In a message dated Jan 8, Rol writes:
>Inspired by some comments from Roy Winkler, Diane Korzeniewski
>wonders if mandating a core set of classes would be an effective
>way to enhance personal development. She would clearly like to
>try it.
>
>I would like to suggest a shift in emphasis. Instead of
>mandating classes, mandate behaviors. If, for example, the
>organization believes in teams, that has a powerful implications
>for how team members will interact. The organization can and
>should spell that out, and make it clear that this is the value
>structure. Once that is stated explicitly, periodic feedback to
>team members regarding their behavior, combined with the offer of
>regular classes to help them learn skills, will cause the desired
>effect. Either the person will learn the skills, or they should
>leave the team.
>
>If this route is taken, the classes will be accepted as a tool to
>help people meet required standards. People will learn what the
>classes teach because there will be higher motivation. It will
>be essential for the team -- or management -- to take a stand and
>describe the values. The classes will be more valuable, because
>they will be taken primarily by those who need them most, and
>they will not be taken by those who do not need them.
>
>Follow-through with the non-performers will be essential,
>however, this does not mean they should be forced to take the
>classes. They need to choose for themselves what is important to
>them, but they also need to understand the consequences.
Rol,
I wanted time to think this over. I like what you say about mandating
behaviors vs. mandating classes. The classes are one of the means to
acheive an objective.
I have two questions for you, or any others who would like to jump into
this conversation:
1) Do you feel there should be a method of assessing employee behaviors
vs. that which is expected, in a way that will make it objective, or as
objective as possible?
In other words, how can we minimize subjective assessments, which can lead
to confusion when working for different supervisors (transfer). For
example, I may work for one supervisor today, who feels my interpersonal
listening skills are "excellent" while another supervisor I may work for
in six months from now feels this same skill is "fair."
2) When it comes to personal development, what kind of behaviors would you
mandate? How would you measure these behaviors objectively?
3) Would you consider "interpersonal development" the same as "personal
development?" For example, a lack of certain skills affect only me and my
value to my employer (or any other employer). However, a lack of other
types of skills (interpersonal) can affect the level of effectiveness
between a designer and engineer or members of a team.
I ask these questions because I have recently joined a team my
organization has formed for Training and Education. GM has a good
training program for Continuing Development. Our task is to understand
the training needs of our particular organization, come up with
measurement plans, make recommendations to management and assist with
implementation. Note that this team is multi-level, most of the
participants being product designers of various levels, like myself.
I would also like to know, if those responding to this LO message have a
problem with me sharing the responses with my team. They do not have the
capability of subscribing to the list and don't have the benefit of the
synergy that can take place here. If the host recommends, I will contact
each person individually for this kind of permission.
-- Diane Korzeniewski Product Design, GM ToCOLLABR8@aol.com kzpp50@hqs.mid.gmeds.com