By Sue Deisinger, Learning Strategy Consultant,

The CARA Group

In today’s COVID-19 environment, learning professionals are being asked to quickly transform Instructor Led Training (ILT) to Virtual-Instructor Led Training (V-ILT). The good news is that most Instructional Designers have the transformation skills needed, and companies have the technologies needed, to support V-ILT. The challenge is the volume of work and the speed at which it must be accomplished.

The CARA Group has identified Five Best Practices to help accelerate the transformation process.

1 – Align with Business Strategy

Start with defining a set of criteria to ensure that the work is aligned with the business strategy to separate the “wants” from the “needs”. Once the true needs are determined, create a prioritized Action Plan. Communicate the results back to the Program Sponsors to manage their expectations. If a program was not prioritized, perhaps the respective Program Sponsor can conduct a simple web-meeting or webinar as an alternative.

2 – Manage Scope

Using the prioritized Action Plan, review the program with the Program Sponsor and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Explain the difference between ILT, V-ILT and a Webinar (a webinar requires no activities). Determine whether this will be a simple transformation with no content or learning objective changes or a complex conversion with some content and/or learning objective changes, which will take more time and effort. Agree on a protocol for managing scope, as there is a strong tendency for SMEs to want to change or update content during the conversion process.

3 – Optimize the Learner Experience: Rich Interactive Training Anytime, Anywhere

Before jumping into the actual transformation work, it is important to educate the Program Sponsor and the SMEs on the power of V-ILT technologies and how they can be used to create effective learning experiences.

V-ILT, designed correctly, offers many of the same learner experiences as traditional ILT. Instructors can present mini-lectures, facilitate activities and discussions. Participants can work individually and in small groups, raise their hand to ask questions and use resource material.

Video projection of both the Instructor and Participants help keep the Participants engaged and accountable, creating “virtual eye contact,” allowing everyone to read facial expressions and body language. Video also brings a personal element to the program, as the members share and view each other’s virtual work environment.

Content and activity designs can leverage screen-sharing, whiteboards, polling, chat, small group breakouts, games and quizzes. Many V-ILT systems also allow the Instructor to gauge individual and overall group attentiveness at any point with a visual attention indicator.

Instructional Designers work with the SME’s create a design to ensure that the learners remain engaged during class and help them retain the knowledge and skills afterward.

4 – Deploying V-ILT: Practical Matters

Deploying V-ILT requires different types of logistical planning than traditional ILT. Instructor and Participant job-aids are very helpful in guiding them in the use of these unique tools.

Instructors need to be comfortable and proficient delivering the V-ILT version of the program. Train-the-Trainer programs should include the business reason for converting from ILT to V-ILT, an overview of the new program, a system test, how to use the system features, how to trouble-shoot and an opportunity to practice. On the day of the program, the Instructor should login to the system 15-30 minutes prior to ensure that everything is ready to go. Someone from the learning team should be assigned to support the Instructor during the V-ILT with classroom management, at least for the first few sessions. Participant login issues, late arrivals and technical issues can really distract and rattle a new V-ILT Instructor.

Participants should be required to do a system test a few days prior to the program. Engage the IT department to support this activity so that they will be ready to quickly answer participant questions. In addition, Participants should find a quiet, dedicated space and login 15 minutes prior to the start of the V-ILT to ensure they are ready for class.

When scheduling multi-hour programs, plan 30-60 minute breaks for both the Instructors and Participants to allow them to attend to both business and personal matters. Note that Instructors often have follow-up participant questions after the end of the formal session and then need to get ready for the next program.

5 – Include a Change Management Strategy and Plan

Managing leaders’, Instructors’ and learners’ expectations is essential for successful transformation to V-ILT. Resistance may show up in limited registrations, no-shows and other non-productive behaviors. A well-executed Change Management strategy can proactively avoid these types of issues. A key element is a robust communication plan for everyone involved, describing the business case for change, the new V-ILT programs, who is impacted, expectations, timelines and contact information. In addition, the strategy should include a plan to measure and report adoption on a routine basis.

