Can you justify your training spend? A focus on impact value in evaluating training

Increasingly, companies and trainers are seeking ways to validate returns on training investments.

Training has certainly moved away from being a 2 or 3 day 'semi holiday' with a course folder thrown in. In our training programs we have always advocated a practical, measurable focus on ensuring that learning is not only internalized, but easily transferable to everyday workplace productivity.

Some of the techniques we recommend and use are the pre & post course tests, practical applications of concepts thought to relevant working contexts as well as post training advisory and follow up.

Whilst this approach is effective to some extent, Paul Kearns in this article suggest specific, measurable techniques to ascertain good ROI for your organization's training spend. Click on the link below to read his full position.

All you need to know about training evaluation in about 700 words

Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work | Video on TED.com

"Managers and meetings are the main problems in the office." Do you agree? Jason expresses quite a few thoughts I have always thought but not had the courage to share :). A very refreshing look at enabling real productivity. Click on the link to see the talk. Enjoy it!

Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Achieving better business results with employee engagement

This creative short animation from the folks at explania.com explains the key issues involved in creating and leveraging engaged employees for sustainable business success. please click play to view the animation below:


How to use Employee Engagement to boost your business - Explania

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Just came across this common sense guide to reaching goals. I think you'll find it interesting.

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

How To Boost Employee Motivation With Better Leadership

It is an astonishing fact - repeatedly shown in numerous surveys - that two-thirds of the workforce are not engaged in their work. Imagine the magnitude of lost productivity and innovation this represents! It also lies at the heart of much workplace strife and it denies workers any chance of true satisfaction from their working life. It begs the question - what causes this lack of employee motivation?

No doubt the responsibility is shared - the workers may have limited vision and aspiration. They also inherit decades of conditioning which implies that work is something that has to be endured and that effort should be limited to the minimum. It's no accident that there are many more negative terms for work than positive ones.

But a good deal of the shared responsibility lies with those in authority. Much of what passes as leadership is ego-driven and rooted in self-interest. Much is small-minded, lukewarm or insipid.

When individuals are made leaders simply by position and title, they inherit authority rather than earn it. Often they are driven to protect their own position and spend more effort in preserving the status quo than in making genuine moves to advance the fortunes of the organization or the people working in it.

Meanwhile natural leaders of the future stay in the shadows. They either hold themselves back feeling they can't compete with the cultural bias or they are kept in the margins by the established power base.

The result is a shortage of true leaders - the leadership vacuum. The clear conclusion is that to win greater engagement and to transform levels of employee motivation, we need a leap in the standards of leadership.

This is where you could make a real difference. It means stepping forward, prepared to be visible. This takes courage and persistence. But most of all it takes the willingness to break with conformity. If you remain entirely within convention then the results you get will simply perpetuate all the faults and the lost engagement that are already familiar.

You have a rebellious side - if you don't believe me cast your mind back to your teenage years. It's likely that this was really active then - the part that does not want to conform; the idealist that refuses to compromise. Back then holding a principle was more important than expediency, and being sensible was akin to surrender.

Your rebel side is still alive now - it might just need awakening. Speaker and author David Whyte argues strongly for the outlaw - like a sort of Robin Hood - that lies within each of us:

"To preserve a sense of freedom even in the midst of rules and regulations is to preserve a part of our identities …to live happily within outer laws, we must have a part that goes its own way, that is blessedly outlaw no matter what the outward conditions"

It is from your outlaw that the passion can come to break with conformity enough to be a genuine leader and take your people with you.

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Trevor Hill works with managers and leaders who are striving to motivate their people. He helps them become inspiring leaders of highly-motivated teams. You can get a free copy of 'The 7 Biggest Myths About Motivating A Team - And What To Do Instead' from http://www.inspireandmotivateyourteam.co.uk/free-report

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Corporate Training Can Resolve Communication Challenges in the Workplace 2

Successful communication is highly important in the corporate world. Whether it is communication between the business and customer, or internal communication between employees, both instances hold equal significance. Communication challenges in the workplace can cause problems and setbacks for the company, due to the lack of understanding during the communication process. In order to communicate effectively, working professionals must recognize a reasonable approach when dealing with difficult people or conversations. One must be forceful enough to avoid being taken advantage of, but not too assertive that he or she distances or upsets co-workers. He or she must fully clarify the message and make sure the receiver understands exactly what was intended. During corporate development training, company employees are able to work on improving their skills through learning how to communicate more efficiently.

