jump to navigation

21st Century Motivation February 5, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, motivation , add a comment

Dan Pink with some amazing, eye-opening and often humorous insights into motivation including reference to the candle problem. Dan emphasises how higher monetary incentives and rewards lead to negative performance i.e.  a “mismatch between science and what business does” and that we base our talent and workforce development on outdated approaches. Dan suggests that a new operating system is required for 21st Century problems, based on;

Autonomy

Mastery

Purpose

Echoes here of Peter Senge’s  5th Discipline.

My favourite quote in relation to the misunderstood origin and often mismatch of management models and techniques;(great organic and manufactured metaphor)

management is not a tree its a television set

The Encarta - Wikipedia example sums up the carrot and stick conundrum nicely and it’s suitabilty to finding new solutions to the current problems that orginsations face in these challenging budgetary times.

Motivation & Engagement February 4, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement , add a comment

The recent Macleod review on employee engagement, is evidence that public organisations are becoming more tuned in to the need for engagement and how that links to leadership, management and working conditions. Although The million dollar (or is it Euro’s?) question on why do some engage why do some not? is narrowed continuously by work on the subject and enablers are often identified as below;

Leadership - to align effort to organisational need

Engaging managers - to facilitate and empower staff

Voice - to enable staff to express their views

Integrity - to use values to build trust at all levels

(The MacLeod Report - making it happen, Chris Roebuck, HR Magazine 06 November 2009)

Chris’s four enablers are certainly not rocket science, but why is it we fail so often? Stories like the one mentioned at Chris Bergmans Blog identify motivation as a major part of the issue. The story concerns a van drivers lack of motivation to actually get out the cab and help a less mobile passenger ( a bit like the image above - why bother?), and the reaction by others at this. A great insight but also highlighting/re-enforcing that Money is not the only motivator.

The Future of Engagement January 29, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, Learning Organisations, Management Training, Survey , 2comments

 
I have been working with a team on the very first employee engagement survey for the organization. It’s been really interesting and challenging to work on the design and the delivery of the survey and also how the information will be transmitted - but really this is just process, Important process granted. It is of course just a tool the real stuff is how’s, what’s, when’s, how’s & who’s of we use any results to engage for better outcomes., and how we live it. A quote from David Zingers website/blog helps this along;

The future is now as we move beyond surveys and simple techniques to integrating employee engagement into all facets of the organization’s approach to serving customers and creat­ing results. To sustain engagement initiatives, employees must experience the rich benefits of engagement for themselves

 David goes on to outline 10 principles and also a model above;  

There’s no shortage of information on how important employee engagement is and how it can make a difference. And some of these principles hint (More details) at the concept of how to achieve it.

The forthcoming survey (based on research, Gallups 12, other LA engagement efforts) that the team have been working on will have post result guidance on how to interpret the results of the survey and also some advice on how to bring engagement principles forward and will be backed up with facilatated workshops when required, which will go some way to making it a real part of the culture, but how easy this will be ….?

Fame at Last! January 27, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , add a comment

Great that some snowy pics( Traprain, Belhaven, Pressmenan & Lammermuirs)  I forwarded to the web team have been used in the rolling images on the East Lothian Council site. - Famous at last.

East Lothian - New Ski Resort? January 16, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , 3comments

Some highlights from amazing winter conditions right here in East Lothian

Leadership- Curriculum for Excellence Style! December 14, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , add a comment

 

Through the feedblitz from LTS  on Curriculum for Excellence and the East Lothian Curriculum for Excellence Blog I had a look at Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for learning, life and work (November 2009) today. It’s inspiring to see how well the C of E can be used to frame wider context issues and in this case  leadership for young people. The similarities between this and texts intend for Senior managers and Leaders on transformational leadership  is surprisingly similar as this exert shows!

They will need to understand that everyone can develop leadership skills, which can be used across learning, life and work settings. Effective leaders may show many different styles and characteristics, but often share common characteristics. Young people will learn to:

  • value the views and contributions of others in their group
  • exert influence and help others to envisage new ways of thinking, seeing and working
  • show a determination towards achieving the highest standards for everyone in the group
  • show initiative and actively pursue their objectives
  • be good listeners and know the members of their group or team wellserve as models to others, providing insights into what success in the group’s activities might look like

I also liked the reflective questions. It highlights the need for my own organisation to ask these questions, not only of our educational aspirations but as an organisartion as a whole. The reflective questions here are very pertinent and have obvious links with succession and talent enablmenti.e. lets replace “young perople” with ELC employees, and the statement reads just as strongly.

