CROSS-MENTORING PRACTICE

The learning journey continues...

WOW, what an awe inspiring time I have had over the last few days speaking, mingling, dancing and drinking with nearly 200 Russian, Mongolian and New Independent State [NIS] nationals from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

The reason? I received an invitation to speak about People and Change to this group of participants on an EU-funded Management Training Programme at their end-of-programme Europa Seminar at Manchester University.



Here was a group of people who were not only motivated by this programme but firmly intent on doing something with what they had learned back in their own countries to affect much needed change. In talking to them further [over a few vodka's as you do], it became apparent that this was not going to be easy for them to overturn many years of traditional management style and former regimes.

What was clear however, was their determination in the face of adversity. Former MTP1 alumni participant, Tatiana, proffered a shining example of someone who had achieved such major change in her home town through the development of her real estate business newspaper. She clearly inspired those on MTP3 with her words and the raptuous applause said it all.

My thanks go to all those that I met, I am afraid that I remember only a few names such as Max, Vadim, Natasha and Natasha, Iryna, Christyakova, Eugeni, Mikhail, Nelya, Elena, Evgeniy, Yulia, Lesya, Carine, Christiana, Sergey and of course Oleg [who danced me round the floor to the Beatles tribute band most of the night] and to those with whom I drank and sang Russian songs and finally played volleyball on the grass at 3am! [thank you for the present of the ball, my daughter loves it].



Hobbling back to the hotel [to do with my having broken the heel off my shoe - never play volleyball in high heels - and not from the drink or my age you understand] I carried with me some wonderful memories from a group that I hope get to realise their ambitions and dreams.

Perhaps, this then reminds us in the UK that it is good to have ambitious and far reaching dreams and strive each day to turn them into a reality. For those of you who have promised to get back in touch with me, please do, and also when you read this blog, perhaps post some comments in the box that pops up with your own memories of your trip to UK.

Some pictures that captured the themes and the feelings are posted here..

Józefa
The POL Experience website

CYNEFIN PRACTITIONER PROGRAMME

The learning journey continues...

After a wonderfully tiring and brain stimulating four days, I return home from Greenwich, London with a wealth of ideas and applications for Dave Snowden's Cynefin approach.

This medley of pictures shows only some of the story, but serves to highlight the concentration levels that were needed (even when we were set to task to communicate with our eyes closed). It will take a while to truly understand this completely different approach to changing organisational mindsets and supporting knowledge development and sharing, however, the potential benefits are so great that it won't be long before I am using some of the techniques in my work with existing and new clients.



I will have more to say about this once I have recovered from a now (half expected) nasty cold..

CPD - CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The learning journey continues...

CPD has always been important to me and I have been an active participant for over 15 years, thanks to an old healthcare manager of mine, Steve, who clearly explained why it was so vital and was a good role model himself.

Managers like him are far and few between, mainly because he relished in the fact that I was learning and developing and challenging him and his ideas, often during our time in the photocopying room preparing for an imminent training session, he and I would play mental ping pong and find that from such an exchange, new and interesting models and concepts would be explored and created.

Keeping up to date with professional practice, irrespective of whether your professional body requires it of you for re-registration or not, is an absolute must, and certainly something that should be offered as evidence of competence and quality when speaking to clients during the commissioning process.

My current involvement in CPD is extremely active here are just a few of the things I am involved in: attending and speaking at conferences, doing research and writing papers, undertaking additional training and qualification, participating in new and exciting discussion forums and public speaking.

Phew, this should keep me busy for a while!

Why not try it for yourself?

Józefa @ The POL Experience

COMMITMENT IS OUR GREATEST RESOURCE

The learning journey continues...

So often we find ourselves coming up with ideas regarding things that we would love to do, some needing just us and some needing the support of others to fulfil these dreams.

In our personal lives as well as our business lives commitment features strongly and without it momentum and motivation is lost and slowly the idea dies. As someone who is just in the process of starting up a new organisational venture, I find myself dependent on the commitment of others to make it work.