Please connect with us if you could use help with transforming ILT to V-ILT or simply want to talk about your current situation as you ponder next steps. We’re here to help!

Making the most of your time ranks up there as one of the best skills you can master. How you manage your time affects everything you do. It determines if you are running late, bogged down at work, or steadily humming along.

To be a successful time manager, set aside regular planning time in your calendar. If you’re like most busy professionals, chances are if it’s not in your calendar, it’s not happening.

Another thing to consider is taking MRA’s Time Management class, where you will evaluate your current habits and identify the behaviors, time wasters, and interrupters preventing you from using your time to its full potential. You’ll be armed with a variety of tools, which when implemented, will help you be more effective in scheduling your priorities.

In this class, we use Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants to Be Productive, where you can schedule your week according to what’s most important to you and what will have the most meaningful results. Check out this quick overview:

I: Urgent and important. The title says it all. These are the tasks that need your immediate attention. Think deadlines, crises, and persistent problems. But be aware, too much time here leads to constantly putting out fires, stress, and burnout.

II: Important and not urgent. Tasks that are not urgent but important look like strategic planning, relationship building, preparation, education—personal development activities. Things we know we need to do but seldom get around to doing, because they don’t feel urgent. Yet these are the activities that will set you apart as a leader.

III: Urgent and not important. How many interruptions, phone calls, texts, and meetings do you experience in a day? There are a lot, and many are urgent but not important (like the email that needs your timely reply for next week’s potluck lunch). People can get in trouble in this space—it feels efficient spending time here, but ultimately, it’s not effective if it takes time away from more important priorities.

IV: Not urgent and not important.This could be called unintentionally irresponsible. Getting lost on the internet, checking out social media posts, procrastination, perfectionism—all time-wasting activities that offer little or no work value. These are the behaviors you need to delete.

Figuring out what quadrants you tend to work in is a lightbulb moment. Priorities are analyzed, and you actually see where you are spending your time. It’s similar to tracking your food habits—the first task is to write down everything you eat. Time journals can be as shocking as food journals, and are a great place to start your journey from awareness to effectiveness.

Everyone is given the same amount of time, a precious, nonrenewable resource. It’s important to be intentional and purposeful in what you do with it. Spend more time above the line, investing in what’s important.

Kathy Price

MRA - The Management Association

Director, Learning & Development, Instructors

Kathy.Price@mranet.org 

For more information on Time Management class schedules, visit the MRA website. This class can be offered onsite for your group and virtually for your convenience.

Source: Kathy Price, MRA Edge, © 2020 MRA – The Management Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

For more information, visit www.mranet.org.

Have you ever asked top executives or a chief financial officer about the value they would like to see from talent development? How many discussions have you had about the value of learning with top executives?

We have had many of those conversations routinely over the past 25 years, and we know clearly what they need. Their responses have been documented quite well, dating back to a major study that we conducted with ATD nearly a decade ago. That study, involving Fortune 500 CEOs, indicated that 96 percent of executives wanted to see a business connection to learning. Yet, at that time, only 8 percent of them had that type of data. This is their #1 desired data category. Also, 74 percent of the executives wanted to see the ROI from learning investments, but only 4 percent said they have it now. This is their #2 measure. The #1 measure provided to executives from L&D was reaction data, but only 28 percent wanted to see this category of data.

This study, first published in our book with ATD, Measuring for Success, was a wake-up call for many CLOs and others involved in talent development.1 Collectively, they said we must do better. The good news is that was 10 years ago. We are well on the way.

More recent data from the Business Intelligence Council of Chief Learning Officer Magazine showed that improvements are on the way. When asked about how the learning organization shows its contribution to the broader enterprise, 36 percent said they use business data for the request, and 22 percent say they use ROI. When asked if they plan to implement ROI, 49.6 percent said they planned to implement ROI at some point in the future. All totaled, 71.2 percent of respondents said they were either using ROI or planning to implement it. We think that is a little ambitious, although it came from 335 CLOs.

