Four Ways to Assess Learning

Posted on by Seniye Groff

The February issue of “Chief Learning Officer” had a great article on learning assessment. Learning assessments, in my mind, are often overlooked and undervalued. In numerous projects I am currently working on, no one really wants to get specific on the outcomes. For example, instead of “learn a new system”, how about really diving into the details. For example, the article suggests a few questions such as:

1. “What roles do the participants have and whom do they need to influence?
2. What is a typical scenario in which the participants are having difficulty influencing the other party?
3. What underlying problems may be contributing to this challenge?
4. What organization factors might help or hinder their ability to influence their key stakeholders?
5. How well do participants understand their stakeholder’s needs?”

Thought-provoking questions, similar to above, force you to check your assumptions. Often an obstacle to getting this type of information is time, but data can be gathered by keeping things brief and focused. The authors suggest a few tips to gain an accelerated needs assessment:
“Conduct short, limited conversations rather than lengthy surveys.”
“Prioritize rather than boil the ocean.”
“When identifying a gap, look for pockets of strength.”

Read the complete article to gain more tips and read specific questions to help you gather meaningful data so that recommendations can be based on more than “gut instinct”.

How Effective are those Job Boards?

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Someone in my network shared this information with me and since I thought it is pretty valuable, I am sharing it with you. Here are some great tips for getting the best results possible. I hope you will find some helpful information here.

Monthly visitors to job boards:

· Google (search) 170+ million  Note: Optimizing your key words will pay big rewards

· Twitter (search) 43+ million   Note:  Be sure to tweet your jobs

· Indeed.com (search) 22+ million   Note:  The most visited job board

· Monster.com (category/search) 17 million   Note:  A strong paid job board

· CareerBuilder (category/search) 14 million   Note:  A strong paid job board

· SimplyHiried (search) 5 million

· GlassDoor (search) 2 million

Of course, your industry may have specific boards that get more traffic, but this is a great starting point.

To gauge the best way to position your job, talk to your current top performers:

· Where did they look for a job? What job boards did they use?

· What words did they search for in search engines?

· What attracted them to your company? Why did they accept your offer? Why do they keep working there?

· Include this information in the job ad and description. Sell why it’s a great place to work!

· Job ads should be different from the job description. Often, only the top two or three lines of a posting will show in the job board listing, so use those first few lines to entice them to click and look further.

. Most searches are based on job location, so include the location in your job ad and job description.

Focus on job seeker vocabulary rather than your company’s lingo:

· Avoid acronyms they may not understand

· Use generic job titles they might search for rather than your unique title for the job

Look at competitors’ ads for good words (not just in your industry but companies who need same talent you do, Example: if you are looking for a front desk person, look at customer service ads).

Also check LinkedIn Profiles of people you’d like to hire and include words they use in their Profile.

Perform sample searches for the types of jobs you are posting and look at how competitors are presenting similar opportunities, then do a better job than they do.

Use multiple variants of words as keywords if you can add those through your applicant tracking system or careers page:

· accounting job/accountant job

· programming job/programmer job

· front desk job/customer service job/receptionist job

SEO Book Key Word Tool has a free subscription for key word search tool, what words are people searching for, etc. Use those words in your title.
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/?goback=%2Egde_2476011_member_207477710

Me Before You

Posted on by Seniye Groff

“Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes is a book you will think about even when you are not reading it. The story is so tantalizing and provocative, you will be immersed in Louisa and Will from the very start. Will is a thirty-something thrill-seeker who is handsome, rich and powerful. A freak accident leaves him a quadriplegic. Louisa, a twenty-seven year old, loses her job at the Buttered Bun and is not quite sure what to do next. Louisa gets hired by Will’s mother to be Will’s caretaker. Will is bossy, moody and, at times, down right unfriendly. Louisa likes to stay in her safe cocoon and has no intention of venturing out of her safety zone.

As Louisa and Will get to know each other, they begin to challenge each other’s beliefs. Will wonders if life is worth living, given his current physical state. Louisa wonders why she is not more brave and willing to try new things. “Is ambition a bad thing?”, Will asks Louisa. In turn, Louisa asks Will, “Since life can change so quickly, why not embrace your new normal?”

This is a novel that will suck you in from the first page. It challenges you to question your assumptions and decisions. If life changed so drastically and so suddenly, what would you do?

The Unfaithful Queen

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Carolly Erickson creatively tells the tale of how treacherous is to be a wife of Henry VIII’s 1500’s England. In “The Unfaithful Queen”, Catherine is a young girl living in her grandmother’s house. Her mother is dead and her father is a destitute Howard with only his name to show for his lineage—no wealth or lands. Catherine is wooed by several men but when the king sees her he is reminded of his great love, Jocasta and immediately befriends the young maiden. Catherine is integrated into the royal household and Henry VIII leaves his fourth wife to marry Catherine. Henry VIII is old, smelly and sick and Catherine continues to see her true love, Tom Culpeper. The royal court is littered with deceit, rivalry and struggle for power and Catherine is too young and naïve to realize the court is not loyal to her. Of course, a wife or lover to the king is only valued if she can produce a son, an heir to the throne. Catherine is unable to produce the heir which leads to disastrous results. “The Unfaithful Queen” reads as if Catherine is telling you a personal story. Erickson writes vividly and realistically and I was pulled in from page one. The reader will definitely get a sense of what the royal court might have been like under Henry VIII’s rein.

