When you hear the word, “engagement”, what comes to mind? Two people looking to a lifetime together? A group of teammates aligned to a shared purpose? What about the idea that engagement means a continuous process of discovery, adaptation, and growth. It is a mutual commitment to each other’s well-being and success. It’s a mindset that embraces change and welcomes new possibilities. Engagement is the key to happiness, productivity, and innovation.

In this video, I explore the framework that to be fully engaged is to be open to the changes that people around you are still discovering about themselves, the learning that life brings, and how you need to be receptive to the person they are going to become. Engagement isn’t a one-time event.

Being engaged provides us the opportunity to learn with others, as leaders learn from their teammates to expand their performance and open the doors to new professional opportunities. All positive relationships have people present in the “now” and fully engaged for future that tomorrow will bring. How do you engage with your team? How do you engage with your partner? Yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments send me an email or let’s Zoom and if you’re interested in learning more about ways to engage people for the future use the contact button above or visit our web site and let’s talk!

Vincent Price coined the phrase, “I know what I like … and I like what I know” and while he was referring to art, I see L&D teams with different operational requests provide one solution. We’re missing the need of the broader learning community with this model, to be blunt, not every training request or performance problem requires a class or a course to be designed, developed, and then delivered.  Learning and development professionals need to provide solutions that meet the diverse needs of an organization meeting the 3 “C’s”.

In this video I highlight the common theme is access to information needed to be successful within the organization while focusing on the needs of the individual in different phases of their career. To be compliant, to perform successfully within the context of the role, and grow in their career requires a broad range of design frameworks that address different purposes, audiences, and business objectives. Move beyond developing courses and classes, “C the bigger picture and use learning as a strategic business tool to develop, engage, and retain your workforce.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below, use the contact button above or visit our web site to schedule time to talk. And if you have examples of supporting teammates during their journey, I’d love to hear them too!

I was working on a project when a senior lead asked me if I had included all 4 “I’s”. The model described was that with the directions (instruction) and the content in context (information) and using an active assessment strategy (interaction) the result would be an improved work performance (innovation), the “I4”!  A recent post on LinkedIn noted the reliance on data to drive decision making I realized, as I share in this video, there needs to be a 5^th “I”, imagination.  Data based on past performance may not be as valid in this current remote and hybrid work environment. Being imaginative can drive new questions resulting in new datasets yet the driver is still centered on people, so leadership needs to keep the 5^th “I”, imagination, in place to drive performance.

Imagination opens up new conversations, it can lead you to think about the “what if” scenarios.  You can use it ask more than 5 “why’s” if you want, it can lead the curious learner to alternate ideas and solutions that older data might not suggest. Imagination combined with collecting new information can be a part of the performance process, together they can drive the innovation that leads to performance success.

This “I5” model is something leaders at all levels can use to support teammates, improve workflow processes, and drive performance.  Data can’t defeat you, but it can delay actions and disengage people so lead not by directive but with imagination and curiosity. Let’s talk more about how you can use these “I” processes as your strategic business and retention tool. We can Zoom or even use the phone to talk because together, we are stronger, and we don’t need being remote or at a distance to keep us from connecting and engaging – let’s learn and work together!  I’ll bring some coffee….or use the contact button above or visit our web site!

If you can’t see me leading then how will you know I’m a leader? That’s seems to be a concern as many are pushing for a return to the office and others are asking, why? Is success measured by how many people are on your team? I think it’s time to talk more about what success is and that means talking with people about what that means to them and coming to terms with the idea that the metric needs to change.

In this video I highlight leadership that needs to be intentional with curiosity driving open conversations. As we’ve seen, for many remote and #hybridwork saw performance improvement as teammates had increased flexibility, an increased sense of autonomy, and felt trusted by their supervisors. Plan the time and focus on the people, not the place, and measure success by the performance goals being met, on the development and promotion of our teammates, and the ability to attract and retain talent. Let’s work together to build and expand this model using learning as your strategic business tool, send me an email or let’s Zoom and keep the conversation going! I’ll bring some coffee…or use the contact button above or visit our web site!

Remember saying, “there’s not enough time in the day to do everything” when we were still in the office? When we could pop in and ask that “quick” question? Seems this is still happening only we now have the data that shows our remote interactions are shifting to mirror our old in-person interactions more closely. A recent study has found that “remote workers appear to becoming more (rather than less) engaged with respect to meetings with their colleagues.”

In this video I share how I see the role of the leader becoming one of facilitator and connector of the community. Leaders of this flexible workforce must be planful about building networks for teammates, be intentional about the purpose of live interactions, and constantly communicating across the distance. The technology isn’t a barrier anymore, we’ll make connections regardless of who is located where and create our community.

Let’s work together to build and expand those networks using learning as your strategic business tool and we can talk about how to bring the high touch into your leadership and team, send me an email or let’s Zoom and have an impromptu meeting and keep the conversation going!  I’ll bring some coffee….or use the contact button above or visit our web site!