MORE STEPS FOR SETTING UP A LEARNING ORGANIZATION - TWO

The only way to improve is to learn and as continuos learning is an imperative, what other steps do we need (according ‘mostly’ to Mitch McCrimmon) to create organizations that learn?

To continue…

5. Form learning partnerships with suppliers, distributors, and customers - set up feedback mechanisms such as focus groups, R&D joint ventures and customer survey mechanisms.

6. Have all positions applied for and include outsiders in our recruitment drive – only appoint the best in their field and avoid the all to familiar ‘best of a bad bunch’ in times of competence shortages.

7. Benchmark our culture against other entrepreneurial firms – seek ways to understand key success factors for the market leaders in our field and study the oppositions’ successes.

8. Set up a readily accessible knowledge bank and ‘experience’ network of mentors, gurus and experts in their field.

9. Celebrate and recognize attempts to learn by employees who take a market risk and publicise within our organization by initiating fast real world feedback mechanisms.

FROM A VERY GOOD BOOK – ALMOST A MUST BUY 

NB Adapted from - ‘Unleash the Entrepreneur Within’

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STEPS FOR SETTING UP A LEARNING ORGANIZATION - ONE

Remembering that the only way to improve is to learn and the only proof of learning is a change in behaviour, how can we create organizations that learn and more importantly change?

1. Budget, time, money and manpower to achieve both individual and organizational learning – ensure management and ALL employees see learning as a ‘real target’ and set up mechanisms to ensure accountability and to measure results.

2. Identify strategic learning areas for your business and where new products or product innovations are likely to yield the quickest and greatest payoff – invest most of you’re resources in these areas.

3. Empower your work force to take risks in the market by decentralising decision making – particularly encourage those in areas of key knowledge. 

Note: Many empowerment programmes in Asian operations of international organizations run in to problems because of cultural attitudes (and beliefs) related to power and responsibility, be careful in implementing this option!

4. Set up a system of on job training, job rotation, provide incentives and support for personal development – initiate a PD (personal development) discussion process.

THESE ARE EASY, THE HARD ONES NEXT ISSUE

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REINFORCEMENT THEORY – ‘THE CARROT & THE STICK’

Theorists who support this ‘motivation’ approach believe that we need not be concerned about follower’s internal mental states, prior knowledge, learning styles or current levels of an individual’s understanding (internal cognitive events). Rather they argue that ‘reinforces’, (consequences that immediately follow behavior) will, if they are ‘good’ lead to a repetition of the behavior and if they are ‘bad’ will lead to an avoidance of the behavior.

Although this theory is accepted in many circles, (because its easy and we don’t need to think too hard to apply it) experience shows that this philosophy ignores much that is known about human behavior. In addition it is likely (particularly if applied in isolation) to stimulate behavior designed to do as little as possible to avoid the ‘stick’ and as little as possible to gain acceptable levels of reward or the ‘carrot’.

If the object of creating motivated staff is to strive to create excellence and superior performance the danger of using this technique is that the leader/manager will only create a comfortable state of trouble free mediocrity.

Do you ever say to yourself... god this is a mediocre bunch...or that department is a poor performer... perhaps you should look at they're boss and ask him/her to stew his/her carrots over someone else's fiery sticks... 

YOU CAN LEAD A MULE TO WATER BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE IT REPRODUCE

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MOTIVATION - EQUITY THEORY THREE

To prove to followers that “equity” exists leader/managers must openly share the reward decision-making process. If it is not an acceptable option, then at least an open sharing on how decisions where made must be offered. The process must also be seen as being consistent and in line with unbiased practices. The object of this approach is to prove:

Procedural Justice, i.e. a decision process that is perceived as fair and…

Distributive Justice, i.e. there is a fair allocation of available rewards.

Experience shows that employees will devise any manner of measurements to test the justice of relative staff situations. For example I once had a colleague who was displeased with a $4,600.00 salary increase because staff in more junior positions where given a $ 2,100.00 increase which represented 12% over their previous pay levels. The cause of the discomfort was that the colleague had only received an 8% increase hence the gap between the two positions had narrowed causing a perception of an inequitable margin between the two jobs or a perceived diminution in his relative importance, which he saw as unjust.

The validity of this theory really becomes obvious and proven when we are engaged in something as mundane as allocating new company car parks or redesigning office layouts. The tension, bickering and office politics that grows from this type of activity can be truly amazing.

INEQUITY CAN TURN ADULTS INTO CHILDREN OR EVEN WORSE, POWERFUL ADULTS CAN TURN INTO DEMANDING PARENTS.

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"Elearning" is a Misnomer - Eteaching it Maybe!

'Nothing is taught, everything is learnt'

To my way of thinking 'elearning' is not a correct term, nor perhaps is it much more than an inadequate substitute for "real training and learning as conducted by learning facilitators with line management backup".

I am not alone in this view...

"Elearning is a classic example of the readiness with which people are ready to disregard received wisdom. We know that the more contact we have with our teachers the better we learn. Just look at the concern surrounding growing classroom sizes. Equally important is the amount of contact students have with their peers. Learning in groups is not just socially more enjoyable, it is a proven source of motivation. Working towards a common goal, sharing tips on revision and simply offering encouragement: none of these factors should be overlooked." - Rob Chapman

Read the rest...

