http://www43.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html
This is a tremendous honour and comes at a time when I have been consolidating my efforts into a more manageable and productive package. The result is POL Group - a collection of different business ventures that focus on:
On the 11th December I will address the lecturers at Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics (MESI) who are in the top 100 best Russian Universities, selected from over 1500 public and private higher schools (2005).
This will prove to be both challenging and exciting and offers me an opportunity to help fellow lecturers consider different methods of engagement and student inclusion to aid learning, understanding and knowledge transfer."..is an opportunity for students to carry out real work tasks on employers' premises and experience, as closely as possible, the hours, working conditions and disciplines they would encounter as employees"
To help him along the way, we have set up a blog to record his thoughts and key learning online - many of my network have written comments to encourage him. Reflective practice is paramount and is emphasised in his school record book, asking particular questions like:
Perhaps those of us in work (some for many years) would also benefit from such reflection.
Keep up to date with James' own learning journey and please feel free to post comments and words of encouragement too, click here for James' blog.
Józefa
Think It
Ink It
Do It
Review It
LESSONS FROM THE GEESE
- As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird flying behind. Flying in a 'V' formation adds around 70% greater flying range than if a bird was flying alone.
- Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.
- When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into formation and another goose takes the lead.
- The geese at the back of the 'V' honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
- If a goose gets shot down or becomes sick, two others drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is either able to fly again or dies.
We all need support at times, whether it is to do with work or a personal goal.
Have a good month.
Józefa @
The POL Experience
The learning journey continues...
As we start 2007 and our normal working routines, I find myself back at my part time lecturing at Birkbeck College, University of London with my class of 23. This semester, we are looking at ‘Understanding Organisations’. What underpins this subject is an appreciation of what makes up an organisation - not the bricks and mortar, environment or culture - but the people who work in it.
Communication, as ever, plays a vital role. Some of the work my students handed in just before Christmas, made clear that communication and understanding each other (they had just completed a group presentation project) was the hardest thing to get right. Yet, it was the most rewarding when done effectively and many of them highlighted this personal development in their reflection work afterwards.
Another situation where communication was highlighted as being the vital ‘change factor’ was on television these last few nights (8-10 Jan) featuring a series of programmes charting the progress (?) of a certain business guru, Gerry Robinson, who believes that any organisation can be made to run well. The programmes charted his visits to Rotherham General Hospital, which were to reduce waiting times over a six month period. Each of them seemed to have the same underlying message – lack of communication (and subsequent action) between certain parties within the hospitals themselves. The scenes that I saw showed him getting people together and talking to each other about the problems and how they wanted to see them resolved.
What struck me what not only the simplicity of what he was trying to do, but the fact that getting people to talk to each other is only part of the solution, he needed to somehow help them to listen as well as hear what was being said.
All of this is great if you can hear, but what about those who can’t? Often people who are deaf or hard of hearing, listen better than those of us who have so-called 'good' hearing.
So my three messages from this little mid week reflection?
Józefa
You can choose whether to share this insight, or just hit delete. The reactions, as cited on the discussion forum where it was found were mixed with some stating that this is an “..example of overgeneralization leading to an unwarranted negative view on life.”The Paradox of Life Today
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn
less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than
ever, but we communicate less and less.These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
Here is the new CEO, Sue Hodgetts at the event I helped organise in Birmingham on 20th July.
More pictures coming soon...
[Sound of knowledge sharing at meeting]
[Józefa]
“OK I am just going to start interviewing some of the participants at the first Regional Management Network here in the West Midlands. I am here with Wendy would you tell me what you have thought about this evening?”
[Wendy]
“I really didn’t have any particular expectations so it’s always a pleasant surprise and I certainly would suggest to other members of my team as a valuable learning experience by attending”
[Józefa]
“OK Wendy thank you, I am sorry I can’t see your name badge ….Chris… where are you from?”
[Chris]
“I am from the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust”
[Józefa]
“Is this your first networking event here with us?”
[Chris]
“I have been a long time supporter of the IHM I think it is important at a number of levels, for managers to keep themselves up to date, to be able to tap into the network and learn from each other and thirdly in terms of ensuring the skills of the workforce are equipped to meet the demands of the NHS that we find ourselves in today.”
[Józefa]
“Chris that’s fantastic will you come to another event, if we hold one say in a couple of month’s time?”
[Chris]
“I might do”
[Laughter]
[Józefa]
“What will we need to do to ensure that yourself and others perhaps might come along with you next time?”
