene” and “changing out of pajamas” on the list, but on a more serious note, here are a few of the skills from earlier jobs that I haven’t needed since becoming a full-time web worker:

• Punching a timeclock (though I still track my own time)
• Transferring phone calls by punching buttons on the phone
• Wearing a tie every day
• Arguing about where to eat lunch
• Using a ten-key calculator
• Drinking from a water cooler
• Fighting for parking space every day

How about you? Has web work made any of your hard-earned skills completely obsolete?

Readers have added:

• the art of filling out holiday forms
• arguing with the IT people about why I want to use a Mac for my work :-)
• cubicle culture
• traffic jams in rush hour
• office politics
• having to report to a boss…
• going through the chain of command for raise
• going through “procedures” if your paycheck was short for the month
• having your creativity cut off by upper management because they didn’t want to get involved in another long-term project before retirement
• being “green” (from a corporate mindset).

Fascinating to me how people define skill and will argue the point of their obsolescence (read the comments there).

Could I bring the question back to our MWAC subject, Talking Story readers?

What are the digital skills you would define as the new basics in most organizational cultures?

Photo credit: Little Professor Hand-held Calculator on Flickr by draggin.

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First time here or catching up, and thinking you missed something?

I first mentioned the MWAC 4-part series here on Talking Story in this posting:

How good (and gracious) a Receiver are you?

Reinventions at Work and in Business: a Ho‘ohana Community Forum

Are you ready to get inspired by a brand new world of work?

Are you up for the challenge of shaking business people out of their comfort zones in the status quo?

Are you one to be involved, engaged, and part of the action?

Well, you’ve arrived at precisely the right place! Welcome to Reinventions at Work and in Business: our Ho‘ohana Community Forum for May, 2006

We have more than doubled last year’s reinvention forum: In what follows, 14 authors from our Ho‘ohana Community share (19...oops) 20 of their ideas with you in the hope you will be energized, enthusiastic and eager to help us reinvent the workplace for the better.

Work can rock the world and make our hearts sing; it can be the stuff we feel our legacies are made of, and it can make a significant difference for our families and in our communities.

As I put this together, I looked back to when we did this for the first time 14 months ago; our objectives have not changed, and we share the same mission of proactively chosen change initiated by a community which is Lōkahi: unified and in harmony. If anything our commitment to each other and to our vision has gotten stronger, and the ranks of our community leadership continually grows larger. Today I bring you the same message I printed here over a year ago:

I encourage you to lead as these business leaders have done. Make the decision to be a catalyst today: don’t leave it for “the other guy” —Reinvention is something you can make happen. Get inspired. Be proactive and be optimistic. We are.

You will find links to articles which tackle robotic customer service, compensation structures, job descriptions and conventional roles, traditional corporate departments, organizational charts, the way we use brainstorming, Stephen Covey's Circle of Influence, and even the Marine Corps! There is one which urges us to reinvent our attitude about the sharing of knowledge, another which cheers on customer evangelists, and one which challenges the limits of our imagination. We are invited to shatter resistance and reinvent ourselves even when it seems impossible.

Let’s begin.  Near the beginning of our list, please welcome the two newest contributors to our HC Forums, Karen Wallace of The Clearing Space, and Greg Balanko-Dickson of Business Performance Coaching. However Top Billing today goes to someone celebrating his birthday...

The Reinvention of Human Resources

If you check the ‘brochureware’ on my SLC website, you will see there is just one speaking topic listed for me with the word ‘Reinvention’ in it.

As much as we in business love to self-analyze and theorize, there is quite a bit we do right thanks to the very nature of free enterprise. We are subject to the market’s responsiveness to our business efforts where ultimately, the almighty customer rules.

However, while there is a wealth of intelligence, logic, and good intention in the operational processes we already claim to use, actual practice lags behind; we continually write about the flaws because we aren’t that great at doing our right things continually and consistently. We talk about them and document them rhetorically in mission statements, but those seemingly visionary documents are rendered meaningless when we fail to execute.

Reinvention comes into play when the reasons we don’t execute well reveal root causes riddled with red flags: Ignoring our sacred cows may actually be wise. Yet if there’s a good reason we don’t do something, we shouldn’t stop at just ignoring it. Instead, let’s pay attention, dig deep, and get real about turning old thinking upside down and looking for a far better way. Let’s reinvent.

