Organizational Clarity: "PowerPoint: Brain Think Template"

From the Articulate community dedicated to increasing a professional’s knowledge of E-Learning, giving out free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs. In this week’s email, I received a link to: “PowerPoint: Brain Think Template” this is a great visual template that you can use for free when creating a Microsoft PowerPoint slide deck for training purposes.

Just click on the link here: https://community.articulate.com/download/powerpoint-brain-think-template

In the article, there is another link to the article that supplements the one up above: “Storyline 2: Brain Think Template” which has a link to a YouTube tutorial by the author but instead of having you become a clinking monster here are the links here:

The 2^nd article (“Storyline 2”): https://community.articulate.com/download/storyline-2-brain-think-template

“How to Create a Simple Quiz in Storyline” tutorial on YouTube although you need the articulate software you can try it free for 30 days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEcZEUnAnnc&feature=youtu.be

I suggest trying the software first and then figuring out how you can use the templates listed as downloads in the articles above with PowerPoint, later on, to give you the “look’ for the training purposes that meets your organization’s needs.

5 Tips For Creating Beautiful E-Learning Courses, Fast

From the Articulate community dedicated to increasing a professional’s knowledge of E-Learning, giving out free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs. In this week’s email, I received a link to: “5 Tips For Creating Beautiful E-Learning Courses, Fast” when you do not have an in-house designer to create professional courses for your organization’s employees this link will give you the information you need.  The five tips for creating learning courses are:

• Using Free Graphics
• Starting with a Template
• Picking 2-3 Go-To Fonts
• Picking a Color Palette and Stick with It
• Keeping It Simple

This article has 5 steps of great advice plus a free E-book for visual design that you can use, free!

As I always say it's “it is a great resource that defines the challenges that may face your organization and tells you the E-Learning authoring tools you can use, without you or your organization wasting time and money researching various programs…”

Just click on the link here: https://community.articulate.com/articles/5-tips-for-creating-beautiful-e-learning-courses-fast

Merry Christmas from the Organizational Clarity!

Merry Christmas to all my readers now being a Christian holiday this is not celebrated by all, so I want to say a Happy Holidays to everyone else of different faiths and including those who are atheists, it is proper even in the workplace to remember that individuals have differences while working for a common goal within an organization.  It is very important to remain cultural diverse and tolerant in the workplace as most organizations want to expand to global audiences so although it is second nature in America, UK and other such nations to wish everyone a Merry Christmas we must be mindful of those of separate faith who share our organizational ties and our joy during the holiday season, but may not celebrate all of the holidays we do.

To do those who do not celebrate Christmas we wish them a Happy Holidays to show we too can be of great cheer, humility, and understanding by recognizing these differences in faith and although this is a great opportunity to build morale we must trend with wisdom. In other words, we must do onto to others as we would like done onto us, and respect their beliefs, respect in an organization and to others outside of the workplace goes along way and as Organizational Development professionals we must strive to be examples to others regarding this approach.

It can be as simple as giving secular Holiday cards to limiting decorations in the office to those who celebrate the season but also be inclusive enough to add everyone to a Secret Santa list. Although this may seem too “PC” when others go the distance for us, to respect our beliefs and basically do something nice for us, we remember it. All we can do as OD professionals is make sure everyone in the organization commits to replicating this same policy of being thought of others during this holiday season. And that in itself can be the best thing when bringing joy to the world, and boosting morale within an organization.

Thank you for reading and have a great holiday season!

Ernest Hemingway, a nightmare for the Organization Development Professional or not?

Ernest Hemingway as an icon is profitable for the village of Oak Park, IL however, he had many issues that made him an OD Nightmare. If it was focused upon by a consumer base, it would deter many from holding him in such high regard. So the question from an Organization Development perceptive is could these negatives be turned into positives? If one could turn those negatives to positives would that add to his profitability as a brand?

Could one turn these Hemingway negatives into positives?

• Hemingway’s bouts with depression and the stigma of mental health
• Use of the “N”-word
• Hemingway’s attitude towards women

Hemingway had various bouts of depression which would take a lot more space than I have here to explain about. But let it be known that it is the reason or guiding force behind this Icon’s demise; suicide. From an OD perspective, something as grim as this could be a huge negative when reaching out to younger audiences.