Which is why I was so encouraged to read the set of 5 guiding principles from a group of young individuals calling themselves 'Pioneers of Change'

Their five principles are centred around:

1. Be yourself
2. Findwhat really matters to you
3. Start now
4. Engage with others – don’t go it alone
5. Never stop asking questions

In terms of 'engaging with others' they go on...

"Engage with others.. Connect with something bigger than yourself. Search for those who are working on similar or related things, share ideas with them,ask them for help and work with them where useful. Be willing to offer them help when they need it as well. Engaging with others is about engaging with those who share your visions, but also about engaging with those who think differently from you and are doing something that may seem completely different and unrelated. Engage across diversity, for that is how we learn. That is how we will create and make new discoveries. If you cannot engage directly with those who conflict with you, then seek to understand and to learn from your differences and work based on that learning. Engaging with others is about recognising interdependence. And about practicing humility."

Perhaps,one final addition to the above, as this takes time to develop and nurture is - have patience and understanding and allow others to catch up in their own time.

Commitment it seems really IS our greatest resource, and as such we should use it well.

Józefa @ The POL Experience

WE CLEARLY NEED HELP!

The learning journey continues...

Well what has it come to when we need the expertise of David Gurteen and Mick Cope to get us to talk to each other?

Have our communication skills deteriorated so much with the increased use of computers that we need to attend a Knowledge Café and have Mick encourage us to stand up and walk round and introduce ourselves?

Speed dating was muted, same principle, but you didn't necessarily leave with a 'partner' for the evening, though it has to be said a few of us DID frequent the local hostelry to continue with the 'relationship -building' - and a great time was had by all!

My thanks to David and to Mick and and also to those that I did meet and would have like to talk to for longer, these included Jonathan [from Oxfordshire] , Lloyd [podcasting], Tricia [weblogs], Lesley [HMCE], Diomiu [ex-student], Andrew [IS], Jason, Mark [Middx] and two guys in the pub [one American and one Sri Lanken sorry I don't remember your names] who always had 'just one more question'. Just to let you both know, I did finally catch my train, but only just.

Look forward to seeing some of you again at the Knowledge Barbeque at University of Greenwich on 9th June.

Józefa @ The POL Experience

IN MEMORY OF KAROL JOZEF WOJTYŁA 1920-2005

The learning journey continues...

Pope John Paul II
1978-2005

Click here for details of his last will and testament

Polish version

English version

Italian version

German version

Audio version (English)

Vatican radio (Other languages)

Józefa @ The POL Experience

SEEMS FLICKR IS REALLY TAKING OFF

The learning journey continues...

Just a few posts ago I was extolling the virtues of a new online photo management system I had discovered called Flickr. Well it now seems like others are catching on aswell, because it has just been bought up by Yahoo and is being heralded by no other that the award winning Tom Coates, recent winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award for his weblog plasticbag.org.

Check out the BBC article and try Flickr for yourself, it is really cool

Józefa @ The POL Experience

BE THE CHANGE

The learning journey continues...

If you do nothing else this year then do investigate a wonderfully inspiring event called 'Be the Change' due to take place in London between 5th & 7th May 2005. This second event will again bring together individuals and organisations at the forefront of change to address some of the urgent issues facing humanity today - in our environment, our communities, our economic system, in our very consciousness.

At the 2004 event, the words and deeply moving presentation from Hafsat Abiola, Human Rights Activist from Nigeria and Founder/Director of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) could not have failed to inspire.

"The only way we can solve problems is when we actually say yes to the unreasonable ideas that form in our minds, that will give us new experiences that will help our mind become a different mind"

Visit their website and view the 10-minute preview from their 2004 conference and more information about this years's event, and maybe see you there?

Józefa @ The POL Experience

YOU CAN NOW 'TALK' TO ME

The learning journey continues...

I have been tidying up my communication channels and can now be found for quick Instant Messaging (IM) chats when I am in the office, my MSN address is

im@thepolexperience.com

If you don't have MSN go to their website and download the software, it is FREE. I use version 6.2 but the Beta version 7 is really great. It is just that until more people have this, the slightly lower version is better.

Why not log in and have a 'chat'?