My current favorite for reinvention? Human Resources, and I couldn’t let our Ho‘ohana Community May Reinvention Forum skip by me this year without bringing my speaking topic here to Talking Story too.

First, I must say I always find that those who work in HR are good people who had initially entered Human Resources as their field of choice with a sincere desire to be the employee’s advocate, no matter what that position that person may hold —including managers. Therefore, I never wish to vilify them, just challenge them to the greatness they had once aspired to.  In their fervent wishes to be a service department they’ve unfortunately become doormats, far too complacent about asserting their ideas and assuming their responsibility for leadership.

Doormats. Think that’s harsh? Well, let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why I feel that HR is so ripe for reinvention.

Reinvented Work: So many possibilities.

A few blocks from the White House, Chris Bailey and I sat at a Caribou Coffee for three hours this past Monday afternoon talking about soulful, joyful work.

At one point, Chris whips a book out of his backpack to show me, called Joy at Work, A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job by Dennis W. Bakke, formerly the CEO of The AES Corporation (Applied Energy Services). Chris was sure I’d love reading it, saying that Bakke and I seemed to be very much in sync in the way we looked at how work, and our workplaces, can be reinvented into much more joyful and purposeful places.

Much later that evening, finding I had some extra time on my hands, I took a walk to a Borders bookstore we’d walked by earlier, and bought a copy of the book for myself, figuring it was a good way to commemorate my time in Washington DC with Chris. In the morning I had a 12-hour travel schedule looming large, and I also knew the book would help the long plane ride pass more quickly.

Well, it was a terrific recommendation Chris, for I absolutely devoured the book, finishing its final pages mere minutes before landing. The woman sitting next to me turned out to be a retired grade school teacher, and she kept watching me, smiling, as I flagged and annotated the book the way I normally do when I have something I am not just reading, but studying intently.

She said, “You really should scan that book and send a few shots to the author, for what you’ve just done amazes me. I bet he’d think it a terrific compliment. I wish my students had loved reading their books that much.”

A book review will follow in greater detail, and Chris has one posted on his Bailey WorkPlay already if you’re anxious. For now, with possible job reinventions so much on the brain, I have to share one passage in particular with you. I could barely sit still in my seat when I first read it.

Make it easier

Quote of the day:

“I’m so tired of watching us lose our customers. Just because we work for the government doesn’t mean we shouldn’t run the operation like a business.”
--- Joan Capinia

You’ll never guess where Joan works. Reinvention can happen where you least expect it.

Great article in the Honolulu Advertiser today about (drum roll please!!) the U.S. Postal Service. The article talks about how the USPS has started a “Business Connect” program to gain back more market share in the face of increased competition from UPS and FedEx, and lost revenue due to fax machines, email and automatic bill payments. Their no-brainer strategy: Make it easier.

Postal Service makes life easier for businesses

Do click in and read it, and then consider how you can make life easier for your customers. I don’t know of any customer in the world who wouldn’t greatly appreciate more ease in working with you. To a customer, easier is always better.

Personally, I go for easier over cheaper any time, and I don’t think I’m that unusual.

Visible Reinventions can be small changes

… that have a big effect.

Those small, but deliberate actions, because they are very visible, can deliver a strong message to your customer. A message that conveys

“You are important to me.
I want you to feel good to be associated with my company when the people you know discover you work with me.”

So my March Ho‘ohana of visible reinventions in action continues!

Last night my son Zach was showing me how he uses Photo Shop, and he was able to create a new SLC banner for me that I think does help me give that message. It’s simple but such a vast improvement: take a look!

Mahalo nui Zach!

The Reinvention of the Business Community

When I look back at this past week, I am filled with a sense of wonder.

Barely three months ago, we started the New Year with a Ho‘ohana theme of community: do you remember? In part, this is what I’d written on January 3rd:

“Here at Talking Story, you’ll likely find I am eager to embrace new chapters: watch for the new to make itself known in the months to come. And expect that I will ask you to participate: I believe in embracing Ka la hiki ola as the community we have become.”

Back then, I wrote that on a feeling, an intuition that was unspecific yet very strong. I felt very confident writing those words even though I had no idea what the New Year would bring.

This past week, as our Ho‘ohana Online Community gave their mālama — their caring for, their stewardship — to Talking Story, I kept going back and reading about community again. This morning my own thoughts keep coming back to this: Perhaps it is in the evolution of the business community that we will achieve our greatest reinvention in the shortest amount of time.

