Three Reasons Why Real Change is Hard

Three Reasons Why Real Change is Hard



Change is a challenge that we must face head on. We can't go over, under or around it. We must go through it to improve the quality of life we seek. Robert Kiyosaki breaks down why it is important to control your check he provides three simple reasons why some are content where they are and why others may never meet their maximum potential. Three reasons summarize why it so challenging to make the necessary changes.

• Reason #1: It takes time
• Reason #2: You have to unlearn to learn again
• Reason #3: This is a transformation, not just a change

Read the complete post by clicking the link at the top of this post to get a detailed "overstanding" how important it is to make the choice to be in the quadrants "B" or "I" business owner or investor. Please leave a comment on your understanding or overstanding of this information for further discussion.

Sign Your Own Paycheck and Take Back Control!

Misstep

mis·step  

Noun A clumsy or badly judged step: "one misstep could be fatal". A mistake or blunder.

Synonyms false step - faux pas - mistake - error - gaffe - trip

In life steps are taken to carry out courses of action. The steps taken leads us down paths both familiar and unfamiliar. Missteps, often caused by scotomas, may cause one to fall or fail to complete courses of action. Life teaches us lessons in the strangest ways to show that focusing with a clear mindset on proceeding down a clear path. This morning as I was leaving for work I realized exactly how people fill themselves with duties responsibilities and problems that will likely cause them to take a misstep. As I was leaving for work  my neighbor was leaving for work as well. We both were focused on what each had to get done today. I had to get groceries out of my wife's car from a morning grocery store run. I was focused on unloading my car full of groceries so I could go to work and my neighbor was focus on loading her car with laundry for the cleaners so she could go to work. Suddenly I hear "OOOOhhh", my neighbor had fallen and I did not notice because of my focus of on my situation. A  passing driver stopped to ask if she was O.K. She replied: "I missed a step". Thankfully she was fine.  She had fallen to the pavement of the sidewalk but the mound of laundry for dry cleaning that she was carrying broke her fall. I was embarrassed because even though I could not have prevented it,  I should have been more aware of my surroundings. Also, she too had lost focus of the steps of the path taken to get her day started.  If leaving her house there is one step that must be taking off the short porch. From this I took that overburdening oneself will likely cause a misstep or blunder; always being aware and focused on our course of action in order to be sure we don't take a misstep. Also, the fall is not always a soft landing; it may very well be hard, sharp, or rigid.

End thought: Pay attention, WATCH YOUR STEP! One misstep could be fatal!

Personal Development Plan

Blog—Personal Development Plan
Write your own personal development plan designed for you specifically and post it on your blog. Include the following components in your plan:

• Four types of development (from this week's Learning Resources) that you will advocate for your employer to provide you and/or that you will pursue on your own (for example, continuing your professional learning outside of the workplace)
• A rationale for each of your development ideas

Formal Education: My present position at the current company and the underdevelopment or lack of development offered, formal education as well as informal education will be something pursued continuously. Further enhancing my education through business and entrepreneurship courses further enhances my development to successfully run businesses.
Action Planning: The short term and long term career goals must be carefully mapped out. The plan must be implemented properly and executed fully.  The following must be considered:

• Professional goals and motivation
• Talents or strengths
• Development opportunities
• Development objectives and action steps
(Noe 374)

Formal Education: My present position at the current company and the underdevelopment or lack of development offered, formal education as well as informal education will be something pursued continuously. Further enhancing my education through business and entrepreneurship courses further enhances my development to successfully run businesses.

Action Planning: The short term and long term career goals must be carefully mapped out. The plan must be implemented properly and executed fully. The following must be considered:

Professional goals and motivation 

Talents or strengths

Development opportunities

Development objectives and action steps

(Noe 374) 

Mentor: Mentors who are successful doing what I have planned or are attempting. Individuals who are effective in management organization and other leadership roles will be highly enriching for further enhancement. Inspirational speaking, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, technology literacy and self-sufficient mindset are the areas the mentor will have experienced success.

