Learning Is Forever: Thoughts on learning and other stuff...

A couple of weeks ago, I was entranced by events of 40 years ago (Moon landing, anyone) as they were replayed on www.wechoosethemoon.org. The people involved with sending a manned mission to the moon chose to reinvent themselves, their beliefs and their capabilities in order to achieve a HUGE goal and become players in the future to which they were directed.

Likewise, we have a choice now. Everywhere you look, you see references to 2.0 – web 2.0, eLearning 2.0, technology 2.0, business strategy 2.0. Yes, it's a 2.0 world with a great, big future in front of us. How many of you, however, have given any thought to You 2.0? That is, what specific things do you need to change to be as successful in the 2.0 world as those previous pioneers were in 1969?

Google only returned 24,600 hits when I queried “You 2.0,” indicating to me that it is a relatively unexplored concept. Most sites talked about reinventing yourself so you can achieve your passions in life. My version of You 2.0 is a bit different – I'm simply talking about the “things” (skills, competencies, vision – pick whatever noun you'd like) you need to be – and remain – relevant in a 2.0 world. So, what are they? Glad you asked. Here's my top ten competencies I think you need to survive:

1. A Personal Brand. (Uniquely You) Anybody remember Davy Crockett? He wasn't just a trapper. He was the “King of the Wild Frontier.” Hell, he was so cool he even had his own theme song. Even today, he gets 969,000 hits on Google. What's your theme song?

2. Core Values. There's a song that says “You've got to believe in something, or you'll fall for anything.” What is it that you believe in? Know what things are wildly important to you, because those are the things that will guide you through anything you face.

3. Be a Systems Thinker. Sure you have decisions to make, but take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Does your decision still make sense? Are you inadvertently impacting something else? The ability to manage details while maintaining a broad perspective will make you invaluable to an organization (and to yourself!).

4. Be Change Able. Shit happens. Sometimes you can control it happening; sometimes you can't. Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to understand how you and others react to change and know what you can do to make yourself (and others) cope, or even thrive, during those times of change. Things change; those who adapt survive.

5. Develop Learning Agility. Learning agility is the ability to adapt and react to new situations extremely quickly. How do you develop this skill? Become a lifelong learner – continually acquire new competencies, seek new experiences, and solicit feedback in order to integrate knowledge, skills and abilities. Not surprisingly, studies have shown that learning agility is a great predictor of future success.

6. “Employer as Customer” Attitude. A friend of mine once told me to remember that my company is renting me for 40 hours a week – they didn't purchase me lock, stock and barrel. If you view your employer as your customer, and you're focused on customer services, think about the change in attitude and productivity that can inspire. If your company is paying you for your services, what is their return on you?

7. Leadership Skills. I firmly believe that you don't need a manager title to be a leader. Regardless of your title, you're always the manager of you. If you work on cultivating your leadership skills, chances are good that you'll be noticed when it's time to lead a project, team, division or something else. At the very least, you've developed an employee that companies desire.

8. Social Media Savvy. Wikipedia – twitter – youtube – facebook - second life - rss feeds – flickr – digg – technorati – scribd – feedburner – ning – meetup. If you aren't familiar with any of these words, get familiar. Social media will dictate how we communicate in the future. Not only should you be aware of it, you should be engaged in it. If you're completely lost, check out the slideshare presentation “What the F**K is Social Media?” Yea, the title is a bit crass, but it's a really good overview.

9. Critical Thinking Skills. The amount of information we're faced with grows exponentially year after year. The ability to analytically evaluate things observed, expressed, or experienced and determining an appropriate conclusion uses the higher level thinking skills deemed “critical thinking.” Given that IDC predicts within five years a tenfold growth of digital information that is created, captured and replicated world-wide, the ability to quickly and efficiently analyze this information will be indispensable.

10. Collaboration. If you didn't get this from the Social Media section, the world is shrinking. It's very unlikely that people will exist in their cubes and never have to interact with others. The more able you are to interface with other people, regardless of title,country, age, etc., the more likely you'll be able to maneuver the 2.0 world.

So there you have it. These are the ten skills that I think are paramount to creating You 2.0.

I'm hoping to expand on each of these in future posts and maybe provide some ways that you can start to develop, or continue to develop, each skill. Until then, map out where you are in the 2.0 world and determine what skills you need to brush up on. By the way, if there are other skills you think are important, let me know.

In my job, I manage professional development programs for US employees.  Given current market conditions, I'm frequently asked about career development opportunities, and, as I was responding to the latest request, I decided to share with a wider audience some of my thoughts.