It used to be, that business people competed with each other. They may have been friendly, but they didn’t network and pool resources.

It used to be, that business people trained and groomed their own. They didn’t mentor others outside the fold and openly share “proprietary” knowledge.

It used to be, that work was work and work was left at work. People didn’t write about it, and become citizen publishers calling for work reinvention on their own time.

That was then, this is now, and we’re not going back. We don’t want to.

We are reinventing competition by competing with ourselves first and foremost. We stretch and grow to make ourselves new, and what we compete against are our former selves.

We are reinventing assets and currency, by adding priceless intangibles that cannot be assessed dollar amounts; intangibles such intellectual currency, emotional engagement, permission and attention.

We are reinventing our very attitudes about work, banishing the 9-5 attitudes and entitlement mentality that can sink promising human enterprise. We are creating business partners within our own companies, and in global neighborhoods.

We are reinventing what it means to “get involved.” Community members challenge mediocrity, yet positively propose solutions and freely exchange ideas — whining, complaining and commiserating are not tolerated.

We are reinventing benchmarking and networking, by creating global relationships that cross industries and cultures. If you have an internet connection you are invited to participate. The choice is yours; there is no old boy’s network making the decision.

More from January’s Ho‘ohana:

“Talking Story was born to be the discussion pages of Say Leadership Coaching, the company I started and dedicated to the ho‘ohana (passionate, intention-filled work) of those who manage, and the people they work with.

My hope was that it would evolve to be the collective voice of an entire community, and thus Ho‘ohana Community is the name that came to be for you, those who read these pages and choose to talk story with us, sharing our mana‘o (deeply held thoughts and beliefs) as an ‘Ohana in Business, a community of like-minded people.

What does “like-minded” mean for us? It means we are intent upon managing our work, ourselves, and our lives with aloha.”

Well this past week there was certainly an abundance of aloha.

It was only this past January that I invited a dozen other bloggers to begin the Ho‘ohana Online Community with me, and this past week’s forum of collective thought on reinvention is testimony to the incredible power that community can have. These generous Mea Ho‘okipa were so eager to add their voices to mine and they did so with such eloquence because you, dear readers, inspire us: You are our community of possibility, hope, and promise. My guest bloggers this week have relished the role of fire-starter: now the reinvention of business that is possible is up to you.

In the past week there were over 620 brand new, first-time readers visiting Talking Story for our forum on Reinvention (the total visitor count was much more): imagine the possibilities if every one simply started the business reinvention movement with their own circle of influence. You had some great inspiration this week, for Lisa, Yvonne, Anita, Chris, Todd and Wayne did way more than I asked them to do for me. Did you catch all of these related articles?

At The Alchemy of Soulful Work:
We're all responsible for reinvention.

At Blog Business World:
Blogging series as traffic builders.

At Business Thoughts:
Reinvention ... buzzword for laziness.

At Lip-Sticking:
Five Phantasmagoric Facts on the Women's Market.

At Management Craft:
Spreading My Tentacles!

At Small Business Trends:
Reinventing a Business.

I encourage you to lead as these business leaders have done. Make the decision to be a catalyst today: don’t leave it for “the other guy” —Reinvention is something you can make happen. Get inspired. Be proactive and be optimistic. We are.

“When I reflect on the past few months, I see many indicators which lead me to fervently believe that this new time is indeed a time for our community, one that has come together invested in the core values of Ho‘ohana and Aloha.

I believe that 2005 will be about championing a much-needed reinvention of work, and this is task for a community: no matter their passion, mavericks and revolutionaries cannot do it alone. What we need to achieve is too far-reaching: our workforce is dwindling and aging, while simultaneously our needs for a dynamic, vibrant workforce are growing. In addition, we are more sophisticated than we ever have been before; people everywhere are looking for fulfillment and a deeper sense of satisfaction. We want meaningful, significant, legacy-building work for ourselves, and for all those we care about.

So what are the answers? I don’t have them all, but I do believe that Managing with Aloha is a work philosophy that can help us find them.

What am I proposing? That we find our answers as a strong and vibrant community of collective thought and inclusive learning.

We can be a community brave enough to challenge each other, and tenacious enough to draw out the best in each individual, empowering them.