On the flip side, the stigma of mental health issues has gotten better over the years, and treatment for depression has come light years since Hemingway’s death and explaining that as an OD person we have not only turned a negative to a positive we have found a new way for Hemingway to be profitable (Martin, 2006). For example, linking local mental health sand the need for better understanding of depression in the present day, the tragedy of Hemingway’s fight with depression can lead to profitable partnerships with local medical facilities. That would enlighten Hemingway’s gruff exterior or negative image when it comes to depression and cross-section Hemingway to an entirely new audience. Plus, it could allow such organizations like the Hemingway museum to gain more traffic if they are discussing say, new treatments digital cognitive behavioral therapy (dCBT) and how it helps patients today. To the Randomized Controlled Trials, that deals with major depressive episodes either could then be slightly linked to Hemingway as treatments that could have prolonged his life, if introduced at that time. The goal here is given local medical groups an avenue, a partnership to discuss these issues and have another (yet famous) subject to discuss this issue with while drawing attention and revenue to all the organizations involved. These changes as part of the presentation of Hemingway exhibits can reach a newer audience: professionals in the field of psychology, and other related fields.

Hemingway as a womanizer and his overall attitude towards women can, from a clinical psychological standpoint could be traced to his mother. Unfortunately, that could have negative connations as well. Hemingway can be used instead as a lesson of how women’s rights and roles that women play today have evolved. Hemingway’s portrayal of women in his novels, his multiple marriages. and multiple affairs paint the picture of a man that does not hold women in high regard (Assemi, 2012). In this is a foundation to connect how women rights, for being the stay at home mom as the only aspiration for their lives to being able to enter the workforce on an near equal footing as their male counterparts (Cobble, 2005). The Hemingway museum or any other Hemingway-themed organization could add “comparison-discussions” of these changes as part of the presentation of Hemingway exhibits to reach again a newer audience: young women. This new audience would definitely be intrigued by these new discussions (services) offered by these organizations and increasing the organization's customer base.

With Hemingway’s use of the n-word in the short story “The Killers”, Hemingway becomes a polarizing figure much like Mark Twain, from an OD Perspective there is a need to explain the usage of this word was commonplace at the time when Hemingway wrote this story (Hamilton, 2010). It does not make it right, however, it confronts Hemingway’s negative blemish and starts a discussion that Hemingway-themed organizations can partner themselves with civil rights groups, local schools, etc., to introduce why this is not acceptable, in the present day. These discussions would again increase the traffic to Hemingway-themed institutions, by tying Hemingway as a great novelist who is a product of his time, explains this negative blemish that would cripple most organization nowadays. With this type of presentation organizations that romanticize Hemingway can still do so but explain the negative issues of using such language today, without the fear of stigma that would usually go along with it.

In each general approach that I have aforementioned here, is a broad way that an Organization Development specialist can approach a brand that has as many negatives as Ernest Hemingway does, three that are organization killers nowadays. Sexism, Racism and the stigma of mental health would make many shy away from celebrities, brands and organizations, the collateral damage and public relations nightmares that each would cause today could be epic depending on the status of an icon like Hemingway.  But with each paragraph is a broad-based approach of how from an Organization Development standpoint one would work to repair that damage wrought by these negatives and bring people back to the brand known as Hemingway.

Assemi, A., Asayesh, M. E., Jabraili, A., Sheikhzade, M., & Hajmohammadian, M. (2012) “Women Ignorance in Short Stories of Hemingway.” 2012 International Conference on Language, Medias and Culture IPEDR vol.33 (2012)

Books Against Time http://www.counter-currents.com/2010/09/race-in-ernest-hemingways-the-killers/

Cobble, D. S. (2005). The other women's movement: Workplace justice and social rights in modern America. Princeton University Press.

Hamilton, Andrew (2010) “Race in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers” Counter-Currents Publishing

Luik, A. I., Bostock, S., Chisnall, L., Kyle, S. D., Lidbetter, N., Baldwin, N., & Espie, C. A. (2016). Treating Depression and Anxiety with Digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia: A Real World NHS Evaluation Using Standardized Outcome Measures. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1-6. Martin, C. D. (2006). Ernest Hemingway: a psychological autopsy of a suicide. Psychiatry, 69(4), 351-361.

Magnani, M., Sasdelli, A., Bellino, S., Bellomo, A., Carpiniello, B., Politi, P., ... & Berardi, D. (2016). Treating Depression: What Patients want, Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Primary Care. Psychosomatics.

Chipotle, an organization in need of Organizational Change.

With a bunch of E-coli breakouts and sanitary problems at their stores where does the blame lie? With the employees? Store management? Corporate? Obviously, there are standards in place but not being adhered to. The issue has become an even bigger problem for Chipotle and is affecting its bottom line, as per the article (below) customers are staying away in droves.