Recognizing communication challenges in the workplace is the first step toward overcoming them. Even if the person holding information thinks that he or she has dispersed this information to all of the right people, this may not be true. Some people are better at communicating than others, and when someone who does not excel as a good communicator needs to discuss important information to their coworkers, problems can evolve for the whole company. Employees must be thorough and concise with their conversations so that the transferred information will not be misunderstood. When employees do not have the information they need complete their job tasks, time is wasted and mistakes are made. Therefore, management teams must effectively communicate information down the corporate ladder, and employees can then learn to report information back up the ladder to managers effectively.

In the broader sense, the purpose of corporate development training is to reshape the management teams, which will in turn give employees the expertise they need to move the company forward. Although some job positions may be phased out and replaced with new talent, the overall objective is to drive the success of the company itself. Managers communicate to make important decisions such as shifting between product and consumer markets. Once the corporate mission is presented and fully understood by every member of the company, their level of motivation will increase because they will understand how their work is contributing to the company overall.

Since the success of the company is reflected from the performance of its employees, team building exercises are necessary to improve skills. Adopting advanced communication practices will minimize communication challenges in the workplace and lead to a more flourishing and productive business. Through participation in the training, employees will learn ways to establish strong business relationships with the end goal of increasing the assets of the company. Restructuring both the goals of the company as a whole and communication processes within the work environment will allow the company to prosper and grow steadily. Overcoming poor communication processes will improve employee satisfaction while simultaneously strengthening the group mentality. Although improvements may not be instantly noticeable, the time and effort put into the progression is certainly valuable given the promising outcomes.

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David Shoemaker is Vice President of Learning Solutions and Innovation at eCornell. For more information on communication challenges in the workplace, corporate development training, or eCornell, please visit http://www.eCornell.com

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Experiencing Communication headaches in your workplace?

If you have tried to recruit lately; particularly into entry level positions, you would have noticed the appalling lack of spoken communication skills that seems to be pervasive in these parts.

Even, experienced employees experience challenges perhaps not so much in the area of spoken communication but we experience challenges with - business writing particularly reports and proposals, effective presentations - for sales, for management reports amongst other scenarios and even simply communicating with our colleagues and target audiences in a way that influences them positively.

A good grasp of communication skills and emotional intelligence is an indispensable component for effectiveness in the work place, and even more so with people in leadership.

One proven technique address some of these gaps is the right training. We offer a practical approach to transferring skills that address some of these communication challenges.

Here are a few training sessions that deal with various aspects of communication organised by PSNL and holding in May 2011: http://www.psnlbusinesssolutions.com/open_courses.html Feel free to explore the website, email or call us for details and registration.

In my next post I present an article by David Shoemaker, VP Learning at eCornell that explores ways in which corporate training can address communication challenges in the work place. As always, your feed back is welcome.

Differences Between Skills & Competencies | eHow.com

To meet the demand from business leadership to clearly estimate of value expended on training both in terms of spend and time, strategic hr management's reaction has been to identify specific competencies and skills in 'tangible' terms that can be observed and measured in terms of transfer to the workplace and impact on the business.

Enter the competency brigade...these days everything HR does is competency driven.In designing learning programs (and indeed, all people related issues), there is the drive to be competency based.

I have been asked about the difference between skills and competencies. Simply put, skills are subsets or inputs to competency. I found an article on eHow that gives a fairish definition of what the difference is. Read it up below.


Differences Between Skills & Competencies | eHow.com

Competencies for Leadership Development: What’s Hot and What’s Not

Reviewing your Leadership Development and Training plans? You'll find this article useful. Its a precis of research conducted by William A. Gentry, PHD of the Center for Creative Leadership. His survey which was conducted in 30 industries identifies 10 key competencies for leadership. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.

