2012-01-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

Teachable Moments in the Workplace

I remember, when I was in high school, my father was reading the book, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. He told me that I should read the book, when he is done. It was one of the last things I recall him suggesting to me, before he was struck by a life changing brain tumor. It wasn’t until I was well into University that I got around to reading it. As with many people, the title has stuck with me. Perhaps it was too simple or absurd or because it just did not appear to be an idea that a mature person would latch on to. The success of the book most decidedly revealed my naivety in judging good ideas. This is, in particular, the reason why I have chosen to write on the topic of “teachable moments” - a subject that my wife, an elementary school teacher, mentioned in passing. And because I do not wish to overlook obvious wisdom, twice in my life.

As a seasoned human resources professional I have routinely coached supervisors and managers in methods of training & development and performance management. It has become my main stay skill in the workplace. But it was not until I began reading about “teachable moments” that the pieces started to fall into place - early learning pedagogy transported into the world of andragogy (adult learning). Moreover, I discovered that the idea of a teachable moment is less about the teacher and lesson then it is about the student and the event. The following two descriptions will help reveal my hypothesis:

A mother and child are playing and the mother warns the child not to run in the sand. The child promptly runs in the sand, trips and skins their knee. The mother then says, “you should not run in the sand because you might fall.”

A manager asks an employee to perform a series of tasks. The employee figures out a way to complete the tasks quickly. A problem occurs in the process of completing the tasks and the manager’s expected outcome does not materialize. The manager then holds the employee accountable for the failure.

In both of these situations we have a teacher and student. We also have an event. And while the outcomes are noticeably absent, we can speculate that in the future the students either repeated or do not repeat their problematic behavior. What is also evident is that the teachers have chosen to focus their feedback on the student’s behavior and not on the “event or moment”. Conventional thinking tells us that we should, in fact, address behavior directly if we are seeking a desired change. And I do not disagree. But as such in too many cases, through feedback we steer the student from self-learning toward situational learning. Furthermore, we erase the experiential essence of a teachable moment and replace it with an auditory instructional moment.

Fortunately, early learning humans are very flexible and will learn from the experiential moment despite the instructional. Adult learners, however, may struggle with this because they can easily sense a conflict in agenda between the latent experiential lesson and the instructional. This is further exacerbated as similar situations overlay themselves with subtle lesson discrepancies – better known as the development of interpersonal "baggage."

The following are a couple of teachable moment tips that I have adopted from Malcolm Knowles’ ideas on andragogy.

Before you respond to an event say to yourself , “I am about to create a learning experience / teachable moment,”

What do I hope to achieve by my actions and will my response support that outcome?
Are the student and I motivated to learn from this experience?
Am I positioning this teachable moment in a manner that I know the student will learn?

The morale of this story is that as managers we often miss or transform perfect teachable moments into just plain moments and we wonder why no one is learning from them.

Author: Richard Clatney

A Transactional - Transformational Divide Emerges in HR

2011-11-30T19:37:00.001-08:00

In a recent survey, conducted by Paul Juniper and Alison Hill of Queen’s University, the work of HR professionals appears to be changing. “HR is increasingly viewed as a value-add to organizations, as senior management relies more heavily on HR to participate in strategic decision-making.” The study reveals that HR professionals are spending more time on all HR activities; however, the increase is less evident on transactional activities (like recruitment, for instance) and more significant on strategic or transformational activities. Although the shift wasn’t huge, it paints a picture of what the HR field might look like in the future.

In 1997, Dave Ulrich and colleagues wrote "human resource strategy must be anchored to the business strategy." Since then the development of the field of HR has stayed the course. Research also supports the idea of HR as a strategic partner - providing organization-wide value. "What Senior HR Leaders Need to Know," published by SHRM (2010) shows that “strategic thinking” was ranked as the most important competency for senior HR professionals in Canada, India and North Africa (and ranked second in the USA). Interestingly, HR (technical) knowledge was ranked in the top 5 in USA, India and North Africa, but did not rank in the top 5 in Canada. It would appear that technical (i.e., transactional) aspects of the HR profession are becoming less important to leadership, compared to other HR functions. Furthermore, Juniper and Hill reveal that “business acumen” is the critical skill for HR professionals, and that they are spending more time working on activities such as ethics and change management.

Looking at the outsourced HR industry may also help us see what the future holds. In a 2002 survey, of 125 large organizations, the Conference Board of Canada reported that a full 62% of firms outsourced major HR functions. Outsourced services include payroll, recruitment, training, and benefits, among others. Similarly, from a survey of companies of all sizes, BenefitsCanada.com recently published that only one-third of Canadian employers outsourced any HR services in 2005. Yet in 2010, 59% outsourced some or all HR services, and another 10% plan to do so.

The trend toward transactional HR outsourcing appears to be supporting the transition of HR professionals from service provider to strategic partner. It is also resulting in a service-divide within the industry. On the one side there are external service providers requiring administratively skilled HR coordination staff, and on the other side veteran, highly skilled HR leaders are needed. With little more encouragement, businesses may choose to forego middle level HR management in favor of transactional business partners and executive HR leadership. The HR industry appears to be sub-dividing - un-folding a widening gap of outsourced activities and in-house stewardship in a Transactional – Transformational divide.

References

http://irc.queensu.ca/articles/state-of-hr-survey-summary

http://www.hrfolks.com/knowledgebank/future%20of%20mgmt/future%20of%20hr%20management.pdf

http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/WhatSrHRLeadersNeedtoKnow.aspx

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/documents.aspx?did=845

http://www.benefitscanada.com/news/hr-outsourcing-is-gaining-ground-570

Author: Richard Clatney, CHRP

Edited by: Chelsea Willness, Ph.D.

Ayimach HR

A Transactional - Transformational Divide Emerges in HR