I know I have seen some disgusting things at various locations like:

• Customers leaning over the sneeze guard pointing at the items they want to workers on the other side
• Workers spit talking into their gloves as they consort with other coworkers and personal visitors.
• I’ve also seen employees wipe the food prep area clean with their gloves/hands and then make the following customer’s (in line) food

I give these examples as reasons why I did not back to any of Chipotle’s locations because they are legitimate instances that maybe at one time we would have:

• Downplayed in some manner (just one time or one bad apple employee)
• Ignored as if we “did not see that” (disbelief)
• Or simply did not catch as loyal customers to our favorite lunch spot.

But with all the bad press Chipotle is receiving you add onto these types of experiences and you wonder does it really matter where the blame lies? Obviously, there is a clear need for an examination of the training and hiring practices that are currently in existence. But from an Organization Development (OD) standpoint, there needs to be an implementation of better coaching practices by the Chipotle management at the local and corporate levels. But what else can be done?

One possibility is that there be a lack of mystery shoppers for the organization, something we never hear Chipotle publicly admitting as other fast food chains do. This could be the leading factor to why there is missing data of these issues or why this problem “blew up” into this major catastrophe as it did. This data would have clearly given Chipotle a clear point of view regarding the chain’s hygiene and other assorted practices from the customers at a ground level.

Maybe the issue lies within the typical corporate culture that many organizations are guilty of and Chipotle is simply ignoring or whitewashing the truth about its stores for its investors and the generic public. In either case, how does Chipotle right its ship and gain its faltering customer base back? Free burritos? Chorizo? Maybe the organization needs to do something more drastic either way it would be an incredible challenge for the average OD professional but where would you start?

You can read more about Chipotle’s issues by clicking on this hyperlink:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-customers-arent-coming-back-131351251.html

Free E-book: Mobile Learning 101 - All About Mobile Learning Design and Development

I usually get emails from CommLab India site to increase my knowledge of E-Learning to gain some free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs. In one email, I received, I saw a link to this E-book: “Mobile Learning 101 - All About Mobile Learning Design and Development” it is another short guide that will give a general breakdown of what mobile learning is and how to explain its uses and positives to clients who have thought about introducing it into their Organization’s training methodology.  This free E-book states by the end of reading it you should be able to:

• Explain What is Mobile Learning?
• Know what Factors Influencing M-learning
• Be able to create Learning Design Strategies for your organization for Mobile devices
• Be able to explain: How Does M-learning Fit with Other Training Initiatives
• Be able to explain: How Mobile Learning Can Support Different Trainings
• Be able to give Examples of Organizations Using Mobile Learning

It is Free and in PDF Format plus it is a great resource that assists your organization in your quest to integrate M-Learning (Mobile Learning) as an option for training in your organization. Just click on the link here: http://bit.ly/2hnZuNf

Free E-book: E-learning: Getting your Organization READY

As I mentioned before, I signed up for emails from the CommLab India site to increase my knowledge of E-Learning to gain some free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs. Well, in one email I saw a link to this E-book: “E-learning: Getting your Organization READY” it is a short guide that will help you and your organization “implement and embrace eLearning” while also assisting in Organizational change of the culture to adapt to E-Learning as an official training methodology.  This free E-book states by the end of reading it you should be able to:

• “Evaluate your organization’s readiness for eLearning
• Build a compelling business case for the top management
• Decide on whether to make or buy eLearning
• Choose an eLearning partner
• Overcome barriers of implementation you may face along the way
• Implement eLearning successfully in your organization”

It is in PDF Format and did I say free? Yes, free, meaning that it is a great resource that assists your organization in changing its culture so that you can adopt and implement E-Learning as an effective training method in the workplace. Just click on the link here: http://bit.ly/2dXNbUB

Free E-Book: "Authoring Tools That Address Your 5 Biggest Training Challenges"

I recently signed up for emails from the CommLab India site to increase my knowledge of E-Learning to gain some free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs. Well, in one email I saw a link to this E-book: “Authoring Tools That Address Your 5 Biggest Training Challenges” it lists five challenges that face trainers and authoring tools that can solve them.  The five Challenges this free E-book covers are:

• Rapid Conversions
• Interactive E-learning
• Quick Translations
• Responsive E-learning
• Ease of Online Review

It is in PDF Format and did I say free? Yes, free, meaning that it is a great resource that defines the challenges that may face your organization and tells you the E-Learning authoring tools you can use, without you or your organization wasting time and money researching various programs. Just click on the link here: http://bit.ly/2hhfccz

Employees going Berserk at a Holiday Party: something for the Organizational Development Professional to consider.

I read an article regarding a fight at a company Christmas party at a high-end restaurant in New York, it is interesting how this sometimes occurs in during these events. As an Organizational Development (OD) professional one must think of such occurrences or keep them in the back of your head as you plan morale building or holiday events.