Fast forward to 2017, we noticed a major benchmarking report from Training Magazine. This report examined the organizations that were “Hall of Famers” in their awards system. These are the organizations that are consistently at the top of their 125 best learning organizations lists. These “Hall of Famers” are very important for benchmarking because others want to know what makes them so successful. The opening statement in the report states,

“Ultimately, the success of any program is based on whether it improves business results.”

~Training Top 10 Hall of Fame—May 2017

These top learning organizations are advising that you must connect learning to the business to capture executive attention. This benchmarking report is generated every year. In the next year, 2018, this report contained three best practice case studies; one was on onboarding, another was an actual ROI calculation on a follow-up basis, and the third was an ROI forecast. You can see that we are making progress to meet the request from top executives.

What can you do if you are not showing the business value of learning? You can take five very important steps: 

1. Be proactive. Don’t wait for the request to show business value. Start delivering business value on a major program now. Take charge and drive the evaluation initiative. Keep ROI on your agenda, not your executive’s agenda.

2. Be selective on which programs you evaluate at the business impact and ROI levels. Use ROI for programs that are very expensive, strategic, important to organizations, and yes, those that attract executive attention. That will usually be about 10-20 percent of the programs each year at the impact level and approximately 5-10 percent at the ROI level.

3. Change the thinking of the complete learning cycle. Start with why for your programs, connect it to the business measure at the beginning. Then make sure you have the right solution. Next, expect success with very specific objectives all the way through to impact and share them with the team. With this approach, you are designing for the results you need. With the business data clearly defined in the beginning, you will have the desired results at the end.

4. Share the joy. Make sure that the entire team is involved in designing, developing, and implementing learning and development to deliver impact. Designers, developers, facilitators, participants, and managers of participants are critical to achieving impact success. Each stakeholder has a role, not just the evaluator. This approach makes a world of difference.

5. Think about all the benefits. While business data will convince executives to continue to fund your programs, connecting to the business will help you build partnerships with business leaders, obtain needed support to make programs more effective, and secure the commitment you need to be successful.

Collectively, the team can make a difference using the ROI Methodology, the most used evaluation system in the world. The good news is that the ROI Certification is coming to Southeast Wisconsin, hosted by Bank Five Nine June 23-25, 2020. To learn more contact Andy Vance at andy@roiinstitute.net.

Reference:

1. Phillips, Jack J., and Patti P. Phillips. Measuring for Success. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press. (2009) Paperback

Dr. Jack J. Phillips, a world-renowned expert on accountability, measurement, and evaluation, is chairman of ROI Institute, Inc. Phillips provides consulting services for Fortune 500 companies and major global organizations. The author or editor of more than 100 books, he conducts workshops and presents at conferences throughout the world.

Phillips has received several awards for his books and work. On three occasions, Meeting News named him one of the 25 Most Powerful People in the Meetings and Events Industry, based on his work on ROI. The Society for Human Resource Management presented him an award for one of his books and honored a Phillips ROI study with its highest award for creativity. The American Society for Training and Development gave him its highest award, Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Development for his work on ROI. The International Society for Performance Improvement presented Jack with its highest award, the Thomas F. Gilbert Award, for his contribution to human performance technology. In 2019, Jack, along with his wife Patti P. Phillips, received the Distinguished Contributor Award by the Center for Talent Reporting for their contribution to the measurement and management of human capital.

…The first of a four-part series on preventative health in learning and development.

The skin is the largest and most visible organ. It is among the first to reveal what is going on inside our bodies. This “canvas” is decorated and adorned to reflect, in part, who we are. It wears the choices we make, whether in the permanence of a tattoo or a fleeting smile.

Just as your skin plays a role in telling your personal story, reflects your physical and emotional health, and contributes to others’ perceptions of what one is about to experience in your presence, so too does the “skin” of your learning and development department. The presentation of your learning solutions (e.g. your LMS homepage, ILT participant materials, vILT welcome screen and presentation, e-learning content, internal communications, collateral, etc.) convey the following: 

1. Your purpose:

- What story does it tell?

- Does it align with the organization?

- If your department were gone, would employees care? Why? The value of what you offer is rooted in that response.