[Chris]
“I think specifically targeting certain areas and projects as you’ve done tonight and highlighting whether we can reach the management service improvements in patient care if you target that you’ll get a more specific audience coming along to hear about the issues”
[Józefa]
“Would you agree with that Wendy?”
[Wendy]
“Yes, very much so, I think if you focus on areas that will bring in a very specific audience with certain developmental needs and I think that making it more specific will consolidate some extra learning for a particular group of individuals”
[Józefa]
“Thank you both very much indeed”
-end of interview-
I am really enjoying this project for the Institute of Healthcare Management and the Department of Health and learning so much as well.
If you need help with organisational learning and training, then visit my website to find out more about my range of services.
During a short trip home from Brussels where I was attending an Executive Board meeting of the European Consortium for the Learning Organisation http://www.eclo.org/ I had the time to reflect upon the exciting and stimulating and extensive discussions that had taken place over the previous 24 hours. My thanks go to Ruud (Netherlands), Olé and his wife Elly (Denmark), Ulrich (Switzerland), Marc and Brigitte (Belguim), Jim (Scotland), Mary (Ireland), Andrew and Richard (UK) for their wonderful company and innovative ideas which will help us to drive forward the latest developments planned by E.C.L.O. across 2006/2007, things like:
Thinking about Corporate Universities/Academies and from online discussions with some of my Post-Graduate students (studying Management Development as part of their Masters programme in Personnel & Development), there are varying views regarding the benefits to organisations considering developing their own CU/A.
One student wrote:
“CU’s can create a strong culture within an organisation which in itself would have advantages such as unity and understanding amongst all employees, getting everyone focused with organisational goals leading to business success”
Another proposed:
“…why not industry academies, where all organisations, regardless of size, can send their employees?”
As an alternative argument, another contribution raised issues such as:
“…CU/A’s are complex and I am not convinced that this is the right way forward…might these become vehicles for corporate socialization and propaganda?”
Wow, powerful thoughts and worthy of this further ECUANET research.
With an agenda as extensive as this, E.C.L.O. promises to be an interesting consortium to be involved with over the next few years and I am delighted to be part of these emergent themes.
If you want to get involved yourself then send an e-mail to Brigitte Jack at info@eclo.org or even try and come to the conference in Prague in May. Readers of this blog get a special discounted rate resulting in a whopping €100 off the conference price but only if they quote my name. So review the programme http://www.eclo.org/Description%20and%20Programme%202006.htm and maybe see you in Prague?
As a member of the conference committee I can tell you that there are some exciting proposals for the programme outline. In addition to the conference E.C.L.O is also revamping its Academic and Professional Practice Board who are already working on developing a variety of very intersting research projects for 2006.
It seems like the LO concept is NOT dead in the water and with this European emphasis more organisations from the corporate and academic worlds as well as consultancies and the public sector remain committed to explore new directions for successful business and people development in a learning organisation perspective.
Józefa @ The POL Experience
Link to website
The learning journey continues..
Exciting news, people from 33 different countries are regularly reading my blog - how fantastic!
With over 48% from the UK, nearly 25% from US and over 5% from Canada this is an amazing result for an independent learning practitioner like myself, and what a wide range of other countries, including:
Netherlands; Singapore; Belgium; South Africa; Sweden; Greece; Germany; Poland; Malaysia; Morocco; Australia; Ukraine; Belarus; Luxembourg; India; Hong Kong; Mauritius; Spain; Portugal; Philippines; Switzerland; Kenya; Chile; Finland; Romania; Cote D'Ivoire; Denmark; Azerbaijan and Italy - phew!
Welcome to each and every one of you, glad to have you on board.
Do come back and maybe even post a comment or two about what you read.
Józefa @ The POL Experience
Please note that I have taken certain action to prevent just anyone from posting comments on this weblog. This goes against my better judgement but is due to various parties abusing this system and flooding it with unwanted and highly unsuitable material. If you would like to post a comment, then please send me an e-mail to blog@thepolexperience.com and I will post this on your behalf.
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.
Pope John Paul II
1978-2005
"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"
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
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
testing blogging entry - liked this picture from Flickr so decided to see if I could upload it on here - whoopee I did it!
Józefa
, 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).“..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.
I shall leave the last word to David who so clearly outlines how you should feel about your blogging activities.
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
I am now off on for a well earned rest with my children to sunnier climes...so more after the 22nd August.
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..
