Productivity and Human Capital

I believe that productivity is about more than capital investment in big machines or huge software systems.

It’s also about harnessing the power of your people by engaging them in the vision of your company and enabling them to develop their human capital as they help your company grow.

Human Capital is a term that some people dislike, believing that it implies a view people as merely resources. I believe in a more positive interpretation: each individual is the owner of (his/her) their human capital and they can either build it through their life, or dissipate it in various dysfunctional ways. Unlike machinery which loses value by becoming obsolete, we can learn and build our human capital through our lives.

Essential Skills

Literacy and numeracy are hugely important in determining a person's success in work and life, and that's why these are basic components of the Essential Skillset.

But other Essential Skills are also important in various degrees in almost all forms of human activity:

Source: Essential Skills and Workplace Literacy Initiative

• Oral Communication
  • can you get your point across?
  • can you understand what's being said both explicitly and implicitly?
• Working with Others
  • can you get along with others in yeour team?
  • can you be relied on to deliver what you've promised?
  • can you find ways of getting others in your team to deliver?
• Continuous Learning
• can you handle the discomfort of constant learning?
• do you have a handle on your learning style and how you learn best?
• can you find the learning opportunities and resources you need?
• Thinking Skills
  • Problem Solving
  • Decision Making
  • Critical Thinking
  • Job Task Planning and Organizing
  • Significant Use of Memory
  • Finding Information
• Computer Use
  • do you know your way around your operating system?
  • can you use the standard office applications?
  • are you self-directed or do you generally need help through reading or training?

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and ePortfolio

Adult Learning

I subscribe to the tenets of adult learning:

• Adults are autonomous and self-directed, so we believe in giving them control over what they learn.
• Adults need to connect learning to their life experiences and knowledge, so we use experiential storytelling as a key strategy.
• Adults are goal-oriented, so we tie our learning interventions to those goals.
• Adults are relevancy-oriented and must see a reason for learning something.
• Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work. They may not be interested in knowledge for its own sake.
• Adults need to be shown respect. Instructors must acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge and allowed to voice their opinions freely in class.

Other Elements

Learning from Peers

Learning by Example

Just in Time Learning

Knowledge Construction

Partnership and Collaboration

Flexible Content