We can be a community which is forthright and honest, yet kind and respectful, professional and self-governing in our respect for each other’s spirit and dignity.

We can be a community which is inquisitive, intuitive, innovative, and resilient, seeking the knowledge - and reaffirming camaraderie - that will propel us forward. We can leap toward initiative and enlarge our capacity.

We can be a community of aloha, freely sharing our spirit with each other, secure in the unconditional support we are certain we will receive. We can relish the abundance found in our connectivity.

Talking Story is here to be our forum, and it is my fervent wish that you will participate.”

That wish has not changed for me: however it has gotten stronger.

My mahalo and aloha to those of you who did visit, who read the collective wisdom shared by our guest bloggers, and who shared a comment of your own. We reinvent the very concept of a business community together, kākou. I applaud your initiative, and we all celebrate your participation.

Tag: Reinvention. Community.

Wayne Hurlbert on Reinvention

Welcome to our week of Reinvention for Business---Day 6! The Ho‘ohana Online Community has graciously agreed to some hale-sitting in Talking Story this week for me, and they are sharing their thoughts with you on our March Ho‘ohana, a challenge for us all to reinvent ourselves in business.

Our Guest Author today is Wayne Hurlbert of Blog Business World.

I can’t recall how I first discovered Blog Business World, however I do remember that Wayne’s blog was one of the very first I ever read. No surprise there, for Wayne is SEO King in my eyes, and I have often said here on Talking Story how much I learn from him. “Mentor” is the word that suits Wayne superbly, for he gives away his knowledge so freely within his desire to see the rest of us succeed. I am so pleased to have his expert hand complete our forum this week.

I have some surprises at the bottom of Wayne’s article! But first, let’s learn from Wayne.

Reinvention: Whole Business Marketing.

It’s a common sight in many businesses.

The weekly marketing meeting is attended only by those people directly involved in the narrowest definition of marketing. Usually the Marketing Manager will say a few words, the Sales Managers will add a few more, and a few goals will be set. Little if any consideration is given to the front line people carrying out these wonderful plans.

The inside and outside sales staff are given some orders, and perhaps a pep talk, and little else beyond a brochure. The front desk reception people are given very little except a phone script. The office and clerical staff are usually given nothing at all.

When the sales numbers arrive for the time frame in question, the totals on the page often look very bad in the cold harshness of black and white. The marketing division personnel only know that top management will not be happy with the results. Hasty meetings with sales are called. Little is resolved. The original failed plans receive very cosmetic changes. Rinse and repeat.

If this sounds like your company, then perhaps an entire change in marketing perspective is required. Those shifts in marketing thought should involve everyone in the company. All personnel and staff, from all areas of the business, must be a part of the new holistic theory of marketing. The customers of the company must also become part of the overall marketing process.

The definition of who is responsible for marketing the business must be expanded to include everyone within and outside of the company. That requires a major change in company thinking and attitudes toward marketing.

Getting everyone on board

The first step to reinventing marketing, to include everyone connected to the business, in the overall marketing of the company. While that might appear to be radical thinking for traditional marketers, it’s really more in the line of common sense.

Multiply the overall number of people thinking in terms of marketing, and selling the products and services, and those regular revenue reports will look much more pleasant.

The first step is to develop a company wide policy that everyone within the company is involved in marketing. The senior management has to make product and services marketing a total team effort, and become involved themselves. By setting a strong example, and displaying a full commitment to the effort, other employees will join in as well.

The marketing department will be called upon to involve everyone in the organization. The doors must be opened wide, and ideas should flow both ways. Management staff must recognize that some of the very best ideas will arrive from the hands on personnel on the front lines. Their face to face meetings with customers and clients provide valuable product and market research. This front line intelligence should be put to use, and not ignored.

The customer service staff should be well trained in all aspects of the company’s products and services. Instead of outsourcing customer service, take a closer look at keeping the department in house. While short term savings might appear favourable, the potential sales left on the table far outweigh the few dollars saved on wages.

Customer service representatives must be empowered to solve customer problems. All too often, the role of the staff is to get rid of the customers, and to ignore any complaints. That shortsighted approach is precisely the wrong path to take.

The customer service rep who addresses a customer’s concerns, and resolves the issue beyond the dissatisfied customer’s satisfaction, will have won a customer for life. The lifetime value of the saved customers and their purchases, more than pays for the customer service department.

