The search for the return on investment from professional development activities has been a long, unresolved quest for many HR and Learning and Development professionals. It turns out we’re looking at it all wrong. The real challenge is for an organization’s managers and leaders to CREATE the return on investment from professional development.
Teaming and collaboration experiences happen in all walks of our professional and personal lives. Some experiences working with others are draining, others passable, and just a few are energizing and even fun and successful. You can hope these fun, productive experiences emerge by chance. Or you can be deliberate about creating the conditions that improve the possibility of a great collaboration experience. I opt for improving our odds of bringing one of these productive, fun experiences to life. Here are four ideas to help:
Clarifying your group’s values or creating a Manifesto for Success gives substance and meaning to the working environment you want to bring to life with your group members. This activity is essential and impactful whether you are leading a senior management team, a functional group, or a project team.
The best managers and executives I work with are always on the lookout for opportunities to support team member growth. Here’s a list of great professional development opportunities for you or your team members.
There’s a simple, powerful exercise you can run with your group that will transform the working environment for the better and provide you with the critical framework for coaching you’ve been lacking. You need to Write the Rules for Success with your group.
Any event that brings people together and doesn’t tap into the knowledge and ideas of the participants is an event that misses the mark. It’s time for something different! Introducing the Leadership Caffeine Jam Sessions!
Now is not the time for the dominant logic surrounding managing and leading to prevail. That’s how we got here, and “here” isn’t so great. It’s essential we find better ways to inspire, motivate, and engage great people who want to make a difference in our organizations. Here are twelve places to start:
While we live and work in interesting times where traditional elongated planning processes no longer fit, leaders still have the responsibility to define a coherent strategy. Choosing the right tools for strategy work in today’s environment is critical for a successful process.
OK, the topic of feedback isn’t stand-up comedy funny. It’s funny as in odd because there are so many contradictions surrounding it. Here are five practices to help managers bring feedback to life as the performance-enhancing tool it is capable of being:
Transparency is measurable. Accountability is binary. If transparency is low and accountability is turned off, expect to struggle.