Most of the links in this post will be Sun internal links, so if you're reading this and you're not a Sun employee, I apologize up front for the inaccessibility of the links.  I hope you'll still get something out of the content though.

First thing's first - what do you mean by "career development" or "career resiliency?"  Dawn Mular posted about ITIL and Career Resiliency, and she outlined her strategy around career resiliency.  You need to do the same thing - defining career resiliency will help you decide what endeavors are most appropriate for your situation. 

If you need help doing that, check out the HR Career Services site - although the resource centers are no longer on campus (at least at Broomfield), the web site still has a great deal of information and usable worksheets.  Of particular value are the worksheets under Know Yourself, the PDF files under Know Your Environment, and the section called Create a Career Action Plan.  Know Yourself and Know Your Environment can help you determine your priorities and identify your growth opportunities (some people call these your "weaknesses").

Once you know what career resiliency means, look for opportunities to grow your skills.  You're probably thinking "that's pretty obvious - can you help me out a little more than that?"  Sure!  There's a myriad of free learning opportunities if you look around.  Here are some that I found:

• Women@Sun held a leadership series that covered a variety of topics around changes, career management and professional development.  MP3 and Presentation material are available for each presentation on the Women@Sun collab site:
• Life in Interesting Times - with Karie Willyerd
• Creating Your Personal Brand - with Karen Rohde
• What a Personal Board of Director Can Do For You - with Christine Bucklin
• Presenting Yourself in Various Cultures - with Lin Lee and Cindy Reese
• Sun Learning Services provides free access to web-based courses, all available through Sun's Learning Management System.  Although these classes are not specifically career management topics, they do provide skills that are both necessary for any career and transferable regardless of where someone is working or what he or she is doing:
  
• Thinking Strategically
• Preparing for Change
• Defining Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence at Work
  
• The Fundamentals of Effective Thinking
• Views on Organizational Change
• Another resource that I absolutely love (and I don't think enough people know about it) is Books 24x7 - accessible through Sun's Digital Libraries.  If you're okay with saving lots of money by accessing books for free and reading them online, you may find the following books interesting:
  
• Resilience at Work: How to Succeed No Matter What Life Throws at You - by Salvatore R. Maddi and Deborah M. Khoshaba
• Managing Your Career for Dummies - by Max Messmer  (although some people may find the For Dummies series insulting, it provides a no-nonsense approach to career management)
• Career Development - by Tricia Jackson
• Business Book Reviews is also available through Sun's Digital Libraries (free for Sun employees) and contains short (8 pages) reviews of top business books.  Some reviews of interest are:
• The Change Cycle - by Ann Salerno and Lillie Brock
• The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional and Virtual Networks - by Michael Dulworth
• How to Sell Yourself: Using Leadership, Likability and Luck to Succeed - by Arch Lustberg
• Outside of Sun, there are a even more opportunities to learn about career resiliency and develop career-long skills.  Googling "career resilience" and "career management" turned up some of the items below.  I also like to check out things like YouTube and other blogs to see what free stuff people are offering to promote their current work - sometimes it pays off!
  
• American Management Association offers free webcasts and records them for later playback.  Some of their webcasts do have a registration cost, so just be sure of which one you're selecting.  Some free ones include: 
  
• Network Your Way to Success: Tips and Techniques
• Emotional Intelligence: A Powerful Tool for Effective Management
• Agility and Resilience in the Face of Continuous Change
• Who's Got Your Back: Building Deep, Trusting Relationships that Create Success

• AMA Edgewise provides podcasts on various topics.  You can view their site for a complete list of podcasts.
• Free Management Library is an awesome resource for just about any job-related topic.  The Career Development section is located at http://www.managementhelp.org/career/career.htm but be sure to check out the home page as well.
• An interesting article turned up on How to Fireproof Your Career: Five Strategies for Worklife Survival
• And YouTube didn't disappoint!  Brian Moffit provides a video on Good Work NOW! #8: Career Resilience - focusing on the concepts of career resilience and providing ten tips for career resilience.

Obviously, if you have some money to work with, there are a ton of workshops, seminars, webinars, etc. that you might attend.  Free is good, though, and there are plenty of free resources out there.  So what other resources are out there?  What are you using to manage your career?  There's a whole list on this page that you can take advantage of, too!

I recently finished a class on Crucial Conversations (Sun employees can view the internal class schedule) and was impressed with the content of the class.  It helps you identify conversations that are or will become sticking points in achieving success and lets you practice techniques in turning around the conversation to achieve a meaningful outcome for all people involved.

