Two new employees started this week and it’s quite an indoctrination into our culture as this week has been all about eating and community building. We’re off for the winter break now and traditionally our last week is filled with holiday celebrations and a definite winding down of work which means there’s a lot of wandering the hallways and stopping to talk to people (usually while munching on something chocolate).
When I came across this blog entry, it really spoke to me about the power of eating together. It’s interesting to me how social bonds are made or broken over something as simple as a sandwich among co-workers.
As I’ve mentioned, there’s been an ongoing conversation about whether or not having toys/doodads available in training is a good thing for kinesthetic learners. I have always maintained that’s poppycock.
The other day there was a meeting of our training center managers who once again covered that subject and my supervisor told me each center spends around $10K a year on doodads (multiple that by five centers and we’re talking a lot of money). Some of the training center managers want to put a stop to it because it’s insane to spend that much money on plastic trinkets. I told my supervisor that I’d come up with something she could use at the next meeting to put to rest this needless expenditure of money (as if that budget line wasn’t enough to immediately cease and desist).
I turned to ADLT601 and re-read some of Kolb’s and Gagne’s work and then I unearthed the VARK tool we used in that class–that info was emailed to my supervisor. Today my supervisor came to me and wondered aloud how we ever let someone tell us that plastic trinkets would make for better training. I think we’re about to banish this silly tradition.
I thought everyone in the Fall 08 Org Learning class would appreciate these images from Hubble. Someone at Boston.com has taken images and made an online advent calendar.
There’s also a nifty tool that I was unaware of until looking at these images: Google Sky.
I have completed my cultural analysis and no matter the outcome of my grade or if Dr. Carter feels I’ve fulfilled the requirements of the paper, I feel that I’ve learned a great deal in completing the analysis. It’s been a rocky year or more at my place of employment and especially during this semester. I hope, and I’m sure my classmates hope so too, that my attitude about my place of employment will be forever changed by this analysis. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop pointing out the insanity that happens at work, but I now know how to separate myself from the insanity and to recognize my part in it.
I’m one step closer to actually being that rock in the stream that I described during the HRD overview class. I have this picture on my bulletin board at work:
I have to remember that I have chosen to be part of the stream (the organization) but that most of the negativity must flow past me. I can only change a small part of the stream and can only hope those changes are felt where it’s most important.
In working on the consulting project I leaned heavily on Schein and Block. When it came time to prepare to write my analysis of the consulting project, I decided to look specifically at how I used Schein and Block’s set of principles and goals. In this examination, I realized I had developed my own tenets based on their work.
These tenets are:
- say what you mean, mean what you say and don’t be mean while saying it
- deliberately practice
- treat others with respect
- be real
I believe if I put Schein and Block’s principles and goals together with my four tenets, then I can’t fail in process consulting. As I alluded to in an earlier post, if you follow all of the steps and advice from our texts (process consulting’s golden rules), you will be able to offer a caring perspective to whatever problem is presented.
The idea of following the golden rules also helps to alleviate the problem of arrogance which we didn’t talk too much about in this course but I believe is important. The process consultant must check her ego at the door and be willing to listen completely and then offer assistance. The consultant can’t presume to already know the answer and must work with the client to uncover all of the issues that impact a problem.
From this peeling back of layers, the client and the consultant can collaboratively find an answer. This collaborative relationship is supportive to the client and helps the client learn how to address the problem in a long-range way. By learning how to address the problem, the client will be better equipped to solve other problems in the future. It seems to me that some of a process consultant’s responsibility is to work herself out of a job. Of course there will always be work for a caring professional as new and complex issues arise in organizations. Just look at Schein’s career–he’s worked with companies for decades.
I know even if I’m never officially a process consultant that I’ll be able to utilize the knowledge and skills I learned in this course. As we discussed in our last class session, this expertise can be used in many different roles within organizations. I think I’ll be a better employee because of this course.
Block, P. (1999). Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used
Schein, E.H. (1999). Process Consultation Revisited: Building the Helping Relationship.
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