Usually, issues like this happen when alcohol is involved so having a boring, non-alcoholic party may not be on the top of anyone’s list as fun, but it saves the organization from bad press such as this. As an organization one cannot condone violence in the workplace or outside of it at company functions, therefore limiting alcohol, unfortunately. must be a possibility that the OD specialist must recommend to their clients.

At least it gets the professional in the clear of any blowback if a client rejects such a suggestion and this type of event occurs at the event the OD professional has created. What are your thoughts?

Here is the hyperlink to the article from the New York Post I mentioned above:

http://nypost.com/2016/12/17/ex-goldman-guy-went-beserk-at-holiday-party-punched-exec-in-the-face-suit/

Finding Organizational Development organizations to network with, follow or even learn from.

When it comes to Organizational Development there are certain groups you can follow on popular social media sites either Twitter, Blogger, Google Plus, or Facebook, each of these Organizations, allow you access to articles, special tips for Organizational Development (OD) and offer (paid) goods or services that can help you with issues you or your organization may face. Plus, these sites are great for networking, publishing articles for blogs upon, and grow your OD brand overall. One of the main things OP Professionals must do constantly is network and investigate new ideas and solutions to beat the 70% probability of failure when change is implemented in the organization.

One of the main organizations I use a lot is OCAI, Marcella Bremer, who has produced a lot of articles that discusses the failures within Organizational Change and how management’s positive impact can make change possible and change the organization’s culture. The Organization Development Network is more of a paid site however one of the reasons I choose this organizational is because of the annual workshops, the 2017 OD Network Annual Conference happens in October right in Chicago, IL giving the OD Professionals not only a membership in a collective but a major chance to network with other like-minded professionals. But also as a member you will have the chance to work with the organization with Coaching and Mentoring programs to finding a job in the field being a member can have its advantages (and opportunities)! The last one, the Centre for Organization Development you will have the chance to train with the organization at different programs as a member, but on an international stage.

In case you want the chance to connect or just check out more about these organizations that focus on Organizational Development, down below is their primary website, social media sites

OCAI, Marcella Bremer: OCAI.com you can follow this organization on these popular social media sites, Twitter, Google Plus community and Facebook at:

• https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/104244751799086975666
• https://twitter.com/MarcellaBremer
• https://www.facebook.com/marcella.bremer.1

 Organization Development Network: http://www.odnetwork.org/  you can follow this organization on these popular social media sites, on Twitter and Facebook:

• https://twitter.com/ODNetwork
• https://www.facebook.com/ODNetwork/

Centre for Organization Development:  http://www.codhyd.org/ you can follow this organization on these popular social media sites, Twitter, Blogger and Facebook at:

• https://twitter.com/codhyd
• https://www.facebook.com/Centre-for-Organization-Development-146834348697514/ http://codhyd.blogspot.com/

Happy Networking!

A favorite in my playlist called Organizational Development?

Easy question to answer, I think this is a really fun video and straight to the point, discussing “What is Organizational Change?” from Mavim B.V. I love the engaging interaction, smooth animation, and great quick delivery. I believe in trying to get management and employees in a resistant organization, you need to have small baby steps to gain these groups’ trust and cooperation.   

This video easily puts into perspective the fact that change is constant, and that change is needed for a business to remain competitive. Add with that the advent of social media customers have a larger voice than ever before so communicating with them has changed and an organization must be able to change to communicate with those customers properly.

You can find all of this information in the video, “What is Organizational Change?” just click on the hyperlink below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xsPLr-q_Nk&index=7&list=PLl128ljkxUxp5-MqyB_uGXEDCK4cVwGKw

5 Things You Should Know About E-learning

I recently read an article called “5 Things You Should Know About E-learning” by Sravanthi Reddy G, the author makes a five-point presentation, about the basics of E-Learning, but I look at it as five ways to overcome resistance to adding E-Learning to your organization’s training repertoire. 

From arguing that it has been around for a long time to easy ROI measurability when it is used for training purposes, these are five brief reasons that you can add on to an argument to increase E-learning in your organization or finally get the go ahead to introducing it. I have seen the difference that an E-learning presence can make in an organization, I have worked at organizations that have it and do not and the differences are literally night and day.

The Main excuse for resistance is not about money although it is a factor, it is just knowledge about E-learning is limited due to fear of technology and belief that it is a fad. Two resistance points that are easily denounced with reason #2 and #5 but points that readily come up time and time again, if you see the same thing happening in your organization I urge you to click on the hyperlink below and read the article about E-Learning to educate yourself and your organization’s E-Learning dissenters

Here is the hyperlink to “5 Things You Should Know About E-learning” by Sravanthi Reddy G:  

http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/5-things-to-know-about-elearning

The Organizational Development YouTube playlist.

