Connected leadership is an emergent property of a network in balance and not some special property available to only the select few. This requires leadership from an intelligent and engaged workforce learning with each other. Connected leaders practice the discipline of personal knowledge mastery which comprises working and learning out loud as well as critical thinking and active curiosity. By seeking, sensing, and sharing, everyone in an organization can become part of a learning network, listening at different frequencies, scanning the horizon, recognizing patterns, and making better decisions. Connected leadership is not given from above, as there is no top in a network. To know the work culture, connected leaders marinate in it. This cannot be done while trying to control the culture. Organizational and network resilience is strengthened when leaders let go of control. Connected leaders use compassion, empathy, and trust to influence networked people. Transparency eliminates the need for most traditional management control mechanisms. Connected leaders know how to deal with ambiguity and complexity. They have an attitude of perpetual beta when it comes to the mental models that inform their actions. Connected leadership focuses on making the whole network smarter, which in return helps the leader be more effective. Image: perpetual beta series

When pulling requirements, it helps to consider the scenarios that the solution will be implemented within.We spent most of 2015 talking about requirements.TOGAF - Requirement TypesRequirements Management in the EcosystemRequirements Sample - Survey ToolRequirements Step OneRequirements Step TwoRequirements Step ThreeRequirements Step FourTranslating Requirements to CapabilitiesTranslating Capabilties to StrategyThose examples are "ideal scenario". And, before you get freaked out by all of this - remember that we do requirements collection as instructional designers.  It's called "needs assessment."--------------------------In this particular example, Syd (remember her?) and I pulled together some LMS requirements for a project that is designed to build a business case for a Human Capital Management system.As some of you may have noticed, a number of LMS vendors have been purchased by HRIS vendors.They are starting to make the LMS a major component of Human Capital Management solutions.I think this is nice, since it helps to better integrate the learning function with the business function without having to do the work ourselves (huzzah!).Also - I think that it is much more likely that the Human Capital Management solution will be integrated into Business Intelligence than an LMS will be.Which would then allow me to really see the business impact our training solutions are having with real, honest-to-goodness numbers. (Wendy's Utopian Fantasyland)Image from inquisir.Unicorns are REAL! Just ask the California Highway Patrol!------------------------------------For our requirements, we had two possible scenarios.Scenario 1 - LMS treated separately from the Human Capital Management system and integrated (pdf) These requirements focused on integration points.  This scenario assumes that we will use the existing LMS.Scenario 2 - LMS as part of Human Capital Management system. (pdf)This is where you see the typical LMS requirements - plus integration points.Note: These requirements are not vetted and may not reflect what our organization is actually doing. Many of the requirements were taken from our requirements library (ie - the organizational history and knowledge that Syd and I both had from previous projects of this sort).As we talk to other stakeholders, and as the overall strategy for HR evolves, we will fine tune these requirements, put them into a more detailed format (similar to what you saw in the example links), and have discussions around "nice to have" vs "need to have".Ultimately, we would then start leveraging the finalized requirements for decision making, testing, training development (to make sure the materials cover all of the things someone needs to do) and capability matrices (since even with this solution, we may still have multiple LMSs).Now - in Wendy's Utopian Fantasyland - I would have put this in the pretty matrix in the first place.  But - we needed something fast and collaborative (those examples were originally done in Google Docs).  The pretty matrix will come later.Having two scenarios allow us to show the executives what decisions still need to be made regarding direction and provide us an opportunity to analyze the opportunity cost for each.Do we leverage existing tools and integrate?  (Lord knows, we have enough LMS options lying around)Do we take advantage of something brand new?I suspect we are not the only shop that will be asking these questions over the coming years.

I’ve been blogging for a little more than two years, and by no means do I  consider myself to be an expert in the field! However, I’ve recently been asked to talk about the tools and resources I use to set up my blog. Without further adieu, here’s how I set up my blog…part 1! Blogging […] The post How I Set Up My Blog - Part 1 appeared first on Teaching with Technology.

"He’s fast on his feet" or "She has a clear head on her shoulders." "He’s definitely a thought-leader in the industry." These current kudos pique a leader’s attention. After all, leaders look to hire, promote, and listen to those who think clearly and communicate well. But what if you’re naturally quiet and slow to speak up in a crowd?  How do people really gauge how well you think—particularly when your interactions are brief and infrequent?  Can you still convey the same sense of being an astute, clear thinker as your more outgoing colleagues? I think you can.

The first day I sauntered into Miss Amos’s English class, I was scared. Not because of the subject or because this was my first day in a big city school—I was startled by her face. My first thought: Did some terrible disease do this to her?

Have you ever met a manager who intended to motivate staff but instead demoralized them?  Most have no idea of their negative effect. And that’s definitely not their intention. In talking with such managers or those who report to them, what surfaces are habits, attitudes, practices, and skill deficiencies that lead employees to disrespect, disengage, and decide to leave them for a more pleasant workplace.

Business leaders may recognize the need for improvement in their performance management approach, but are they courageous enough to implement change?

Despite the promise of IoT to advance humanity, many manufacturing leaders fear rather than embrace it. They need to know "WIIFM?"

This pyramid is the map we have created to audit community building for teams. At the top is a High Performing Team. To be a High Performing Team requires each team member to trust the others and the leader. I coached a 6-year-old girls' soccer team and one of the players was miles better than any other. She was very humble and very willing to do whatever I asked for the team. By league rules, she was only allowed to make two goals per half and three per game, so she would get the ball and wait for one of the other girls on the team to show up and pass it to her in front of the goal. It wasn't her fault, but eventually, the other girls stopped playing and just waited for her to get the ball to them. They trusted her, but they didn't trust each other. Alignment occurs when everyone is clear in their role to meet the common purpose. Trust is needed for alignment, and alignment is needed for trust. I believe that trust can't be taught, it has to be earned. Your behavioral style can create a default for who you trust or don't. Using DISC styles, there are differences in the way certain styles approach trust. Influence and Steadiness trust first until trust is broken, Compliance requires trust to be earned. Dominance doesn't care about trust as long as what's happening now drives their agenda. Accountability is doing what you said you would and apologizing if you screw up. Imagine a team where there is one person who doesn't work as hard as everyone else and gets away with it. What is the impact on that team? Eventually, the hard working members will see that hard work is not valued. This destroys trust, alignment and performance: team over. The pyramid is like a Jenga game- if blocks get knocked out of the bottom, the top is compromised. Think of a time you worked with people who were all in- accountability was shared by all. It's an amazing and rare experience.    An aligned team is one that has clear roles, shared purpose, and values the ability to work well together.  Notice that the base of this pyramid is composed of these components for self (left side) and for team (right side). This is the foundation of a High Performing Team, just like family and community are the foundation of the Irish that I know.

With the excitement of finding a software solution that ticks all the boxes, there will be certain areas that could get side-lined and it can be easy to forget to ask suppliers some crucial questions. Whether it be a CRM, ERP or LMS there are 4 key questions that you should always ask before signing on the dotted line.