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Attract (& Keep!) Your Dream Team, Part 2: The 5 “C’s”

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Hiring people and getting them up to speed takes time and money so use learning strategically.  In the first video segment we looked at the big picture, the 5 interconnected steps that impact your team as it forms and grows. In this 2nd of 4 parts I share the 5C’s you can use to create an environment of success and techniques to impact the retention process. The 5C’s is a strategic component of leadership and follows a common planning model with a focus on the talent pool we rely on to make and support the products and services of today and to be ready for future growth.

Next time we’ll examine how using a credentialing process can drive talent development and retention. Credentials come in different forms, so we’ll look at options to consider. In the meantime, I’d enjoy talking with you about how we can partner to strategically develop your team so let’s Zoom or send me an email and let’s keep the conversation going! Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

Attract and Keep Your Dream Team, Part 1: The Big Picture

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Learning, used strategically, impacts the bottom line of your organization. Join me in this 1st of a 4-part video series as I share techniques to influence the employee lifecycle. This interconnected process has 5 steps where you can influence and engage your team as it forms and grows.  When we consider the stages in this lifecycle it becomes clear we interact with the different steps constantly as we connect with our teammates. When we are authentically engaged, we are using recruiting skills and when planning for the future it is with the perspective of the team in place. Focusing on being present in the workplace creates opportunities to grow and develop our people to be successful today and tomorrow.

Next time we’ll examine the five “C’s” needed to drive talent success and impact retention and in the meantime, I would enjoy talking with you about how we can partner to strategically develop your team so let’s Zoom or send me an email and keep the conversation going!  Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

More than a seat at the table

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Learning & Development should be at the table to plan and be involved early on yet we need to be in the workflow more. Join me in this video to explore going beyond delivering training and begin using learning strategically to provide the organization with employees who are prepared, who can think, and use the collective wisdom of the community to develop a robust and skilled internal talent pipeline. We need to be in the workplace to grow and develop our people and that’s the seat L&D should be sitting in. Learning is a strategic business tool and developing people’s skills and strengths, including the ability to learn and think in the moment of need, is an integral component of an organization’s growth and success.

I would enjoy talking more with you about how we can partner on identifying ways to strategically develop your team so let’s Zoom or send me an email, let’s keep learning together!  Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

 

Competencies, career path, & success

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When you see a new role being posted there seems to be a set of competencies included and while they include admirable goals there may be a more advantageous use.  A competency describes the desired knowledge, skills, and behaviors that enable people to successfully perform their roles. So rather than using these as terms in a job posting let’s refocus the intent and bring these skills and behaviors into helping people get better in their current roles and developing them to be ready to grow and assume new roles. The easiest way to bring these together is to use career pathing as a method to retain employees by showing them a path that leads to career growth and continued employment with the organization.  In this video I highlight the process the organization can use to plan head and use learning as a business tool that supports their growth and success with a just in time skilled workforce building on existing skills and strengths and integrating behavioral skills into technical training to create a positive, scaffolded, approach to employee development and preparedness.

I would enjoy talking more with you about how we can partner on identifying ways to strategically develop your team so let’s Zoom or send me an email, let’s keep learning together!  Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

Organizational Ownership

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We talk about creating a learning culture and having employees take control of their learning and professional development and then we get so frustrated when workers attending these high-quality training courses are texting or checking their emails under the table.  Don’t they want to learn?

Before we point fingers at bored employee let us step back a moment and ask where the organization’s ownership of the learning culture is, have they defined what skills and competencies they want people to acquire and why?  Has the organization described the business proposition clearly and does the worker know the WIIFM, the What’s In It for Me?  In this short video I identify several key tactics every organization needs to put in place to define the jobs of tomorrow and identify how they can then prepare their workforce for these jobs with new training options, stretch roles, and educational collaborations. This collaboration and shared ownership provides the way to achieve success, and then the culture where learning is experienced will lead to growth and high performance.

Check out the video and see how we can begin this transformation by realizing that the purpose of learning is to support and grow the organization and that means all parties must come together to define and describe the future so everyone knows What’s In it for Me. I would enjoy talking more with you about how we can partner on identifying career paths that can develop your talent pipeline so let’s Zoom or send me an email, let’s keep learning together!  Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

Corporate Capability – develop your workforce!

