Archive for the ‘Training and Performance Improvement’ Category

WLP Professionals and Social Media?

Friday, March 13th, 2009

My reading of blogs and lurking in social media sites reveals an absence of learning, training, and performance improvement professionals (WLPs) in using/pioneering social media in their organizations. Why is that? I have an inkling, an untested suspicion. WLP professionals use, push, and pioneer in their organizations the tools they are most comfortable in using. A professional association recently asked their members about using Twitter and Facebook. The response was overwhelmingly, no. I will not use it. It’s not professional. Who says so? The most telling statement, “. . . let the net generation find us.” 

                            

At a time when organizations must leverage all resources to gain a temporary competitive edge (or survive), we need WLP professionals who will leverage informal learning, contribute to the organization’s success, and learn what Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have to offer before dismissing these utilities. Social media is not a passing fad. Social media is how we “do” on the job training whether our peers are standing next to us or a continent away. Social media and blogs allow experts to document what they know, allow those with problems to find those with answers, and allow equal access to informal learning. What do you think?

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The Middle Ground of T& PI Theory and Practice

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

In the practitioner literature for human resource and training professionals, you will find practical information that you can apply in your organization or practice. In the academic literature for human resource and training professionals, you will find the theories and theoretical frameworks that support the development of practical application. Is there a middle ground? Or, are the professions divided into distinct groups of thinkers and do-ers?

There is a reason for the great divide. The academic literature is not written in a style that encourages optional reading. The practice literature, while immediately applicable, does not require thinking. The human resources and learning professions cannot continue in this vein. Real performance improvement requires both theory and application. Practitioners are not only responsible for driving change, but also for understanding (and contributing to) the supporting theories. The absence of a marriage between theory and practice makes practitioners re-active rather than proactive. The absence of a marriage between theory and practice leaves academics voiceless and contributes to a dumb-ing down of the human resources and training practices. What are your thoughts?

Lorretta J

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Should WLP Professionals Blog

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

I know this is a late post, but here it is. Should learning professionals blog? My answer is yes. I am exploring the involvement of WLP professionals in corporate blogs as my dissertation topic. Because blogging is a grass-roots type of practice, WLP professionals may not recognize the need to blog. However, the reasons I have found for blogging in my literature review are: 

  •  To encourage and support collaboration in the workplace.
  •  To encourage a practice that documents the knowledge that occurs in the white spaces of organizations (dare I say double-loop learning, too!)
  •  To model how blogging should be done.
  • To become an early adopter of the practice and technology.
  •  To be able to participate in “best practices” conversations that are currently dominated by the communications and technology fields
  •  To gain confidence in social media, which is how Gen- Net expects to be trained.
  •  To be able to conduct performance analysis and evaluations using the same delivery channels as training.
  •  To recognize the role of WLP professionals as supporters and enablers of collaboration
  •  To be able to answer the call, when it comes, to evaluate whether social media works.

That’s just my two cents worth.  And yes, I l blog at ljdavis.biz/blog

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Collaboration in the Workplace

Friday, December 12th, 2008

For a number of years, we were warned about a talent shortage that would occur as baby boomers left the workforce. The challenge for workplace learning professionals was how to keep knowledge in the organization. In our current economic climate, the crisis of keeping knowledge in the organization is here. The crisis is emerging because of massive job cuts. How is your organization responding? Too often organizations eliminate jobs from a financial aspect without considering in depth how the organization will fill the knowledge gaps. You can assume that knowledge remains in the organization, that someone else will pick up the slack, at you own peril.

Here is the dilemma and challenge for training professionals. How do you encourage collaboration? How do you get the remaining workers to play nice in the sandbox and share knowledge? Although it seems like a time when workers would pull together, typical compensation strategies tend to favor individual accomplishments. Think about it? Why should employees share their knowledge when “what they know” may be their only form of job security? Please share your thoughts.

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Continuous Learning – The “To-Learn” List

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals understand that organizations are faced with ongoing change. Such organizations require a workforce that is engaged in continuous learning in order to remain competitive. Yet the saying, “Physician heal thyself” could apply to many WLP professionals. The “To-Learn” list for WLP professionals is broad and long. It expands beyond learning and business to technology and new models of business.

It is not enough to understand organizational development, organizational structure, and adult learning principles. WLP professionals must also add e-learning, social networking tools, and business fundamentals to their repertoire of tools and skills. The top item on my personal To-Learn list is lean service. In reading the tea leaves, WLP professionals must understand, and many potential employers/clients require certification, lean service. If you do not understand value added principles, how can the client/employer trust that you can add value for them? The second item on my To-Learn list is to expand my understanding of blogs and wikis and to leverage this understanding.

What is on your list?

Lorretta J. Davis, SPHR

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Organizational Structure

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

 

Practitioners in organizational development, organizational effectiveness, and other related consulting disciplines place great importance on organizational structure.  Organizational structure is often defined by management structure; hierarchical, flat, matrix, or some hybrid version.  Management structure influences the flow of information.  I am suggesting that neither information flow nor management structure define organizational structure.  What does?

 

In our global economy, knowledge is the new currency.  How knowledge is created and shared in organizations is what determines an organization’s structure.  Created and shared knowledge is what adds value to an organization, creates a competitive advantage, and shapes the organization.  Old organizational structures are being challenged by the need to transform information into created and shared knowledge.  That is not a top-down structure or a lateral structure.  It occurs in the white space of organizations.  It results from relationships vetted by common goals and interests.  It invites organizations to use and leverage social networking tools.  It requires managers and leaders who engage in transparency and a willingness to lead by sharing.

 

Your thoughts?

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Blogging for Performance Improvement

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Performance improvement relies upon good communication throughout the analysis, intervention, implementation, and evaluation process.  It is increasingly difficult to obtain meaningful feedback through surveys and focus groups rely upon a small sample.  Often as a  consultant, internal or external, you have no control over the sample participants.  Blogs are a way to obtain information.

What we know is that corporations are beginning to mine blogs for valuable customer feedback and information.  The role of blogs between employer and employee has potential for meaningful communication as well. The question posed is what roles can blogs fill in the human performance technology process?  How can practitioners in the field of human performance improvement, human resources, and training proactively use blogging as a tool, resource, and intervention? 

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