Last Post…Maybe

Well, this is my last post for my last class ever of our program.  It comes with mixed feelings, as I am so excited to open the next chapter of my life, but will miss being challenged and learning from my instructors and peers.  You all were so great and have so much to offer.  Please consider me as part of your network and do not hesitate to contact me if you should need anything!

This particular semester was very hard on me, as I was going through several life changes.  I got a new job, moved to Virginia Beach, I am trying to sell my home, I am graduating from the program and I am finally going on my honeymoon!  Whoo, lots, I told you.  I have struggled to keep up with all of the reading and work associated with this course, but hopefully my other roles did not affect the quality of my learning and products.

This course seemed to reflect many of the concepts of other courses to include, change strategies, groups and teams and adult learning; however, I was still able to build on to my foundation of knowledge regarding HRD.  Learning exactly what organizational learning looks like and how to analyze a culture will allow me to adapt better to new organizations and attempt to foster a more positive work environment.

I think one of the best tools I gained from this course was the concept map.  I will have to share this with my coworkers becuase it was a great way to build shared meaning and organize thoughts and concepts.

One thing that I would have liked to have been different would actually result in more work for Dr. Carter.   The cultural analysis was such a huge project and reminded me of research methods.  It would have been nice if we turned in the analysis in increments as we learned concepts.  I think this could have been helpful with reinforcing our understanding of individual concepts and helped to link to future concepts.  Not sure, just a thought.

Well, it’s not good bye, but see you later!  Enjoy the rest of the program and don’t take it for granted. 

Reflections for My Mirror: Ch-ch-ch-Changes

I left class before the holiday thinking about the leader’s role regarding change.  It is like the lights turned on and I realized that their role is the vital link to the sustainability of the change.  I have seen in my previous work place several changes that were introduced to include both policies and procedures.  I want to say all, but will refrain and say most came and faded away.

Typically, the first step was to send an interoffice memo or email to all of leadership and at the end of the message it would direct leadership to share with their team by a certain date.  Now here is where I saw the biggest flaw.  There was no accountability and even if managers communicated the message — which, by the way, could come in many forms: verbally via meetings or one-on-one conversations, another email, posting the memo and on and on –does not mean was any follow through.  Now, why would there be any?  Leaders were only asked to pass along the message, not make sure that the actions were actually done.  Now maybe half of the workers would change then later revert because there was no reward for practicing the new behavior.  Clearly they didn’t read Schein’s text and note the Eight Simple rules!

Reflection for My Mirror

I have been gathering information for my cultural analysis and I think the process has provided some valuable information.  Without actually getting ‘hard’ information on how they communicate, I have been able to gather data via observation.  People have been very willing to email, but seem to be too busy for phone calls.  Also, the words they use and how they describe the environment is really indicative of the culture.  It’s kind of easy to ignore these things when you are in the culture, but now that I am not working there, things seem different.

Reflections for My Mirror

I left class last week thinking about (excuse me if I do not have the term right) Technology Seduction.  One because the term is interesting and two, because I do think this is a common practice.  As from our discussion last week, it seems as if technology is introduced at all levels to fix the organizations’ headaches.  One thing that I found intriguing was that all of us who have been introduced to new technology stated that the practice was to pick and choose which applications of the technology to use or find ‘bypasses’ to to manipulate the system.  How come those who make the decisions to  purchase these tools do not really ask those who are going to use them what it is that they need out of the tool?  And how come it seems as if there is never any formal training that is conducted to create consistent use of the technology?  And how come it seems that when this ‘magic wand’ is introduced that there are always more steps involved to get the job done?  These are just a few questions that I left with last week about this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the concept map.  Maybe not so much the creation of it, but the discussions that are involved in creating it.  I feel that it helps with organizing the themes and bringing them to life.

Reflections for My Mirror: Relationship Between Culture and Leaders

Reading chapter 13 of Schein’s text has me very interested in the methods (other than charisma) that leaders use to reinforce their own beliefs, values and assumptions to organizations.  Schein outlines six primary tools that leaders have available to them to teach their organiztion how to perceive, think, feel and behave based on their own practices (espoused and in-action).  As I read them, I began to think, what does my CEO pay attention to? How does she react and what does she react to? What does she promote heavily and allocate resources to? What/How does she role model desired behaviors? How does she reward ‘good’ behavior? and How does she recruit new employees?  I think that it is really important for staff to understand these concepts (consciously or subconsciously) in order to be successful or to remain in an organization.  So, I tried to answer all of these questions through my experiences and observations over the last six weeks. Of course, it is still to early to tell and as I dig deaper in my cultural analysis I will gather others’ perspectives, but this is what I have come up with so far…

I have noticed a couple of things thus far in my employment.  Cleanliness and organization are important, as this gives off the impression that we have things under control.  Initiative and risk taking is valued, as the organization consists of only five employees; however, all actions should be documented and reported to management.  This practice is again due to the small size of staff and how easy information can be lost if someone leaves.  However, I can’t help to think that there is some other reason behind this practice, such as lack of confidence in staff from management.  Sometimes, I feel like we overexplain details.  It is important to anticipate difficult questions, so it is important to be on top of how your programs are running.  Questions such as where are we in relation to budget and goals should be anticipated; therefore, staff must keep updated records on such accordingly.  We are currently recruiting for a new employee and I keep hearing our CEO say, “I can teach skill, I want to know if the person knows how to work.”  Also, when listening in on conversations regarding the hiring process of my position, appearance is important as well as respect for all levels of employees.