Read the full article here:

Competencies for Leadership Development: What’s Hot and What’s Not

Developing an innovative mindset

Innovation and creativity have long been practically synonyms in my mind. I got to thinking about the concept of innovation during a discussion with a prospect who was exploring ways to engender an innovative mindset in her team. After our chat I set out to explore the subject and came across the article below. The writer certainly improved my understanding of both terms. I think a clearer understanding of both concepts is important if the objective is to find effective ways to get our teams to adopt a more innovative mindset. Reactions to ideas shared in the article are welcome.

Innovate or Create ?

Copyright © 2011 Julie Austin

After spending the day speaking to several different groups about creativity and innovation I realized how hard it was to convince people that they are both important. Even though creativity and innovation are two different things, they also go hand in hand.

To be innovative you have to be creative. It you want to come up with ideas, you have to think outside of your own head. (a better way of saying 'think outside the box'). You are going to have to get out of your comfort zone if you want to come up with an idea that no one has ever thought of before. Sometimes you have to go way out of that comfort zone, and that's scary for many people. Even the most creative people tend to get stuck in a rut. Even the most creative people fall into patterns that work for them. Most humans will follow the path of least resistance. Sometimes it works if you're trying to figure out the fastest way to get to work. The process of creativity will require you to go down roads you have never been on before. And that can mean it might just take longer to get where you're going. People tend to want instant results and creativity takes its time.

Adults, unlike children, are afraid of failing. The process of creativity is all about failing. It's trial and error. In order to get a good idea you will sometimes have to make a total fool out of yourself.It was harder than I thought to get a room full of businessmen to jump up on stage and make fools of themselves. You can't learn about creativity without actually doing it yourself. It can't be learned from reading a book. Just like you can't learn to be an actor, comedian, or public speaker from reading a book. You have to just do it. But that was easier said than done. In corporations we tend to avoid being silly and saying something stupid in front of our peers, and even more important, our boss. This is where great leadership comes in. A good leader will allow their employees to go into creativity and innovation brainstorming sessions without having sensors on.
Most people teach innovation without also teaching the techniques of creativity. You have to learn both if you want to truly innovate and come up with something that has never been done before.

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Julie Austin is a multiple business owner and inventor. Her product, swiggies, wrist water bottles, were a NASDAQ product of the year semi finalist and are sold all over the world. Her book "The Money Garden: How to Plant the Seeds for a Lifetime of Income" is about creating multiple business streams of income. http://www.createforcash.com/

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Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a life of immersion | Video on TED.com

Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a life of immersion Video on TED.com

I came across this video and found the message profound and topical. In response to all the uncertainty and chaos around us, we yearn for ways to make a difference - live a better life, leave the world a better place. Even people who have the courage to step out pay some really high prices. These prices keep many of us from taking personal action to change the way things are. you will find this talk inspiring.

How do these views translate into the Nigerian situation? We are certainly not short of poor and marginalized people as well as seemingly intractable socio economic problems. I find it fascinating that people from other parts of the world come here to Africa giving up their time and resources, going through discomfort and hardship to help our own people whilst we run after bigger jobs, houses, focusing on our personal needs.

1. Is the courage and the greatness of the human spirit being demonstrated by us for our society and people?
2. Can we do more as individuals?
3. Who better than us to change our society and our future for good?
4. Are you willing to step up and give your life - time, resources, energy to change our spheres of influence for the greater good?
5. Can we encourage the choice to take the higher ground as human beings in for our lives and for others?

Comments and responses welcome.

Enjoy the video!

Demonstrating the value of Training

One of the things I  try do continually is to assess what various organization's training needs and challenges facing them are. Over time, one of the favorite woes of training/hr managers is 'management approval'. Sometimes the user department and HR  are convinced of the necessity for certain types and levels training but get shot down at approval level. Responses most often heard are - "no budget", "it’s the wrong time", “not enough value to the business", "we can’t afford to let people off work at this time" amongst other well worn answers.