Engage Passive Learners

Posted on by Seniye Groff

According to the January 2013 issue of “Chief Learning Officer” 60% of people are passive learners. I find this so interesting because when I design classes or content, I always focus on “active learning”. I want my learners to engage with the content, to actually have to use the new knowledge to change behavior. Randy Emelo suggests, “learning professionals need to construct learning environments, events and programs that encourage active participation and speak to employees in ways that trigger an innate need and desire to learn.

Sounds easy but it is actually pretty difficult. Think about all the “training” you have attended that is essentially information sharing. You are not asked to construct “new” knowledge or use the new skills and behaviors in thought-provoking, meaningful ways. Certainly social media has aided in engagement and collaboration, but more often than not, there are many that are “lurkers” staying in the background rather than getting involved in the conversation. But tap into someone’s passions or allow them to be an “expert” and motivation can increase. I think Trip Advisor does this really well. I was reminded of this during my recent trip to Palm Springs. When we wanted suggestions for things to do or places to eat, I would search Trip Advisor’s reviews. I was then compelled to “give back” by writing reviews after I visited places. And then Trip Advisor acknowledged my contributions by giving me a “contributor” badge and when another reader finds my review helpful, I get an email telling me someone thought my review was helpful. Genius!

The article suggests some ideas to foster active learning:
1. “Set up learning environments and systems that are personally motivating.
2. Look for systems that have push and pull.
3. Reward and recognize people for building the organization’s learning culture.”

Check out the complete article: http://read.clomedia.com/publication/?i=138586&p=32

Palm Springs for the Holidays

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I was fortunate enough to vacation in Palm Springs over the holidays. I have never traveled over the holidays and it ended up being a nice reprieve. Who could complain about the nonstop sun and 20 degree warmer weather?! I also visited Joshua Tree National Park which is stunningly beautiful and surreal in its own rite. Attached are a few pictures.

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Happy New Year everyone. Tonight I will spend the evening with good friends and good food…a great way to send off 2012!

2012 in Review

Posted on by Seniye Groff

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Narita airport, Tokyo

Image posted on by Seniye Groff

photo 3photo 2IMG_0635My husband has been to Tokyo several times and every time he goes, he sends back the coolest pictures.  These came from his most recent trip.  It is an oragami store.  He said it was so amazing and there was even an oragami that you needed to use microscope to see it.  Definitely, Tokyo is on my list as a “must see”.

Social Media as Change Catalyst

Posted on by Seniye Groff

In the December 2012 issue of Talent Management magazine, there was a great article titled, “Social Media as Change Catalyst”.   Its premise is that organizational change can be enhanced by using social media tools.  What is interesting is that in a current project I am working on, I suggested this very thing, but received a lukewarm response.  Why not allow the super users the opportunity to post tips, tricks and key information to begin the conversation about these software enhancements?  Users can post questions, concerns and even their own tips to help everyone learn the new system and processes and quickly and efficiently as possible.

Choo, et al, suggest that social media can enhance change initiatives by:

  • “Sharing experiences across a knowledge network
  • Building a collaborative culture
  •  Creating targeted and timely learning
  • Improving employee engagement.”

It is no secret that employees are faced with a tremendous amount of change in their daily organizational life…new policies, software enhancements, job reductions and management changes all play a significant role in the amount of change and information an employee must take in.  Change is the “new normal” and with that comes creating a shared vision, gaining buy-in and learning the new product or process.  So it makes sense that connecting employees to be able to share experiences and learning will benefit everyone.  Furthermore, it will be easier for management to gauge how the change is being accepted and implemented in the employees’ daily lives.  Even more importantly, are the pitfalls or mishaps that need to be addressed immediately in order to continue to ensure the change takes hold.  Social media tools allow for “real-time exchange of ideas”.

The article suggests that management play a role in the dialogue, too.  Not only should management be active participants, they should be available to dispel incorrect information during the online exchange of ideas and experiences.  Management can also keep the messages focused.  It is no secret that learning needs to be more focused, targeted and learner-driven.  Social media allows those three things to happen by allowing employees to teach and/or get the specific information they are looking for quickly and easily.  Ultimately, social media tools help information to “flow in multiple directions” which alleviates the common issue of little or poor communication during a change initiative.

Read the full article.

 

 

Life and Cake

Posted on by Seniye Groff

With adversity, comes toughness, grit and love.  I know this because I see this where I live and I live on an amazing street.  There is such a sense of community.  The families on my street often get together “just because” or to celebrate holidays like Halloween.  The moms on the block get together with even more regularity.  It is easy to celebrate when times are good.  But what separates people is what they do when times are bad. 

One of the gals on our street is fighting ovarian cancer at the ripe ol’ age of 39.  She has two children aged two and four.  As soon as we heard the details, we banded together and created a menu calendar–meals are being taken care of for months to come.  Neighbors have their kids over and someone even raked their leaves yesterday! 

She turns 40 today, on the day of her second chemo treatment.  I decided a celebration was in order.  No one should “celebrate” their 40th birthday doing chemo so I invited all the moms on the block over for cake and wine last night.  Eleven women showed up and it was heartwarming to see the love and solidarity in the room.  One of my friends (that does not live on the block) offered to bake the cake for the party.  The cake was delicious and paired well with the laughs and conversation.  I believe our fighting friend and neighbor stands a chance of beating this ugly disease because she knows we are all rooting for her…she can do this!  And we will be an even stronger community when she reaches the end of her chemo treatments.