During the class, one of the concepts that we talked about was labeling people - HR folks, those engineers, bean counters - you get the picture.  In a side conversation, one of the people in class made the comment that they (specifically not specifying "he" or "she") really liked these kinds of classes, but their team was a bunch of technical guys - is that a label I hear?- and wouldn't like this kind of class at all.

What?  Wouldn't like to know how to recognize difficult conversations and walk into those conversations with confidence and a game plan for success? As Vizzini would say - Inconceivable!  Are technical people really so far removed from real life that they never have conversations?  With anyone?  (I'm being a little sarcastic simply because my husband is one of those "technical" people).

If you read my About section, you'll notice that I manage employee learning for the United States.  So, I'm curious - all you "technical people" out there at Sun - are you really interested in only technical courses, or are you interested in other classes that add to your repertoire of business skills?  If you are interested in other business skills, which ones are most important to you?

“I don't care if you create the best training in the world.  If it doesn't change behavior, it doesn't do me any good.”

These words were spoken to me by an executive vice president at an undisclosed company.  I wanted to argue that if the training was the “best in the world,” it would actually be designed to change behavior and would undoubtedly cost more to create and evaluate than he was willing to fund (which, by the way, was $0).

The comment got me thinking, though.  How many of us expect to have a learning path handed to us and be told “This is what you need to do and how you need to do it?"  If you check off the boxes, will you be successful?  I doubt it.

On the other hand, how many of us spend time researching topics that interest us, engaging in communities at work or on the web around those topics, and explore options that will allow us to continually expand our knowledge.  What is it that makes this person completely different from the person who wants the checklist?  And, perhaps more importantly, how can we encourage or enable the checklist person to be more of an explorer?  Further, are there characteristics of each that should be emulated?

I am convinced that learning does not have to take place in a classroom.  There are a variety of sources – free seminars (or webinars), social networking sites, interest groups at work, programs through professional organizations, blogs, etc. - that will allow us to learn and develop as individuals, co-workers and general human beings.  We as individuals, though, need to be responsible and accountable for our learning.  Yes, a classroom may be appropriate for some things.  Heck, even a checklist is appropriate at times.

Challenge yourself to be responsible for your learning and accountable to yourself for expanding your knowledge.  My bet is that you'll be more engaged in what you're doing and more valuable to your employer.  Yes, we may be able to create the best training in the world, but it's up to each individual to consume and internalize what's out there.

Yes, it's that time of year.  Again.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it (not that you have a choice) is to create your annual development plan.  Surprisingly (said with a lot of sarcasm), most people create their annual development plan about two or three days before their annual review.  Somehow, that seems a bit wrong!

Unfortunately, I think this happens because most people look at a development plan as just another thing to do and just some more boxes to check off at the end of the year.  How many times have you thought "I don't have a clue what class I want to go to this year.  Heck, I don't even want to go to a class this year.  Who needs a development plan anyway?"  

Here's a thought:  It doesn't have to be this way!!

If you read my previous post, you read about the two questions - what do you want to do with your life, and what can you offer the world that nobody else can?  If you read the manifesto in its entirety, you may have even looked at your 1-year, 5-year and lifetime goals.  If that's the case, use your need to create a development plan to re-evaluate those goals and make sure you're on track with what you want to achieve.

Employee development doesn't have to be just attending a class and checking a box at the end of the year.  Check out this list of 30 ideas for development activities.  You might just find something that is interesting to you!  