Józefa @ The POL Experience

BRAND NEW LOGO FOR POL

This is my new company logo and icon for my website, click on the link to find out about the kind of work I am currently involved in and previous projects and experience.

Why not visit my online slide show at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepole/sets/121681 where there are a series of pictures of the groups I have worked with over the last few years - you never know, you might see yourself there!

Józefa @ The POL Experience

GLOBAL BLOGGER ACTION DAY - 22nd February 2005

Today is "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day" here in Blogoshpere. Mojtaba and Arash are two Iranian bloggers currently in prison for, well, blogging. For "Free Mojtaba and Aresh Day," we free bloggers are urged to hold a day of "silence" (i.e. refrain from blogging) and to put up a banner instead.

For more information read the latest BBC news

SOLITARY TREE

Solitary tree
Originally uploaded by estan.

testing blogging entry - liked this picture from Flickr so decided to see if I could upload it on here - whoopee I did it!

Józefa

FLICKR

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing. There is also a companion blog to Flickr, almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world (their words, not mine, but try it and see for yourself).

This new free tool allows me to post a series of photos for a specified group to see or go public on a specially dedicated web space, and even offer a slide show facility. If I come across photos that I like I can send these straight here onto my blog - so expect a fair bit of practising for a while.

If any of you try this out do post your comments here.

Józefa
The POL Experience

WHAT A LOAD OF LOGGERS?

The learning journey continues...

Having recently been involved in a series of training sessions and University lecturing around Personal Development I find myself constantly referring to reflective practice, Learning Logs and blogging. As this was the case, it seemed sensible to share what I have been saying here in my own blog.

But hey, is this a weblog, k-log or a learning log?

David Gurteen, a lovely man and a wonderful source of knowledge about almost everything describes weblogs as a

“..an informal personal journal that is published publicly on the web. It is updated frequently - often several times a day or at the very least several times a week. At its simplest a blog consists of a number of entries or items. Each item has a title, a short description, a URL, the name of the author and the posted date. More sophisticated blogs can contain further information such as categories or multiple links”.

Another definition comes from Wikipedia and of course there are variations on a theme.

There are Knowledge Logs or K-Logs: which is blogging to record one's knowledge about work issues, this can also be used as a reflective practice vehicle instead of a paper-bound ring binder file

There are also Learning Logs – which are not necessarily online unless you adapt the format and add this to your k-log. Have a look at how Andrew Gibbons describes his approach to learning logs http://www.andrewgibbons.co.uk/documents/50tips2.doc he also offers a simple yet reasonably sufficient format http://www.andrewgibbons.co.uk/documents/logsheet2.doc

There are News Logs - these could be an information blog (online), the purpose of which is to comment on and point to web resources on a specific topic or relevant news entries pertaining to a particular site or subject. Some sites have built in functions that allow readers to post directly such as they do on Wikipedia or through an intermediary source that acts as part of an authoring process to validate the news item before it is uploaded onto the News Log.

And I am sure there are plenty more... The key point is documenting in some way, shape or form, things that you want to be reminded of for future development, or reference or to share with others.

I shall leave the last word to David who so clearly outlines how you should feel about your blogging activities.

• Own it and take pride in it
• Use it as a record of your thoughts and ideas
• Create a learning journal
• Let it be very personal - an extention to your own voice
• Write primarily for yourself
• There is no pressure to publish, comment or reply
• Make it open and dynamic
• Create the feeling of having a 'conversation' not one of 'publishing'

If David and others are right, then blogging is soon going to be bigger than e-mail and such rapid growth and development in this field of communication will undoutbtedly change the web presence but also organisational life. Happy blogging.

Józefa

The POL Experience

THANKS BRIGITTE

The learning journey continues...

My colleague (and friend) Brigitte mailed me from Wavre, Belgium last week to introduce me to the very latest in communication tools, SKYPE

It is a great new P2P (person-to-person) vehicle that allows you to actually talk to your friends and colleagues through your computer.

