Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Sharing Nugget #57

#57: Some things are about all promise and no delivery.

I am going for my final test for the module “Intelligent Organization” tomorrow morning. I am deeply disappointed with the course – lots of theory in far-fetched terms and telling WHAT things should be like; but never tell us HOW it can be done and very little application and empirical examples offered.

It is totally way out of the league of the other modules that have taught me things that really made me grow intellectually. Haiz… the irony of the course title yeah?

It took me a long time to make sense of it in a macro sense, and try to associate it with reality. In the micro sense, either it is too technical or too common sense. But at least, there is some parts with I can extract and convince myself that I have “learned” (or more like being reminded of) something. So here goes.

I am reminded that employees in out time, if they want to do well, they need to 1) possess strong knowledge of their chosen profession; 2) be independent in learning; 3) be aware that things are ever changing and evolving, and embrace it. A highly-intelligent employee must be 1) Learn, 2) adapt, and 3) evolve. (Never become a dinosaur).

To add on, I believe that also, a basic skill one must have is the ability to sieve through the tons of information out there, extract what is relevant, make sense of it by putting it into perspective; and then make informed decisions or recommendations based on it, and communicate it clearly through valid and structured arguments.

And importantly, one must be able to do all these FAST.

3 years in the Airforce – which is highly organized and faces an ever-changing environment - reinforces my belief that the above competencies are highly needed in a contemporary employee. Also, I have heard from my wife about the dinosaurs at work and how they hold back organizational progress.

Tomorrow I am going to vomit out in the final test all that the prof thinks we should know. But I will keep in mind those things I learned from reflecting on, and from trying to make sense of, the course content. I am disappointed that the course promised so much but failed to deliver. If only we are taught how to apply those intelligent org theories, or given more empirical examples, this would have been a very powerful module to take.

But alas…

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