Tag Archives: learning
The Value of Visibility
January 16, 2018 | | 3 Comments
If you’re a leader, you likely struggle to find creative and effective ways to help your employees grow. Formal training can be expensive and time-consuming. Informal training sometimes lacks the focus and application required to make the investment pay off. And the stretch assignments and projects that typically characterize experience-based learning require significant ongoing support over time. Want to offer an employee a targeted burst of development? Consider setting him or her up with an opportunity for visibility. Whether it’s attending a high-profile meeting, representing you with a key customer, or presenting at an upcoming conference, the intensity associated with visibility: …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged learning, mentorship, targeted development, visibility
The Risky Business of Leadership Development
Business success today demands careful attention to risk management. Contingency plans, redundant systems, business continuity insurance, and countless other vehicles protect organizations from the volatility and unpredictability of today’s business landscape. But there’s one area where risk should actually be cultivated rather than averted, and it’s the on-the-job growth, learning and development of leaders. By definition, developing a leadership capability, skill or experience set means throwing someone into the unknown to do what he or she has not mastered or perhaps even attempted before. There are no guarantees of success when a leader is given an opportunity to develop on …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged developing leaders, failure, leaders, learning, risk, success
The FUEL that Propels Today’s Organizations
Organizations today face unparalleled pressures and challenges—from balancing the needs of customers and shareholders to combating new and evolving competitive forces to anticipating and planning for an uncertain future by ensuring a never-ending flow of innovations and improvements. It’s an exhausting 24/7 effort that can leave many organizations—and the individuals within them—depleted. Yet despite the punishing conditions, some organizations thrive. Their employees remain energized and effective in the face of initiatives and tasks that are daunting to others. What accounts for the difference? Why are some organizations propelled forward while others stall? It all comes down to what powers the …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged dialogue, effective, efficient, expectations, experimentation, feedback, learning, risk-taking, survival, transparency
Want to Institutionalize Career Development? Look for (or Cultivate) these Cultural Markers
January 7, 2017 | | Leave a comment
Global field research over the past decade consistently leads to the same conclusion: The simple human act of helping people grow has become very complicated. Processes overshadow people. Deadlines trump genuine development. And a checklist mentality competes with creating authentic connections. But interviews with and input from thousands of leaders worldwide offer a different view of what’s needed to support genuine and sustainable career development. When asked specifically what helped them develop most powerfully, 8500+ leaders offered these observations. At its core, career development is all about conversation, commitment, opportunities, and culture. And organizations that understand this enjoy a range …
Posted in Career Matters
Tagged career development, collaborate, commitment, Conversation, culture, curiosity, growth, learning, opportunities, patience, results, transparency
Which Comes First?
July 26, 2016 | | Leave a comment
In preparation for an upcoming executive education session, I conducted a quick pulse survey earlier this month. I wanted to understand whether the leaders attending my training believe that there is a difference in the importance of career development to their employees based upon their current level of performance. And they do. A Picture of Perceptions The leaders polled perceive that career development is a pressing priority for their top performers. Nearly 75% indicate that it’s ‘very important’ to these exceptional employees and more than 20% rate it ‘somewhat important.’ They experience a high level of interest, attention, and motivation …
Posted in Career Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged business, career development, coaching, feedback, Golem effect, growth, leadership, learning, performance, Pygmalion effect, skills, strengths
Redefine Results by Redefining Career Development
Given repeated rounds of downsizing, reorganizing, right sizing, and all of the other ‘zings’ that have befallen organizations, it’s easy to scan the landscape and come to the conclusion that career development options have shrunk… that they are few and far between for most employees. After all: Delayering has left already lean organizations with fewer stops along the food chain. Organizations continue to pursue outsourcing in the eternal quest for cost reduction. Baby boomers are not only having the audacity to live longer… but they’re also working longer and occupying chairs that in the past would have be vacated for …
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged business, career, career development, engagement, growth, leadership, learning, retention
Giving Career Development a Fresh Focus
March 8, 2016 | | Leave a comment
Career development is one of those supervisory responsibilities that frequently drops to the bottom of a manager’s to-do list. And it makes sense. Today’s managers are more time-pressed than ever before. Scary spans of control. Ever-escalating expectations. Demands to balance short-term and long-term results. Shadow work (think of how you currently act as your own banker, travel agent, and grocery clerk… and imagine all of the human resources, quality, and other workplace tasks that managers have absorbed). But, it’s been more than just busy-ness that has undermined a focus on career development. It’s also been trepidation. According to research I …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged career conversation, growth, learning, promotions
OCD: The Unexpected Trait That Employees Want (And Organizations Need ) Most In A Leader
September 1, 2015 | | 2 Comments
While obsessive-compulsive disorder may come in handy in some business settings, the ‘OCD’ that employees want most from their leaders is something very different. It’s an obsession with career development. According to a recent study by Lee Hecht Harrison, 91% of employees polled report that career development is among their top priorities. Being able to learn, grow, and expand their capacity is of vital importance to most individuals. It’s also of vital importance to organizations interested in staying ahead of the customer demand curve, continuously improving products and services, and delivering shareholder value. Yet only a small percentage of employees are actually …
Posted in Leadership Matters
Tagged ability, business, career development, confidence, employee, employee satisfaction, Future, growth, leadership, learning, OCD, opportunity, shareholder value, skills, talents
How Do Your Employees Define Success?
When employees succeed in their careers, so do their teams, departments, functions and organizations. As a result, businesses work diligently to develop systems and processes to promote career development; leaders grapple with how to help people reach their goals given structures that are flatter and leaner than ever before. Too frequently though, these efforts are based upon assumptions that may not be accurate for all employees. They center on promotions and pay increases….which, in today’s business climate can be in short supply. But, the good news is that these factors may not play as prominent a role in an employee’s …
Posted in Career Matters, Happiness Matters, Leadership Matters
Tagged achievement, career development, energy, engagement, enjoyment, goals, learning, purpose, satisfaction, work-life balance
The Pernicious 4Ps that Undermine Career Development Satisfaction
Career development consistently appears at the bottom of most organizations’ climate and engagement surveys. Employees routinely express their displeasure with the options, possibilities, and moves available to them… as well as the organization’s overall commitment to their growth. And managers are no happier. They lament the time they must find – generally deep into their nights and weekends – to support the development of those who report to them. If you find yourself in either camp, it’s likely that a large source of the problem – and your unhappiness with career development – traces back to one of the pernicious …
Posted in Career Matters
Tagged business, career, career development, coaching, leadership, learning, promotion, Training
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