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A capable worker needs more than technical or functional skills to be successful performing their role, they maximize these and utilize behavioral skills. We can impact the organization when we ask the business experts to define the broad range of skills people use and how they are measured in the operational environment.  More than a collection of courses in the LMS, this is about developing people in the context of their work experiences, blending the various capabilities into a highly personalized learning path that is strategic and aligned with the business goals and objectives.

Take a look at this short video, Corporate Capability: develop your workforce!, and let’s think about how we can identify the differences and requirements different teams within an organization need so workers can perform effectively and efficiently.  There will be overlap yet the opportunity is to maximize common strengths while honing and improving the unique skills people need in each part of the enterprise.   If you would like discuss how to implement and use this model as a part of your workflow process as well as using learning as a strategic business tool send me an email or call and let’s talk! Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

Planning for flexibility

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Sometimes contingency plans have a way of becoming permanent and while we have screen grabmade the transition to remote work and remote learning we need to start require instruction to be more accommodating for all involved. In this short video I share the need for a hybrid flexible, or HyFlex, model that supports location choice and time options while maintaining a consistent level of content, activities, and assessment strategies. The key attribute is being able to meet people’s changing need to access content and peers seamlessly from face-2-face to a blended online to a completely asynchronous interaction and support the seamless transition between these different delivery channels and experiences on a daily basis.

While I can’t be live in front of you now, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss and explore this topic in greater detail and how we can help you and your team perform and succeed.  Send me an email or call and let’s talk! Use the contact button above or visit visit our web site!

Coaching – it’s where leadership begins

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I had an amazing leader once, she later told me she enjoyed how I could make her ideas actually work but what I am forever grateful for is that she gave me a gift of feedback on Capturehow I came across – I’ll share with you my #1 strength is focus so when I am really listening to someone I am locked in and my problem solving skills kick in by listing all the barriers and challenges of the situation being discussed.

Instead of telling me directly that I came across as negative she began the process by asking me what I was thinking and then shared that she thought I was upset by my reaction. Then she suggested I ask a question or 3 to give myself some time to think thru the situation, and she also suggested I smile.  You see, if I can figure out the barriers then I can start the solution process but what she shared was that while she knew I would solve the problem getting there was painful.  She coached me on a life skill that helped me at home and at work!

It used to be that you got a coach when you weren’t performing, and coaches were only for senior leaders.  What we see now is that coaching is an integral component of leadership development.  Coaching can help people develop and hone their skills and abilities and move forward on a performance and career pathway by dealing with issues that could become problems if not identified early –like my list of barriers instead of listening and asking questions and smiling leading to solutions.

There are other advantages too and if you would like to learn how to design and implement coaching into your leadership development process check out this short video, Coaching – it’s where leadership begins.  If you would like to learn more about using learning as a strategic business tool send me an email or call and let’s talk!

It’s not the ROI, ROL matters more!

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I had a conversation recently with a learning leader at an organization who was being pushed to show their ROI – return on investment.  Granted in the last couple of years they have brought a new LMS online andCapture added designers to the team so management wanted to know if the expenses were paying off.   But our discussion started with how many clicks had been captured, the test scores of the online modules, and how many people had taken these modules and trying to divide these into the expenses… well you get the picture.  And that’s the point – that isn’t where you truly measure the ROI. You need to have a more strategic view of the organization to determine the ROL – the Return on Learning.

Measure what matters and focus on what matters to the organization.  Key business functions such as First call resolution, lower product defects, higher quality scores, upselling numbers – the point is what are you doing to impact the business?  To truly measure the ROI you need to focus on the ROL. Start by using my favorite 4 letter word to start with – PLAN: Prior (to) Learning, Assess Now.  Take ownership of the learning solution you are developing by first (prior to learning) gathering the current operational metrics (assess now) that you will be measuring against, so you can identify clearly to yourself and your client that the solution you put in place made a difference at the business level.

Want to learn how to measure the return on your learning efforts then check out this short video about Return on Learning!  If you would like to learn more about using learning as a strategic business tool let’s talk!