Week 5 KYL

Week 3

Week 3 Journal

This week started off with an interesting discussion assignment involving a see-saw and staying in balance. I thought this assignment was a metaphor for many different aspects of the business environment. Effective communication, team work, and balancing between training and performance management. I believed the experiment actually tied back into one of the lectures involving a picture of a leader pulling a barrel full of wheels, on square wheels, with the workers pushing the barrel behind him unseen. This image makes a bold statement about how a lot of organizations operate. First off there is a gap between leaders and associate understanding. The associates are following their leaders and assisting them as best they can however the leaders still feel as if they are pulling the weight. Also the associates are in the back pulling the weight without being looked at by the leaders or recognized for their efforts. Also a problem with the diagram is that barrel is rolling on square wheels. Without the proper foundation a business cannot “roll” or function successfully. Also the barrel is full of circular wheels. If the leader or associates took the time to look inside the barrel they could have come up with a solution and worked together to change the square tires. Sometimes the solution to a problem is right in the middle of the team and with effective communication can help put the solution into motion.

Our second discussion of the week discussed our experience with training methods what worked, and what did not work. I believe training methods needs to be tailored not only to the job role, work environment, and type of organization but also to the individual. Different people learn things differently and I think it’s important to consider this when implementing training. The style of training and the way someone learns shouldn’t have a negative effect on their job performance. If individuals are given an equal opportunity to learn the best way for them then it evens the playing field. Computer based training was discussed in my research and seems to be the “go-to” method of training for the organization in which I am currently employed. Computer based programs are the easiest for organizations to adopt as they are able to be tailored to the organization, job role, and individuals needs. They can incorporate videos, lectures, simulations, games, roles plays, and other activities to ensure learning and understanding. This kind of makes computer based programs and all-in-one system incorporating many different training methods to facilitate the training.

The assignment for this week involved creating diagrams and using the analysis methods discussed in one of the lectures this week to form a solution to a problem currently within our organizations. I chose low associate engagement levels because I think it impacts a lot of the productivity and willingness to produce quality work in the work environment. My organizations associate’s hold a low morale and most seem to be just using this job as  something temporary until something better comes along. They don’t necessarily invest in the company and have a positive attitude when coming to work. I think the root of the problem is associate value. Associates don’t feel valued and as if their job role is making a difference with the organization and I don’t believe leaders are doing are they can to value associates and make them feel valued. I think this all starts with recognizing associates for good performance or maybe even just for something random like perfect attendance…these things should be appreciated. With recognition the associate feels important and will start to have a more positive attitude towards the workplace. There are other factors that go into with low associate engagement but I think that is a good place to start in order to implement changes.

WEEK 2

This week we discussed on-boarding, associate engagement, and the performance review process. Speaking through these processes I was able to pull a lot of knowledge from my own personal experiences and apply them to the assignment as well as the discussion posts.
I guess I've always been lucky when it comes to the on-boarding process but this week I learned there are many ways in which the on-boarding process could go wrong. Its always  been very organized and I know exactly where I need to be and what I need to be doing at all times,  even down to where I need to park and what side of the building I need to enter. I think these details made me feel valued as a newly hired employee and that they were really excited to have me joining the organization. I think this initial impression for the organization sets the tone for how the organization values associate engagement.
Associate engagement is a hot topic for many organizations, especially in the sense that they have low levels of associate engagement. Speaking from my employer's view, I think they place a high emphasis on associate engagement, however the activities and events they plan in efforts to increase it don't really work because these things don't really matter to the associates. I think there's a huge gap between leaders and the associates when it comes to associate engagement and the fact that they are on two different pages. Executive put the policies in place that affect the associate and that the associates may not be happy with. I think leaders look more at raw numbers and data versus actually analyzing employee engagement surveys and using that data to make changes.
For this week assignment we had to create our own associate survey and get results from coworkers. Building the survey itself I kind of pulled my questions from my own organization's associate surveys and thought of questions that were actually relevant and would matter to the employee. I also thought it was important to have a portion of the survey in which the associate was able to write out their opinions in paragraph form versus just choosing from a multiple choice answer. The results of the survey pretty much mirrored my own opinions which lead me to believe that the surveys are a good way to measure or pulse what the majority of the associates are feeling and use this to make changes.
Performance reviews were also discussed. My organization is pretty good at conducting performance reviews often and also outlining performance at the beginning of the year as to whats already going well, what needs to be improved, and what direction you would like to go in going forward. Performance reviews are critical to business processes in that you don't know where your going an how to get there if you don't know your current location. By accessing performance  now the associate can put into plan the necessary steps to improve performance and take their career where they would  like it to go.
I thoroughly enjoyed this week's topics because I think we all can relate to these topics and can discuss our own experiences and what went well and what didn't go so well to see what best practices should be as we get into the world of human resources. I think these real life experiences are critical to learning because we can all draw from everyone's experiences and learn about new ideas and concepts in order to reach a better conclusion. Its important to pull from experiences as associates because as leaders we need to remember the perspective of the employee and ensure that perspective is considered when decisions are made.

WEEK 1

I was extremely excited to start this class as I am interested in getting involved in talent management in my own organization and this will be a great foundation for me to learn all that the topic entails.

Defining Talent Management

I always thought talent management was just the associates life cycle with the organization. However through this weeks' readings and lectures I realized there is a lot more to it than that. A lot of the readings and research I found were in relation to not just managing talent but developing management as well. Its not only important to hire the right employees it's very important to develop employees within the organization so they can reach their full potential and continue to contribute to the organization in a positive way.

Talent management and development also contribute a lot to business strategy. In many of the readings they spoke about hiring the right person at the right time. By hiring qualified or even over qualified associates in the beginning. By making sure you potential candidates are adequately equipped to handle their job role you can cut down on training and education that you would need to use on someone with just the potential to be adequately equipped. Also by hiring the right person you can ensure that the organization is able to develop the associate to embody the culture of the organization and bring success to its future. 

Developing Talent in My Organization

In answering one of the discussion questions this week I had to explore my own organization's efforts to develop talent. My organization offers a leadership program involving mentors and mentees that get to learn the business from a leadership perspective in efforts to apply these skills to a future leadership position. The leadership program lasts in 6 month rotations allowing the opportunity and chance to be chosen to be a part of it open to everybody. I respect that my department in this organization has this opportunity as it sometimes is very competitive between associates to out perform the next and get promoted based on performance alone and not leadership ability. This leadership program is almost like a gateway into becoming a leader within the organization, allowing to network with other leaders and display leadership skills by having the opportunity to coach other associates.
In addition to offering a leadership type program I believe its important to also discuss talent development with associates on an individual level. Annually or biannually its important to discuss performance with associates but it's also important at these times to discuss career goals and how performance could effect these goals and what can be done to help the associate achieve these goals. Individually each person has a different career goal. Some may be ok in their current role and want to continue to develop to be even greater in that role. Other associates may want to develop into a leadership position or take on more responsibility. Other associates may want to change their career path within their organization and maybe learn another line of business. By at least discussing these plans and having managers discuss a path or way to achieve these goals associates feel valued and like they matter and directly contribute to the success of the organization.

Assignment 

In doing this week's assignment in designing a competency model it made me think a lot about what goes into hiring a good potential candidate for my own position and also what qualities I already bring to the table. I'm interested to know what goes into creating job titles and requirements when posting vacancies to attract potential candidates. What area of HR would handle this task within my organization? Also is there an area that studies each job role to see what type of person would be a great fit for a future position? I think organizing all of this data and being consistent and compliant can be pricey and tedious,  however its something I'm highly interested in and would like to learn  more about.