Learning

I heard that distance learning is not a good tool for change management.
I agree on that. Change management depends on many other factors, and I feel it cannot be outsourced.
Change is a personal responsibility.

Distance learning is not a good tool for change management, it is just a good and efficient tool for learning. Of course, a fool with a tool is still a fool.

I also hear that some distance learning vendors are more interested in helping themselves than in serving their customers.

This is not new. Since the old days of snake oil, some salespersons have pushed anything to make a buck. Distance learning will not change that.

You can learn how to cheat, or you can learn how to act like a decent person, but as long as the rules of the game give the largest prize to the bigger liar, some people will go on learning (remotely or not) to be the best liar they can.

Caveat emptor, they say...

Change begins inside.
I can't blame my teacher if I don't want to change.

Fungus

Salespersons

I'd like to see salespersons focusing on better serving their customers.

That means:
1. They should make sure that they sell something that really adds value to their community.
2. They should develop the skill to understand the needs and expectations of their community
3. They need to gather the power to force improvements in the products or services that they represent.

In short, a salesperson is a smart link in a community.

Fungus

Leadership

From what I read, a good leader is a person with the ability to manipulate the will of others to engage and energize them to do as he pleases in order to reach his own objectives (frequently called organizational or strategic).
Darth Vader called them imperial objectives.

Fascinating creatures indeed.

Fungus

Community

My self appointed mission is to build a healthy community. I don't sell anything. I build. Or I like to think so ...

Is this a commodity?
No. I see it as a specialty. It is not something common, but something special.

Is it tangible (can it be touched)? I'd say yes. You can swim in a healthy community.

Let me try to explain my objective a little further:
A community is a social group (small or large) in which individuals share the idea that common good comes before individual good. And taking care of the community will benefit all community members. A healthy community is integrated by well developed individuals, who are able to work as teams.
That's not something you buy and sell, that is a way to live by.

However, you still need resources to push ahead, and you have to charge someone to get them.
Got to go... see you later.

Fungus

Loyalty

My problem with loyalty, as with so many other grand words is that I don't know what it means.

I wouldn't know loyalty if you brought it to me on a silver plate with watercress around it. Is it the same as self sacrifice? Is it being able to keep one's word without Big Brother watching? Is it the will to take care of your master's property as if it was your own?

You are not loyal in a vacuum, you are loyal to your master because that is the best way to promote your own interest. (And since you cannot serve two masters, sometimes you have to decide.)

If I understood A Man for All Seasons, loyalty is a word invented by the feudal lords (including kings) to exert control over their vassals. Loyalty had to be sworn, and the violation of loyalty (treason) was severely punished.

If I understood the Da Vinci Code, loyalty is a word adopted by the medieval guilds (including Templars and Masons) to exert control over their members. Loyalty had to be sworn, and the violation of loyalty (defection) was severely punished.

I also saw The Godfather...

Loyalty is not something that you can see, weigh or measure. It is a way you act towards something... for your own reasons.

If your organization's vision and mission are reasonably aligned with your own purpose in life, then you are loyal to your organization, and a good thing too.

Others, go through the motions of work motivated by spurs, reins, carrots and sticks.

Fungus

Management

I am a dreamer and an optimist.

I believe that people get organized to accomplish more together, than what they could do by working alone.

Under the old rule, there were overlords and underlings. The ones told the others what to do, and if the underlings did not produce enough output, they applied motivation with carrots and sticks.

The Lord of Human Resources (one of the minor lords) was responsible for the acquisition of new vassals (recruiting), to keep them motivated (frightened and hungry) and to make sure that Human Rights were not noticeably violated.

Under the new way, people get organized to accomplish more together than what they could do by working alone. Their shared goal is to serve the customer and the community. Their way is based on collaboration, synergy, truth and trust.

It is still early to say what the role of "Human Resources" will be in the new order. In any case, it is clear that humans are not resources or goods to be used by a boss.

I suggest that the Lords of HR should foster an environment where humans can develop their competencies and take their responsibilities for the common good.

Thomas More, Douglas McGregor, Abraham Maslow, Joseph Juran and W. Edwards Deming have said it before, and much better than I can say it.

Fungus

Plan

The planning process, when done right, is a great learning process at the individual, and at the team level.

The Business Plan is part of the Communications Plan. It is an instrument to inform someone about the plan and its execution. The Business Plan usually consolidates a portfolio of projects, each of which will use a separate plan, at the strategic, tactic or action levels.

A good plan is based on a good process, and it is flexible. The Rolling Wave Technique and Earned Value Management are good ways to incorporate flexibility in uncertain times, and good tools to manage user (or stakeholder) expectations.

We must make sure that schools teach good project management practices based on real life experience.

Fungus