Written by: Steve Graham As a coach, I often work with clients who are needy for knowledge. They desire to grow professionally and often feel stuck in their current work environment. It is no secret that when an organization values developing their people, the benefits for both the employee and organization are numerous. The benefits often include: lower turnover, increased engagement, and a smarter workforce. Professional development goes beyond cookie-cutter training programs. It involves a deeper commitment to learning. Learning can take various shapes within an organization. It can be organic, formalized, personalized, or on-demand. Whatever the shape, the approach
In a difficult hiring market, it is hard to think about adding another layer to your hiring practices that potentially screens people out instead of in. As one hiring manager said to me last week, “I just need people with a pulse.” But one reason why you may be hunting for people that are alive and not much more is because you aren’t hiring the right people to begin with, so turnover is a challenge and a cost to you in more ways than one. If done correctly, assessments can be a valuable part of your hiring strategy. To maximize
“Mom, I made a connection!” we hear our son say quite frequently now. We didn’t teach him about “connections” so someone at school must be talking about paying attention to be able to make connections between information and learning. For example, a couple of weeks ago they read a book about Rosie an Engineer and then “engineered” a plane to see if it would fly. He loved it- the building the plane part, not the reading ☺ This past weekend, he was playing in the front yard and came running in. “Mom, Mom! Come outside, I need to show you
I always seem to get the best insights into my children’s minds from the front seat of the car when they don’t think I’m listening. It usually comes in the form of backseat dialogue between themselves and a friend. One particular day driving to baseball practice, a friend of my son’s was with us and he out of the blue stated, “I want to be a lawyer when I grow up.” My son responded, “Why?” “So I can make a bunch of money,” he said. I guess my son saw this as an invitation to declare what he wanted to
“Mommy,” my five-year-old said from the backseat of the car on the way to school one morning, “What do you do for work (pronounced more like wurk)?” I wasn’t sure where her question was coming from, but in trying to think about how to describe what I do to so her Pre-K mind would understand, I quickly thought that “consulting” wasn’t going to make sense. So, I chose instead to describe what I do in the context of what I was scheduled to do that day. “Well, today, I’m going to train some people on their first day of work.