Along with solving problems, customer service can offer upselling to better and higher priced products. They can provide cross selling opportunities to the customer, in the form of a one stop shopping experience. They can assist a customer make a purchase better suited to their needs, than the original selection.

All of these things maintain the customer base for life. The cost of keeping an existing customer is only a fraction of acquiring new ones. Those savings add up, and the customer list grows ever longer.

The receptionist is often the first contact a customer has with the company. Don’t use the front desk as a place to put the newest employee. Provide that person with full company knowledge so the appropriate assistance can be offered to the potential customers and clients. Proper training for telephone staff is essential, and should be taken very seriously.

Keep your premises clean and inviting, and involve all maintenance and custodial staff in the process. Pleasant surroundings boost sales and customer satisfaction.

Get the customers into the act

Your customers are some of the most powerful marketing people you company has at its disposal. Unfortunately, their support is either neglected or even outright discouraged.

We all know about good old word of mouth advertising. As a handy marketing technique, it’s extremely powerful at increasing sales and brand loyalty. Satisfied customers are your company’s best product and service evangelists. Treat them well, and reward them for their efforts.

Ask your customers for referrals. Provide your sales staff with specific questions to ask for recommendations of friends, family, and business associates. If your now fully trained staff does its job well, sales should increase dramatically.

People tend to believe people they know and trust. If your company has made them happy, they will tell others to support your business. Once again, proper customer service pays off in real dollars for the company bottom line.

Customers represent a gigantic hidden source of product and service ideas. In fact, if they suggest a product or service be added your business product line, the customers are far more likely to buy it. They already have a degree of ownership of the product. Help them to help you succeed.

Conclusion

Marketing is not just the responsibility of the marketing department. It involves everyone connected with your business, whether staff or customers.

Get everyone involved, and watch your sales skyrocket.

—Wayne Hurlbert

Mahalo nui Wayne!

Here are the surprises I promised: Wayne is a blogspot.com hold-out, and so because there is no profile page there that I can find, you’ll have to be a good sleuth like me and learn more about Wayne through his voice: This sampling may surprise you at first!

Wayne’s Derby World. Roller Derby, RollerJam, RollerGames, and Rollergirls.
Codswallop and Flapdoodle. Aliens, Mars, conspiracy theories, and other mysteries, discussed by two friends who have no clue, and spend way too much time in the pub.
Smart Man Online. Wayne!

Do you have questions for Wayne? Would you like to add your voice to his? The comment lines are open, and ready for your thoughts.
— Rosa

Tag: Reinvention. Marketing. Customer Service.

K.Todd Storch on Relevance

Welcome to our week of Reinvention for Business---Day 5! The Ho‘ohana Online Community has graciously agreed to some hale-sitting in Talking Story this week for me, and they are sharing their thoughts with you on our March Ho‘ohana, a challenge for us all to reinvent ourselves in business.

Yes, the name of this post is a different R: how perceptive you are. Leave it to our Guest Author today to mix it up and challenge me ... The one and only K.Todd Storch of Business Thoughts.

In my own reading on the web, I anxiously look to Todd’s Business Thoughts for his views on customer service and market innovation. He also has this wonderful way of coming right to the point of things, as you will soon read in his article. Strip away the business suit (wonder if he even wears one? I don’t think of radio guys that way, but he is a GSM…) and you’ll find that Todd’s true loves are his ‘ohana and stretching his limits as a triathlete. Todd’s a true connector; People You Need To Meet is but one example. Meet Todd for yourself: match the voice to the man here.

Reinvention...buzz word for laziness.

I know, I know. I'm taking the contrarian view to this topic, but let me explain. The definition of reinvent is "to make over completely".

There are many processes and things that we and companies do that need to be improved dramatically (ie. customer service for one ).

But when asked to write this post, I began thinking about "what needs to be reinvented" and how does this affect my life?

I could look at the radio industry, which is where I make my living; I could look at the world of blogging, which is where I contribute; I could look at any number of processes that I deal with each and every day. But as I really challenged myself with reinvention, I began to realize that the word that fit the best is relevant.

Relevant. Yes, that is it. The radio industry and television, cable, newspapers, etc. need to be relevant. Consumers are more informed than ever thanks to the Internet and being relevant is what is needed. Consumers are also demanding programming when ever they want it (thank you TiVo!). All of us want relevant content when ever and where ever we are.

