Friday, January 20, 2006

Staffing and Hiring - Employee Funnel

As training professionals we tend to see the world from the perspective of existing employees within our organizations. But those of you who engage in New Hire activities undoubtedly hear about the trials and tribulations of the Hiring and Staffing department. I know I have and it helps to see the big picture in defining what we do.

"Our employees are our greatest asset."

This quote gets bantered about constantly, but there is always a sense amongst the rank and file that they aren't feeling like a "great asset". Maybe that's another post...so to my point.

Seth Godin comments on marketing and his visual of the funnel in regards to prospects and customers. It got me thinking of the Hiring and Staffing department looking at potential new hires during recruiting outings...as employee prospects. But more importantly I began to think of current employees as customers. (Mostly because for us in the training world they are OUR customers.)

So instead of blindly cranking out "click-next" learning activities, following the same old ISD models and processes, let's support our customers and treat them as valuable assets to the company by:
1) cutting out the red tape getting them access to data, documents, and information
2) letting them create the content...and participate in the learning process through SIMPLE tools with little, or no, bureaucracy.
3) defining and creating learning environments that support collaboration with peers (no I'm not talking about teleconferencing)
4) creating, if we must, online learning that has beauty and grace as a central part of its design.

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