The Performance Improvement Blog

New e-Book for Getting Business Results from Training

2009-11-10T11:24:43-05:00

Getting business results from training, or any learning intervention (for example, coaching) for that matter, often has more to do with organizational issues than it does with design and delivery of the learning event. Learning professionals have become very good at creating powerful learning experiences for participants. Yet, the number of participants who apply this learning to achieving important business results for their organizations is still quite small. Some researchers put that number in the 10% to 20% range.

Sean Murray, CEO of RealTime Performance, and I want to increase that number. We have identified five factors that contribute to the impact of learning interventions. We believe that when learners and managers of learners attend to these factors, it is much more likely that training will contribute to business success. These factors are:

Alignment: Align learning with strategic goals.
Anticipation: Anticipate success.
Alliance: Create a learning alliance between learner and boss.
Application: Apply learning immediately.
Accountability: Hold learner and organization accountable for business results.

These factors make up what we call the "5As Framework". You can read more about this framework in our new e-book, Getting More From Your Investment in Training: The 5As Framework. The e-book also has valuable tips and tools you can use to get more impact from your training programs. You can download the first two chapters free or you can purchase the whole e-book at the RealTime Performance Web site. Let us know what you think.

Leadership vs. Management

2009-11-09T13:14:14-05:00

“Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.” Warren Bennis gave us this catchy way to talk about the difference between leaders and managers. If only that difference was so clear in reality. Henry Mintzberg, that venerable scholar of management studies, author of the classic HBR article, The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact, wrote a recent opinion piece for BusinessWeek in which he argues that the captains of industry need to do more managing and less leading. He writes:

…what we've been calling a financial crisis is actually one of management. Corporate America has had too much of fancy leadership disconnected from plain old management… U.S. businesses now have too many leaders who are detached from the messy process of managing. So they don't know what's going on.

Bill George, in his latest book, 7 Lessons for Leading in a Crisis, cites many examples of CEOs who were successful in saving their companies from disaster (i.e., bankruptcy or worse) precisely because they left their C-suites and got into the trenches with managers and customers, found out what was going on, and then worked with their managers to solve problems. One example he describes is David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue, who took responsibility for his airline’s Valentine’s Day disaster two and a half years ago that nearly destroyed the company he founded. See the interview.

Neeleman did and interview with Matt Lauer in which the embattled leader owns the problem, says what his company has already done to correct the problem, and offers restitution to everyone who was stranded at an airport during the days that JetBlue grounded its planes. He was able to take these actions because he immediately went into the field with his managers to analyze the system failures and figure out solutions. Unfortunately for Neeleman, he saved the company but in so doing, lost his job (Go figure!).

There are times when leaders need to manage and managers need to lead. John Baldoni, in his latest book, L ead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up, explains that at times even mid-level managers need to take on a leadership role and “speak truth to power”… if that is what is required for the good of the company.

Good management and good leadership are not much different. Mintzberg says that leadership is “management practiced well.” The recent crisis in auto companies and financial services firms provides many examples of leaders not managing well and managers not leading well. They offer excuses (e.g., “I made the best decision I could with the information I had at the time.”) without taking responsibility and they offer a different future while not doing anything fundamental to change the present.

Confessions of a Learning Consultant

2009-11-03T22:03:38-05:00

Every year billions of dollars are stolen from corporations. No, I’m not talking about the latest financial services company in need of a bailout, or another overzealous hedge fund manager. I’m talking about employee training and development. Only 10% to 20% of participants in these programs will apply what they learn to achieve business results. The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) estimates that companies spent $134 billion on “employee learning and development” in 2007. That means approximately $107 billion was wasted that year and probably a similar amount was wasted in 2008 and 2009.

Trainers and instructional designers are unwitting accomplices in this fraud. They obediently fulfill client requests for performance improvement programs, not realizing or not caring that these programs will have little impact. I confess: I have designed and delivered programs that could have had no more than minimal impact on my clients' businesses. Maybe this transgression is not criminal in the sense of a Ponzi scheme; it is, however, misusing valuable resources of organizations that cannot afford waste, especially in this economy.

This misdeed is not the fault of learning professionals alone. Company leaders apparently are not willing to do what it takes to ensure that their learning investment pays off. Managers don't make learning a priority. This is like investing in new manufacturing machinery but not in maintenance of that equipment. It’s like investing in new computer technology but not in help-desk support. Learning is a process that requires care and feeding. For employees to learn, they need preparation, a positive mindset, the encouragement and support of people they respect, an opportunity to apply what they learn soon after learning, and reinforcement of learning over time - in addition to a high quality instructional experience. Learning professionals and their companies need to stop squandering valuable resources and start doing the things they need to do to get the results they want.

Learning From Training Evaluation

2009-10-28T16:23:23-04:00

If you are not doing follow-up evaluation of your training programs, you are not getting the most you can from these performance interventions. I’ve written about this before but it deserves repeating. Evaluation has many uses. Kirkpatrick uses evaluation to determine learner reactions, increased knowledge, behavior change, and results. Phillips uses evaluation to measure the ROI of training. Brinkerhoff uses evaluation to assess impact of training on the business. I think another just as valid purpose of evaluation is to ensure learning.