If companies spent more time making their processes relevant to how the customer will actually use or interact with a product or the company itself, there is a much better opportunity for success. iTunes and the iPod are excellent example of this.

Many will say that iPod's "reinvented" .mp3 players. I disagree. I've had a .mp3 player for years, but they were too difficult to use. Too difficult to really make listening fun. iPod's made the experience relevant to consumers. Like the definition of the word, the iPod and iTunes made a connection with the matter with the matter at hand, which is/was "I want to listen to what I want, when I want and it needs to be easy and fun!"

iTunes didn't reinvent downloads. It didn't make over music downloads completely. iTunes made the music download experience relevant. It made it easy. It made it fun. It made it relevant to the lifestyle consumers want and demand.

What can each of us do to make our jobs, careers, lives more relevant?

—K.Todd Storch

Mahalo nui Todd!

Do you have questions for Todd? Would you like to add your voice to his? The comment lines are open, and ready for your thoughts.
— Rosa

Tag: Reinvention. Relevance. Customer Service.

Christopher Bailey on Reinvention

Welcome to our week of Reinvention for Business---Day 4! The Ho‘ohana Online Community has graciously agreed to some hale-sitting in Talking Story this week for me, and they are sharing their thoughts with you on our March Ho‘ohana, a challenge for us all to reinvent ourselves in business.

Our Guest Author today is Christopher Bailey. You can visit Chris at his own blog, the very insightful Alchemy of Soulful Work. Visits to Alchemy are a daily habit for me: sometimes I just can’t wait for those RSS updates in my feedreader! A fun thing Chris posted recently was Who Knew Dr. Evil was my Boss? and I’ve loved watching his success at skillfully inviting lurkers out of the shadows: An Open Invitation to De-Lurk. There’s more! Chris has been working on his own reinvention with a new blog for us: Menagerie of Frivolous Fascinations.

Chris always writes with engaging enthusiasm and optimism, and so I was thrilled that he added his reinvention thoughts to our forum this week. Look at his posts above again: the man has a way with words. With his article, Chris has added a new term to my vocabulary: can you pick it out?

Let's Reinvent Professional Development in Our Organizations

Rosa has selected a fantastic topic to get the creative juices flowing! A hot topic lately in the business magazines has been the importance of lifelong learning for professionals. The reasons are fairly obvious: learners are more open to new ideas, more adaptable to change, and frankly, way more interesting to be around. The great innovative organizations understand this and cultivate cultures that stimulate and reward learning. However, when I ask clients and other professionals about their organization's attitudes toward and structures for professional development, they are woefully inadequate. Too often, professional development is treated like a job perk, rather than as a systemic part of the organization's greater purpose of growing its business and its people.

What are some ideas for reinventing professional development in our organizations today?

1. First, let's cease calling it professional development and call it livelihood learning. Learning encourages the idea that seeking new ideas and knowledge is a process that takes place everywhere in a person's life. That book on Ferdinand Magellan or conversation with the person waiting in line at the supermarket might just yield two or three innovative ideas on how to improve your product's marketing.

2. Stop making professional development the exclusive privilege of managers and executives. This policy only reinforces the idea that line staff have little impact on the bottom line when in fact, they may just have the greatest impact. Make livelihood learning an expectation for everyone in the organization.

3. While we're talking about line staff, livelihood learning goes beyond job-based training. There's a tendency to think that as long as line staff is properly trained to do the technical aspects of their job, that's sufficient. Yes, training is important but it is only one part of the plan. Growing people is more than ensuring they are properly skilled, it means helping them further develop their natural strengths.

4. Related to #1, not all professional development has to take place in a conference room. I recently met an engaging and energetic consultant who works for a Richmond, VA based firm called Play. They offer each of their employees the option to take what they call a "radical sabbatical." These are opportunities to climb mountains, explore unfamiliar terrain, learn to surf – any experience that will inspire them creatively.

The "radical sabbatical" is only one innovative way to reinvent professional development in our organizations today. Livelihood learning is a very visible way to build a strong, healthy, and innovative organization that is ready to tackle whatever challenges that the future brings.

—Christopher Bailey

Mahalo nui Chris! Livelihood Learning; I love it!

Do you have questions for Chris? Would you like to add your voice to his? The comment lines are open, and ready for your thoughts.
— Rosa

Tag: Reinvention. Livelihood Learning. Professional Development.