Some managers are stumped for a response when faced with these answers and the training goes on hold. Many business leaders appreciate the concept of training the workforce but are unable to make the commitment in resources required to make it happen. Here are a few tips for the manager who needs to train thier team for better performance in the face of stiff competition for organizational resources.

1.      Find a way to clearly define and communicate the value of your training initiative to the organization. This may seem easy on paper. In practice we in HR and training are challenged by our limited ability to analyze data and express ourselves in numbers, especially in financial terms. We must learn to speak the language of our business. This is the only way to engage attention at the executive level.

One way to do this is to measure performance trends and their drivers both at an organizational (what are we doing?) and competitive level (what are our competitors doing?).  If w are able to make a case for value in terms of financials - increasing profits, retaining customers, decreasing costs, minimizing waste, driving innovation, increasing employer engagement or competitive advantage, to mention a few;  we will have the needed  attention at executive level to make things happen.

It is important to know where our business is (in performance and the underlying competencies required) compared to where the business needs to be. We must know how our organization did in the past, what we are doing now and future business directions - these trends need to be firmly in view as we make our case to management. Our requests for approval should be based on thorough research, clear analyses and where possible related to the bottom line  in Naira and kobo terms.

2.      Adopt a multifaceted approach to training.  From the viewpoints of transferring skills, managing costs, and enabling learning across the organization, a heterogeneous or blended approach is useful. It is possible to reduce the investment required in more expensive types of training (e.g. classroom training provided by third parties) by including/ increasing other types of learning - online learning, mentoring/coaching programs.

Training gets more effective as the combination of different approaches ensures (a) learning re-enforcement (b) encourages internalization (c) reduces monotony (d) can be a viable tool for improving synergy and collaboration across the organization.

Another good alternative is to train a few internal 'expert' to train others within the organization. This reduces the number of people attending external training, and builds organizational competency in the area of knowledge retention and distribution. For this to work however, there must be a conscious effort to harness the newly created training talent through regularly scheduled knowledge sharing sessions.

3.      Document, measure and record post training impact. Quite often, business leadership sees HR spending a lot on training with minimal evidence of transfer of this investment to the workplace. This problem can be tackled in 2 ways – (a) Select training that is action oriented. There are many learning alternatives available on the market today and 3rd party trainers with varying levels of competence. In making your selection of training provider and articulating your training requirements, it is critical to emphasize the need to integrate a practical approach that focuses on making the skills taught relevant to your specific situation and desirable for use in real life. Learners do best when they are able to practice what they are being taught and can make the connection between the learning and solutions to everyday work issues. (b) Measure and report performance impact back to management. Don’t let the last thing they see of the training be the approval request. In making the request, try to create specific achievable and measurable outcomes (as best as you can).

Once you have approval, measure on several levels – learners, assessment of the training attended, impact made from the supervisor’s perspective, as well as achievement of the outcomes previously set. This should be done both short term (0- 3months) and long term (12 months or more) and insights shared with the organization. You will find that as a training function, measuring the impact of learning also gives you the insight needed to make better training decisions and provide strategic direction.

See 2 other view points on making the most of training from the individual www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-ways-to-get-maximum-value-from-a-professional-development-class/411  and organizational www.trainingmag.com/article/maximizing-business-value-training perspective .

A very popular approach for measuring training effectiveness is the Kirkpatrick model. Research it online and/or email me : info@psnlbusinesssolutions.com  to request a free toolkit for using the Kirkpatrick model to measure training impact for your organization.

Continuing the Workforce Partioning Discussion - Be Strategic with your workforce - From the Folks at Harvard Business Review

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Should all employees be equal?

This question tends to spark off lively debates in our strategy classes. I have had people respond to say all employees should be treated equally. Equity is important to everyone - people tend to commit better to a system that is seen as equitable. One that employees can trust to deal with them according to objective rules agreed with, and applied to everyone in the organization.

That would bring one to the question of - does differentiation mean inequity? More importantly, which should drive strategy? Considerations of employee perception or considerations of perceived value to the organization? If we agree that HR strategy and policies should be driven by value to the organization, what or who should determine that value?