2. The health/state of your department:

- Does it strengthen your organization’s health?

- Is it reflective of your organization’s learning culture, consistent interdepartmental collaboration and employee knowledge-sharing?

3. The learner experience:

- What learning formats (think: ILT, vILT, e-learning, blended) are used?

- What learning styles (think: VAKT) are being catered to, if not all?

- What is the learner supposed to feel at various intervals?

- What is the return on the learners (monetary/time) investment?

In times of rapid organizational change and growth, it is easy to lose sight of small details. Over time, that takes its toll on the “skin.” Materials become dated, messages fall out of sync, accuracy suffers and the wrong channels are used. As a result, our business partners and others we serve stop listening.

Whether you are a department of one or many, the following three “preventative health” practices* will ensure the image you project is an accurate reflection of who you are:

1. Create a style guide (for all channels of communication and development) and adhere to it.

2. Maintain an audit schedule and make core programs a priority.

3. Develop a cross-departmental learning council.

Assign ownership of the aforementioned tips and integrate them into your team meeting agenda. Consistent execution will enhance the overall wellness of your department, attracting employees who want to access and share knowledge.

Whether you call it your “skin,” “look and feel,” or “brand,” it matters. Done well, it is magnetic. It attracts the audience who would most benefit from what you have to offer and accelerates your ability to make a difference in others’ lives.

* Keep an eye out for the three remaining blog posts in this four-part series in which all members of the Talent Development Team at First Bank Financial Centre will share their expertise.

As a circus performer, turned banker, Rachel is committed to bringing the same comfort, joy and excitement that is experienced under the Big Top into each interaction with clients and colleagues.

The seeming contradiction of performance expertise (acquired over 20+  years as an entertainer and competitor) with financial services expertise (acquired from over 20 years with global, regional and community banks) has provided an invaluable perspective aiding in:

- strategic collaboration with internal and external business partners to bring creative thought into a highly regulated framework;

- maximizing the engagement and expertise of talent to achieve desired business results, and

- creating clients who are advocates of the First Bank Financial Centre brand.

Her breadth of banking experience includes:

- Retail Banking

- Consumer Lending (sales and product development)

- Talent Development (organizational strategy, program & curriculum design, and facilitation) - CPLP

- Marketing Management (Credit Card and Customer Segments)

- eBanking Management

Feedback means many things to many different people. The word itself can conjure up a wide array of associations. For the purposes of our discussion, we will start with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which list three primary uses for the noun feedback:

1. Helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be done to improve a performance, product, etc.;

2. Something (such as information or electricity) that is returned to a machine, system, or process;

3. An annoying and unwanted sound caused by signals being returned to an electronic sound system.

While straightforward enough in its definition, feedback has been misused and misinterpreted since its first use in 1919, with individuals falling into camps about which of the three should be listed first. Throughout these blog posts, we will demonstrate that by taking small, but deliberate steps in how you approach giving feedback, we can be sure that you and your teams will fall firmly into the “helpful information” camp rather than the “annoying and unwanted sound” camp.

To get to that point, this will be the first of three blog posts from SEWI-ATD that will take a closer look at feedback. Throughout these posts we will make some research-backed suggestions on how best to formulate and deliver your message for maximum impact.

Why is Feedback Important?

Communication is the first step toward creating a productive workplace. We firmly believe in creating a supportive work environment where everyone can reach their full potential, develop themselves and contribute to the Mission, Vision, and Values of the organization. However, the question to ask is how will we know if we are doing that? The answer is, by discussing it. In order for us to take stock of our goals as individuals and as an organization, we must define them and communicate their progress. Effective feedback is the first step to building that environment and opening the lines of communication between supervisors and their staff.

As we will demonstrate throughout these texts, clear and effective performance feedback when delivered properly will bring the following benefits to you and your teams:

o Lack of communication of performance and expected results that lead to stress and resentment and lack of security.

o There tend to be gaps in how we perceive ourselves and how we are actually performing.

o Regular feedback means we are communicating regularly and exchanging information – engaging, as it were. We can use that information to improve and develop ourselves. Organizations with engaged workforces perform better.

o While we might not like to give feedback, negative or otherwise, the research we present in this discussion will demonstrate how selecting the right feedback message, format, and delivery strategy will motivate you and your teams to improve and succeed.

