Licensed advantages

1. Learning & Development: “Order Taker” or True
Business Partner?
Robert Brinkerhoff
AHRD Chicago
25 February 2011
…,Innovating How
Companies Change,
Learn and Improve

2. © BTS 2010
Partial List: Licensed Advantage Way Customers
• 3M
• Agilent Technologies
• American National Bank
• Ameriprise Financial Services
• Bank of America
• Cargill
• Catholic Health Partners
• Catholic Health Initiatives
• Cephalon
• Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
• Clark County School District
• Dell
• Discover Financial Services
• Energy Australia
• Holcim
• IBM
• Insight Enterprises
• Johnsonville Sausage
• Kellogg’s
• Kroger
• Limited Brands
• Nike
• Novo Nordisk (Denmark)
• Plastipak
• Rice University
• Salesforce.com
• SPX
• Symantec
• Takeda Pharmaceutical
• Trinity Health Care
• Toyota Mfg.
• University of Virginia Medical Center
• Wrigley

3. © BTS 2010
© 2010 Robert Brinkerhoff & Advantage
Performance Group & BTS – all rights
reserved
Training: Benefit vs Business Driver
Training as a “Staff Benefit”
Expectation: Participate, Appreciate
Training as Business Driver
Expectation: Focus, Participate, Learn and Apply

4. © BTS 2010
The Proper Goal for Training
Not “Learning” or
“Competency” or “ROI”….
To make important
contributions to strategic
initiatives

5. © BTS 2010
The Proper - “Business” -Goal for Training
What are “important
contributions…?”
To Accelerate Execution of
Critical Strategic Change

6. © BTS 2010
Accelerating Change and Adoption
100%
50%
TIME
0
% ADOPTION
Expected rate of adoption
Accelerated rate of adoption

7. Two Realities of Training

8. © BTS 2010
Predictable Training Impact Distribution
> 15%
DID NOT TRY IT
AT ALL
< 70% >
TRIED IT TO SOME EXTENT BUT
GAVE UP
< 15%
TRIED IT AND
GOT POSITIVE
RESULTS

9. © BTS 2010
COSTS
RETURN
An Example
? %
DID NOT TRY IT
AT ALL
? %
TRIED IT TO SOME EXTENT BUT
GAVE UP
? %
TRIED IT AND
GOT POSITIVE
RESULTS
UNREALIZED VALUE
10/100
@$50,000
Total = $500,000
90/100 did NOT use it or get results
Unrealized value = $4.5 million!

10. © BTS 2010
Unrealized Value Example
Good news!
• People loved it ! Overall rating 4.8
• ROI = 200+%!
• Training for 300 people cost $900,000
• Usage of training led to >$1.8 million in new
income

11. © BTS 2010
Unrealized Value Example
Bad news…
• Only 60 of 300 got value (20%)
• What if 60 more used it just half as well?

12. © BTS 2010
Unrealized Value Example
Bad news…
• Only 60 of 300 got value (20%)
• What if 60 more used it just half as well?
• $900,000 more in value!

13. So What?
Is 15% - 20% Good Enough?

14. © BTS 2010
Value of More Managers Applying Training
[Value of one manager using training = $20,000]
$0
$1,000,000
$2,000,000
$3,000,000
$4,000,000
$5,000,000
$6,000,000
$7,000,000
$8,000,000
$9,000,000
$10,000,000
Total
cost
15%
rate
40%
rate
75%
rate
90%
rate
$2k per manager
Expected Return
Increasingly
more return
Same
cost

15. © BTS 2010
Lessons of Reality #1
• Aim to “Grow” Impact
• Measure and convert “Unrealized Value”
• ROI is driven by number of Trainees USING
learning
• The Mission:
Not to “Do Great Training ”
Instead:
Help your company get Great Results from Training

16. © BTS 2010
COSTS
RETURN
The Right Training Goal
? % ? %
TRIED IT TO SOME EXTENT BUT
GAVE UP
90%+
TRIED IT AND GOT POSITIVE RESULTS