So to streamline the resources I have found on YouTube regarding Organizational Development and I made a YouTube channel of the same name “organizational development” for now I have only 10 videos here is the hyperlink for the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl128ljkxUxp5-MqyB_uGXEDCK4cVwGKw

The playlist covers these videos:

1. What is Organizational Development? by John Curtis
2. Organizational Change and Development / Objectives of Organizational Development by Edupedia World
3. What is Organizational Culture? by Denison Consulting
4. Human Resources Organizational Development Consultant, Career Video from drkit.org by DrKitVideos
5. Bob Marshak: Making Sense of Organization Development by American University School of Public Affairs
6. Resistance to Change - based on Harvard article by Esteban Elsa
7. What is organizational CHANGE? by Mavim
8. Lesson 10 Organizational Culture and Change by Teo Hiro
9. Strategies for Organizational Change by Theleaderdoctor
10. How to Deal with Resistance to Change | Heather Stagl | TEDxGeorgiaStateU by TEDx Talks

You will, of course, find video descriptions after you click on the video hyperlink, but rest assured these are all videos that are Organizational Change and Organizational Development related I tried not to pick video presentations that were too “dry” and that were fun so it can be more engaging. Happy viewing!  

Creating the YouTube channel from an Organizational Development standpoint.

For a class in my graduate studies, I was introduced to creating a video or tutorial online, so I picked something for this assignment that everyone could use when starting out with their own individual google account.

As Organizational Development (OD) Professionals you may need to create, produce and distribute video presentations regarding OD or for whatever your organization needs, this generic tutorial will help you take an existing google account and create a YouTube playlist of all your videos. Videos for your personal use to watch over and over again, or for (again) your Organization usage, creating and posting videos on YouTube or even linking videos posted by others for official repeat usage.

Here is my video called “YouTube playlist with existing google account”:

 https://youtu.be/QCrys2xH8MU

This is the step by step script I used for the video it may help with creating the YouTube channel:

• Today we are going to create a YouTube playlist with an existing Google/Gmail account, for this to work you will, of course, need an existing Gmail account. For this process, I will be using google chrome as the primary web browser.
• Since google chrome is my browser of choice it gives me the Gmail button at the start up screen to start the sign in process. However, if Google chrome is not your web browser of choice, you can do what I am doing here and type in Gmail.com into the address bar and it will get you to the same sign in screen, either way, is fine.
• Since my Gmail account is difficult to spell I am going to cut and paste it in the “enter your email” box and hit the “next” button, will get you to the password screen.
• This will get you to the password screen where you can see my Gmail profile picture, name and email address above the password box. So I will just type in my password and hit the “sign in” button.
• This brings me back to the Control-Protect page don’t worry just go to the right-hand corner on the page where there is a series of boxes and click on it.
• There you will automatically see a bunch of applications plus an option for YouTube click on to that button.
• This will take you to youtube.com
• Now think of a few videos you want to add to a playlist and type the subject into the search box up above.
• For this, I want to start with something in Organizational Development as you see it will automatically come up so I type that into the search box.
• Now as you scroll down the search you see a number of videos, for this, I will just choose one, John Curtis’ video will be fine, so click on the hyperlink for it.
• Usually, I turn down the volume, so it does not disrupt the process.
• Now I move my cursor under the title of the video to a plus icon on the left that has “add to” next to it and I click it.
• An Add to box, will come up with an option for “create new playlist” for this Gmail account. I simply hit the “create new playlist” button then I will name it: “Organizational Development” now I have an established channel so if I want to add additional videos at a later time to it I can.
• For now, I have completed creating a YouTube account for this Google/Gmail account. With a playlist, you can watch a collection of videos over and over again without continually searching YouTube for the ones you prefer to see multiple times.
• All you have to do now when logged into your existing Gmail account is type in youtube.com as you see here, now you will go to the left and there is a library section where your playlist will be listed. Click on to the playlist you want the screen to the left will reflect the playlist selection on the next screen. To start it, all you have to do is go up to the “Play all” button to start the playlist anytime you want.
• And with that, this concludes how you create a YouTube playlist with an existing Google/Gmail account using Google chrome as your default browser. Thank you.
  

Organizational Clarity blog, now on Twitter!