A thorough examination of the issue generally (in my experience) leads to an agreement that indeed value - more precisely, value to the customer is and should be the primary driver for business (and HR management strategy). Once established, it isn't difficult to see the case for workforce partitioning. Differentiating talent management strategy for various segments of the workforce makes sense for several reasons:

·         Resource Constraints: The resources available to an organization are rarely limitless. This necessitates a 'smart' approach to determining how these resources are deployed.

·         Service Delivery: Whilst everyone in an organization is important and makes a contribution, clearly some roles are more 'critical' to customer delivery (and satisfaction) than others. This applies both from the structural perspective (hierarchy) and from the individual perspective (quality of performance).

·         Job Specifications: Job roles across the organization are varied; a heterogeneous approach is required– one size rarely fits all. For instance, some roles may require technical competencies, or have age related qualifiers.

Other possible qualifiers include experience, geographical location, attitudinal skills, job conditions (indoor/outdoor, shift work, level of physical activity required, level of decision making skills required, management skills, etc).

That the usual objective of business is identifying a need in the market and then assembling the resources required to meet that need profitably. Competitive advantage comes from identifying the things an organization needs to do better than others to win and keep customers in the market place.

 Typically, organizational capabilities required for consistent superior performance would be in more than one area, and at several levels. Therefore the skill sets and other talent attributes differ across roles. The main challenge for the organization would then be – how do we ensure that we have the right people, doing the right jobs at an optimal cost, in a way that competitors will find difficult to replicate?

 If competitive advantage is the main objective, how does HR add value? Strategic value here would be HR’s ability to creatively and effectively match the right skill sets and attitudes(people) to available positions in a way that maximizes the workforce, and through the creation of an enabling environment (culture and systems), derive utmost value from the organization’s investment in human capital.

Errors in this process could lead to significant losses in terms of staffing.  Under qualified people assigned to highly demanding jobs or overqualified people assigned to less-demanding jobs, and inadequate staffing levels. Where you have under qualified people assigned to jobs, the tendency is for errors and rework to be frequent, leading not only to losses in terms of time and cost, but more importantly to customer satisfaction.

Over qualification would directly impact on staff costs – the organization paying more than it should for underutilized talent as well as employee dissatisfaction. Mismatching could also lead to under or over staffing. Both of these scenarios impact negatively on the bottom line in terms of the organization being unable to meet customer requirements or doing so unprofitably.

In addition to possible losses in revenue, higher costs, customer dissatisfaction, lower profits, workforce mismatches also lead to talent attrition and general inefficiency. Another major possible impact area would be the organization’s ability to effectively attract talent in the market place considering that it is not operating in a vacuum.

You will often find that if an organization doesn’t have a performance management mechanism that identifies rewards and cultivates high performers, they either leave, or become de-motivated as there is no incentive to deliver above average.

Furthermore, there is the issue of succession planning, as well as determining recruitment strategy – what kind of skills, attitudes, experience do we need and where do we need it, training and development planning – what’s the best way to equip and grow our talent to meet the evolving needs of the business?. This also drives reward strategy – what should we pay for the quality of talent required, and how do our reward packages look relative to competitors?.

When closely examined, your workforce partitioning strategy is the basis for ensuring optimal resource allocation throughout the talent management process. A good understanding of this concept and various ways to effectively apply it are requisite for the HR professional and we should discuss the issue to find talent management strategies that work in our environment.

In the next 2 posts, I share expert approaches to workforce partitioning from different perspectives. Your comments and viewpoints will be appreciated.

Management training tips and guides

Quite a few managers get thrust into that role without formal preparation and sometimes, an unclear understanding of the dynamics of making the best of their team responsibilities. This situation is noticeable with new managers who have a challenge making the transition from being a highly regarded sole contributor to a team leader.