Registration is FREE and talking to other SKYPE users is also FREE. You can see when they are online (just like with IM - instant messaging) and if you link it through your NetMeeting facility can see them via your webcam, just like having your own large videophone. Calls to non-SKYPE lines wherever they are in the world is really cheap and you can buy credits (in euros) online.

You will need a microphone and your computer will need either built in or free standing speakers, but apart from that, downloading takes just a few minutes and you're away.

So back to Brigitte, my colleague at the European Consortium for the Learning Organisation, well she and I can now have regular update chats (the FREE bit comes in handy when we do one of our 45 mins calls) and I can also have conference calls with my other ECLO ECLO Board member colleagues aswell.

Why not try it for yourself?

Józefa
The POL Experience

REFLECTING UPON THE OLD AND PREPARING FOR THE NEW

The learning journey continues...

A very belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you reading this Blog, and in particular to my past (and future) student groups from Westminster University, London where I now lecture on a part time basis on a range of CIPD Centre of Excellence modules including: Learning and Development; Management Development and Learning, Training & Development workshop. A special ‘Good Luck’ as you study for your L&D exams on the 17th January.

I realise that it has been some months since I last put fingers to keyboard to reflect and share key learning from my work commitments and projects on this site. This in the main is to do with family 'caring' commitments for sick and elderly relatives over the past six months.

However, like most people I now enter 2005, with the desire to consider new ways to juggle a rather hectic work / life schedule so that I can offer the best of me in each area and still remain sane.

There are many sites available offering support, one of the best I have found is from Fiona Hall, check out her blog on http://creative-living.blogspot.com/

Also worth a mention, and to create that pause in your busy working day, try out Richard Bandler television (RBTV). Richard was one of the founders of an approach called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and offers some guiding thoughts as to how to get your life back on track. It is worth a listen with a cup of soothing chamomile or peppermint herb tea. Being on a GI healthy eating kick at present coffee, tea and chocolate are BANNED!

Just click on the link for some soothing words to start your day
http://www.richardbandler.tv/player.php?soundid=lalpqp9786534522

Here's wishing you a happy and healthy 2005!

Józefa
The POL Experience

A NEW TOOL FOR BLOGGERS AND WRITERS ALIKE

The learning journey continues...

Do you ever the get the feeling that you are using the same phrase or discussion points again and again in reports, documents and blogs?

What about the feeling that you have a specific issue in a document somewhere on your computer, but can’t remember in which one and where?

If the above two questions ring true for you, then take the time to look at Blinkx. It's a free search engine that will simplify the task of writing reports and your other document and posts. It provides a fast and sophisticated search of local documents on your hard drive, your email, newsfeeds, weblogs, video clips and more.

According to the Blinkx website, it is not designed to replace current search engines like Google or Yahoo, but is a completely new way to use information on the internet. It has a slick little toolbar that floats in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and gives you immediate results from these different sources. It works with Google or with other search engines and is certainly growing rapidly.

See the recent article in July 15th Guardian on how this has been developed http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1260983,00.html

Since its low-key launch at the end of July, some 800,000 people have downloaded the technology. Hundreds of thousands more are probably using it after downloading Blinkx from other websites or from CDs cover-mounted on magazines.

Kathy Rittweger, Blinkx's founder feels that technology should take care of all the key words and be able to bring all the information to us before we ask; she says "This is about technology serving us."

My thanks go to David St Lawrence http://ripples.typepad.com/ for his original link to Blinkx.

David writes: “From what I have seen so far, Blinkx may be the workaround which allows a writer to access all of his documents as if they were entered in a database. This gives me a huge advantage, because my filing is based on the notion that I need everything spread out where I can locate it easily. The hierarchical approach to filing has never worked for me because I relate things in so many different ways. There are probably more of these "internal/external" search engines coming along, but I will continue to investigate Blinkx until I have a fuller understanding of its capabilities.”

Why not try it out and post your comments here as to how useful it has been for you.

Józefa
The POL Experience

THE GREAT AIM OF EDUCATION?

The learning journey continues...

Well, that's done....both kids off to school this morning heralding the end of the summer holidays for 2004.