9 Box Matrix December 7, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, Experiential Learning, Management Training, Succession , add a comment

I have been looking at examples of the nine box matrix, in relation to Talent Management & Succession.  There are good examples of how to use this around, however came across a thought provoking blog Greatleadershipbydan. Dan examines some of the usage of this process to help organisations identify and develop leadership potential.  It could be a useful tool for my own organisation (or an adaptation of). This might support ability to be able to deal with;

It may also help tie in concept of  ”roles not jobs” which will help develop “talent pools” and deal with issues such as “how can one plan ahead for jobs that might not exist within a year?”  How this process might look (other than aligned to business needs…etc…linked into Transformational leadership…Behavioural framework…performance….PRD…Phew)  is unsure to me at the moment but one thing is for sure;

The HR function therefore has a critical role in supporting and facilitating the process

(Suff,R In quick Succession - IRS Employment Review 2007)

Venturing Out - Enterprise Encouraging Outdoor Learning November 17, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Outdoor Learning , 1 comment so far

Good luck to Anthony Stone and his new venture, Venturing Out in East Lothian providing outdoor and experiential activities to the East Lothian community. Always good to see social enterprise (one of ELC core priorities- encourage enterprise & skills- support 150 new business starts ) developing within the region.

Anything that can add to the services currently available in East Lothian will only strengthen the  use of and potential experiential learning in the region.

Looking forward to hearing how the venture progresses. All the best Anthony.

Click here to see what Anthony’s up to.

Succession Planning and Weight Loss? November 16, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Empolyee Engagement, Experiential Learning, Leadership, Succession, Vision , add a comment

I have been looking at succession planning and also talent management recently. It’s so far been a bit of a minefield in terms of finding models of success and also defining  what success really is. I have been looking at examples and approaches by  , NHS, Met Office, DWP, RBS and also looking within. It’s been hard so far to find examples by LA’s but will keep at it. I came across this blog  by Marshall Goldsmith at Harvard Business today and found some of the questions posed to be very thought provoking and in many ways this has helped me review my approach. His 4 top tips are;

1. Change the name of the process from  Succession Planning to Succession Development.

2. Measure outcomes, not process

3. Keep it simple.

4.  Stay realistic.

I was particularly engaged with tip 1. Marshall notes that “Plans do not develop anyone - only development experiences develop people”  and uses a personal fitness metaphor (or is it analogy)

We have may have fantastic plans in place to lose weight. We may be very proud of our plans , which include detailed daily goals for diet, alcohol consumption, and exercise. And if our execution were half as impressive as our planning, we would be very svelte. Our focus should be on weight loss, not planning for weight loss.

As a fan of experiential learning and all it can achieve this really hit home.

Trust Status for East Lothian Schools? November 11, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Outdoor Learning , add a comment

The Scotsman on Monday ran an article  regarding exploring the idea of trust status for East Lothian Schools, and again on Newsnight Scotland last night. I’m curious to see what kind of trust is being proposed/explored i.e.  single, shared or a town wide trust etc. There have been several examples of succesful moves to trust status ( I taught at a trust based college myself in England) in England and Wales (400+) and to be honest I’m not sure if there any examples in Scottish Local Authority Education.

Certainly there are advantages as authorities move to becoming commisioners rather than providers of education services both in terms of cost savings,  (atlthough from some reports not often that significant!). The real benefits are often quoted as being in other areas;

A trust school is funded by its local authority in exactly the same way as other local schools. Like voluntary aided or foundation schools, it remains part of the capital spending planning process (www.trustfoundationschools.org)

The benefits could be realised in openening up ideas and avenues for raising quality and standards. i.e.

By working in partnership with their schools to develop trusts, local authorities enable them to work to their strengths while promoting community cohesion and innovation;

A quote from Liverpool City Council also mentions some of the benefits they realised;

In promoting parental choice, Liverpool recognises the value of further enhancing the
diversity of provision within the city. Trust status is considered to be an effective lever for educational change and securing pupil well-being. Importantly, trust status provides a vehicle for schools and their partner organisations to work creatively and deliver…priorities

Guidance from the specialist schools and academies trust offers some guidance in setting it up and outlines the stages;

stage 1 : Decide who to work with and how

stage 2 : Consult

Stage 3: Publish statutory proposals and invite representations

Stage 4: Consider representations and decide whether to acquire the trust

Stage 5: Implement

I guess for East Lothian it’s , pre pre, pre  stage 1?  It will certainly stimulate debate at the future public consultation meetings planned, as it seems to have done in the National Press. One source, Eric Eric Wilkinson, Professor of Education at the University of Glasgowin the Scotsman notes; 

“In England, they are pushing ahead with huge innovations and having some success – particularly in London. In Scotland we are still stuck in a mudpool – and undoubtedly, Scotland will start to slip behind unless it embraces new ideas.

All this commentary will be sure to add more momentum too the debate?

Theres more here at the Scotsman and also on Newsnight (interview with council leader).  and now Telegraph and Herald too! Interesting commentery also at Brians Blether (Scottish Political commentary from BBC)