Personal Development Plan

In order for me to develop as professional, it is important that I be faced with challenges and learn from those challenges. It is at that moment that I have learned from that experience.

1. Job Rotation

Job Rotation is a great tool for my personal development plan because it allows me to pursue an additional challenge and take on an new responsibility every few weeks or months. Thus, when faced with challenges, I will have to make decisions and I will positively learn from my failures as well as from anything at which I am successful.


2. Tuition Reimbursement

I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself in my professional career. Therefore, if I feel like my employer is behind me in every step of the way by reimbursing me in some of my expenses then I will feel valued in my employment and seek out other opportunities to succeed in the company as well as in myself.


3. Externships

Sometimes it is important for people to learn from a similar professional at an off-site location for a specific time. This is a great idea because it would put me is a new environment and I might learn things in the new environment that I might not have noticed in my current environment. This gives me a new perspective and I would learn skills that I can put into action as soon as I return to my worksite.


4. Mentorships

I am pretty knowledgeable. However, as a professional, I do not know it all. Therefore, I would benefit from someone who knows more than me teaching me what they know as well as me mentoring someone who may be new to my field. Both of these reciprocals would spread my expertise as well as give me new perspectives from learning from others.

Making the case for employee development

Making the Case for Employee Development

Hi-Tech Training

Interactive video

The advantage of interactive video is that it is able to be stored on a CD or some other portable medium. The key part of this technology is that trainees are able to interact with the video either via a keyboard or by touching the screen. In the future, this type of technology will be beneficial because instead of having a CD set, the majority of it will be cloud-based which will make it easier for trainers.

http://www.edci.purdue.edu/lehman/edci663/ivd.html

Internet-based Training

         Internet-based training has really been on the rise as more and more people become interconnected worldwide via computers. Internet-based training is highly beneficial because trainees are able to complete training on-site or off-site. Internet-based training is also great because it can also include other technologies like interactive video and other technology-based subsidiaries.

http://www.webbasedtraining.com/primer_whatiswbt.aspx

Learning Portals

Learning portals are great because trainees are able to visit an area on the internet or a company's intranet and at this point the learner is able to complete trainings as well as keep up-to-date in their area of expertise. Learning portals may also include chatrooms and discussion boards and other collaboration methods that enable learners to stay connected with each others as well as with trainers.

http://www.teachwithportals.com/

Mobile Technology

             Mobile Technology is the real wave of the future. With the advent of Ipads and the ultra portability of cell phones, some companies have made training available on these devices. These devices allow the learner to have a more personal approach to training and the ability to access training off-site. Mobile technology is relatively new but as this technology becomes cheaper and more cost effective then it will become more widespread.

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240118592/Mobile-technology-training-in-demand

Authoring Systems

Authoring systems are used by Instructional Designers to design their training programs. Authoring systems are used to create a great experience for the trainee in which they are given an opportunity to interact with the material that is intended for mastery.
            The impact of authoring systems is great because they allow Instructional Designers the opportunity to efficiently produce training modules, and they are budget-friendly. Therefore, in the future, the availability of authoring systems will continue to grow and become more user-friendly.


http://www.pro-ductivity.com/authoring.htm

http://www.ehow.com/info_8042651_training-technologies.html

Whole Foods: Performing a Needs Assessment

Stakeholders from which to receive buy-in

Customers: Whole foods is pretty expensive so it would not be where it is today without the support of the customer

Environmentalists: Whole foods is known for its environmental efforts and organic food as well as unconventional food efforts.

Associates and Managers: The employees and managers have to love their jobs in order for the company to be a success.

Trainers: These professionals are responsible for keeping employees current in their profession.

Questions to Ask

Ask the trainers: Do you have enough money to for training materials?
                           Do you have the support of the organization?
                           How do you identify which employees need training or additional
                                   training?
                            In what tasks should the employee be trained?

Supervisors:    For what jobs can training make a difference in product quality and/or  
                        customer service.

Managers/owners: Does this company have the employees with the skills necessary to
                                 compete in the market place?
                              What facets of the business need more training than the others? How
                                   do you know?
                               Are there any threats to you talent base? What are they?