Assessment: Assessment will also include evaluation; various assessment tools will help identify areas of success and failure as well as strength and weakness. Popular assessment tools include personality test and inventories assessment centers, performance appraisal, and 360 degree feedback systems. (Noe 380)” Various forms of input are valuable in the assessment including performance, behavior, skills or personality characteristics.

Regardless of the approach a development plan has to identify: 

The type of development needed 

Development goals 

The best approach for development 

Whether development goals have been reached

(Noe 407) 

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Employee development [Video file]. Retrieved from           https://class.waldenu.edu

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Pace, A. (2010). Unleashing positivity in the workplace. Training and Development, 64(1), 40–44.

High-Tech Training

Blog Post: High-Tech Training

There is little question that technology use in training is on the rise and is here to stay; however, few would argue that throwing technological components into training programs just to appear "up to date" is wise. Strategically and thoughtfully applying technological components to enhance the impact and/or measurabilitiy of training solutions is what any good trainer strives for.

For this assignment, begin by thinking about the various training technologies outlined in Chapter 8 of the Noe text and in the required article. Consider what impact these technologies are having and will continue to have in training and development environments.

Next, complete the following:

• Choose FOUR technologies or technological advancements used in training, as described in Chapter 8 of the Noe text and in the required article.
• Conduct online research (in the Walden library or other reputable site) to find ONE additional article or resource that highlights the use of technology for teaching or training purposes.

Training and technology continue to rapidly develop to enhance train effectiveness. A trainer, educator, team leader or coach must apply or utilize the technologies to impact the trainees to continue using method after training has concluded. Social media, Blended learning, mobile technology learning, and distance learning are four technologies used to enhance and evaluate training. Each has made drastic changes to how information or knowledge is shared and used.

“A shared work space is hosted on a web server where people  can share information and documents.(Noe 320)” Shared work spaces such as Google docs, currently called Google Drive provides tools for almost everything for collaboration, communication and innovation. Noe describes blog, Wikis and shared media to facilitate learning. “A blog is a webpage where an author posts entries and readers often can comment.(Noe 320 )” The web log discuss topics relevant to the writer and his or her audience to share insight and feedback pertaining to the relevant issue. “A wiki is a website that allows many users to create edit and update content and shared knowledge. (Noe 320)” The multiple user features will help individuals or groups to collaborate without being in a face to face setting.

“Shared media refers to the audio or video such as YouTube that can be accessed and shared with others.( Noe 336)” Sharing media content such as photos videos and other learning materials can reach a larger audience. It also is posted where it can be easily located and used as needed. Some other examples are Google+, and Flickr. Any of these technologies help trainees collaborate learns informally by sharing information as needed as well as formally. The social media technology, both online and mobile, are used to create interactive communications allowing the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

“Blended Learning combines online learning, face-to-face instruction, and other methods for distributing learning content and instruction. Blended learning uses classroom to allow learners to learn together and discuss and share insights which helps bring learning to life and make it meaningful. (Noe 338)”

Mobile learning technology such as Podcasts or apps used on android or iPhone, tablets or iPads or notebooks are useful in facilitating learning in formal or informal. Podcast or video program content disturbed in episodes using software such as RSS is a highly utilized method of sharing media content. The content is accessible and useful to the community that has a purpose for the valuable content shared. Apps or applications are designed specifically for smartphones and tablet computers (Noe 345). The mobile tools are great for easily accessing the tools needed to learn effectively. 

Distance Learning is used by geographically dispersed companies to provide information about new products, policies or procedures as well as deliver skills training and expert lectures to field locations. (Noe 347)” Virtual classrooms, teleconferencing, interactive distance learning, webcasting and web conferencing are the tools that provide the flexibility to impact training in alternative settings. In closing it is important to “keep in mind, these tools can provide a wide range of benefits for agencies, such as: Clarity when building business cases, leadership support and assistance to develop new training opportunities to support the needs of a changing generation. (Training and Development Policy Wiki: Leveraging New Technologies for Employee Development Programs, n.d.)” Keeping the pace with the changes that occur in technology is important to get the most from learners, trainees or employees. “Blended learning has been found to be more effective than face-to-face instruction for motivating trainees to learn and for teaching declarative knowledge or information about ideas or topics” (Noe 338). The lasting impact on training effectiveness grabs the learners attention keeping them engaged even after the learning has concluded and learners are back on the job.