We have such strong memories of our school days given that they take up so much of our young lives, I especially want my two to have good memories so as to underpin the way they approach learning in the future, and in particular Lifelong Learning, for when they start their working lives as I know from my experience how important this is.

After a lively discussion, at dinner with friends last week, about the apparent failure of the British education system over the last 30 years and the emotional highs of this morning I find myself reflecting upon the work I am currently involved in (developing a scheme to help the unemployed in one small part of London to get jobs). Many of the applicants forms that I see make me think that perhaps they have long since forgotton the basics from their school days - if indeed they mastered them in the first place. This is all too apparent from the numbers that do not make the entry level grade in basic literacy and numeracy - a minimum requirement for many of the positions they want.

These job hopefuls however, can now get help with everything from pre-employment support and training in communication skills, assertiveness, interviewing etc., as well as the opportunity to refresh or re-learn their Key Skills to equip them with what they need to help them survive in business life.

How to get this message across to my two youngsters who have yet to realise the importance of school life - ah now that's a hard one. I picked up a nice quote from the presentation at my son's secondary school that emphasised the need to use what is being learned so as to avoid losing it - maybe this is where I can start.

"The great aim of education is not simply knowing, but taking action"
Herbert Spencer - 19th Century, theorist and educationalist

Józefa
The POL Experience

THE END OF THE BEGINNING?

The learning journey continues...

Phew! These last two weeks have been the amongst the most challenging this year. Today is the last day of my moderation at AOK STAR SERIES discussion forum (as mentioned in previous entry).

What a wonderfully rich discourse with some of the most influential KM practitioners and theorists in the business.

I cannot deny that I was a touch nervous about such an exchange, particularly as I mainly practice at an operational level with a variety of clients, the majority of which tend to be in the NHS. However the support I received from all of those who participated was very much appreciated.

Hey, I might have got a taste for this now and who knows, having hosted a similar discussion on KnowledgeBoard at the beginning of the year and now AOK, where next?

As part of my ongoing research into the interdependencies between KM and Organisational Learning and Development, I issued AOKers with a survey which will be collated, written up and then feature as an article the international Knowledge Management Journal

To participate in the survey send an e-mail to me at jozefa@thepolexperience.com with AOK Survey in the subject line and I will forward a copy to you.

I am now off on for a well earned rest with my children to sunnier climes...so more after the 22nd August.

Józefa
The POL Experience

STAR SERIES MODERATOR FOR AOK

The learning journey continues...

Well, the last few weeks have been really hectic leaving me little time to reflect.

Reflection forces us to take stock with regards our actions and check out the things that worked well and those that could be done differently next time (see post about reflective practice earlier on in this blog). We can review the recipe and consider similarities between approaches applied in different contexts. Not simply to imitate so-called 'best practice' but to also adapt 'good practice'; avoid 'worse practice' and create 'novel practice' from various scenarios.

It is also a way to stretch our thoughts - often referred to as 'thinking outside of the box'


With this in mind comes my current challenge, as a STAR SERIES MODERATOR on the international Knowledge Management discussion forum run by AOK Association of Knowledgework not to be confused with my other business venture KnowledgeWorx providing online KM tools for business.

I was invited to moderate (facilitate) an online discussion board for two weeks from 26th July to 6th August, by Jerry Ash, a highly intelligent (well he must be if he invited me) former US senator, recently commissioned to be a features editor for international Knowledge Management Journal published by the ARK group

My chosen topic for the two week period, Operational Knowledge Management (OKM), generating discussion as to the application of theoretical constructs and tools as well as providing examples of case studies of practical application of KM in various organisations and hopefully receiving same from AOK readers.

To participate in the discussion forum send an e-mail to Jerry at jash@kwork.org saying I sent you - and he will outline how you can come and join the party.

These two weeks (at the height of the summer holiday period) are likely to be the most challenging of the year so far, so wish me luck, come and join the discussion and help me to swim rather than sink..

KM CELEBRITY ‘A’ LIST

The learning journey continues...

Wow, what a week I have had.

I have spent three days in the company of some of the most innovative and respected brains in the KM arena.

