HR, L&D Capability and Role

Further clarity around the myth of learning styles...

Wonderful ideas for facilitators and coaches to craft accountability focused questions. 

I really lovely summary of a day in the life of an Org Designer at Ideo, with some really useful ideas on what org design is really all about and practical activities to support practice.

Diversity Fatigue and the failures of diversity training

There is a lot to take in from this article, but the key message is the hard truth that 'for men as well as women, it doesn’t matter how sincere companies are in embracing diversity if their own policies work against it–and in particular if they make it impossible to balance work with family'.

It is also important to recognise that traditional diversity training is not effective and often has the opposite effect, especially when it is mandatory; when it so much as mentions the law; or when it is specific to managers, as opposed to being offered to all employees.

Many companies are shifting towards a focus on unconscious bias. The key idea is not casting blame and that 'if we believe that everyone around us is trying hard to fight against stereotypes and prejudices, we’ll do the same. Call it peer pressure, or call it a pack mentality. Whatever it is, it works. Our own biases disappear'.

No surprise though; how much companies talk about equality and inclusiveness matters little compared with how they act. Incentives speak louder than any speeches by the CEO, or bias-training workshops, or posters on a wall.

HR professionals deliver business impact through talent (competencies of people), organisation (capabilities of the organisation), and leadership (the bridge between the two). Capabilities represent what the organisation is known for and good at doing (eg innovation, collaboration, customer anticipation, change, information sensing). These capabilities are created and sustained by the systems around people and performance.  In each and any business dialogue, HR professionals can ask how and offer to improve talent, leadership, and organisation to deliver value to all stakeholders.

I'm not quite sure where to put the organisation's 'capacity' in the above. I get that 'culture' work is sits in the space of the leadership bridge, but the ability of individuals and the organisation to embrace complexity, requires a collaborative growth culture (aspiration). I fear the above definition doesn't do justice to the need for this adaptive culture work.

Empathy maps, customer journey maps, experience maps, and service blueprints depict different processes and have different goals, yet they all build common ground within an organization. This article gives an overview of four commonly used mappings, their defining characteristics, and when to use which.

21st Century HR is a new Fast Company series exploring new and next approaches in the field of Human Resources. Each month, 21st Century HR will cover topics ranging from emerging practices, HR technology, diversity & inclusion, and other areas related to the future of work. The series will be led by Lars Schmidt and will feature additional contributors and conversations covering topics across a range of modern HR areas.

A great selection of resources on design thinking, with a strong focus on journey/experience mapping. I've also found Adaptive Path's Guide to Experience Mapping useful - http://adaptivepath.org/ideas/our-guide-to-experience-mapping/

For those interested in exploring further, I'd recommend completing +Acumen's Introduction to Human Centred Design Course (run by Ideo) - https://www.plusacumen.org/courses/introduction-human-centered-design

62 organisations and their core purpose. Interesting to see the spectrum from one sentence statements, through to extended value propositions.

Do the quiz, get others to do the quiz, or simply select examples to help people consider your organisation's core purpose.  

How design thinking  can really help HR have impact. Interesting to see the expanded view of Employee Experience to focus specifically on Customer Experience of HR. 

In this video, Will Thalheimer shares the scientific research on learning objectives in an attempt to disambiguate the many confusions and mythologies surrounding their use.

Objectives guide behaviour...

Don't use 'Learning objective', instead use 'Focusing objectives' -  help people focus, help them pay attention to the things targeted by the learning objectives. Words must be specific enough to  be triggered by the words that will be used in the learning material. 

Focusing objectives work because they trigger the learner's attentional resources. Clear objectives sit in long term memory, waiting to be triggered by learning materials.

There are however, many other ways to guide learner attention (without learning objectives) - tell them if it is important (reinforce), repetition, ensure it is relevant, curate and simplify content, and use strong design principles....