Asking participants questions about their learning makes it more likely that learning will occur. When I read a book, especially fiction, and don’t discuss the book with anyone for several weeks, I forget what I read. The same phenomenon occurs for most people after attending training events. If they do not think about the material again in a meaningful way within a short period of time, they forget. Follow-up evaluation requires learners to think meaningfully about what they learned.

Simply the process of asking questions of learners has the effect of cementing that knowledge in their brains. Maybe it’s the repetition. Maybe it’s the renewed commitment to the content. Maybe it’s the sense of being held accountable for learning. Whatever the internal process that goes on in learners, the result of asking questions is employees that are more likely to retain new knowledge and apply that learning to their work.

Complacency in the Cockpit?

2009-10-23T13:49:14-04:00

Two Northwest Airlines pilots may have been asleep at the wheel when their Minneapolis-bound plane overshot its destination by 150 miles before they realized what had happened, turned the plane around, and returned to their destination. One national TV commentator speculated that since many passenger jets today have the technology to essentially fly themselves, this may have been a case of pilots becoming complacent and not fully doing their job of closely monitoring the plane’s performance. In a previous blog post, I labeled this kind of behavior the “complacency syndrome.”

Airplane pilots are not the only employees who risk complacency. Staying with air-travel examples, I have noticed TSA employees being more interested in socializing with their co-workers than paying attention to the repetitive and mind-numbing task of checking people and their luggage day after day. And flight attendants, who have to announce safety instructions at the beginning of every flight, doing this sounding like they couldn’t care less about safety. And luggage handlers who, over time, become careless and lackadaisical in their treatment of passengers’ precious goods, which leads to lost and damaged property. It’s unpleasant and annoying to passengers when flight attendants and luggage handlers suffer from the complacency syndrome; it’s life-threatening when TSA officers and airline pilots have this disease.

Email: Be Careful What You Say and What You Hear

2009-10-15T15:47:42-04:00

Email has become ubiquitous in organizations today and with that comes all of the problems of any communication among employees. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say, “That email made me so mad.” Or, “I don’t like that tone of voice in that message.” Or, “From the sound of that message, she must hate me.” When, in fact, we can rarely determine the emotion, or even the full meaning, in an email message.

It is assumed that everyone knows how to write an effective email; just as it is assumed that everyone knows how to have a civil conversation, how to write a convincing report, or how to make a powerful presentation. Yet that is frequently not the case. Poor email communication is a huge problem for companies.

Creative Communications & Training Inc. estimates that poorly written email can cost a company of 100 employees about $450,000 per year. A study of Business Roundtable members, who are some of the most influential companies in the U.S., was conducted by The National Commission on Writing and concluded that “… remedying deficiencies in writing [including email] may cost American firms as much as $3.1 billion annually.”

Debra Hamilton of Creative Communications & Training has written an excellent report on the problems with email titled, “Top Ten Email Blunders That Cost Companies Money.” The report is worth a look if you want to improve email communication in your organization. She goes into detail on each of these top ten blunders:

1. Inaccurate or vague subject line

2. Purpose for writing not stated up front

3. No specific action step

4. Incomplete information

5. Too much information

6. Harsh or demanding tone

7. Breaking privacy guidelines and crossing ethical boundaries

8. Conveying sensitive or confidential information

9. Errors and inaccuracies

10. Excessive volume

This list is from the sender’s side, but receivers of messages make blunders, too. See my post from October 2008 for comments about the typical misinterpretations that receivers of emails make about messages. Both senders and receivers need to do a better job of using email. And don’t get me started on text messaging.

Getting More From Your Investment in Coaching

2009-10-07T08:13:00-04:00

A colleague asked me recently if the 5As Framework could be applied to leadership coaching. I said, “Absolutely!” Coaching is a relationship that is intended to facilitate learning, e.g., how to give feedback to employees, how to run a meeting, how to communicate with your boss, etc. The 5As Framework is a guide to maximizing the benefits of any learning intervention. Ergo, the 5As should be applied to coaching.

For those of you who haven’t read Sean Murray's blog or my previous blogs or viewed our webinars about the framework, here is a short tutorial:

Alignment

Align learning with strategic goals.

Anticipation

Anticipate success.

Alliance

Create a learning alliance between learner and boss.

Application

Apply learning immediately.

Accountability

Hold learner and organization accountable for business results.

As coaches we want our clients to: understand how coaching will help them achieve important business results (alignment); have expectations that they will improve their abilities as managers/leaders (anticipation); talk with their bosses about what they are learning in coaching (alliance); apply what they learn in coaching immediately to their work situations (application); measure the effects of coaching on achieving business results (accountability). By using the 5As in this way, we increase the impact of coaching on individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole.

For more details and tools you can use to implement the framework, look for our soon-to-be-published ebook, Getting More from Your Investment in Training: The 5As Framework. I will have a link to the ebook on this blog.