To extended the reach of the Organizational Clarity blog not only is it on Google Plus with Blogger.com but also Wordpress.com, but that is old news! Now, I have added Twitter to the social media sites this blog will post to therefore you can now see our posts upon:

 https://twitter.com/9_5_mprosser

Now you can friend and follow the Organizational Clarity blog up on twitter also you can quickly comment on the posts too!

A free E-Mail Etiquette tutorial; an Organizational Development professional's friend.

In my time, I have seen some hilarious and horrendous emails, crafted by my fellow coworkers, even though some of them have college degrees in such studies as Business Administration or English, the emails I have seen have been devoid of any proper etiquette. Getting people to change habits especially one they do not as bad, is exceptionally hard, then you have those individuals set in their ways, each can leave you stumped in trying to come up with a way to create even a way to get these type of individuals to master the techniques of a socially acceptable email in a corporate or professional environment.

Most organizations do not have the money to spend on such a tutorial and often think of such e-learning for something like email etiquette to be a waste of resources. It is believed that most employees should have learned that skill before coming into the job market, organization or learned enough from the organization’s culture to understand what is acceptable and what is not, however, this is not always the case.

To solve this issue, I found a free tutorial online through CommLab India which has an excellent tutorial regarding writing emails! The great thing about this is that it is basically free, of course, you do have to sign up for an account and surrender your spam box however this would overcome any objections your organization has regarding spending money on this necessary aspect of communication. An unstructured email could damage the professional image one has with the organization’s clients, this tutorial would help those I have previously mentioned who write emails that make you shake your head would benefit from the few minutes this tutorial takes to complete.

As an Organizational Development professional a free tool that the cuts costs teaches some necessary skills to employees, plus may help the productivity and effectiveness (of communication) of the organization this tutorial is a miracle waiting to happen!

You can test out the tutorial “Explaining E-Mail Etiquette – Tips for Writing Effective Emails” yourself just click on to the hyperlink below:

https://www.commlabindia.com/elearning-freebees/email-etiquette-elearning-course/index.html

Looking for Sources of inspiration for E-Learning design

I joined the articulate community as part of a school project but all the information as it pertains to E-learning is fantastic but it also confirms thing you may have thought of or did not realize that it was part of a thought process like Organizational Development (OD) or you even thought that you need a college degree to come up with some of the solutions OD professionals create!

In this article “10 Overlooked Sources for E-Learning Design Inspiration” by Trina Rimmer she discusses ten places you may thought of, but did not seriously consider for building block or inspiration for your designing from museums to games to movies, this article briefly discusses where you can see for yourself e-learning examples at work. Some of the suggestions this author mentions you can get a test ride and see for yourself.

For example, my favorite suggestion from this list, video games nowadays with massive multiplayer online environments you can foster teamwork, gain rewards and gain socialization skills earned by interacting with others from different locations than yourself. In the workplace environment, these are skills that any organization wanting a global reach would want to foster overcoming a lack of cultural intelligence and divisions between departments and sites.

If you are stumped for ideas when crafting a e-learning design that will be user-friendly and maintains your audience’s attention I would suggest reading the article I aforementioned at the link below:

https://community.articulate.com/articles/10-overlooked-sources-for-e-learning-design-inspiration

How Culture and Positive Leadership determine Organizational Change

I was reading a great article about Organizational Change by Marcella Bremer called “Overview: Change based on Culture and Positive Leadership” basically since 70% of all Organizational change fails the author discusses how to change the numerous factors that cause this failure. As the title suggest the change starts with Leadership approaching change by involving all the stakeholders who this changes impacts and making sure that the organizational culture is flexible enough to integrate those changes.

As we all know any time there is change if management is not behind it or going through the motions and/or there is resistance to change amongst the employees who are then expected to carry the burden of the change implementation. As Ms. Bremer states in the article this combined is the number one problem in why Organizational change fails, I suggest reading her article (click on the hyperlink) for a few starter points and if you see the need for further information to peruse her site for some more information some of it’s free some of it's paid but if you believe that your organization is of need of dyer change you may want to have all the options possible, available to you and your organization.

Here is the hyperlink to “Overview: Change based on Culture and Positive Leadership” by Marcella Bremer:

https://www.ocai-online.com/blog/2016/10/Overview-Change-based-on-Culture-and-Positive-Leadership?utm_source=ws20170315&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ows

Do Reunions have a connection to employees quitting?

As an Organization Development professional, we must take all possible factors into account when dealing with the various causes of an organization’s turnover rate. Whether that turnover rate has increased or decreased we must take all factors or reasons into account to either replicate those factors if the turnover rate has decreased or eliminate those factors if there is an increase in employee turnover.