Lastly, and perhaps most crucially for us as Learning and Development Professionals, feedback is a crucial aspect of no less than four of the ten Areas of Expertise (AOEs) of the ATD Competency Model: Training Delivery, Performance Improvement, Coaching, and Change Management .

Now that we’ve made a case for the importance and benefits of feedback, we will devote the remainder of this post to a useful framework for formulating your feedback message: The Center for Creative Leadership’s Situation, Behavior, Impact (SBI) Model.

The Key to Effective Feedback: Situation, Behavior, Impact (SBI) Model

Think about the last time you gave some negative feedback (at work or at home). Did the recipient respond: “Thanks for pointing that out! I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment of me!”

Perhaps or perhaps not.

As often as not, even if we have the best intentions, the responses range from denial to defensiveness to just plain ignoring or disregarding our message. However, if we adjust our message, we can go a long way toward ensuring we are heard as we want to be.

In the most basic sense, feedback is communicating information about a person’s behavior. In order for behavior to be impacted by feedback, we must be sure that the feedback information is understood as we intend it. That involves carefully crafting our message. Getting other people to heed our advice is a challenge for everyone.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has formulated a tool for delivering quality feedback which they call SBI: Situation, Behavior, Impact. Using this tool, the CCL advises to think of feedback information in terms of these three criteria. Effective feedback can be as little as three short sentences if they are formulated effectively. We will now briefly describe the three criteria and how best to formulate those sentences.

Situation: describe the specific date, time, place, and context.

Feedback should demonstrate specific information. When delivering feedback to your staff, make sure that you are clear and specific about when and how the behavior you want to address occurs. Also, be specific. Say things like, “yesterday during opening procedures,” “October 1st at 12:00 pm during the committee meeting in conference room A,” or “This week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.” Avoid generalities like “all the time,” “often,” “3 times,” or “last week. ”

Behavior: describe the observable behavior.

This can be easy to lose to track of without concerted efforts, but feedback should focus on behavior, not individuals. Keep to objective facts. Don’t include your opinion, judgements, or rationalizations.

Remember, you are not trying to fix anyone. You are either trying to change or encourage their behavior to improve their performance. Say what the person did: “you arrived at 9:10 when we expected you at 9:00 sharp,” or “your calculations in the report were inaccurate because you didn’t use the most recent data.”

Don’t assume the reasons for this behavior. While you may think the person arrived late because they’re careless and overslept, or their calculations were wrong because they rushed to get them done, you don’t know and can’t know for sure. If your explanation is wrong, it will undermine your message. Worse yet, the judgements could make the person more defensive than they would have been. Stick to the observable actions.

Don’t say things like “you were late again” or “you made a bunch of mistakes,” or “you rushed to meet the deadline and weren’t careful enough.” This goes the same for supportive judgements like “I remember when I was new,” or “I know traffic is bad in the morning.” It is very good to listen to the receiver’s situation and respond accordingly, but don’t water down your message of what they are doing.

Remember, the behavior can be positive too! “You gave a very strong presentation in the committee meeting yesterday,” or “you solved that customer’s problem. ”

Impact: describe how this behavior affects you, your work, or the team; answer the question “why do I care?”

Before you give any feedback, you need to decide why you care. Sadly, not everyone cares about the same things that you do. Rather than fall on your fainting couch to know that members of your team have different priorities, take this opportunity to clearly lay out exactly why this matters.

The person will need to know why this behavior is being addressed and what effect it is having. You can describe objective and measurable impact like “we just lost an important account” or “it created an unsafe situation where someone could have been injured.”

Of course, you should avoid being overly dramatic with phrases like “they’ll shut us down” or “someone will get fired.” And be careful about cause and effect, conditional statements, or blame, like “If you hadn’t said that to our client, we wouldn’t have lost their business,” as you could be opening the door to a defensive denial, or resentful ignoring.