Employees:   Do you know the basics of your job?
                      Do you feel like there are any areas of your job that you do not know?

Customers: How is the customer service and quality of goods with this company?
                   If you could change anything about this company what would it be? Do you
                     think it could benefit for additional training?


Documents or Records: 

The documents or records that I would ask to see are the average daily sales per department. I would ask to see yearly sales figures and tie those sales figures into customer satisfaction surveys. I would also ask for the summary of focus group sessions. Lastly, I wold ask to see employee training records and secret shopper data and sanitation grades.

Techniques:

First of all I would use observation because it generates data relevant to the work environment and minimizes the interruption of the employees' work. Then I would employ questionnaires because data from questionnaires can be easily summarized as long as the proper questions were asked. Moreover, depending on the data obtained, I would conduct random  interviews to clarify data points and unexpected issues that may arise. Lastly, I would use focus groups to explore any issues interviews may bring up.

In conclusion, a needs assessment is necessary because training may be incorrectly implemented as a solution to a performance problem. Also, sometimes the method of training is not in line with the objectives. In parallel, some employees may be sent to training programs for which they have not yet acquired the appropriate skills. Lastly, a needs assessment analysis is important because it can save money by aligning training to the expected outcomes and thus can save the organization a lot of money in unnecessary training.

Training Elevator Speech

Training Elevator Speech

Training is very important because learning is not easy. There are many forces that involve training, however since training involves learning many people use mnemonic devices, lists, flashcards, procedures and routines to learn things.

Since training is involved in learning training allows us to reproduce exactly what has been taught, act accordingly to what has been taught and apply learning without variation.

There are also two different ways that training can be administered. Those two ways are that training can be performance-centered or learner-centered. If the training is performance-centered then the training is based on a trainee's performance and if the training is learner-centered it is based upon the individuals or the individuals in a group.

Waiting Tables and Project Management

The Uncontrollable Project

I cannot think of a project that has gotten uncontrollable or one that has suffered from scope creep. However, while reading the text all I could think about was when I waited tables. Moreover, waiting tables is very difficult and the more you have the worse. Of course you want to do a great job because tips are how you make the most if your money. However, if the host is relentless, then making money and doing your job right becomes more and more difficult. This means that you have more and more tables to handle and more demanding customers.

To use my waiting tables experience, I would think that scope creep would come onto a project in much the same way because at first it would not seem like a lot was being added to the project and then all of a sudden, it would seem like the project was out of hand because all of the extra facets were added on.

Unlike in waiting tables, to reduce scope creep, the project manager should create a budget and stick to it. The project manager should also make sure that limits are set so if things are added after a certain deadline then it will have to be approved to be accepted and this way it will not sneak up on the project manager. This will decrease scope creep by only adding the unavoidable scope and weeding out the avoidable scope.

Project Management Resources

When creating a project's schedule, it is very important to consult resources if you are unsure of what to schedule and when. Therefore, I have listed two resources that should help with project management scheduling.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/estimate-project-costs-after-you-have-estimated-effort-and-duration/6080089

This appears to be a blog post with a lot of pertinent information. This blog suggests that you evaluate effort first. once you have evaluated effort, you can then evaluate the other areas of scheduling. Other suggestions include the need to evaluate both internal and external labor costs as well as the non-labor costs such as travel expenses, materials, and training.

I will use this source to help me with budget and schedule because it provide areas that need to be scheduled and budgeted that I had never thought of before.

http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_cost.htm

This is a great resource because it provides suggestions to the project manager on how to to estimate costs. This can be very challenging even to the the experienced manager. This resource suggests that the manager implement project cost goals. However, most of the time the cost goals are strictly tied to the budget.

This resource also suggests that the manager should look at the history of the cost data and use that data to come up with the estimates. This resource also identifies things that may have been left out once the const estimation is complete. Those things are parts of scope, technical difficulty and changes.

I will use this resource to assist me with estimating costs for my project as well as evaluating how well my estimations will fair to comparable past projects.