In a recent article, “This Is When You’ll Quit Your Job” it is mentioned that people will “quit” their job after attended a reunion or other such milestones in a person’s life. Now I have heard of someone reaching 50 or 60 and questioning their career choices, and possibly quitting their job to move into their “dream” career that they have wanted to try out for years. Even with that reason the actual attempt or percentage of such attempts do to this reason is so low it is really a non-factor. Furthermore, I have never heard of a high or college reunion having the same effect upon a person deciding to change careers.

To isolate this as a factor alone I did the poor man’s research method and googled it and poof ….nothing! Nor have I heard this as one of the many employment urban legends, meaning it is not a story that I have ever heard before unlike the employee hitting an age milestone and moving into a new career. Now that I do not have to research at all, I have about three family and friends who are stating they are moving to an entirely new career at a certain age.

My point regarding this article as an Organization Development professional are these factors that we should take seriously when calculating an employee’s risk of turnover? Or would taking in factors of one’s age or the time of their high school reunion simply discrimination? If a determination of one’s high school reunion becomes a factor in a formula to determine an employee’s turnover chances, highly unlikely, but IF it does, how does NOT attending the reunion factor into that percentage?

Tracking the chance as the article states your willingness to change careers after you have been with an organization for a certain amount of time, is possible and totally legal, but tracking employees or collecting data for such career changes due to age or one’s high school reunion (which could be tied to age) could be damaging for the organization or the employee, As I aforementioned this could mean legal consequences for the organization if they use this factor in determining future turnover rates, what other issues you think may arise from using this type of outliers as data for turnover predictions? Personally, from an OD standpoint, I think clearly this should be left alone.

Money.com (2016) “This Is When You’ll Quit Your Job” http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ll­quit­job­120017492.htm

When Responding to Consumer Complaints through an Organizational Development perspective

There is a way to respond to customer's complaints and one way to blaming the customer on social media, especially when it is well documented that there are problems with aspects of the organization. When you are offering a service or product it is up to the business to calmly correct the issue that the customer is having either if the item is out of stock or long wait times when calling in to reach a representative.

One such example is with Kylie Cosmetics, it has recently made the news due to the business receiving a "F" grade on the Better Business Bureau site, being the face of the company Kylie Jenner (yes of Kardashian fame) responded is what gave it more attention. Now before chuckling yourself to the point you pee on yourself, please note she is only 18 and therefore does not have the experience nor degree to run a business efficiently.

As shown by her response, "people coming for my business.." shows a lack of business acumen that her age belies, she is obviously not in charge of the company and most likely those around helped put the company together for her (Lodi, 2016). So saying she is responsible for the "F" grade is entirely is unwarranted, even I cannot believe I am saying it, but the blame lies on those around her and running the daily operations. They should have been the ones giving her a script or prepping her response to the failing grade with the BBB.

However, we have seen others who have been in business longer, who are so called "wiser" and way older than Ms. Jenner, do similar type mistakes. Take for example Microsoft's push of the Windows 10 operating system, Bill Gate's company is steadily pushing out the OP regardless of the fact that many businesses and private owners of PCs worldwide do not want the system in this case, the message is clear and worse than anything Ms. Jenner could say about "people coming" for her business. The average Microsoft OP like Windows 7 or Windows 8 is constantly alerting the operator to upgrade to Windows 10, is in some cases even sneaking in the upload in their update alerts (Williams, 2016).

Meaning that the business knows that its customers do not want the new OP, as many have sounded off on the web about it, and it needs to use shady tactics to push its product upon those who do not submit. As one of these customers I have thought about moving all my files to an Apple device plus I am keeping my old PCs that run Windows 7 and Vista as a result. I do not plan to update to Windows 10 not because the OP is not as user-friendly as I would like but because of Microsoft's response. That response to its customers like myself is that they do not care to make a product that I am comfortable using they want me to merely submit to compliance something that as a consumer and a student of Organization Development is not acceptable.

Please note that I actually did buy and returned it to the manufacturer Hewlett Packard it was because there were issues with the sound so I contacted the manufacturer and they said it was the operating system and to contact Microsoft. I contacted Microsoft and they stated it was the manufacturer however a google search shows that Microsoft knows about the issue and has solutions to fix the problem on its site. Therefore, yes it is a problem with Windows 10 again there was a way to respond yet the company totally sent me off. Now you add this to Microsoft's continuous push of Windows 10 there is obviously a better way to respond to its customers wishes to maintain their loyalty and even cultivate their business for the future.

In both instances, these responses do not endear either company to its customers nor its "haters" and could be an additional reason for any loss in its business that may occur. All organizations must be wary of how they respond to customer issues and complaints otherwise not only will their business will suffer their reputation will as well, which is worse? Only time will tell.

