What makes the most effective Leaders; whether it be at the front line, shop floor, middle manager or the glass ceiling is simply…

…The Ability to LET GO!

The only way to become more effective at what you do, to focus on the direction and the vision of your path is to let go of the things that keep you from moving forward. This means:

1. Delegating to those around, under and above appropriately,
2. Dumping anything that is absolutely non-essential to what you absolutely need to focus your time on which will allow you to start
3. Doing the things that you must absolutely do that no one else should be held accountable for. These can also be the things that are actually in your capability, skill and potential.

This is not easy. While I and all of you are most likely overwhelmed, overloaded and overworked; an exercise to help figure out what you must (1) Delegate, (2) Dump, and (3) Do is even more essential then ever.

An Exercise for Delegation

Take a moment to list all of the activities you perform in your role. Then take each thing and categorize it under one of the columns. You may realize how much you need and don’t need to DO, what you should DELEGATE to help those around you become better, and then focus on what you absolutely need to DO!

SELF ASSESSMENT

Now it is time for your to assess how much you hold onto. Follow the instructions below and think about what you listed and what you can realistically prioritize! Good luck.

Try this! After you do it let me know what you thought, took away, or maybe even changed!

Being someone who has specialized in the field of Learning and Development much of my career I have always tried to be aware of various approaches, techniques, and technologies to help enhance and advance the learning experience. When “E-Learning” became the big trend to go towards in training and development I was leery. Over the years my suspicions have been proven when most people, practitioners and companies turned the big craze of E-Learning into an overblown PowerPoint or conference call.

But the advance in technologies and the idea of “Digital Natives” (being anyone born after 1990 and most of the life has been immersed in mobile technologies) there is true potential in the power of these technologies for actual learning. I tend to see that my colleagues, associations, and consultants are going to be in for a rude awakening when the audience that has traditionally attended ILTs (instructor lead training ‘s) begin to disappear and the demand for new and more dynamic ways of learning are… well… demanded!

I just hope that I can help others, as well as myself keep up! What do you think? I will be press at the ASTD International Conference in Orlando so feel free to connect on twitter: @BenjaminMcCall, Subscribe to this blog or talk while you are there!

So are you ready for the transition? Let’s

From Voxy.com

Via: Voxy Blog

This post was originally written on December 31st, 2009. I think it is just as true today. As more companies are beginning to hire and develop talent for succession planning and workforce development, it is important that those leading the training(s) make it usable and actionable for their participants.

As we go into the new year, everyone will have Resolutions. I want to lose weight, I need a better job, I will, I won’t, I want. There are others that will want to advance their own skills and knowledge by attending new training, seminars and classes. This is great. But what if you attend one that doesn’t do any of those things.

The Scenario: You are ready to learn. You register for a seminar that you are ready and willing to engage in and actually help you to DO something new and different. You arrive at the seminar/class and they discuss a topic at a high level. All well and good but you have no previous knowledge of the topic or process and your entire purpose of attending was to learn something and possibly take a few templates, ideas and actions away from it.  Mind you they never really break down what works, any new approaches and/or possible step by steps on how to do it better.

During the session they discuss a lot of points but nothing that you or many people in the room could use. When you ask the presenter “how” you can apply the points within the seminar in a real life scenario they say, “Well, you need to be sure you provide TRAINING.” Umm isn’t that what you thought you were suppose to get out of that session? Isn’t that what you paid for? Well maybe they just take your money.

What the Fudge: How many of you have ever been in this situation? Many times people use the words and lecture rather then outline steps and provide simulations for us to take the time to put what we have learned into practice.

Help Me Do It Better: If you are unable to provide examples or allow simulation time, then at least have some hand-outs that include best practices, scenarios and/or quick guides and templates on how someone can practices what they have learned within the next 30 days.

Practice what you preach: I am a firm believer that what you are teaching should be placed throughout the actual presentation/facilitation in order to allow participants to experience, recognize and put what they learned into action.

Speak Up: Next time you face this in a presentation, be sure to call the person out because you only get what you ask for! And don’t you want to be the best?

Have a great, educational and prosperous 2010!

At what point does learning and performance switch from the responsibility of a manager or corporate entity versus that of an individual?

No one owes you development. You owe it to yourself… to develop yourself.

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.  ~Attributed to Harry S. Truman