“None of us is as smart as all of us.” - Kenneth H. Blanchard
Networks add immense value. The "wisdom of the masses", the "whole greater than the sum of its parts" all are present in professional networks. Whether formal or informal, networks are part of all of our lives in many different forms and whether formal or informal, continuing to build and foster networks can help one's professional career. Here are some ways I am (or will in the coming months) utilize networks: 1. Provide a Better View of Self: Networks are also invaluable for helping to provide one a better view of self. One can utilize formal networks for benchmarks and industry standards, as well as, best practices. These information streams can benefit your work but also help you to know how you, your project or your company is performing and where you can improve. 2. Gain Feedback and Perspective: Feedback from others in informal professional networks is invaluable. I believe one can learn so much from feedback-- even if it is hard to hear. In fact, it is a gift if you can reframe it to be positive (which it is!). Some of the most valuable insights that helped my career came from when I asked for someone to give me their thoughts on my performance or to be a thinking partner in how to approach a problem or situation!
0 Comments
I work in adult learning or corporate training, and this is a fairly new (since April, 2018) role for me, so, I am looking into several professional associations. While there are many, I have narrowed my search to:
Sources: (1) American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). (n.d.). Welcome to AAACE. Retrieved from https://www.aaace.org/, (2) Association for Talent Development. (2018). ATD | The World's Largest Talent Development Association. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/ (3) International Society for Performance Improvement. (2017). Home | International Society for Performance Improvement. Retrieved from https://www.ispi.org/ One of the best ways to leverage the power of networks and connectivity to gain new perspectives and get insights is online. There are many online communities and content generators that provide invaluable information, ideas, research and connection.
One that I subscribe to is EdWeek.org. They put forward a great deal of valuable content that while focused on traditional schooling includes many great insights and resources on learning in general that I have found helpful. For example, I recently accessed this eBook on non-cognitive skills in the classroom focused on Growth Mindset: https://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/e-book-growth-mindset.html?cmp=eml-enl-ewp-0912218&override=web One of the concepts I really liked from it was the idea of facilitating and allowing students to engage in "meaningful struggle" to help them: 1. Learn through experience and engagement, 2. Build resilience and learn how to persevere versus giving up or relying on known help, and 3. To create more personalized learning experience that had a more memorable and lasting impact on the student. Again, while school-centric, there was a lot of that concept that rang true for me in my corporate environment where a "fear of failure" and a more "punitive" culture causes a lack of risk taking and a focus on building perfection and certainty before moving things forward. This means we are not able to be very agile, take smart risks, and innovate. This is something we are looking to change. My thought is, could we work with supervisors on a program that leverages this concept of "meaningful struggle" to let them take a patient, coaching approach with employees underneath them, but that pushes them to work through challenges without running to a supervisor for "cover" and that encourages them to take risks or try new things with some assurance that failure will be viewed as part of the learning process. I think this could be a powerful process especially for younger employees, but also for others. Even more powerful for cultural impact, would be have leadership go through similar processes and share their learnings and struggle and the value of the process. While this would require strong training support and tools, as well as, reminders and guidance for participating supervisors I am going to work with my leadership to see if we couldn't do a pilot where we work this with a group or business unit, iterate and improve for further roll-out if successful! This shows the power of connectivity to different ideas and networks, even if they aren't exactly like your own. It helps you to think differently and pull in new ideas and approaches! Another way I have utilized "eNetworks" is to pull expertise from connections through LinkedIn. One way this was incredibly beneficial during my exploration was that I was able to connect with someone from another company that had undergone a similar organizational change to the one we were about to go through. We were able to pull in her learnings and things she wished she had done differently in her case to benefit our path forward. Her insights helped us to focus training efforts on the most meaningful audiences and find opportunities to facilitate learning using a more self-engagement model, developing content that was pushed to learners, but that they could engage with at their pace and need, as well as, increase in depth (or additional avenues) as they felt confident or desired to. This connection proved invaluable and helped us get through a time of great challenge in a more effective and powerful way. We were acknowledge by leadership for taking this engagement approach and the learning has been leveraged in multiple ways by broader and broader leader groups starting at the epicenter and working outward! While human connection, face-to-face is still invaluable, eConnectivity is another powerful tool to supplement our toolkits with for the exchange of ideas, meaningful connections and insights. They can help us gain connections to more diverse people and places than we could if we only relied on face-to-face. Even though I have not engaged in formalized networks, I do get a lot of value from informal ones. I engage with people across my company who have training experience and background. I interface and network with the teams that operate our LMS and our corporate standards.
A common business- school book is, "Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time"(1) and I am a big believer in its tenets. There is immense value of gaining insight from others. It provides you a view of different perspectives and ideas. Often a great resource for thought partnership and feedback. Even if you can't fit in lunch, taking time for breakfast, a coffee, or a water cooler conversation can provide value info. The other day, over a quick cup of coffee with someone in a very different group from my own, I got a great insight in how we might use an internal company wiki tool as a mechanism for building more transparency, access and learner choice in training. 40 minutes and $2 well spent. You can never anticipate what benefits you will glean from such conversations. They provide both additional insights, new perspectives, and support. Use the resources around you and also lean into being a resource for others. In a sense, doing so builds a community around you for engagement and support when needed. You never know when those times come. I encourage others to seek out informal networking and the power of your own connections if you aren't already. We can learn a lot from those around us! (1) Ferrazzi, K., & Raz, T. (2014). Never eat alone: And other secrets to success, one relationship at a time. New York: Crown Business. |
AuthorHi, my I a name is Lauralee Roddy. I am a working professional in the Learning and Capability space of Change Management. I have worked for over 10 years in the Energy Manufacturing industry, but in my heart have always had a love for education. I am now going to school part time to get a Masters in International Relations and another in Digital Learning and Leading. ArchivesCategory |