1. Attend a local, regional or national conference. Be sure to bring your findings back to your team. MANAGERS: Make sure you provide the opportunity for sharing to occur.
2. Present at a local, regional or national conference.
3. If your company has an internal conference (user groups, engineering conference, etc), apply to present at that.  Actually present if accepted.
4. Complete a course at your local university or at an online university.
5. Finish your undergraduate or masters degree.
6. Write an article for a professional publication or organization.  Be sure to check the submission requirements for the publication!
7. Join a professional organization and attend a local chapter meeting or seminar.
8. Attend a seminar or workshop offered outside of your company.
9. Teach a TOI (transfer of information), Lunch & Learn or something similar for your team or another team in your organization.
10. Create a video on a topic of your expertise and post it to your internal platform (Sun employees can use the Sun Learning Exchange)
11. Review 2-3 journals or magazines every month to monitor industry trends.  You can access many journals through EBSCO Host - commonly available in public libraries with your library card.
12. Read Harvard Business Review or California Management Review to understand business trends.  Both of these can be accessed through EBSCO Host as well.
13. Pick out a top business book - read it and discuss it with your manager.  This would be a great opportunity to take your manager out for a cup of coffee to get his or her undivided attention.
14. Select a technical book to review.  Discuss it with your team, your manager, or your mentor.
15. Mentor another person.
16. Ask someone to be your mentor.
17. Volunteer on the board or a committee of a professional organization
18. Google free webinar <insert topic> and see if there's a free webinar that interests you.  Attend and share what you learned with your team.
19. Start a blog to share your thoughts with others.
20. Participate in an online community - respond to a blog, start a group on LinkedIn or Facebook, etc.
21. Attend an instructor led class offered through your company.
22. Attend a web-based class offered through your company.
23. Engage with local colleges to be a guest speaker or host a workshop on campus.
24. Participate in Sun Technology Fairs at local campuses.  (Okay, this is really targeted toward Sun employees, but, hey, that's what I am!  You could adapt this to "participate in career fairs (or something similar) at your local colleges).
25. Look for volunteer opportunities with state and local government agencies to provide IT help.
26. Plan a technology fair, science fair or something similar for your company.  Recruit people to present and share ideas.
27. Join an open source project and get involved in the product development, forums, or aliases.
28. If you have a Masters degree, check with a local university or college about becoming and adjunct professor (sometimes called a contract or network instructor).
29. Volunteer to teach computer skills (or your area of expertise) at a Senior Citizens Center.
30. Ask your local school districts if they offer any kind of special event around kids and technology.  Volunteer at that event.
31. BONUS 1: Coordinate an internal conference where best practices can be shared for a team within your company - a sales conference for sales people; an IT conference for your technical team, etc.
32. BONUS 2: Volunteer to teach a class at a local Recreation Center or Community Center.
33. BONUS 3: Apply to teach classes for a continuing education program (typically offered through local universities or community colleges).

Okay, so I gave you a list of 33 when the title promised 30.  Sorry about that, but once I go started, I just couldn't stop.  Consider it a gift!  :)

As you can see, there are many more options for "development" than just attending a class.  If you have other ideas that should be added to this list, please leave a comment in order to share with everyone else.  Hey, then you can add #20 to your plan!

Happy planning! 

Apologies to Nike, but they were not the first to use the phrase “Just do it!” It's a phrase I heard often growing up as I had an older brother who wasn't afraid to double and triple-dog dare me.

It's a phrase one of my Russian gymnastics coaches used to get me to do the tumbling pass that scared me. Although, Boris made it sound more like “DOOOOT!”

It's a phrase I heard when I was standing at the end of a diving board after my swimming instructor said the diving board was just like the vault in gymnastics. Just for the record, you run a lot faster and harder for the vault than you need to for the diving board. Yea, you get the picture – the dive was pretty; the ending wasn't!

And it's now a phrase I'm hearing as I contemplate jumping into that bigger pool of blogging. So why bother? I think that I might have something meaningful to contribute to the conversation around the importance of learning to improve yourself, those around around you and your organization or company. The scary part is that you'll be the judge of that – not me. So, let's get started, shall we?

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This time around, I'm hitting the topic of personal improvement.

Last week I found a manifesto with a catchy title: A Brief Guide to World Domination (and other important goals) – How to Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World. Who wouldn't want to read that? Chris Guillebeau, the author, believes that you can achieve remarkable personal goals, help others at the same time, and do so in a way that challenges conventional belief that mediocrity is good enough.

In doing so, Chris puts forth two challenging questions:
1) What do you really want to get out of life?
2) What else can you offer the world that no one else can?

I found myself nodding in agreement as Chris talked about setting 1-year, 5-year and lifetime goals and how they can help define the answer to question one. I found myself agreeing as Chris introduced examples of people who were really living a remarkable life and helping others at the same time – Randy Pausch, professor extraordinaire ; Sam Thompson, ultra marathon runner, and Matt and Jessica Flanery, founders of kiva.org.

The overriding message in the manifesto is that you don't have to live your life the way other people expect you to. Other people will tell you that “it” (whatever your “it” is) can't be done, or that you need more experience, or that you need (fill in the blank). These are the gatekeepers – the people who want you to remain conventional and unremarkable. You can listen to these people, or you can listen to yourself.

Chris does provide 11 tips on remaining unremarkably average. Four of my favorites are:

• Accept what people tell you at face value
• Don't question authority
• Don't stand out or draw attention to yourself
• Jump through hoops; Check off boxes 

If you're still with me, you're probably intrigued by this manifesto as well. I guess that means you have an inner desire to be remarkable and a bit unconventional. Read the manifesto, answer the questions, complete the Ideal World exercise. Determine what it is you need to do to live a remarkable life.

What you choose isn't the most important thing – what's important is that you pick something and then just do it.