Lodi, Marie (2016)  "Kylie Jenner has responded to her business’ failing grade" Hello Giggles July 7, 2016

https://www.yahoo.com/style/kylie-jenner-responded-her-business-200747149.html

Williams, Wayne (2016) "Microsoft hits a new low -- sneaks Windows 10 advertising into an Internet Explorer security patch" Betanews.com March 3, 2016 http://betanews.com/2016/03/09/windows-10-advertising-in-ie-security-patch/

Interviews: a tedious process

Interviews, of course, we have all went on at least one or two in our lifetimes, but a question I wonder about is: How many interviews do you go on before you change the way you do things?

I remember one time I applied for an Account specialist position with American Express a few years ago, strangely I went on not one, not two, but three interviews with the same interviewee! Now I have been through a phone interview, then face to face interview with an HR representative, then an interview with a hiring manager. But this was one of the most frustrating strings of happenings among many of the times I was looking for employment. 

So near the end of the third interview when the interviewee made it known there would be a fourth interview, and at he looked forward to talking with me again, he wanted to ask one final question. That question was “What is your pet peeve?” I told him that, “…going on too many interviews because they are very stressful...” of course, after that day I did not hear from him about the position again. What I did there was made my intentions known that I could not go to a fourth interview, there were other opportunities that were offered at the same time and I had a lot of difficulty scheduling other interviews around the AMEX interviews.

Making your intentions known during interviews is not something that you should shy away from, that way you can see if it is the right opportunity for you. This was something I learned to do since then because it freed up my schedule for looking into other opportunities including those which lead me to pursuing my education in Organization Development. Changing the way I approached interviews has evolved since then, I have created a set of standardized questions to ask during interviews, I have made sure that if there is a second interview I had another suit ready to go and that was of articles of clothing that was totally different than before. I have been able to “see” now if the positions I have applied for are right for me with more clarity than ever before, just by changing up the way I approached the interview process.

From an Organization Development standpoint, a candidate who comes in asks questions about the organization, the position, and states what they are looking for right off the bat is a godsend. It means that the candidate is serious about the process, serious about their interest in the positions and makes filling that position with the right candidate so much easier. Every Hr representative or hiring manager should be looking for someone like that, why would you hire someone that is counterintuitive to that?

Is experience or a degree a factor in the hiring process?

How much of a factor is experience when filling a position and does a degree outweigh years of spent by a seasoned professional? In Organization Development (OD) we learn the strengths and/or weaknesses of an organization’s employees through testing and training but in the hiring process determining the true nature of a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses is a challenge.

Of course, you say that is why we have the applicants give resumes to present an overview of what they can do. Resumes are subjective pictures or interpretations of the applicant’s personal view of their professional career. Meaning that wading through, reading and understanding what each individual is trying to state when they are discussing their job descriptions at past positions is akin to the old telephone game with the two cans on a string.

The majority of the time the message does not get through, hence when a candidate applies with a freshly earned degree there is a desire to rush to hire to limit the issues and time period connected to the hiring process. Although as we now know, this is not always a good thing and recent college graduates are not always the best candidates for the positions we are trying to fill.

This is where experience comes in, candidates with extensive experience in similar fields or in the general  workforce may be a better fit, individuals that have had years of experience are more likely to adjust and adapt to difficult situations that occur in an organization. Compared to recent grads that have the impression given to them from academic presentations of how the workplace is supposed to operate. Coming from another job in comparison to coming straight from an academic setting can mean a world of difference in terms of qualitative characteristics required for a position. Levels of maturity and stability that can translate into a lower turnover rate for an organization are hard to measure but are also something that you cannot get from a degree.

Since the early 2000's there has been a new requirement for college graduates by organizations in today’s workforce with the unwritten belief that with a degree, will come new ideas of communication and innovation for an organization. Where the problem lies, is that with an organization there is a needed to conform to a hierarchy structure that is not learned in academia and that structure is favored over collaboration. This understanding comes with experience as many organizations are learning now, and are leaning to candidates with a degree AND experience, however, with this increased requirement the hiring pool becomes slim or shallow.

With increased focus upon experience over degrees, one hopes that this does eliminate individuals applying with no experience only a leveling of the playing field when it comes to the hiring process. Professionals versed in Organization Development can assist organizations when it comes to hiring the right individuals for specific positions that require certain skill sets and personality traits. When it comes to the hiring process having an OD professional on staff can make the difference between a lengthy hiring process and high turnover for an organization in comparison to the ideal situation in which it all flows together.