It's a Thing! A Learning Organization!

"It's a thing" is a series that highlights concepts that employers and managers use and sometimes evaluate employees with that they may not be aware.

A learning organization is the business term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself.

Develop by Overcoming Personal Constraints

One of the best ways to develop one's self is to discover and overcome things that hinder or constrain you from advancing. The Flipside (2007) gives you strategy for overcoming your greatest constraints.

The Strength’s Finder 2.0 has been criticized for only focusing on a person’s strength and the Flippen Profile has been criticize for focusing only on a person’s weakness referred to as constraints. The commonality of both assessments is that they both acknowledge that a strength or a weakness used to an extreme becomes the opposite. The Flippen Profile (TM) identifies behaviors that constrain a person from fulfilling their greatest potential.

Discover and Develop Your Strengths

Good employees proactively develop themselves personally and professionally. It is important to increase knowledge and skills. "Hard skills" are learning specific things such as new computer programs, marketing, accounting, working on cars, laws and regulations (e.g. OSHA, HIPPA), styling hair, medicine, operating machines, etc. "Soft skills" include listening, communicating, managing emotions, time management, leadership, team building, empathy, self-motivation, goal setting, etc. Developing soft skills are as important as developing hard skills.

Many companies have development programs. Most development programs exist to develop skills that address the organization's needs. Employees should also manage their development separate from development for the company. There are many ways to develop yourself, one is to discover your strengths and develop them.

People do what they are motivated to do!

We often hear managers complain that their workers are not "motivated." However, I remind them that people do what they are motivated to do and they do not do what they are not motivated to do. Fortunately, most employees are motivated with paychecks (the carrot) and do not need much more motivation. There are some employees, unfortunately, that require more effort to motivate in becoming productive and efficient.

Motivation is the drive that compels someone to act because someone else is directing them toward a goal. You can say that motivation is the ability to change behavior. Motivation that comes from inside the person to control their behavior is known as intrinsic motivation. Examples of intrinsic motivation are personal development and personal satisfaction. Motivation that come from external factors such as rewards or the threat of punishment is extrinsic motivation.