Grow what you know!

Most of us are familiar with a concept I call the “half-life of technology.”

The half-life is how long it takes a new product, feature, concept, etc., to reach the halfway point in the process of becoming obsolete. With a second’s reflection, you will probably agree that the average half-life of anything remotely technological continues to shrink. That means that the skills we learned to support that product also have a half-life. Suddenly (it seems), what was a useful skill just a minute ago quickly seems like it’s five minutes old. Worse, within days you probably won’t even talk much about it, let alone use it.

So, what is the half-life of your skill set? How do you keep up with changes and remain relevant? If you have team responsibilities, how can your team keep up with ever-changing demands?

Education is the foundation for the growth and development of both team members and your business.

While economic bumps in the road may temporarily slow or stall new initiatives, those won’t last forever, and you had better be ready. Having an educational goal -- and a plan to achieve that goal -- puts you in the game.

Executing the plan and tracking your progress as you hit your goals will keep you ahead of the game.

Educational opportunities can be broken into two simple scenarios; active and passive:

1. In an active scenario, you develop a game plan, and execute it, by creating a list of new skills that must be acquired.

It’s easy in this scenario to track progress, because goals are clear. Each team member is expected to master specific skills by a certain date. Each has a budget and perhaps an intermediate milestone or two to achieve, because periodic reviews can keep both staff and supervisors on track.

2. A passive scenario does not demand specific skill acquisition.

No organization can afford a comfortable staff that is not expected to do anything more than show up and push the same buttons they pushed the day before. Repetitive execution may develop expertise, so there is some value to it -- but it is hardly beneficial in the long term. To thrive, you and your organization need ongoing education.
This scenario may lack overt motivation, but you can still drive your goal setting if you:

Have a vision: You know, or believe, that a market force or business goal change is looming. You also believe that a particular technology will be essential to conquering these future challenges.

The event may be far enough into the future that the technology you envision might be a distant system overhaul, but now may be a good time to begin acquiring foundational knowledge. Some of the technological underpinnings we see coming fast for many of our clients include virtualization, collaboration, unified communications, and perhaps a new desktop operating system.

Address your weaknesses: As you look around, you see you have basic coverage for the important current technologies, but maybe your team is only one person deep (or simply short-staffed) in a key area. See this as the opportunity it is to broaden your (or your team’s) skills – skills that can probably be put to use sooner than you think.

Follow your passion: What really gets your juices flowing?

I’ve been fascinated with the concept of identity driving access to resources, and identity-related events driving execution of processes.

Picture, for example, the hiring of a new employee spawning a series of system events that provision the new person, sends notifications of the hire to relevant system users, and perhaps even orders a bouquet for the employee’s first day on the job.

If you have a passion that could benefit your organization, it won’t take much prodding for you
to make it happen.

Now you have a goal! Cycle back to the first scenario, and work the plan!

In the past year, we’ve learned at C/D/H that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on education to get a big bang for your buck.

Back in the day, advanced or early training required attending the “conference,” which cost the company in fees, lost work, and travel expenditures. That isn’t necessarily the case now. Many vendors now provide access to some or all of their conference sessions via on-demand video or teleconference.

I won’t say you’ll never have to attend a conference again, but new technologies can make the difference in whether you and your team get the training you need – or not.

So, smart managers work collaboratively with every staff member to develop an education plan that builds on staff strengths and shores up weaknesses in measurable ways.

Ongoing, professional development is good for everyone. The company obviously benefits, but it also keeps all of our brains exercised and fresh – which can come in handy for keeping up with a smarty-pants nephew!

Contact your C/D/H consultant for more information about continuing education opportunities for your team – at a price you can afford.