You can also use subjective words like “upset,” “stressed,” or “worried,” but be sure you are only talking about your own feelings and not putting words in people’s mouths or blaming someone else for your own feelings. For example, “I felt stressed because we didn’t have enough people to cover the shift” or “I am worried that we will lose business if this happens regularly.”

Also, don’t forget about positive impacts! You can say things like “grateful,” “proud” or “impressed.” For example, “I was impressed when you took care of the members concerns without outside help” or “I was grateful that you completed this project ahead of schedule.”

Determining the precise impact of someone’s behavior is important. The other person is usually not aware that their actions are creating this effect. For instance, a person who tends to arrive late in the morning, might not realize how it causes stress for other members of the team, the receiver is much more likely to be motivated to change if the impact means something to them.

Feedback is most effective when it follows the SBI format. SBI format is a brief statement that focuses on the specific Situation, the objective Behaviors demonstrated (not judgements or interpretations), and the Impact of this behavior (why do I care?).

*** Part one of a three-part series*** More to follow. 

_______________________________________________

i  Feedback. 2018. In Dictionary - Merriam-Webster for Android (Version 4.2.0) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/feedback.

ⁱⁱ Feedback. 2018. In Dictionary - Merriam-Webster for Android (Version 4.2.0)

ⁱⁱⁱ Tugend, Alina. (2014, May 16). Uncertainty about jobs has a ripple effect. The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from http://nytimes.com.

^iv  Vance, Robert J. (2006). Employee engagement and commitment [White Paper]. Retrieved October 2, 2018, from Society for Human Resource Management: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/Documents/Employee-Engagement-Commitment.pdf

^v Gentry, William A. & Young, Stephen F. (2017). Busting myths about feedback: What leaders should know [White Paper]. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from Center for Creative Leadership: https://www.ccl.org/articles/white-papers/busting-myths-feedback-leaders-know/

^vi Association for Talent Development. ATD Competency Model. Retrieved September 10, 2019, from https://www.td.org/certification/atd-competency-model

^vii Gentry, William A. & Young, Stephen F. (2017).

^viii Weitzel, Sloan R. (2000). Feedback that works: How to build and deliver your message. Center for Creative Leadership. ISBN (eBook) 978-1-923973-05-1

^ix Weitzel, Sloan R. (2000).

^x Weitzel, Sloan R. (2000).

Dan Jakubowski is an internationally recognized Talent Development professional with over 14 years of experience in training and adult education. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and started his career as an English language teacher to adults in job training programs. Dan has extensive training experience in Russia and in Eastern Europe. He has facilitated learning to individuals representing more than 13 countries throughout the world and counting.

Dan is currently the Talent Development Coordinator for Guardian Credit Union, a Milwaukee- based not for profit financial cooperative. He designs and delivers training and develop programs that focus on feedback, coaching, and helping all levels of the organization reach their full potential and deliver for our members. 

I went to an expensive training conference last month, and it opened with a professional emcee, loud music and two CEOs humiliating themselves (in my opinion) doing some kind of skit. My immediate reaction was the trainers knew the content wasn’t interesting enough on its own. I left early.

I get it, though. In training, you engage or you fail. We live in the Age of Distraction, so you need to get people’s attention in 15 seconds. A room of unengaged learners is an empty room with the lights off.

But if you’re delivering something important and you know your stuff, you shouldn’t need to trick me into paying attention. I should know what you’re teaching is going to help me get recognized for doing better work.

So, how can you get people bought in 15 seconds? The answer is about, oh, 5,000 years old. Everyone loves a story—particularly if it’s about them. A story is always the best way to get people engaged. Here’s the first tip: open with your own story. You don’t need a deejay or a pile of merch. Just sit on a stool and tell it.

In media res (“In the middle of things”)

Great storytellers often open right in the middle of the action. Iron Man starts with Tony Stark speeding through some secret desert in a string of camo Humvees. It doesn’t start with Robert Downey, Jr. sitting on a chair in his workout sweats telling the audience what the movie is going to be about.

