Five essential steps to achieving great e-learning content!
Watch ‘Map the Gap’ and get an overview of five essential steps to achieving great e-learning design.
Leading Community Change Initiatives
There are eight questions that all individuals and nonprofit organisations should ask themselves when embarking on change initiatives within their communities. These questions are:
Question 1: What kind of change are you and your community group trying to bring about?
Question 2. What reasons do you have to believe that this change is necessary?
Question 3: Do you have reason to believe that your community will support you in your bid to bring about change?
Question 4: Who are the top ten opinion leaders that you need to influence in your community?
Question 5: How can you influence the opinion leaders?
Question 6: What message will you convey to the community at large?
Question 7: Who will communicate on behalf of the change initiative group?
Question 8: What methods will be used to communicate with the community?
The questions are explained more fully in our presentation, which is available to view at http://www.slideshare.net/CramdenTECH/leading-community-change
The eight questions form part of CramdenTECH’s “Leading Community Change” blended learning course, which includes workshops and eLearning.
Core Functions of the Board of Directors
Throughout the year, but most often in springtime, organisations around the country hold their Annual General Meetings. Amongst other matters, A.G.M.s provide a company’s members with an opportunity to elect the directors that will manage the company on their behalf.
For people who have not undertaken governance training, this post provides a very quick summary of the core functions of a Board of Directors. Broadly speaking, directors are collectively responsible for:
– Ensuring that the company achieves its mission and objectives as agreed by the Board. The mission and objectives should be in line with what is stated in the main and subsidiary objects of the company’s Memorandum of Association.
– Assessing and managing the risks faced by the company. The risks to be managed varies from one company to the next and may be categorised under the headings of strategic, financial, operational, governance, external and compliance risks.
– Monitoring company performance. Directors should be aware of how the company is performing at both an operational and strategic level. Tracking performance indicators, outputs and outcomes provides a means to monitor performance.
– Reviewing internal company controls. All companies should have a well developed set of internal controls to ensure good financial practices and compliance requirements are adhered to.
– Supervising the financial and budgetary planning processes. These processes help boards to make the most of the resources at the company’s disposal.
– Approving contracts, finance and investment in excess of specified thresholds. The approval process helps directors to monitor key financial decisions and contractual obligations of consequence to the company.
– Being accountable to members and external stakeholders. Directors act on behalf of the members and are required to report back to them at the A.G.M. Directors should also be mindful of the need to keep all key stakeholders informed of the company’s progress.
– Ensuring the company is managed appropriately. This is an important function, particularly where operational and management control is carried out by employees or agency staff.
– Meeting regularly as a board (as is appropriate) and working effectively in governing the company. Board members must be able to work as a coherent unit if they are to carry out the functions listed above!
It should also be noted that a Board of Directors must comply with the regulations and compliance requirements as set out in the Companys Acts.
You can learn more about the functions and responsibilities of board membership on CramdenTECH’s BoardPASS Standard training course.
Leadership Shouldn’t be Left to Executives!
Global adventurer Alison Levine had some interesting thoughts to share on the nature of leadership recently. She said “… I think it’s a mistake to rely on executives for leadership or people that have certain titles or a certain amount of tenure.” She went on to say “I think people realise everyone’s in a leadership position. And leadership shouldn’t be left to an executive staff or board of directors or heads of department.”
If we take these words to heart – then our jobs as CEO’s, Executive Directors and Vice-Presidents, is to cultivate the leader within each employee. There isn’t a magic formula to achieve this, but we can start by assessing our own behaviour and attitude to work and seeing how our style of management or leadership influences the styles of the people around us. Moving beyond ourselves, how does the culture of the organisation in which we work, affect the emergence of leadership behaviours as the norm, rather than the exception. And what of the power structures within the workplace? What impact would a workplace of leaders have on the exercise of authority, autonomy and consistency in decision-making?
Perhaps the answer lies in creating a culture that enables different people to emerge as leaders as and when the need arises. As circumstances and situations differ, the individuals taking on leadership roles also differ. Hence, the person best placed to fill the leadership role does so, rather than the person whose job title denotes leadership authority in the situation. Managers and supervisors can be trained to exhibit leadership behaviour and to cultivate leadership behaviours in their colleagues and direct reports. CramdenTECH’s two-day programme “Leadership Skills for Supervisors and Managers“, is designed to help participants to develop their own leadership potential and that of the people they work with. You can learn more about the programme at https://cramdentech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Learn-with-CramdenTECH-Spring-2014-Workshops-and-Seminars.pdf.
And if you would like to learn more about Alison Levine’s thoughts on leadership, you can watch her appearance on CBS http://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-the-edge-an-adventurers-guide-to-leadership/ as she promotes her new book, “On the Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership.”
Seven Free Online Resources for SME’s and Not For Profits in Ireland
Directors, Trustees and managers of SME’s and Not For Profits are busy people. So any time that can be saved searching for online guides to best practice in governance and management is important. We are sharing CramdenTECH’s top five bookmarked topic specific Irish reference sites. Hopefully you’ll find them as valuable as we do!
Legal responsibilities of directors: General Publications section Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement …Read Here
SME Accounting resources from Certified Public Accountants …Read Here
Guidance for Directors and Senior Managers on their Responsibilities for Workplace Safety and Health …Read Here
Data Protection Information for Organisations in Ireland …Read Here
Employer Resources – Best Practice for Non-Profits in Ireland…Read Here
If you are in the Not For Profit Sector, we’d also recommend KnowledgeNET from Carmichael Centre and Managing Better: tools for taking care of business from Pobal. But we’re biased in both cases, as CramdenTECH’s managing director Caroline Egan had a hand in providing content for each of these resources!
MOOCs of Interest!
If you are interested in learning some new skills (or brushing up on existing ones) this springtime, check out the range of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) available from providers in the USA and Australia. Starting with one of the best known MOOC platforms Coursera, some interesting offerings include:
Human Computer Interaction – started on March 31st and provided by Stanford University
An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python – starting April 15th and provided by Rice University
Introduction to Data Science – starting May 1st and provided by University of Washington
One of the latest MOOC platforms to join the virtual learning world comes from Australia. Check out Open2Study to participate in courses such as:
Principles of Project Management – starting April 22nd and provided by Polytechnic West
Financial Planning – starting April 22nd and provided by Sydney Institute
And don’t forget the range of courses available at Udacity. There’s never been a better opportunity to learn new skills online!