DEVELOPING AS A PROFESSIONAL
| 024 | DEC 08 | TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPING AS A PROFESSIONAL
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Other areas of expertise are about refining
techniques, such as in group delivery
skills. We improve our skills by practice,
observation and reflection, along with
coaching and mentoring.
Development as a professional is a broader
concept. It includes having underpinning
knowledge of concepts and the dynamics
of the field (eg how do people learn?).
We learn this through experience, reading
and interaction with other professionals
(communities of practice). Development at
this level involves integrating many ideas
and experiences, and developing a sense of
how they apply in practice.
To achieve and assess your own professional
development, Kennie (2000) advocates this
process:
• Where have I been (in relation to
any CPD need)? That is, what is my
previous knowledge base and/or
experience?
• Where am I now? What are my
strengths and weaknesses in relation to
the identified need?
• Where do I want to be? What level of
skill/knowledge do I want?
• How will I get there? What learning
plan/strategy will I adopt?
• How will I know when I get there? What
evidence could I provide to illustrate
improved performance?
How will I get there?
The CIPD study (Rothwell & Arnold, 2005)
found that the most favoured development
activities were informal and concerned with
the person’s current job and organisation.
They included:
• reading of journals
• sharing knowledge and discussing with
colleagues
• spontaneous learning arising from work
activities
• action learning through projects
• formal activities – such as training
courses
• membership of project committees
• CPD events
• qualification-based study.
Given that L&D practitioners participate for
a variety of reasons, the researchers argue
that CPD should explore broader options,
addressing individual needs and catering
more for informal learning approaches.
The potential of methods such as online
learning, information repositories and peer-
to-peer dialogue should be exploited.
Individual differences in learning style
make it counter-productive to prescribe
a best-practice route to competence. A
more productive approach is to have a
grasp of the range of experiences that can
foster learning and to look for the learning
possibilities in all experience. This includes
activities that are individual and collective,
formal and informal, work-based and off-
site, and making use of online technologies.
Whatever the new model of PD looks
like, it must incorporate community. For a
start, social interaction is an aspect of most
learning. Community is also the milieu
from which mentoring and coaching arise.
And community creates continuity of
learning beyond structured events.
Models of learning
Research by NSW TAFE has led to three
models of CPD, evolving from training
to professional development to capability
development (see Figure 1). The report,
Life-based learning (2006), said, “we need to
have more positive and holistic approaches
in the workplace….. there is a need for
a greater balance between creativity (and
intuition) and logic (and standardisation).
Some areas that we re-examined included
the fundamental importance of values, the
metaphor of learning ecologies for working
and learning in the Knowledge Era, and
ways of building on organisational learning
through business wisdom.”
References
Cheetham G and Chivers G, 2001,
How professionals learn in practice: an
investigation of informal learning amongst
people working in professions, Journal of
European Industrial Training, vol 25, no 5, pp
250-292.
Kennie T, 2000, The growing importance of
continuing professional development, online at
www.cipd.co.uk.
Rothwell A and Arnold J, 2005, How HR
professionals rate ‘continuing professional
development’, Human Resource Management
Journal, vol 15, no 3, pp 18-32.
Mike Morrison, 2008, Developing the
developers, Training Zone, online at www.
trainingzone.co.uk.
Figure 1: The three models of learning
The crowded function room
of a large inner city hotel
is filled with the loud hum
of corporately attired guests
entrenched in conversation.
Glasses filled, introductions
made, business discussed
and cards exchanged………
sounds like it could be any
business networking event
anywhere in the world.
For many people, this picture defines
networking, and it’s not surprising
this scenario is not terribly appealing
to everyone. It can generate an air of
insincerity and discomfort.
If you, like many others, hold this rather
negative view of networking, take heart –
now more than ever we are becoming aware
that networking in its truest form is very
different to the situation described above.
Truly effective networking is grounded in
genuine interest in helping others.
Networking is rapidly being recognised as a
critical business, career and leadership skill.
Research has proven that at an operational
level, an individual’s productivity is
inextricably linked to their networking
capability. The fortuitous networkers within
organisations are reaping the rewards of
hastened career progression, leadership
opportunities, greater job satisfaction and
business success. Those who aren’t so
networking savvy are being left in their wake.
As learning and development professionals
we play an important role in shifting
mindsets, developing networking capability,
and motivating our clients to network
effectively.
To be successful, we need to understand
the role of networking in the 21st century,
and what we can do as learning and
development professionals to maximise the
opportunities that networking can provide
for both our clients and ourselves.
What is networking in the
21st Century?
Networking is about relationship building.
I define it as building and maintaining
genuinely helpful relationships with other
people, for mutual benefit. It’s about
creating a diversity of connections and win-
win alliances with others through nurturing
relationships based on trust.