Start immediately with your own relevant story. Don’t even pause to review the agenda or tell people where the bathrooms are. Let’s say you’re training people in Excel. Start with a story like,

“On a Sunday morning in August 2017 my wife and I were sitting at my kitchen table rummaging through a shoebox full of receipts for a home remodeling project. We were frightened we were going to be $20,000 under water, but couldn’t figure out what to do. On Monday, just before our morning management meeting, I was telling our CFO about it. She said, ‘Make a spreadsheet with columns for the vendor, date, amount and, oh, the kind of work. Then sort it in different ways and see what you see.’ That night, our son opened Excel, created the spreadsheet and threw in some pie charts. In five minutes, we saw that we’d spent too much too soon on finishes and not enough on infrastructure. So we returned the $15 cabinet handles and brainstormed with the electrician how to get the rough-in done two weeks earlier. We’d not only solved the problem, we were now confident we could solve the next problems.“

Not only have you engaged them with your story, you’ve modelled how to tell their own stories. Which is the next step.

Then get them to open their stories

Organize into small groups. Go around the table asking, When was this subject an issue in your life? Don’t let the learners get away with generalizations. Dig for a real instance. When did this happen? Who else was there? Where were you when in happened? Draw out the details, the sights, sounds, the people. Each person’s story will enrich everyone else’s picture of why the topic is important to them. Sharing stories connects people, which also binds them to the topic.

Now that they’ve got their own full-color mental movie playing with themselves as Iron Man, they’re ready to listen and learn. Now you’re ready to start delivering content…

….Keep them engaged after the session’s over

Close by getting people to write their story for the future. Ask, How will your day be different now that you’ve learned this new thing? This doesn’t take long, but it keeps the learning alive until they’ve turned this little piece of make-believe into a rewarding reality.

In 2001, a friend of mine took over the accounting department of a 1,000-person medical research company (he’s now CEO). But back then he said to his team of three, We’ll know we’re successful when people come into our office asking for our opinions on big decisions—not just to complain about their statements. It was a story: it had setting, characters and action. Everyone could picture it and everyone wanted to make it come true. And it did come true! Now that’s a story about Excel everyone would want to be part of!

About the Author

Derrick Van Mell is founder and CEO of the Center for Management Terms & Practices (www.theindex.net). The Center is the standards body for general management. It is responsible for providing managers around the world with standard terms and tools so departments can work cross-functionally and everyone can enjoy meaningful work. The Center trains managers at all levels to use its 1-page planning and project tools, which lets executives delegate with confidence. Derrick is the published author of two books and dozens of articles, and he speaks internationally about leadership and management. He has a BA in Economics, an MBA and an MA in English. He is a member of both ATD-SEWI and ATD-MAC.

1.CARE about people.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” you’re probably saying. The term “care” is trite . . . but unless you truly care about the people you meet, you won’t be successful at building strong relationships. Period.

2. USE FIRST AND LAST NAMES.

When you introduce yourself to others, always make strong eye contact, along with a firm handshake, and give your first AND last name. If the person you’re meeting gives you only his/her first name, be sure to ask what the last name is. It seems counter-intuitive, but when you disclose only your first name and accept only his/her first name, you’re missing the opportunity to share more about yourself (your “tribe”).. I’m Betsy Rozelle . . . not Betsy Smith, not Betsy Ross. Bonus: in almost every case, the last names you share with each other will spark some recognition or affinity (e.g. “oh, are you related to Pete Rozelle? . . . or, “I went to high-school with a Rozelle”). Seize upon the opportunity to find commonalities right from the start. Ask a specific question about his/her name.

3. SEEK AND SHARE STORIES: TELL ME ABOUT …

Another way to show you care when meeting someone for the first time is to start a conversation about his/her background, interests, and experiences. Use “Tell me about” to invite them to share their stories. “Tell me about that cool necklace,” or “Tell me about how you and Tom met.” Capitalize on where interests/experiences intersect. Or, if you don’t see many similarities between your experiences, build affinity by showing an interest in some of the experiences that s/he shared. “I’ve never had a motorcycle, but I admire my neighbor’s Harley from a distance. Have you ever been to a Harley rally? I heard those are some major fun.”

