March 21, 2012 by Linda.

Here’s your interview question for the day!

 How do you use failure as a learning opportunity?

 Answer Guide:  You’ll want the candidate to offer one or two examples of unsuccessful attempts at an assignment and how he or she learned from those experiences.

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March 7, 2012 by Linda.

Here’s my interview question of the day:

 Is this true or not true of you:  I like logical, analytical approaches to solving problems.  Describe an experience that fits your problem solving style.

Answer Guide:  If a candidate is applying for a technical position that requires analysis and a logical thought process, he or she should be able to discuss specific examples of a concrete problem-solving approach used successfully in the past.

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March 6, 2012 by Linda.

Here’s my interview question for the day:

Do you think it’s important to always have an answer for customer’s questions - why or why not?

Answer Guide:  The candidate should exhibit a willingness to seek out coworkers or supervisors whenever he or she doesn’t have complete answers to questions.

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March 5, 2012 by Linda.

Have you had what you thought was a positive interview, made the hire, and then found out within a couple of months that the new employee didn’t have the capacity to learn their job, how you customers worked, or important aspects of your organizational culture?  If you have, I’d like to share some questions you can specifically ask to ensure candidates have learning agility.  Watch my Blog over the next few days because I’ll have a couple of questions each day.

Interview Question 1:  Would you prefer to learn by reading instructions, watching someone else perform a task, or by doing it on your own by trial and error?

Answer Guide:  You want the candidate to demonstrate an awareness of how he or she learns best so you can provide appropriate on-the-job training.  Ideally, the candidate will have a preferred learning style and indicate that he/she will try other approaches, depending on the situation. 

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February 2, 2012 by Linda.

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February 2, 2012 by Linda.

I believe we can build a culture in our organizations that promotes healthy debate and inquiry, which in turn fosters a culture of learning agility.  We can lead this effort by intentionally asking questions of co-workers that facilitate real conversations - that is, conversations where there’s true dialogue.  Here are my favorite questions that invite this type of two-way conversation:

• I’ve always wondered why we…..
• Our success lies in…..
• Everyone knows _____ but is afraid to talk about it.
• Our customers would be happier if….
• I’d like to see more __________ around here.

Try these questions on for size whenever you have the opportunity.  If you have your listening ears on, you’re sure to learn something new.

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January 30, 2012 by Linda.

One of the elements of learning agility is the capacity to adapt to changing circumstances.  In today’s workplace, change is a constant, and it’s coming at us at warp speed.  So, how do we prepare ourselves to make changes quickly and effectively when it’s required of us at work?!  I believe we need to attack the real problem - fear.

Reluctance to change is based primarily on fear - fear of losing our routine, fear of inabililty to cope with new demands, or fear of looking inept.  To minimize reluctance to change, we have to minimize our fear by building our self-confidence.

 Here’s an example of how I built my confidence and moved past my fear of using technology as a marketing tool.  In the first few years of my consulting practice, I sought out opportunities to speak at conferences and client meetings.  Because I enjoy being with people and am comfortable with public speaking, this was a natural way of marketing for me…and I like to travel.  Sounds like a win-win, right?

In the past two years, my web master and my colleagues encouraged me to use Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to stay visible and market my consulting business.  I resisted at first, and kept hearing stories about how other consultants were getting visibility and projects through technology.  I asked myself the hard question - “why am I so reluctant to try at least one element of technology, such as LinkedIn?”  After some soul searching, my answer to this was straightforward - I didn’t want to give up travelling for speaking engagements and I didn’t want to take time to set up and learn to use LinkedIn or Blogs.  What if I did it all wrong and came across as dumb?

I decided to build my self-confidence with education.  My local computer retail store has lessons on every type of software imaginable, so I began taking lessons.  I studied tutorials on Blogging and setting up Facebook and Linked In.  I asked for feedback from friends and colleagues who would be honest, yet kind, about my initial efforts.  I let my web master give me advice, and I listen.

Last week, my confidence had grown to the point where I read a local article on Google+ and it seemed like a good tool to use.  I read up on Google+ and set up my page on my own, then let my web master know I had taken this step.  He is very proud.

It’s a relationship thing:  the more you build your confidence through education, the less fear you have of change.

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January 25, 2012 by Linda.

Do you want to be more impressive to future employers or get a promotion at your current company?  One way to get noticed is to enhance your learning agility because there’s a clear connection between this and potential performance in newly assigned tasks.  Over the next few days, I’ll write about the four types of learning agility:  mental; people; change; and results.  Each dimension of learning agility can be enhanced, and thus you can increase your potential for that next promotion!

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September 13, 2011 by Linda.

I’ve heard many of my friends and coworkers say, “I’m just not creative!”  You may have more creativity locked inside than you realize.  The key to unlocking that creative bent is to engage in some different activities to stretch those creative brain muscles.

 One suggestion is to take an art of photography class, even if you haven’t ever had an interest in pursuing either as an avocation, let alone a vocation.  This type of class will guide you towards leaning on your visual sense of proportion and color placing items in relationship to one another for the best possible effect. 

More ideas on enhancing creativity next time!

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September 13, 2011 by Linda.

If you’re an introverted, reserved person, I have an idea that will help you to enhance the interpersonal dimension of EQ:  take a course on negotiation or conflict resolution!  Courses of this type require students to consider others’ needs and wants in order to offer solutions to problems they have in common.  Successful conflict resolution requires all parties involved to think creatively to find ways to improve a process or address a problem.  This helps develop the skill to articulate your own needs effectively, as well.

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