Downturn Opportunities for Performance Improvement

2009-10-05T21:01:04-04:00

The current downturn in the economy and the much-anticipated-but-slow-in-coming upturn, presents companies with a unique opportunity for performance improvement. John Baldoni writes in his blog post titled, Use the Downturn to Your Advantage, that this is the time for organizations “…to get rid of anything and everything that does not add value to the bottom line”, look to employees, customers, and vendors for ways to improve operations, and model for all employees how to overcome obstacles during tough times.

All great advice; but I wouldn’t do any of this without data. Collect and analyze data that describes your processes from both a statistical and human point of view. For example, changing the work schedule to more hours over fewer days might look more efficient on paper, but if it takes an emotional toll on workers, it might not be worth altering. Survey employees, customers, and vendors and use that data as the basis for a conversation with them about improving operations. Ask them what measures would indicate effective operations. Use those measures to assess the change and to make decisions about improvement.

This is the time for radical change…as long as it is supported by evidence. Change simply for the sake of change will cause you to lose the trust of employees, customers, and vendors. Change that is indicated by the facts will gain you the respect of these stakeholders, even if they disagree with your conclusions.

Instant Coaching

2009-09-29T12:26:10-04:00

Are trainers and coaches being replaced by a 99 cent app? I knew it was only a matter of time. You can now download iPocket Coach for your Apple iPhone. This Web 2.0 tool promises to give managers "the guidance they need to manage their people - on demand." Clearly, technology is changing the field of

management training and development as fast as it is changing everything else in our lives.

I'm intrigued by this idea of making helpful advice easily accessible and timely. Much of the time, it is impractical for managers to wait for their next scheduled training session or even for their next coaching session...if they even have a leadership coach. Managers need just-in-time alternatives and more can be done to use technology to prepare managers for learning and to sustain that learning over time. However, I bristle at the notion that all they need is a list of recommended behaviors on an iPhone to get through the next difficult management situation.

The marketing video at the iPocket Coach site is a great example of the best and worst aspects of instant coaching. In the video, a manager uses the app to prepare herself for a difficult performance review conversation with one of her employees. That's fine; however, we can't tell from this short demonstration if she asked helpful questions, gave useful responses, or made this a learning opportunity for the employee. And the supervisor of the manager, who pops his head in the door to remind her that she should have the performance review and then he returns later to make sure it was done, displays a very typical but very poor example of supervision. He's the problem, not the manager who needs a little guidance on conducting a performance review.

I believe Web 2.0 tools of all types, including iPhone apps as well as wikis, blogs, Twitter, and other social media, have tremendous potential for supporting manager learning and leadership development. As with any new technology, we need entrepreneurs who are willing to experiment with new learning tools in the marketplace and then continuously improve these tools. At the same time, we need to continuously ask ourselves, "Are we oversimplifying the learning process to the point where we might be doing more harm than good?"

Great Expectations: College Completion and Job Success

2009-09-22T11:03:46-04:00

College completion, whether a two or four-year degree or a certificate from an occupational program, is being touted by President Obama and others as essential for a robust U.S. economy and for world-wide competition for goods and services. Significant federal dollars and philanthropic monies are being invested in efforts to help young people and laid-off workers succeed in college. As businesses emerge from the recession they will be looking to college graduates for the talent needed to succeed. And yet, the goal of college completion remains elusive for many students.

A controversial new book by William B. Bowen, former President of Princeton University, Michael S.

McPherson, former President of Macalester College and currently President of the Spencer Foundation, and Matthew M. Chingos, graduate student at Harvard, titled Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities, gives us some hints as to the reasons why college completion is so difficult. One of their major conclusions is that the expectation of completion has a significant effect on whether students complete or not. And this expectation is greater at some colleges than at others. This finding is consistent with the notion of “anticipation” in learning that I have written about previously.

David Glenn of The Chronicle of Higher Education writes:

One plausible hypothesis has to do with peer effects. If you're at a selective college surrounded by smart, ambitious kids, you're likely to apply yourself to your studies because that's the local norm. The classic examples here are small liberal-arts colleges. "If you go to a small college, you're part of a quote-unquote class, and everyone expects to graduate," Mr. Bowen says. "There's a lot of pressure to live up to that expectation. That's less true at a big complicated place."…Could less-selective universities somehow bottle some of the selective colleges' intensity, and thereby improve their graduation rates? "Our broad finding," Mr. McPherson says, "is that institutions that create a higher expectation of student success have higher graduation rates. And that seems like something that should operate up and down the line, for anyone who goes to school."

Colleges need to create a culture of completion just as businesses need to create a culture of learning. The significant effect of this culture might not be so much the actual degree or certificate, but rather the act of completing something important. The CEO of a large real estate company told me that he can tell the difference between sales agents who will be successful and those who will not by who has completed college and who hasn’t. He said that it’s not the knowledge that they have, it’s that they finish what they start and they have confidence in themselves. I’m not going to argue causality with him, but I do concede that college completion is an indicator of successful people.