MetaPlace the new Second Life

Creating a new virtual world to conduct leadership simulations is a thought that has been bouncing around for a while. It would be interesting to give different individuals different parts of a case study with attached scripts, and then get them to act out how they would solve the problems applying the leadership learning that they receive in the classroom.

Each individual would be assigned an avatar with a code name, that wouldn't be identifiable until after the simulation or experience is over. An instructor would be on-line giving student feedback on all their interactions and problem solving methods.

Or you could even have different avators coaching each other without knowing who exactly they are.

I found a new site that is like second life except way easier to create your own virtual world. Within minutes I had my own space, furniture, trees and yes even a pet squirrel. Check out where the world of learning is going...


If anybody has done this type of learning using a virtual space for leadership simulation I would be very interested in hearing from them.

Social Media and Implications for Learning - Free Training

Check out this free monthly on-line series on the implications of social media for learning.

http://AACE.org/GlobalU/seminars/socialmedia/

Worth Watching - World's Longest Serving Mayor

My sister passed this along, and I thought it was hilarious. The Mayor of Mississauga has been in office for 31 years and 11 consecutive terms. Talk about leadership! Zero debt, 700 million in reserves. When asked what her secret was, she said simply "You need to take care of your people". Every great leader knows this, win the hearts and minds of the people and you have won the battle. In today's tough economic times go back to your roots and involve your people in helping to solve the business challenges you are facing. South West Airlines is a good example of this as well. When they were facing bankruptcy, they turned the company around by focusing on engaging their people. As a result they ended up becoming one of the most profitable airlines around. Part of their philosophy is no job is too small, and all the staff including the airline pilots pitch in to take the bags off the plane and get the airplane off the ground in the quickest turnaround time in the industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY79KbCptTo

SDS and PCI Tools for Career Management

I am very excited about the new approach we are taking at the City of Richmond for Career Management. We are using SDS inventory tools to assist in career exploration. This tool assists the individual in determine what areas of strength, interest and capabilities they have. What is super cool is we are then linking this with a tool called PCI. Once all the jobs have been assessed using the PCI tool we will be able to create our own Richmond Occupational Chart whereby once the career candidate has completed an SDS inventory tool it will match them up with the most likely or best suited career at the City of Richmond.

I am also starting to think about creating my own website re career management to document all the resources that are out there for these types of activities. It is a bit of a maze trying to find the best tool for the type of activity you are trying to do. Does anybody have any suggestions on other tools that they use?

Martha Stewart launches University

Check out iamplify to see how Martha Stewart has launched her own university. In addition, there is also cool new tools out there such as itunesuniversity, where you can go and take free courses. A friend of mine uses illuminate to do live webinars. What are you using to integrate technology as a delivery tool?

http://www.iamplify.com/martha-stewart/

Career Management Resource

This is an excellent website that has free resources for individuals in career transition. In particular, it has a behavioral based bank of interview questions, whereby an individual can put in their answers, and then compare them to answers generated by the system. I am starting to use this tool as a way to prepare my clients for the interview stage. We are starting to have some great success at the City of Richmond counselling internal staff for career transition. This initiative is an important part of our succession planning strategy. To date we have had over 40% of clients successfully transition into new roles, or be promoted.

http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html

Industry Training Authority - Available Funding

I have been working on a project for 18 months now. The purpose of which is to develop a public works apprenticeship model. The idea of this model is to encourage cross training across the different functions of the public works yard from parks, water, roads and construction, fleet, water and sewer. For those of you that don't know many companies and industry associations are taping into the available funding that ITA has for this kind of initiative.

Some basic criteria you need to address are:

1) Is this an industry led initiative?
2) Are there enough people to be trained?
3) Is there support from companies within the industry?

Once you submit a basic level proposal to the Federal Government they will assess the need for this type of program, and grant funding for the research phase of the project, forming a steering committee and producing a proposal back to the Industry Training Authority.

If once the proposal from the Steering Committee level funded by the Federal Government is accepted then ITA will fund the initiative to develop an apprenticeship model. This type of model doesn't have to be applied just in a "blue collar environment", as it could be applied to a supervisor apprenticeship type designation, a firefighter type designation and a myriad of other professions that may need to meet certain standards and competencies that are not currently mapped out. ITA will assist in funding the assessment of what education is currently available, put out a call for proposals for any identified gaps, and fund the creation of curriculum where the gaps are.

If an organization is wanting to get creative and create a funding source they could apply to be approved as a school providing the required training by ITA and receive funding to do so. In addition, an organization could apply to be PCTIA certified and if the program they are offering fits the Provincial Government criteria for retraining they could have applicants apply and receive on-job training while they are laid off.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to make ITA and the apprenticeship model work for your industry contact me to discuss in further detail.