Dec 7, 2010

OEB Wednesday : Do your own HoCo workshop

Last Wednesday I held a pre-conference workshop entitled 'Let's talk about competent people'. Most of the 21 enrolled participants made it through the snow, and I had a really fun time delivering the workshop. Obviously you missed out a lot by not attending :-) . But don't start crying, here is how you can have your own digital version of the workshop. I've posted most material online. As a general structure: the first half of the workshop is about the individual (HoCo) and the book I did write; the second half switches to those responsible in creating a HoCo friendly environment, and that is the book I did not write. The workshop starts with lecturing and individual exercises, and culminates in group brainstorming and a common manifest we created as take away.

About us and our workshop.
HoCo workshop part 1 - about us and the workshop
It starts with the intro and agenda. I also made a slide for each participant with an screen shot of the first link googling their name. It's a small exercise in digital eminence. For some that was their company site, or linked in profile, twitter profile, etc. For privacy reasons, I did not include those on the slideshare presentation. Every participant answers the question what they are good at/competent at. As a reward, they get the special Online Educa edition of my book.

about competence
HoCo workshop part 2 - about competence
This activity is closely related to the corresponding chapter in the book and does NOT try to come to a universal once-and-for-eternity-accept-it-or-die definition, but queries into characteristics such as life cycle, levels, evidence, ownership and value via a set of personalized questions. If you want to do this exercise on your own, I recommend doing the web walk 'in search of competence'. (Oh, and let me know what you think of the web walk site, I want your feedback on that one!)

about why it has changed and how
HoCo workshop part 3 - about why it has changed and why now
Again a lecture type of section where I talk a lot, and where I actually ran out of time so I hope the message came across as good as I intended it to. This section is a time travel over competence building in the middle ages, the industrial age, the golden age of the organisation man, and now. We thought we had it figured out.... but business book after business book turns out not so much. In the end, we are now the logical prime owners and responsibles for our own competence selection and building. If you don't like that, frankly you should blame the Internet that triggered this flat, fast, small, spiky and ultimately blurry network age.

about better learn, do, share
HoCo workshop part 4 - about better learning doing and sharing
Quick section where we cover some sites, principles, tips on better L, D, S.

- - - - -
Coffee time (yes, also if you are just reading this on my blog, stick with the program and take a break now :) )

- - - - -

At this time we switch hats in the workshop, and become the 'architect' that constructs HoCo friendly environments.

about our job
HoCo workshop part 5 - about our job
Intro section where I literally draw one big picture. What matters? Providing competent people with the Learn, Do, Share activities they can apply in a context and translate into performance. Not any performance, but valuable performance aligned with business strategy. Provide people with the means to get and stay good, the context to apply their competence, the vision on what will matter in the organisation in the near future.

about HoCo friendly environments
HoCo workshop part 6 - about hoco friendly environments
Very interactive part of the workshop. We will be cherry picking. There are so many models and theories and consulting guidelines on how to set up a great learning culture, or workscape, or learning organisation (that mystical walhala), or however you want to name it, with or without patents and trademarks. So this is the exercise: look at a particular model for 1 minute. Then turn off the screen and write down what strikes you as important elements in creating a HoCo friendly environment. We take inspiration from various models, and go cherry picking the best elements to shape our own. Oh, and I'm well aware there are dozens more models out there...

Brainstorming in groups

HoCo workshop part 7 - about putting it in practice

This part might be difficult if you are reading this on your blog feed reader. But get a few people involved (the cat in your living room, the mailman that passes, the commuters on the train you are currently on...) and brainstorm on a HoCo friendly environment for either new people joining (I am new), sales folks (I am selling), established and emerging leaders (I am leading).

Wrap up: the charter.
HoCo workshop 8 - about where to go from here
As a wrap up, everone now adds 1 element to the charter for HoCo friendly environments, based on the brainstorming. What is most important? (Ask you cat again, the mailman, the commuters,...) Above you see what we ended up with in our workshop. That is the take-away.

And this was the slide was inspiring quotes that runs during breaks and before sessions start:

HoCo workshop 0 - Quotes

And as we said in the workshop, now I'll start to shut up...

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