Names like Dave Snowden, Larry Prusak, Steve Denning)

1. Families, clans, tribes and hoards (you just had to be there!)
2. Self-organising teams
3. Social Network Analysis
4. Innovative behaviours
5. Social and Value-added networking
6. Order and un-order in complex environments
7. Coaching to transform KM performance
8. Storytelling for action
9. Use of narrative in mapping
10. Systemic interventions using constellations

On their own, these were more than worth the investment in time, add to that the continuing discussions over evening drinks that I was able to have with Dave, Steve, Marcus, Verna (thank you so much for signing your book) and David - then all in all a wonderfully stimulating knowledge-sharing experience.

Thank you all, and see you in Amsterdam 8th - 10th November 2004 at KM Europe 2004.

(For information about KM Europe 2004, click on sub title at top of this posting)

Now to apply this thinking to my current work projects....ah ha!

Józefa
The POL Experience

WE HAVE SO VERY MUCH TO LEARN

The learning journey continues...

Just found this wonderful quote hidden away within a rather lengthy e-mail from a colleague who writes so beautifully and yet in such an intense and complex way that I find myself needing to devote more time and effort (than I currently can afford) to understand what he is actually saying.

When we meet up face to face I can see his eyes, I can hear the passion behind his beliefs and acknowledge his smile and enthusiasm - all of which develop my understanding. That and his patience with me which is never ending.

Whoops got carried away didn't I? Here is the quote, read it carefully:

"When you let go of trying to get more of what you don't really need, it frees up oceans of energy to make a difference with what you have. When you make a difference with what you have it expands"

He accredits this to Lynne Twist from The Hunger Project which, if you do nothing else today, you absolutely MUST take five minutes out to view as it puts into perspective what you are working on right now, at least it did for me.

...by the way, my colleague with the intensive, visionary and complex thoughts is Chris, click on the sub title above to re-direct to his site and see for yourself.

Józefa
The POL Experience

SO THIS IS LIFELONG LEARNING?

The learning journey continues...

I have just taught myself how to add a comments function to this blog...WOW!

For a non-tecky like me this has been quite a steep learning curve. The comment button will appear at the end of each posting so you can now respond to any of my ramblings on this blog, make a comment about my main website or even ask me a question, whichever you choose it will be great to hear from you.

Just click on comment below, enter your details and then type in the box provided and click OK, it's as easy as that! Then when you click on comments again, you can read these alongside the original text - cool!


Józefa
The POL Experience

DO WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER?

The learning journey continues...

As an active member of no less than 6 online discussion forums, the issue regarding the use of language and participation level across large diverse online communities begs further consideration. For me it raises the question as to how well we actually understand each other and highlights our ability (or lack of it) to clearly communicate what we are trying to say through such a limited vehicle.

Recently I find myself witnessing a rising number of these online forums falling fowl of many, if not all of the following:

• Poor, incomplete and duplicated communication
• Lack of responses and singular self-absorbed postings
• Use of complex and confusing language
• Cultural differences and interpretations
• Arrogant on-line behaviour.

Worth noting that two of the forums are American, one is European and three are UK-based, and all have at some time experienced the above.

You could argue that normal meetings produce the exact same problems and this is true, yet these online forums are established to develop better knowledge-sharing and communication opportunities and are totally dependent on voluntary contributions. What appears to be occurring, in some of these, is a decline in contributions and worse still one or two individuals ‘battling it out’ in full glare of other ‘lurkers’ who watch from the sidelines and wonder whether to get involved or not. Others just decide that it is not worth the investment in time or energy and adopt the ‘two feet principle’ and walk away.

An online community is not a community if its players don’t contribute!

I found a very astute and accurate comment about one such forum yesterday that is worth reproducing here as it hits the mark very well. Putting this comment into context, the forum it relates to is specifically about improving electronic communications and in particular relates to Language Engine (LE) technology that is designed to help adapt highly context specific language into a common vocabulary. Here is the comment:

“In the ‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’ the Babel fish sat in your ear and translated any language into your own. Your [forum] headline article highlights the proportion of projects that fail to deliver the expected benefits. I believe that the problems often stem from the sound bite language used to promote projects. For example, your article carries the following quote about the benefits of standard medical terminology: “to transparently standardise information against a consistent knowledge base to drive decision-support and outcomes-based analyses." The irony that I need my Babel fish to translate a statement about improving the use of language is not lost on me, and I can see the funny side. But how will I know whether the project has delivered if I don't really understand what it's all about?

