So many people I work with want to develop – as leaders or in their career or sometimes both. But the reality for many is a jam-packed schedule and limited resources making traditional development options like earning another degree at the local university unfeasible.
If you are in this situation, say hello to MOOCs. Massive Online Open Courses or MOOCs are (from wikepedia): online courses aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build community.
Because I’ve been recommending them to clients (and other random people) for awhile now, I decided to register for and experience a MOOC firsthand. My course started last week and I am one of tens of thousands of students from around the world registered for Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence through MOOC provider Coursera.
The course is offered at no cost. However, I registered for the signature track which does cost $39. I did that to keep me accountable and also because I may try to use the course for continuing ed credit. Not sure if that will fly.
So far it’s pretty cool – awesome content on a topic I love. I’ve viewed all the Module 1 videos, posted in the online forum (along with people around the globe – literally). Haven’t done the personal learning assignment yet but the deadline is still a few days away. It happens on my schedule and at my desk or wherever I am with my ipad.
The Coursera blog has some great MOOC success stories. In one, a student credits his MOOC learrning with getting him a Google internship. Not bad for free courses.
Check out many MOOC options here and the 12 most popular MOOCS for professionals here. Seems like whatever your interest, there’s a MOOC. It may be just the kind of development to fit your current needs.
Are you in development mode? Have you participated in a MOOC? Share your thoughts on this one in the comments.
*The urban dictionary defines mookie as: To be soft towards someone or something that you care about. Show yourself you care and find a MOOC that will inspire, excite, and help you grow.
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Energy and Leadership
Andrew Deutscher of The Energy Project spoke at today’s Baton Rouge Area Chamber meeting. As a longtime fan of Tony Schwartz, founder of The Energy Project and author of the book, Be Excellent at Anything (previously titled The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working), it was a thrill to attend.
Lots of great wisdom was shared at this event and of course, I want to pass some on:
Luke Kissam, CEO of Albemarle Corporation introduced the speaker. Kissam is leading the initiative to change Albemarle’s culture to one that values energy renewal via tools and ideas from The Energy Project. He shared a really important kernel of truth re: organizational change that many well-intentioned change agents often disregard or don’t understand which is commitment to culture change starts at the top. Org change is extremely difficult and without commitment from the top, it is exponentially harder and in some cases may not be possible.
Here are a couple of ideas from Deutscher that really struck a chord:
1. Too often companies are focused on developing skills/talent in their people rather than the capacity (energy) of their people to perform. I see and hear this need for skills/talent a lot but rarely see leaders address the burnout causing a superstar to contribute less and less as long as that person is working more and more.
2. Time is an external resource that is limited. Energy is an internal resource that we can manage.
3. What should be important is not the number of hours worked but the energy (capacity) we bring to the hours worked.
Did these give you some aha moments?
Finally, Deutscher said that if leaders model the behavior they want, it’s not even necessary for them to tell people what to do. That is the power of behavior modelling and why commitment to culture change must start at the top. (I totally agree with this one and have written about behavior modeling in the past.)
How is your energy? What techniques do you use to stay energized and working at full capacity? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And thanks for reading!
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If You Sow It, It Will Grow
Cultivating a healthy, green lawn has always been a challenge because we live under a canopy of live oak, magnolia, and other trees which limits sunlight reaching the ground. We sodded numerous times – sometimes paying people to cover the yard with little squares of grass and other times doing the backbreaking work ourselves but it never lasted very long.
About three years ago, I started buying bags of grass seed – usually the cheap fescue but occasionally the more expensive centipede. Whenever conditions are good, meaning it has recently rained so the ground is soft and moist and more rain is coming that will press the seeds in, I’ll go out and throw seeds where needed. I never water anything because water is a precious resource but more importantly, I can’t move a sprinkler without getting soaked.
Lo and behold, sowing seeds has worked. Our lawn is thick and green and actually lush in spots.
One of my neighbors admired it recently so I explained my system. Two weeks later he informed me that he tried seeding but it just didn’t work for him. I laughed when I told my husband the story because it’s taken several years to get to this point. Then it occurred to me that it is a perfect metaphor for career and leadership development and for growing a business.
You can begin now to sow seeds for your career, leadership, and/or business success. Volunteer for that special project or committee assignment at work. send a follow-up e-mail to the guy you met at the networking event with a link to the book you mentioned, register for a MOOC (massive open online course). Hundreds of small and large opportunities exist for you to sow seeds for future success.
You probably won’t see results in two weeks either but if you do this consistently, in a few years you’ll look around and think, wow, how green and lush my work has become.
What are you doing to develop your career, leadership ability, and business? I would love to see your thoughts in the comments section below.
Do you know you?
A coaching truism: self-awareness is the starting point for development. Indeed, this applies to career and leadership development.
Unfortunately, most people are so busy cramming each day with work, family, leisure, and life-maintenance tasks that we rarely take the time to reflect on who we really are right now.
Many of us look back at ourselves in high school and college, or during our twenties or thirties and have a laugh or think of that gospel lyric ‘thank God I’m not like I used to be’.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know your current self so that in twenty years you don’t reflect on this time and cringe? The good news is, that with awareness, you can make changes to start living and working more as the person you hope to be. However, Daniel Goleman does warn us to not become obsessed with knowing ourselves.
But, how do you get to know you? Fortunately, feedback is all around.
A shift in perspective about daily encounters is one way to gather feedback. Think about your interactions and relationships with friends, family, co-workers, employees, customers, grocery store cashiers, your postman, etc. Monitor how they react to you as therein are clues. Defensive behavior, excuses, and more may also provide insight.
Another way to get information is to ask people what they think. Others may not be comfortable giving feedback about your perceived weaknesses but usually will share with you perceived strengths. Being clear on strengths is just as valuable as clarity around our weaknesses. A way to put a little structure into this is to do your own version of the Reflected Best Self exercise.
Traditional feedback includes the formal performance discussion at work and also data from personality inventories or 360 degree feedback instruments. Reliable and valid assessments provide another snapshot of you. If your employer does assessments, ask to participate. If not, consider finding a coach that provides these services.
Self-awareness is an ongoing process worthy of consideration every so often.
What techniques do you use to know yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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