Linked – Four actions leaders can take to boost employee mental health
Psychological safety in your workplace environment cannot be achieved without training your managers on mental health.
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Sometimes it’s not a lack of training
Think of it this way: As a technology trainer, I can teach you everything there is to know about a specific technology, but it won’t solve anything if it’s not the proper technology for the job that needs to be done or if the job isn’t well-defined. That’s a different problem.
Have you been asked to provide training when the problem wasn’t a lack of employee knowledge before?
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Do You Know What Will Prevent Your Best Performers From Hopping?
As I mentioned, I’ve left some jobs for reasons that had nothing to do with more money. Whether it was relocation, a desire to travel, a need to travel less, or the desire to work remotely, the one thing those changes had in common was that they were specific to my situation and preferences.
The other thing they had in common was that the place I was leaving did not have the flexibility to offer me what I wanted. Could the role have centered on doing more online training so I could travel less? Could a little remote work availability have kept me there longer? Could a fully remote position have allowed me to continue working and relocate?
We’ll never know because that wasn’t offered. Thus, I’ve switched jobs a few times.
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Linked – Employees are hiding their AI use from their managers. Here’s why
More importantly, I want credit for the work I do. If using AI is seen as cheating or cutting corners, I’m not likely to want anyone to know about it. In my opinion, this is on employers. They must set the cultural expectations that using AI is intelligent and efficient, not lazy. They also need to provide training on how to use AI effectively so that it is transparent and available to everyone.
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Linked – Public speaking, TEDx, and well articulated points of view
Now, before you start with “they work in IT so that they don’t have to do public speaking,” I am going to argue that even if you’ve never wanted to present to a large conference audience or be asked to present webinars, etc., you would do well to learn how to do it anyway. You will need to tell a compelling story about what you do at some point in your career. Whether it be to defend your budget, ask for headcount, or explain your role on the team, being able to present your ideas well will go a long way. But, it’s not something we train for with many of our technical employees.
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One Huge Challenge with M365 for Admins – An Example
It’s a huge challenge. We have no control over updates, and Microsoft is increasingly releasing new features before they build out the compliance tools that would allow us to manage them. As Tony pointed out above, agents may have critical impacts on current security and data privacy work. No matter, it’s coming. Figure it out.
As I mentioned during the ILTA session last month, I don’t see how organizations will function without a dedicated staff to monitor and communicate changes. Consider just how much work is involved in understanding Copilot and all of the compliance issues surrounding the use of AI, then consider how fast Microsoft is rolling out new Copilot features. It’s been a moving target since day one.
It’s only a small part of the M365 environment.
