In an previous post, I discussed the many different views of HR’s number one priority. Despite the view from which you see HR, most would agree that HR has a responsibility for talent. From talent acquisition to development and retention, HR has responsibilities. However, this very concept that HR owns talent can be a source of frustration for many. For the HR professional charged with the responsibility of talent, it can be frustrating when managers fail with their talent. For the managers who believe HR owns talent, it can be frustrating when HR can’t fix their problems. And what about the employee? What about the talent caught in the middle feeling like their manager isn’t leading them to success and HR doesn’t care?
Learning requires action and sometimes failing. There are a number of failures that I have learned from throughout my career. One of the most painful for me was in my early days of multi-unit management. I had just been transferred for the first time out of my hometown to a new city with an entirely new group of stores, employees and customers. Coming into this new environment, I was a little cocky. I had been a rock star store manager and after my promotion, I led a rock star district of stores. My team was good and my stores were very profitable. So of course, I assumed if my new team wasn’t comprised of rock stars, I could have that turned around in no time. Unfortunately, the time frame it took for that happen was quite a bit longer than I expected. The main reason, I thought it was about me and my talents. It wasn’t. I took over a team of rock stars who just didn’t know it yet. And everything I did when I got there communicated that they weren’t.
Are interested in working in Netflix? Do you think that talent is your number one priority in HR? Then you shouldn’t apply at Netflix. In a current job posting on their website, Netflix clearly spells out what they are and are not looking for in a Director-HR. The message is short and doesn’t mention anything about company benefits or essential functions. But, it is effective. It is to the point and my guess is that it will weed out a number of candidates that don’t fit.
Over at the HRCapitalist blog, Kris Dunn asked the question, “Why Don’t We Coach Employees More Than We Do?” This is a great question and to quote Dunn, “confrontation sucks.”
n multiple recent posts, I discussed techniques for building training that is more likely to result in actual learning. And while I believe that effective training is an investment that will yield a very positive ROI for companies, organizations cannot ignore where the majority of actual learning takes place. The majority of learning in an organization is a result of informal interactions. Employees learn by observation and dialogue with peers, leaders, managers and others. They learn limits by watching reactions of their supervisors and the consequences that come with pushing the limits. It is also within these same interactions with peers, leaders and managers that can make or break the learning transfer after a training session. So while training and HR departments are building programs to develop skill sets or improve performance, the real change happens in the culture. And the culture is built by all those interactions and observations that occur “back on the job.”
After the proper learner preparation has taken place and connections have been built with the learners, the facilitator(s)’ role is to deliver the information. It is important to remember in learner-centered training that delivery should be about the learner and their learning of the material. When preparing for this phase, many facilitators, trainers or presenters spend the majority of their time on delivery of content (the presentation of material) within their control ignoring that the leaner is the most important component of this preparation. In many cases, the training is occurring to provide knowledge, skills and abilities that will help the learner achieve the company objectives. The ultimate goal of the training is most likely is to initiate a change in behavior. Since the learner is the only who can control the behavior change, focusing the delivery on the learner is essential is achieving this goal.
The first step in creating workplace training and learning events is preparation. This may seem obvious, but this step is specific to learner preparation not facilitator preparation. Learner preparation requires the facilitator to take planned steps that will help the learning build connections with the topic, with their goals for the learning, with the other participants and with the learning outcomes. This stage of the training should occur even before the day training starts if possible. If not possible, it should occur from the very first moment.
he thought of attending training sessions for many can bring up an array of emotions. With the new technologies that have erupted over the past decade, the immediate assumption of many is that training is just a PowerPoint and a lecture or a PowerPoint turned into webinar and called online learning. But how much learning is actually occurring?
With all the business change that has occurred over the past few years, there is no question that the HR Department would need to keep up. It is likely that in nearly every organization there has been an emphasis on analysis of what is working and not working in all areas of the business. The trouble for HR is that sometimes, it’s hard to measure in true financial and business terms especially when the HR programs are working and things are going well in the organization. It seems that when the HR programs are working, someone else can always take the credit. But when HR is bad, it seems that it is easier for the organization to tie their failures to financial measures.
The most important word in your performance management strategy may be one that typically does not come to mind. Let’s consider a couple of the ways in which we encourage, teach and train our leaders to improve the performance of their teams.
Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 15 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. [Read more ...]Provided by
