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Christan Haskin

In ever-changing work environments, we know that organizations must meet new challenges and opportunities to be sustainable. Organizations are comprised of people who must focus on and align with the organizational goals and values. How do we deploy our organization’s processes and strategy at the same time we develop a committed leadership and results-oriented employees?I recommend that we POP the question on training solutions—and on our everyday tasks that build the foundation of our organizations. Here’s the question: Are you developing P (personal growth), O (organizational growth), and P (professional growth) for each and every one of your employees?Organizational growth does not occur during large boardroom decisions, but during all the day-to-day decisions that rely on committed and engaged employees.  That takes us to the dilemma of how we develop committed and engaged employees.  Organizations may find that some of this decision is being handed to them.Research shows that more employees want meaningful jobs that are important to them and their values. They want something that gives them meaning, helps them add value to themselves, and their world, and they want recognition for their efforts. The demand for a meaningful job becomes a plus for the organization looking for loyal employees.Defining POP termsPersonal growth is following the path that you decide brings you happiness and honors your values. Everyone’s path is different; everyone’s idea of happiness is different. This pursuit is what develops personal growth.Organizational growth is the pursuit of whatever brings the organization the capability to carry out its mission statement with measurable results and knowledge along the way. Let’s call this “organizational happiness.”Professional growth is developing the work skills you need to keep or seek the job that allows you to exercise your creativity, moves you to independence, and gives relevancy to what you do as your chosen profession. It helps you build relationships and links you to other professionals with the same or similar values.Professional growth is rewarding and brings you what we’ll call “happiness.”With these terms defined, we can now identify the common needs that align and integrate the three different areas of growth.  The areas of growth are not independent of each other, but concur in tandem at varying rates. Typically, one area of growth may exceed the other two, dependent on where the individual or organization have placed their focus.P+O+P = Growth for the organization and for the people who work for it. In other words, POP leads to employee engagement.  If you POP the question on your training, do you provide at least two of these criteria in your training modules? While providing three would be perfect, providing at least two in each training module is needed to give relevancy to your training, expand the knowledge of your workforce, provide meaning to the organization’s function and culture, allow for personal dynamics and creativity, and link training to the individual’s and the organization’s values.An organization cannot be expected to grow if it doesn’t allow its biggest asset—its employees—to also grow.Test for POPWho do you test for POP? The easiest and simplest way is to go back to the rudimentary question of “What’s in it for me?” It’s a question everyone understands.From the organization’s point of view, “What’s in it for me?” is the same as “What’s the return on my investment (ROI)”? With this simple question in mind, take a look at your training and development.Does your training offer opportunities for personal growth, organizational growth, and/or professional growth? If you can honestly answer the question with an affirmative, then you have one of the most fundamental keys to success for all organizations—you have employee engagement.POP can lead you to a proud and passionate employee base; an employee base that is committed and loyal to the organization and thrives on innovation, teamwork and the joy of doing a job that adds value, both to the employee and the organization.Further readingGartner, Inc., “Toolkit Best Practices: Training End Users,” November, 2007.Personal Growth Webpage. BSM Consulting.Rennekamp, Roger A., PhD.  and Nall, Martha, Ed.D., Professional Growth: A Guide for Professional Development.

POP the Question on Your Training and Development

L&D Community blog post discusses how just because training isn’t the answer, doesn’t mean the training department steps away from the project.

When Training Isn't the Solution

 It's the beginning of another month!Time for another The Big Question.November's Question got passions raging and great conversation with real substance whose embers are still glowing as more comments still are flowing in. While we had fewer participating posts this month (21 registered and 10+ thus far found that didn't register with us), the level and depth of the conversations were much more involved and intense.We heard Mark Oehlert's whining about the first two The Big Questions being tough, so here's a softball, or should I say SNOWBALL, for you.The Big Question for December is:What will you remember most about 2006?What are the biggest challenges for you/us as head into 2007?What are your predictions for 2007?Please post your responses to these 3 questions on your blog.You can post about you and your life as a workplace learning professional or you may prefer to post about our field, current events that impact learning, or any other interpretation of these questions that makes sense for you. Reflection on the past, acceptance of where we are today, and putting our hopes for the future out there are very much a part of this time of year for many of us who grew up in Western traditions. Tony and I are hoping these three questions will be come an LCB tradition over the coming years.The Big Question ProcessYou can find more details over in the sidebar, but simply answer these questions by posting your response on your own blog. When you have it ready, come back here to Learning Circuits Blog and fill out the form below regarding your post. We'd appreciate it if you would give a link to this post from your post. Adding The Big Question logo to your post would be a perfect early Christmas present for Tony and I. Once you've entered your post in the form, check out some of the other posts and get involved. Be sure to comment on other participants blogs. or if you should feel a stronger need to write post another post to your own blog and repeat the process again.To those of you who will be celebrating, have a safe and happy holidays! Enjoy the conversations! - Tony and DaveTony Karrer eLearning TechnologyLCB Question for December - Past Year, Present Challenges, Future Predictions 04-Dec-2006 15:19:07 Dave Lee eelearningpast experiences.....More to come... 05-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Karl Kapp Kapp NotesThoughts about 2006 and Predictions for 2007 05-Dec-2006 19:18:42 Geetha Krishnan Simply SpeakingLCB Question for December: 2006 - 2007 05-Dec-2006 22:49:03 Dave Lee e e learninglet's continue...present challenges. future predictions 06-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Aradhana Ravindra My Learning BlogWhat will I remember most about 2006? 06-Dec-2006 07:22:10 Jay Cross Internet TimeHere comes tomorrow... 06-Dec-2006 18:58:34 Clive Shepherd Clive on LearningThe big question 07-Dec-2006 03:53:27 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's BIG QUESION! Part I 07-Dec-2006 20:16:26 Clark Quinn LearnletsDecember's BIG Question(s) 08-Dec-2006 13:30:58 Tom Haskins growing changing learning creatingVersion 3 in 2007 09-Dec-2006 09:28:31 Steve Kaufmannthelinguist.com The Big Question 11-Dec-2006 10:45:25 Wendy in-the-middle-of-the-curveBig Question - Dec 2007 11-Dec-2006 15:17:56 Paul Fender Paul SpeaksThe Big Question 11-Dec-2006 16:33:46 Anil Mammen Discursive LearningReflections, Challenges, Predictions 13-Dec-2006 10:48:28 Geeta Bose Learnability MattersThe year that was! And, the year ahead 14-Dec-2006 04:23:29 Mark Oehlert e-ClippingsThe LCB BIG Question (December 2006) 14-Dec-2006 06:52:03 Jim Blehsaw Managing the Professional Services FirmPast Experiences. Present Challenges. Future Predictions. 16-Dec-2006 17:42:32 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's Big Question Part 3 18-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's Big Question Part 2 18-Dec-2006 17:29:10 TATA Interactive Systems TIS Corporate BlogLCB Question of the month: December 2006 18-Dec-2006 23:20:00 Stephanie Sandifer Change AgencyLooking Back on 2006 and Ahead to 2007 20-Dec-2006 00:00:00

Christan Haskin

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