You and the people you meet will walk away from your first exposure feeling that you have made an important personal connection and that you are “in this thing together.” The relationship building takes root from there.

About the Author

Betsy Rozelle is a corporate trainer, public speaker, and the author of Seeking Common Bonds. Her passion and enthusiasm for helping others become intentional affinity builders is contagious. She works with leaders and teams to increase engagement, build more cohesive teams, and become successful relationship builders. She’s also unapologetically obsessed with on-line word games and pasta. Contact her at brozelle@new.rr.com and www.buildaffinity.com.

Leading organizations put humans at the center of work. SEWI-ATD VP, Finance, Genevieve Daniels, director of organizational development at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, was recently featured in a podcast Capital H: Reinvent with a human focus to share how talent development can drive these efforts:

http://capitalh.deloitte.libsynpro.com/reinvent-with-a-human-focus

About the Author

Genevieve Daniels is the VP of Finance for SEWI-ATD. She is also the Director of Organizational Development for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Learn more about Genevieve from her recent feature in our member spotlight. 

Written by SEWI-ATD Guest Blogger, Matthew Meuleners, Leadership Trainer and Consultant at FOCUS Training, and SEWI-ATD President-Elect.

A manager I meet with regularly called me to vent this morning.  

"I give up. This new tech I hired is just not getting it. I've showed him again and again, but he keeps making the same mistakes. How do I get through to him?"

This frustration is common among managers and leaders everywhere. We want our people to succeed... and the work to get done well.

If you find yourself in this scenario, start by asking some clarifying questions:

• Are these actually the same mistakes each time? Or is the employee discovering new ways to err as they repeat the process?
  
• Are these actually mistakes? Or are they subjective choices that you prefer would be different?
  
• Are these mistakes the fault of the employee? Or are there environmental factors that could be causing the errors?
  

A "no" to any of these questions does not mean there isn't a problem to overcome. However, it is a different problem than the one we are discussing here. The process of coaching an employee to reduce and eventually eliminate repeated errors is challenging because it typically combines two forces that the leader needs to impact:

1. How the employee learns

Sometimes the root cause of repeated mistakes is exactly what we like to assume - they aren't getting it. Before you blame the learner, take a hard look at how you are attempting to teach the process. If you just sat down and told them how to do it, you delivered the equivalent of a lecture. Learning experts will tell you this is one of the least effective teaching methods, particularly when teaching an individual a complex task. Instead, try talking it through, then modeling it for them to observe, and then asking them to try it while you observe. Follow that up with a bit of Q&A. This is a greater investment of time, but makes it much less likely that you will have to go through it again. In the end, you will save time (and anxiety) with a more robust teaching approach.

If you are exhausted by having to repeat yourself about how to do a process correctly for the third or fourth time, consider that this might also be part of the problem. If your teaching approach didn't connect with them last time, simply repeating yourself is unlikely to move the needle now. Try mixing up your teaching approach – a sample project, a case study, a new voice, or a round of shadowing another employee are all possibilities.

2. How the employee is motivated

There are times when the barrier to improvement is not skill but desire. When an employee knows how to do the task properly, but continues to make the same errors, a skilled manager will look to the drivers of motivation. What sorts of forces help the employee to make progress in other areas, and how can you apply them here? This could mean something as simple as asking to see a preliminary report before they complete the task, which adds some personal accountability earlier in the process. This could also mean walking the employee through the impact that their mistakes are having on their coworkers, which connects their results to a social force.

In these cases when the error is really stemming from a lack of care (or self-awareness), motivating the employee to invest extra thought in the process is key. Leaders should remove as many barriers as possible to help. For example, limiting distractions or conflicting priorities for the employee on the day when that process needs to be their focus.

These are just two considerations to help an employee learn from and eliminate errors in their work. Like any performance issue, the willingness of a manager to patiently coach is a significant factor. Take a deep breath, think about your approach, and try again.

What other factors have you tackled in your experience coaching others to overcome a repeated error?

About the Author