References

Training and Development Policy Wiki: Leveraging New Technologies for Employee Development Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from OPM.gov: http://www.opm.gov/wiki/training/Leveraging-New-Technologies-for-Employee-Development-Programs.ashx

Noe, R.  Employee Training and Development. 2013 McGraw Hill New York, New York

EIDT 6501: Elevator Speech- The truth about training

I am Justin Ward an Instructional Designer, entrepreneur, leader and visionary. Your position on training is 

not surprising but is typical. However, training ain’t performance and telling ain’t training (Stolovitch & Keeps). “Training skills are necessary to perform, but not sufficient alone” (Stolovitch).  Allow me a moment to increase clarity and address issues that may persist. 

Training, instruction, and education are all used to trigger learning. The whole purpose of the three is to enable people to learn. The mission is not to transmit information but to transform learners (Stolovitch & Keeps).

Training should actually support the organizations goals and objectives. The three of them, training, instruction, and education, work together to achieve desired behavioral outcomes, enhance intellect and efficiency. Top down one way communication is not enough. Relevant training keep team members relevant, updated, competitive, and highly knowledgeable which is vitally important to the success of the entire organization

Reference

Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2011). Telling ain't training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press

Stolovitch, H. (n.d) “The Truth about Training” Laureate Video Media.

EIDT 6501 Week 2 A2: Blog Post: Planning for a Needs Assessment

As illustrated and explained in Chapter 3 of the Noe text, a needs assessment is the first step in the design of any training program and consists of organizational, person, and task analyses. For this activity, assume that you have been asked to perform a needs assessment for one of the following companies:

- Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/)

What stakeholders would you want to make sure to get buy-in from?

What questions would you ask (and to whom would you address them) during the organizational, person, and task analysis phases?

What documents or records might you ask to see?

What techniques would you employ (see Table 3.2 on page 108 of the Noe text), and why?

Choose ONE of the above companies, and spend some time exploring it online. (Note: You may choose an organization that is not on this list, if you prefer.) Try to get a sense of the organization's products and/or services, consumers, management philosophy, and strategic objectives. Based on this, how might you approach the needs assessment? Specifically:

My selection is the company Whole Foods. For this assignment, Whole Foods seems to be recurring appearing in various ways. My wife mentioned it before told her of my choice for this assignment.  My family’s recent visit to an agriculture expo we met AL Hooks of AL Hooks Produce whose Macon County Farm provides produce Wal-Marts and Whole Foods Markets across the country. Furthermore my family history is in farming. My father grew up on a farm. My grandfather and two of his brothers farmed. Their farms were all by one another.

Whole Foods expresses a wide array of missions’ values efforts and movements. Commitment to society organic farming core values environmental stewardship seafood sustainability whole trade animal welfare are the areas of mission and values of Whole Foods Market.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/core-values

Whole Foods are dedicated to providing best product at the most competitive price. Stakeholders would include Co-Ceos John Mackey’s and Co-Ceos Walter Robb and other officers just some of the stakeholder.  The Farmers, producers, land owners, transport and other workers or employees that help to facilitate the process that allows whole foods to conduct business with producers and consumers. These would be included in some situations due to the unique differences of each store in different areas. Organizational analysis involves identifying whether training supports the company’s strategic direction; whether managers, peers and employees support training activity and what training resources are available (Noe, p.112).

“Task analysis results in a description of work activities, including tasks performed by the employee and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to complete the tasks” (Noe, p. 135). The Task analysis is completed after the organizational analysis. The competency model will allow them to find the most competencies to fill open positions Person analysis can help them determine if the measures taken were the proper solution. This is the effort to make sure the training worked. Survey and interviews will provide the insight and data need for study results. Whole Foods Market is a very wholesome brand!

References

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: 

Budget: Which type works for you?

When budgeting, things can be both overwhelming and confusing. The 50/20/30 rule may work for you.

Good Day & Good Reading!

http://www.learnvest.com/knowledge-center/your-ultimate-budget-guideline-the-502030-rule/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=high&utm_content=budget