Telling isn't it?

Why not go to the brilliant Plain English Campaign website, which is an independent pressure group fighting for public information to be written in plain English, with more than 6000 registered supporters in 70 countries, it is worth a look!

REFLECTION AND LEARNING STOP: Ask someone you trust to feedback to you their impression about the way you communicate, are you clear and concise, is what you say understandable and more importantly, what does the way you communicate say about you? Only do this is if you are ready to hear what they say and take action upon what you learn!



Józefa
The POL Experience

THE NEW LEADER?

The learning journey continues...

This summary is taken from a posting on one of my many online network sites and refers to an article called 'The New Leaders' by Tom Heuerman.

This offered much food for thought as I work through the development of a new short programme of leadership training…see what you think.

".... New principles to live by emerge for us. My principles serve as lenses to experience life through:

1. I can only control my own choices,
2. I believe in something greater than myself,
3. I live my deepest authenticity,
4. I am honest with myself about myself,
5. I share myself with another person,
6. I take action,
7. I choose a life of service,
8. I am aware of my impact on others,
9. I revere all living things,
10. I reflect on my actions,
11. I communicate with that which is greater than I,
12. I share my learning with others.

The reward of this hard work is a shift of thinking, understanding, feeling, being, and behaving that is internalized and endures. Then, for leaders, instead of relying on mindless, mechanical formulas for meaningless change, aware leaders will be in a position to utilize their wisdom, maturity, and judgment to do the appropriate thing, in the right way, at the right time, to fit the unique reality of their organization."

Just click on sub title of this post to read more from Tom Heuerman's online newsletter. It certainly makes you think about how this 'New Leader' would compare with the 'Old Leader' and what kind of changes might be needed at organisational level to accomodate this type of change?

Have a good week,

Józefa
The POL Experience

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

MIDWEEK MADNESS!!

The learning journey continues...

So much to do in just four days before Easter, see how I feel..

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

The learning journey continues...

What a week of highs and lows this has been, to best represent my thoughts here are 20 little words...

1. Intensity
2. Huge demands
3. Online discussions
4. Information overload
5. Excitement
6. Scanner
7. New toy
8. Happy
9. Concerned
10.Joined up thinking
11.Varying interpretation
12.Feedback
13.Thank you's
14.Appreciation
15.Work 90%/Life 10% balance
16.Respect
17.New contacts
18.Old friend
19.Ethical behaviour
20.Whistleblowing

Click on the sub title of this post to find out more about reflective practice.

Józefa
The POL Experience

THE IMPORTANCE OF NETWORKING ONLINE

The learning journey continues...

I find myself spending more and more time online taking part in many different discussion boards and posting all around the world. This can take hours and hours, sitting in my kitchen office at home, whilst 'family' life goes on around me.

I enjoy meeting people and so what better way to travel around the world without leaving my home and family commitments, however, many of the people I meet when teaching or presenting have never tried this before. If you click on the sub title of this posting, you will get a link into one of the boards that I have been using a lot just lately.

KnowledgeBoard is a European KM Forum that has a wealth of exciting and thought-provoking discussions around Knowledge Management. Don't whatever you do be put off by some of the language, there are some passionate people who post there, but look beneath this and there is much to learn.

If you wish to let me know how you got on or wish to start to contribute to this blog as an invited guest member then mail me on:

jozefa@thepolexperience.com

Józefa
The POL Experience

MY LEARNING JOURNEY STARTS HERE...

Hello and welcome to this weblog. I am brand new to this blogosphere and the art of blogging itself and will be interested to see how it can help me and others who visit to better understand the journey of learning.

I work as an independent learning specialist and my workplace is The POL Experience