People struggle with change. That’s a fact of life. For a team member who is getting a new supervisor, the instinctive reaction is uncertainty and in some cases, anxiety and resistance. The manager needs a good handle on the people aspect of his role, clarity of purpose (he needs to understand what the business requires from his unit, and set clear goals in the short and long term for his team), and the right skill set to lead, motivate and communicate with his (or her) team for effective performance.

Many managers struggle with the challenge of enforcing performance standards and objectives whilst being approachable and considered a partner by members of the team. This challenge is not peculiar to new managers. Some experienced managers have struggled with this problem for years and are not as effective as they should be because of this gap in skills. And the problem isn't restricted to our market. 

Here's an excerpt I came across:  "According to the 2009 Skills Gap poll from ASTD (/American Society for Training and Development), organizations are experiencing gaps in these skills:

·         leadership and executive skills

·         basic workplace competencies that are the building blocks of successful performance in any job such as literacy and numeracy

·         professional or industry-specific skills

·         managerial and supervisory skills

·         communication and interpersonal skills

·         technical, IT, and systems skills

·         sales skills

·         Process and project management skills.

In addition, it is agreed these additional skills are needed for sustained high performance in the knowledge economy:

1.    Adaptability—the capacity to change in response to ever-shifting conditions in the economy and the marketplace, and to quickly master the new skills that such changes require

2.    Innovative thinking and action—the ability to think creatively and to generate new ideas and solutions to challenges at work

3.    Personal responsibility for learning—the willingness of individuals to take responsibility for continually improving their work-related capabilities throughout their careers. "

So how do we change this? In my opinion, there are several approaches to tackling the issue:

1.    Organizations have a responsibility to prepare members of their workforce for leadership. Whilst not everyone will become a manager, it is important for every member of the workforce to understand the concepts of leadership, followership and self management. They need to be encouraged to actively develop and exercise these skills not only in  preparation for a more senior role, but to improve productivity levels. Business these days requires a strong entrepreneurial mindset from all employees. This self driven behavior assures the ability to anticipate and meet customer needs whether or not "Big Brother' is watching!

2.    Managers and professionals need to take responsibility for developing their management and leadership skills with the understanding that this is their primary tactic to competently perform on the job and add value to themselves personally, career wise.

3.    There has to be a deeper understanding by organizational leadership, training and human resources managers of competency gaps across the workforce. Too often, there is a failure to leverage our training spend for the highest return because the basis for determining training needs and their solutions is flawed.

4.    The approach to addressing these and other skills gap needs to be guided by the understanding that classroom training can only be a part of the overall solution. Adults innovative handling for training to have any serious impact on changing behavior. Putting the individual in a management training class for few days is certainly not all that needs to be done if we want to deal with the issue conclusively. Adult learning best practices derived from years of research and observation from the field of psychology and learning are tailored around the following concepts:

i)      Training needs to engage all forms communication with the human mind (visual, aural and kinesthetic). In other words, people need to have to experience concepts in different formats for effective assimilation.

                                              

ii)     Learners need to be given the responsibility to process concepts for quicker understanding (the interactive approach). The learner tends to make more of an effort when he understands that the onus for finding the answers lies with him and other members of the class.

iii)    People tend to remember what they've practiced. People should be given the opportunity to learn and practice these skills across all parts of the business. Cross postings – opportunities for people to work outside their primary function for a set period can be a great tool to achieve this.

iv)   Repetition is key to internalization. A 'blended approach to learning and learning re-enforcement is critical. Skill development is best approached with the mindset that the classroom setting whilst great for sharing concept fundamentals, needs to be enhanced by the provision of training across channels (online, offline, and on the job). 

v)    Learning has to be directly relevant to the work situation and to the learner (and not learning for its own sake).

vi)   Measurement of training impact is important both from the individual and organizational perspectives. Pre and post training evaluations motivate learners to take training more seriously.

vii)  Choices in training courses, material and facilitation need to validated against the principles of active learning. Its important to ensure that the training is delivered according to global learning standards.

viii)  Training, and the subsequent behavioral outcomes need to be tied to performance. A learner who knows that his overall performance will be assessed on several levels including training participation and demonstrated behavior change has strong motivation to learn and apply skills acquired in the workplace