We can see its value in so many aspects
of our lives – our business, careers, even
our personal lives. Many people view
networking as the sole domain of those who
need to bring business in the door. How
wrong they are!
The research backs this up. McKinsey’s
recent research on the competencies that
differentiate successful women from their
less successful peers found that networking
is in the top five.
Similarly, from their research about
networking and leadership success in
Harvard Business Review, Herminia Ibarra and
Mark Hunter state that what differentiates
a manager from a leader is their ability to
network both internally and externally.
Herminia Ibarra, from the French business
school INSEAD, is leading the charge in
shifting views internationally regarding the
real value of networking. In her research
she has discovered that we tend to network
at three levels – operational, strategic and
personal.
Operational networking
At an operational level networking involves
cultivating relationships with people you
need to get your job done. For a learning
and development specialist, these people
may include the marketing manager, the
human resources manager, line managers
of the divisions you support, and external
suppliers.
Strategic networking
At a strategic level, it is important to
consider how you should be networking
to achieve your business and career goals.
Where are you headed in your business, role
or career? How can networking help you?
Who should you be networking with and
how can you meet those people? What can
you do for them?
To network strategically, we need to have a
clear understanding of our current network
of contacts as well as the contacts we ideally
need in our network. Many organisations
provide systems to help their employees
record details of clients and prospective
clients (CRM systems). However, few
people, in my experience, keep individual
records of their personal network of
contacts.
Personal networking
At a personal level, networking for more
social reasons often reaps rewards in our
businesses and careers as well. Going to the
school reunion, catching up with the other
Networking in the 21st
Century – don’t get left behind!
Lisa Butler
DEVELOPING AS A PROFESSIONAL
| 026 | DEC 08 | TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
FEATURE ARTICLE
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT | DEC 08 | 027 |
Training organisations
need HR
parents on the sidelines of the soccer field
or netball courts, going to the corporate
golf days are all important for allowing you
to diversify your network of contacts with
like-minded professional people.
What role do L&D
professionals play?
Learning and development professionals
play a key role in helping others to
maximise their networking advantage. This
may involve working with them to shift
their mindset, developing their networking
capability, and encouraging them to use
systems to monitor and track their network
of contacts.
1. Shifting mindsets
In my business I am fortunate to be able
to work with clients who are professional
and intelligent. Interestingly, this doesn’t
necessarily mean that they understand the
true nature of networking and its benefits.
This is the first step towards improving
networking capability.
I often suggest to my clients that whilst
running networking training is an important
part of shifting mindset as well as building
capability, it will be more beneficial in
the long run if it is backed up internally
through effective communication,
leadership, systems, policies and procedures.
For example:
• incorporating networking KPIs in the
performance management process;
• communicating networking as a
key competency for everyone in the
organisation, not just those on the front
line;
• provide opportunities for people
to practise (eg internal networking
opportunities) and encourage
attendance at relevant external
networking events;
• encourage staff to network online,
through internal blogs and external
websites (eg Linked In);
• encourage senior people to involve
more junior people in networking
situations to enable role modelling of
appropriate networking behaviours.
I often hear people in my programs say that
their managers send them to networking
events with the expectation of getting as
many business cards out there as possible
and bringing back some business. This is
not only difficult and uncomfortable for
the majority of people, it also defeats the
purpose of networking. Shifting mindset
needs to be done across the organisation,
to ensure everyone has the same
understanding of what is expected.
2. Capability
Networking skills can be learned. People
often assume that more naturally
extroverted souls are better at it than their
more introverted colleagues. Once we get a
grasp of the true nature of networking it is
easy to see that in practice, more effective
networking requires the qualities of both
introverted and extroverted people.
Extroverts can leverage from their natural
confidence in getting people engaged in
conversation, yet may need to consider
more strategically where they network, who
they should keep in contact with, how they
can help people, and how they will monitor
their network. Introverts tend to do this
strategic part quite well, yet often lack the
confidence to get out there and start talking
to people.
Training programs aimed at giving people
the tools to help them network as well as
the practical opportunity to network are
extremely effective. We have delivered
countless training programs over the years
for a wide range of clients, and I find
the programs where people don’t know
each other, and there is benefit in them
networking, are always the most successful.
I also suggest that it is important to give
people the opportunity to practise. In-
house social occasions, the growth of office
“coffee spots” and encouraging people to
attend relevant external events are just a few
examples. One of my large law firm clients
recently allowed their junior lawyers to
organise a function for their contacts of a
similar age and stage in their careers.
3. Systems
This is the age of technology and we
need to take advantage of it. We also
have a generation coming up the ranks
that relies more heavily on technology to
communicate. I know of some companies
(eg IBM and Sun Microsystems) who
have created systems to allow for internal
blogging, allowing people to congregate
online and share ideas and manage projects.
Encouraging people to create and use
their own database of personal networking
contacts (eg Outlook contacts) is another
way we can help people to monitor and
maintain contact with their network.