I am sure that there are more that I have not noticed.  I look forward to looking more into my assumptions and investigating this further. 

Reflections for My Mirror

I left class this past Thursday very stimulated and began thinking about how we, in my organization, speak, interact with eachother, view success, adapt to change, all of that.  I am so new and I have heard so many times ‘Sue’ hates that, oh don’t do that, that’s not how we do it here or we usually do things this way.  When I was interviewing, the interviewers really emphasized ‘fit.’  This truly scared me, I felt like I was trying to enter some sort of club that looked for particular personalities or characteristics.  I am confident in my knowledge, skills and abilities, but I have a hard time conforming in groups to fit in. 

So, it’s been about 6 weeks since I have been at my new job, but I feel like it has been at least 6 months.  I don’t know if I’m actually conforming to the culture or not.  I have received feedback that I am doing things a bit differently, but to continue on that way.  For example, the person in my position before me would make copies of materials needed for training or events, while I have utilized the office coordinator more.  I felt like with all my responsibilities, making attendee packets wasn’t a good use of my time.  She and another person questioned this, but it was explained that my role has evolved.  Also, when attending meetings, I come with talking points and handouts for everyone.  Apparently, this hadn’t been done before and I was asked to continue to model this behavior.  So, I guess I could say that I am challenging the current culture and am encouraged to do so by leadership.  I wonder, as I continue on this path, if I will be shunned by my coworkers or if they will adopt new behaviors and accept new norms.  How strong is the current culture? How easy is it to change a culture and what is needed to change a culture? 

Reflections for My Mirror: Culture Shock

We left class last week talking about our company culture. I wanted to focus on that today. As I have mentioned in past reflections, I recently left a company that I had been at for three years. One of the things that I enjoyed at the place I left was being seen as someone who could change the company culture. This was a place that was resistant to the use of technology, had no follow through in initiatives, took no accountability, etc. etc. I wanted to change that and I may have been too ambitious. I think I had made my decision to leave once I realized that the culture was too strong and it began to take over me and how I worked.

I now work for a very small organization. Accountability is everything. We have to submit timelines for large projects and issue memos for important conversations or meetings we had to keep everyone informed. The ‘boss’ is aware of all the goings on and expects complete follow through in initiatives. When I began to realize that this was the culture, I was scared that the culture I once was in would transfer over in my new role. Fortunately, it has not and I have received good feedback about my work and values.

Reflections for My Mirror: Kulture Club

Well, first I have to say that I had every intention of making it to Richmond last Thursday, but my body did not agree with that intention. I think that I have been putting too much stress on myself physically, mentally and emotionally with trying to live away from my husband, sell my house, learn a new job, trying to keep up with school and anticipating graduation all at ONE time! I did go to the library and check out the Enron movie though so I wouldn’t be too behind.

I watched the first hour or so of it and am intrigued, no, disgusted by people’s greed. When I started undergrad, I was going to major in business and had to take accounting courses. Well, after my first course, I knew that it was not for me. I saw how one could manipulate numbers just to get rid of the red lines, something didn’t seem right. Watching the movie also has me questioning practices that I have viewed in past employment. Just make it right, where else can we tap in to to pad this loss…Sometimes people can be so influencial that it makes you blind or do things you would not normally do.

I thought it was interesting that one of the interviewees described the culture like high school. I can see that. People become lemmings and follow the steps of the popular kid so they can reep the benefits or remain silent so they don’t get ridiculed. I wanted to watch the rest, but thought I should wait until class.

Reflections for My Mirror: Innovation

As we continue our discussion of exemplars of Learning Organizations, I am finding a common thread. These organizations tend to be innovative. They ask themselves, “What can we do to be more effective, more efficient, more customer focused…” Then they act on it, they take responsibility and act on it. It seems too that they have the authority to do so. I think that a lot of us have wonderful, creative ideas, however, there is no authority from uppermanagement to the line staff to take action. We do not feel empowered.

I once went to a roundtable discussion that had nothing to do with organizational learning, but the speaker said that Attitude comes from the top down and Innovation comes from the bottom up. This means that those doing the job, probably have the answers when it comes to being more effective, efficient, customer focused, etc. So is it ego again that stands in the way? Are people in upper management trying to secure their positions by controlling creative processes?

Reflections for My Mirror: The Power of Mistakes

After our discussion last week, I left with the thought that there is something about encouraging experimentation that is important to organizational learning. I believe in one of the Small Pox articles that we read they even mentioned that experiments were catalysts. The only thing is, that means organizations have to be willing to expect and accept mistakes at least so long learning is a result from the mistake.

I do not think I have ever worked for anyone or any organization that was okay with making mistakes, as they saw it as a time and money waster. I have to say, before this class, if not this program, I may have sided with them. However, as I reflect on the things that I learned the most from, they are typically mistakes that I have made. This is because I am able to look back on what led to the outcome and critically think on how I can prevent the mistake for occurring again in the future. I find that if I continually do things “right,” I never end up thinking outside of the box. I end up limiting my potential. Things end up getting stale.

Okay, enough about that. I just wanted to point out that I think that organizations could end up doing more than what they are currently doing if they encouraged learning from experimentation or mistakes.