It has been estimated that 70 percent of employee development takes place through informal learning, rather than through formal learning events.  Employee Development on a Shoestring by Halelly Azulay, CEO of TalentGrow, offers insights and lessons for leveraging these naturally occurring growth opportunities in developing employees outside the classroom and ‘outside the box’. This hands-on resource delivers specific implementation tools and techniques for developing motivated, engaged employees in today’s “do more with less” business environment. A handy resource for any employee developer, this book provides worksheets, checklists, and detailed implementation guidelines to help managers develop their workforce in a way that is tailored to each employee’s strengths, development needs, and constraints.

Grounded in employee development best practices, Employee Development on a Shoestring provides in-depth descriptions of the how-to specifics of eleven different, easy to implement employee development methods, including:

1. Step-by-step guidance for initial goal-setting and preparation for effective development planning for every employee, for all development methods.
2. Templates, worksheets, checklists, and guidelines to make your employee development efforts effective and sustainable.
3. A discussion of the value of developing employees in ways that leverage and target their individual strengths, learning styles, and development needs.
4. A modular, customized approach to developing employees by tailoring the development method to each employee’s unique needs and each organization’s budget and constraints.
5. Ways to capitalize on self-directed learning ideas that are easy to implement and apply, immediately and cheaply.
6. Insights for using volunteering as a low-cost and low-effort employee development method.
7. Ideas for creating unique immersive learning opportunities by sending employees on a sabbatical.
8. How to leverage the power of mentoring to develop new competencies for both mentors and protégés.
9. The hidden value of job rotation, stretch assignments, and special teams for addressing your employees’ development needs while enhancing organizational results.
10. Ways to multiply your return-on-investment by identifying situations where peer teaching opportunities exist.
11. The secret of turning employee development into fun and engaging games and contests.
12. Tools and techniques for developing employees by encouraging them to capture stories from the frontlines into digital content for everyone’s benefit.
13. Why developing “innovation zones” within your organization may bring huge learning and development rewards.
14. An examination of social learning and the use of multiple collaborative online tools for real time, on-the-job employee development.

When we asked Halelly how she connects her work to positive business practices she had this to say:

“Research shows time and again that feeling they are developing new skills and growing their capacity at a job helps people feel engaged and want to stay with the organization. So a positive business practice is to ensure that your people are able to grow in their current role and see how they can expand their skills sets. BlessingWhite’s 2013 Employee Engagement Research Update Report found that ‘When it comes to drivers of engagement, clarity on the organization’s priorities, getting feedback, having opportunities to use skills, and career development remain at the top of the list for a majority of employees.’ BlessingWhite’s Employee Engagement Research Update 01/13 rev2. C  http://www.blessingwhite.com/content/reports/BlessingWhite_Employee_Engagement_Research_Report_2013.pdf

Also, according to Dan Pink in his book, Drive, one of three key motivators for knowledge workers is developing Mastery, which necessitates lots of practice but also upgrading skills and developing new ones.”

So there you have it.  By offering multiple employee development methods for every learning style and budget, experience-based tips and suggestions, exercises, and input on maximizing the utility and efficacy of your employee development efforts, Halelly Azulay has written a comprehensive tutorial for all managers, supervisors, trainers, human resources (HR) personnel, coaches, and other professionals who are involved in developing employee competence efficiently and cost-effectively.  Here is a vlog about why she wrote the book:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvzsmwS272w&feature=player_embedded.  We hope you’ll check it out.

Doug Hensch, M.Ed

Thursday, Doug Hensch will kick off Positive Business DC’s “Well-being in The Workplace” speaker series when he reveals The 5-1/2 Secrets of Entrepreneurs. As noted in Monday’s post, Low Startup Ratio Causes Economic Stall and Job Deficit, entrepreneurship drives our economic engine—and we are unfortunately in a slump.

According to research by the Gallup Organization, the U.S. needs 2 million new businesses launched each year to create enough jobs to keep the economy healthy. We’re currently running at 20% of the required figure. Gallup proposes we offset the deficit by ensuring that the next generation has the tools and training needed to be successful entrepreneurs. While mentoring the Internet generation may be an effective long-term strategy, we also need to focus on what we can do now to improve the domestic business climate.

DC Places Last on Happiness Scale

Living and working in the Metro DC area insulates us from the effects of a poor national economy. Or does it? The folks at Delivering Happiness (@DHMovement) have determined that Washington, DC exhibits the lowest level of happiness in the country. More than a decade of rigorous scientific research proves that happy employees are more engaged, productive, and creative in the workplace and thus produce better returns for their companies. We need to take action and inject energy into our local communities.

That’s where Positive Business DC comes in. Shannon Polly, MAPP, President of Accentuate Consulting, Donna Hemmert, an Internet executive and serial entrepreneur with whom I’ve had the privilege of working with since the ’90s, and I co-founded the organization to give local business leaders a resource for learning how the science of happiness can help companies improve the bottom line. Each of us approaches the subject from a different angle.

Shannon (@ShannonPolly) is one of only approximately 300 people in world who has received a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman. She is also the co-author of Does Happiness Really Drive Results? Shannon is passionate about the science that underlies positive psychology as a discipline and how to apply the science in a way that enhances well-being in the workplace.

Donna (@dhemmert) has been fascinated by positivity and its effect on teams, leadership, and companies since she began her career. A natural leader, Donna has honed her abilities and repeatedly created enabling cultures that encourage her teams to consistently produce ‘star quality’ results. Having been on a number of Donna’s teams, I can tell you from personal experience that she’s one of the best in the industry.

And anyone who reads Modern DC Business on a regular basis knows that I (@mmoran76) have a burning interest in the intersection of leadership, culture, entrepreneurship, innovation, and neuroscience. I’ve blended research by the Gallup Organization, Marcus Buckingham, Daniel Golemen, Jim Collins, Steve Blank (to name a few) to transform underperforming teams and companies—some with very toxic cultures—into positive, strengths-based organizations.

Doug Hensch And The ‘Strengths Zone’

We are excited to have Doug Hensch (@DougHensch) lead off the “Well-being in The Workplace” speaker series. Doug brings a wealth of experience and passion to help his clients lead extraordinary businesses and lives. He uses a pragmatic, three-pronged approach: Set meaningful goals; identify strengths; and work regularly in the ‘strengths zone.’

Doug co-founded an investor-backed happiness website that had over 100,000 registered users and was featured on CNN, in the Boston Globe and the L.A. Times. His new website, myhappier.com, helps people increase their well-being and resilience.

The Positive Business DC Charter

People spend more time at work than any other aspect of their lives. We believe it’s time to take a page from science and history to increase well-being in the workforce. Workplace well-being leads to more than just a happy team. Other benefits include increased productivity, lowered attrition, and even increased profitability. Our charter to is inform and inspire DC to take a page from Positive Psychology and lessons learned in business to increase well-being in the workplace.

Positive Business DC plans to conduct its speaker series across the Metro DC area. If you are interested in hosting a future event, please DM @PositiveBizDC. The October 25th Meetup will be held at Teqcorner (1616 Anderson Road, McLean, VA) and includes refreshments.

Join The Well-being Movement

Please follow us on Twitter: @PositiveBizDC and Facebook. And please don’t forget to register to see what the excitement is all about! Space is limited.