In summary
Many people are hesitant to network,
often due to misperceptions about the
true nature of networking. As learning
and development professionals, we can
personally reap the rewards that networking
offers, and we play an important role in
helping our clients to appreciate the value
of networking and the positive impact it
can have operationally (getting our jobs
done), in career development, business
development and leadership.
Further reading:
Barsh, Joanna; Cranston, Susie; Craske,
Rebecca; Centered leadership: How
talented women thrive; McKinsey Quarterly,
September 2008
Cialdini, Robert; Influence; The Business
Library, Melbourne 1999.
Gladwell, Malcolm; The tipping point;
Abacus, 2000
Ibarra, Herminia & Hunter, Mark; How
leaders create and use networks; Harvard
Business Review; January 2007(Volume 85,
Number 1, pp 40-7.
Ibarra, Herminia; Networking is vital for
successful managers; www.knowledge.insead.
edu/contents/ibarra.cfm
Maister, David; and Green, Charles;
Galford, Robert; The Trusted Advisor;
Touchstone; 2000
Lisa Butler is author of the book
Networking exposed: Discover the
secrets of business networking. She is
a corporate speaker and presenter,
and co-director of communication
training company Paragon Associates.
Lisa specialises in enhancing people’s
networking capability.
Websites: www.paragonassoc.com.au
and www.networkingexposed.com.au
Training organisations are not immune from the skills shortages
that the general market is experiencing, and they must put human
resource (HR) management firmly on their agenda. New research
by NCVER says that strategically focused HR management
systems are key to business success for training providers.
The study, by Andrew Smith and Geof
Hawke, suggests that TAFE institutions
may benefit from loosening the centralised
control of HR practices. But private
training providers undergoing rapid
growth are encouraged to formalise their
HR management practices to ensure their
successful future expansion.
This report recognises that TAFE institutes
and private registered training organisations
are very different in the way they operate,
and tailors recommendations for each
sector.
TAFE resembles other large public
sector organisations, such as hospitals
or universities, while private registered
training organisations (RTOs) are typically
very small organisations, competing in a
well-defined niche of the training market.
These organisations display many of the
characteristics usually associated with small
business operations.
HR in private RTOs
Private RTOs are usually quite small
organisations operating from a single site.
As in TAFE institutes, perceptions of the
level of competition in the training market
are high. Amongst private RTOs who
responded to the survey, 41% reported that
competition had increased dramatically in
the last five years.
Generally, private RTOs have responded
to this market pressure by adopting
a wide variety of business strategies.
About equal proportions of respondents
to the survey reported that they had
distinguished themselves on cost
leadership, differentiation (innovation)
or segmentation (niche market) strategies.
Private RTOs reported that in the future
they were more likely to follow either a cost
leadership strategy by consolidating their
present market through price or through a
segmentation strategy by seeking out future
market niches for growth.
HR management in private RTOs tends to
be informal, with no specialist HR position
or department. It is generally the CEO
(60% of respondents) who looks after HR
matters. The study found that this did not
necessarily result in HR having a more
strategic focus. HR in these circumstances
does have the capacity to be more flexible,
which can make it easier for them to
adopt new and innovative human resource
policies in order to be more competitive in
seeking and retaining skilled workers.
Most private RTOs recruit and select staff
on the basis of their alignment with the
values of the organisation (‘cultural fit’)
rather than on qualifications. This emphasis
on fit for selection helps them to achieve
quite low levels of employee turnover.
Evidence from the case studies showed
that some organisations also had devised
novel retention strategies that allowed them
to recruit and retain particularly valued
employees.
However, some aspects of HR management
are quite undeveloped. Performance
management systems, while they cover
casual and sessional staff, are very diverse
and often ineffective. Levels of training and
development for staff, especially for non-
teaching staff, can be quite low. But most
respondents to the survey reported that they
enjoy a very positive employee relations
climate and this is a strength on which
private RTOs can build in the future.
One key issue for private RTOs is that their
rapid growth may quickly overwhelm their
capacity to manage their human resources
well. The case studies showed that some
private RTOs were facing the challenge
of formalising their human resource
management in order to cope with business
growth.
Future directions
An informal approach to HR management
has both advantages and disadvantages.
It can confer great flexibility in the
management of people, allowing them
to prosper in a competitive market.
However, approaches to performance
management and training in private training
organisations, often areas of weakness, need
to be systematised, but not at the expense
of flexibility.
The key challenge for many private
RTOs is dealing with business growth. As
organisations grow, their ability to manage
people on an informal basis quickly
disappears. This challenge also represents
an opportunity to devise HR management
philosophies that combine efficiency
and fairness with strategic relevance and
integration.
Publication
Human resource management in Australian
registered training organisations, Andrew Smith
and Geof Hawke, National Centre for
Vocational Education Research, November
2008, Item 2041.