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. 

Show Up Early and Stay Late

One of the most valuable lessons that I learned at work was to show up early and stay late. No one taught me this lesson, I just learned it through experience. This has helped me in every job I have had.

I have heard it said that being early is on time, being on time is late, and late is unacceptable. Managers expect every employee to be punctual and dependable. That means that you come in when you are supposed to and on time. That is the minimum expectation, but good employees exceed the expectation.

Every Workday is Goundhog Day

In February of 1993, one of my favorite movies was released. Groundhog Day the movie has since become a classic that is played every year around the actual Groundhog Day. 

The movie is about a news weatherman, Phil Connors, who mysteriously begins to replay the same day over and over. In the end, he changes from a self-centered egotist to an altruistic gentleman--and wins the girl.

From the first time that I watched the movie, I loved it because of the idea of reliving events over until you actually get it right. I wish it was that way with personal or career development, but in reality there are no "do overs." We must live with the consequences of our actions both good and bad. But everyday you go to work, you get the chance to do your job better than the day before and correct any mistakes. In that sense, every workday is a Groundhog Day!

It's a Thing! Emotional Intelligence

"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.

Just a few years ago, Emotional Intelligence (EI) was a new topic. Today it seems that everyone is talking about it, yet I find that few people apply it to personal development. Having an understanding of EI is important because it is now a major measuring stick by which employees are measured. I have heard many managers say that a particular employee is not "too high" in EI. The ramifications for not increasing your EI is the difference in a job or no job at worst and the difference in a promotion or no promotion at best.