How are you Representing?

By Sheri Mazurek on June 30, 2011

During my career, I have been given a few nuggets of wisdom from people with whom I have made contact. Upon truly understanding their meaning, those words shaped a paradigm shift in my thinking that transformed the way in which I did my work or lived my life. Other pieces of wisdom I heard simply reaffirmed what I already knew, but perhaps provided a unique way in which to describe or communicate the concept. One of those concepts seems to be rarer today than when my career started and I thought I would share it with you.

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HR’s Number One Priority-Depends on Who You Ask

By Sheri Mazurek on June 21, 2011

If you ask a number of people what is HR’s number one priority or responsibility, you’ll most likely get a number of different responses based on who is answering the question even if two of those asked are in the same position. People are egocentric by nature. They tend to view things from their own experiences and needs. Below are a few examples

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Little League and HR

By Sheri Mazurek on June 8, 2011

My favorite part of summer is watching my kids play baseball. My oldest son has played with the same coach for three years. For the first two years, the team was mostly the same players and the team worked well together on and off the field. But this year is a little different. This the first year, the coaches picked players from a draft (no parent requests for a coach) and it is also the first year that some of our players were eligible to participate in a travel team. So the team has only four of the original players. It’s an entirely new dynamic.

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The Most Powerful Trainer in Your Organization-Culture

By Sheri Mazurek on June 2, 2011

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.”

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Learner-Centered Training Part 4

By Sheri Mazurek on May 22, 2011

u have been following the series on Learner-Centered Training, you have already read about the first two steps in creating this environment. The thrid step is the practice phase. This is a crtical step in the training as it is where learning transfer takes place. It is also critical in this phase to remove the roadblocks to successful transfer and application

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Learner-Centered Training Part 3

By Sheri Mazurek on May 15, 2011

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.

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Learner-Centered Training Part 2

By Sheri Mazurek on May 8, 2011

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.

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Learner-Centered Training Part I

By Sheri Mazurek on May 1, 2011

As stated in my previous two posts, training sessions can be a dreaded activity by many. Despite research that tells us lecture is not learning, it is still the most used delivery method. And with current updates in technology the lecture is often supported with a deck of PowerPoint slides filled with the words being spoken by the presenter often times while reading directly from the screen or his printed copy. It is not surprising that this is the most common method. It is the easiest to develop and control and it is what learners often expect. This may just be why they dread coming to training.

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Is Lecture Learning?

By Sheri Mazurek on April 21, 2011

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?

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Training-Pleasant Surprise or Nightmare?

By Sheri Mazurek on April 6, 2011

Employees sometimes spend several hours each year in training classes. Many times, these classes get the same reception as the performance review. The two have some similarities. Both are often dreaded experiences that can turn into a pleasant surprise or a nightmare. Most likely each of you can relate to both experiences for both items.

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