The elearning diet: Not recommended for long term results

Learning is linked to emotion - how do you inject emotion into so called 'elearning programs'?

Ric

www.orglearn.org

MOTIVATION - EQUITY THEORY TWO

If our staff perceive themselves as being unjustly or inequitably treated in relation to others and they experience equity tension there are a number of possible courses of action they are likely to choose from:

Change their level of input - reduce their level of effort

Change their outcomes, where reward is linked to output - reduce quality to improve quantity 

Change their self-perception (of worth) - maybe I really am a workaholic 

Distort their perception of others - that guys got a hard job 

Change their referent - I’m doing better than my sister is 

or last but not least… Quit the job

Factors that may be used by individuals judging their input levels include, effort, experience, education, time, perceived competence, skills and knowledge. Factors that may be seen as outcomes include, salary, prospects of increasing financial rewards, promotion prospects, levels of praise and levels of public recognition. 

BEST PLAN WELL ON HOW TO JUSTIFY DIFFERENT REWARD LEVELS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION OR ITS… “I’M THE CHEAPEST LABOUR HERE” & ITS OUT THE DOOR THEY GO

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MOTIVATION - EQUITY THEORY

This theory states that individuals compare their level of job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then actively seek to eliminate any inequities. In other words if we believe that we are being correctly rewarded for our efforts in relation to others a state of justice exists, however if we perceive ourselves as being unjustly treated in relation to others we experience ‘equity tension’.

The benchmark that is chosen by each individual is important for the leader/manger if he or she is to uncover an individual’s motivation. These benchmarks or ‘referent comparisons’ are:

            Self-inside, experiences in other positions inside the organization

            Self-outside, experiences in other positions outside the organization

            Other-inside, other employees within the organization

            Other-outside, other employees outside the organization

Another interesting aspect of this theory is that comparisons can be made on the employees past treatment in relation to another’s current treatment. This particularly comes into play when you are hiring new staff. If the entry-level wage for an existing employee hired two years ago was $1,000.00 per month and today you offer the same position at  $1,200.00 per month it is likely that existing employees will see this as inequitable. This situation will occur, even if the existing employees are paid in excess of the $1,200.00 you are now offering. 

IT IS HUMAN TO COMPARE OURSELVES WITH OTHERS SO BEWARE OF PERCEIVED INEQUITIES

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Leaders in Tough Times - Remember Maslow?

Maslow

‘Basic human needs are arranged in a hierarchical order’

Townsend

“Individuals constantly move up and down the pyramid depending on how the perceive their current and potential situation”

According to Maslow ‘there are two major groups of human needs: basic including physiological, such as food, water, and sleep and psychological, such as affection, security, and self-esteem. These basic needs are also called deficiency needs because if an individual does not meet them, then that person will strive to make up the deficiency.’

‘The higher needs are called growth needs. These include such things as justice, ‘goodness’, order, unity, glamour, status, beauty and self-fulfillment. Deficiency needs Maslow argued take priority over growth needs. People who lack food or water cannot attend to justice or beauty.’

So in the current climate leaders will need to concentrate on making their followers feel ‘secure’. I would be searching for articles on “motivation”  (Google) and be keeping this issue at the top of my (your) mind over the next 12 - 24 months. Now is the time to be carefully listening to the concerns of your followers and perhaps taking on the “leader as servant” advice.

This is the third time I have been through this situation and it reminds me of how everyone feels during a merger or takeover. During stressful times all questions about work or the company are really just one question in many disguises. What is that question… “What’s going to happen to me”?

This worldwide situation is a paradigm shift and ‘when there is a paradigm shift everyone goes back to zero’ - Joel Barker

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Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy

Self–actualization

Growth, Achieving one’s potential, Self-fulfillment

Self Esteem

Self Respect, Status, Recognition, Autonomy, Achievement

Social

Belonging, Social Activities, Love and Affection, Acceptance and Friendship

***Safety

Security, Protection from danger both physical and emotional

***Physiological

Hunger, Thirst, Sleep, Shelter, Sex and other bodily needs

Ric

Richard Townsend

www.orglearn.org

MOTIVATION… THE LAST EXPECTANCY LINK!

EXPECTANCY THEORY offers one more linkage insight into why many people are not motivated in their job. The last of the three links or relationships is: 

The Reward = Attractiveness relationship (How attractive is the reward?)

In this last relationship the individual’s personal judgments and personal goals come strongly into play. If you offer a promotion to someone who is looking for more intellectually challenging technical problems/opportunites the reward offered will be ineffective. More money may not be attractive to someone who craves more personal time to be with his or her family. 

The key message this theory offers for effective leader/managers is that it demonstrates the need for leaders to have a sound understanding of an INDIVIDUALS goals and aspirations and their perceived linkage between effort and performance, performance and rewards and finally rewards and individual goal satisfaction.

THE OLD ‘LETS HAVE AND EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH AND HAND OUT SOME RECOGNITION’ JUST DOES NOT WORK.

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A free on-line template where you fill in the blanks (with a positive statement examples guide) and then print out your resume. Resume writing is a great way to document your ‘employability’ or to check how well you are progressing with the ‘commercial’ realities of what you have to offer employers & they should be done yearly particularly at annual appraisal time etc...

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With tough economic times are occurring it is even more important to keep our resumes up to date and well written and effective! Well done resumes get interviews and interviews get jobs!

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