17. © BTS 2010
Failure Mode Analysis – Top Six causes?
“Before” -
Preparation and
Readiness
o Senior leaders did not see how the
training could help the business and
failed to support it
o Trainees were not motivated to
participate
o Managers of trainees did not
understand how the training would
benefit them or their goals
o Trainees did not see exactly how
they could use the training in their
work
o Managers did not encourage
trainees to participate
“During” – Conduct
Learning Intervention
o The training facilitators did a bad job
o The materials were not relevant to trainees
o The trainees were not capable of learning
the content
o The training materials were poorly
organized
o The sessions were scheduled at
inconvenient times
“After” – Support
Performance Improvement
o Managers did not hold trainees accountable for
applying the learning
o The incentives for continuing to follow existing
procedures were still attractive
o The measurement and feedback systems were
not sufficient to track new behaviors
o Trainees did not get good coaching in how best
to use the new behaviors they learned in training
o Managers were pressured to keep top-line
revenues up and told trainees to just focus on
doing things the way they used to

18. © BTS 2010
High Impact Learning Process
Making Training Work

19. © BTS 2010
Impact of Training
Training “Event”
TE RESULTS
Results
“Before” “After”

20. © BTS 2010
Learning to Performance Process
RESULTS
Create Focus
& Build
Intentionality
Provide Quality
Learning
Interventions
Support
Performance
Improvement
Greatest Opportunities for
– Improvement
– Leverage

21. © BTS 2010
RESULTS
Create Focus
& Build
Intentionality
Provide Quality
Learning
Interventions
Support
Performance
Improvement
A New Model for Performance
Implementing this approach requires new actions from managers
Sustaining this approach is a whole organization accountability
– not just L&D’s accountability

22. © BTS 2010
Business Impact

23. © BTS 2010
Reality #2
Training alone is never the principal
cause of success or failure
•STOP evaluating “training”
•Evaluate how well your company uses
training to get results
•“Teach”: An organization cannot delegate
results to the “L&D Department”
Producing Results is a Whole-
organization Responsibility

24. © BTS 2010
Business
Goal
The Anatomy of Training Impact:
When training works, what happens?
Impact occurs when:
A training-acquired skill [S] is applied to improve performance in some part of a job
that produces a Result [R] that contributes to a Business Goal
Learning
Intervention
S
S
S
S
S
S
S R
Individual or Team Job

25. © BTS 2010
Implication
• Don’t seek “learning transfer”
• Seek “Leveraged Application”

26. © BTS 2010
Manager & Learner
Discuss Action Plan
and Set Objectives
The Advantage WaySM Process Overview
CONDUCT LEARNING PROGRAM
Clarify Overall
Business Goal
Linkage
Educate and
Motivate Managers
Facilitate Impact Map
Dialogue Between
Managers & Learners
Help Manager
Understand and Plan
to Address
Performance
Obstacles
Engage Learners
in Impact Map
Reflection
Prepare Facilitators to
Leverage Impact
Maps During Program
Learners Identify
On-job Learning
Application Obstacles
Learners Prepare
Action Plan (based on
Impact map)
Other
Resources
Managers Provide
Ongoing Coaching
and Support
ALL
Measure
Effectiveness
and Impact With
Success Case
Study

27. © BTS 2010
Key Evaluation Questions
•Who used the training, how, when and
where?
•When the training was used, what good did
it do?
•When it was not used, why not?
•When it worked, why? Who did what?
•What needs to be done to get improved
results?

28. © BTS 2010
Success Case Evaluation Method® Findings
High Impact Learning
Resource Used
Number and
percentage
(Total = 300)
60 Highest
Impact Trainees
(top 20%)
Value: $20,000
60 Lowest
Impact Trainees
(bottom 20%)
Value: - $1,500
Manager completed the
impact booster session
294
(98%)
58
(97%)
60
(100%)
Trainee and Manager
met and completed an
impact map
195
(60%)
55
(91%)
12
(20%)
Trainee and manager
met after training to
agree on an action plan
120
(40%)
52
(86%)
4
(7%)

29. © BTS 2010
Summary Challenge
•How make the execution process (change)
work faster?
•How measure acceleration?
•How do L&D Leaders lead the process?
•How do we create a “Learning Capable”
organization that can:
Out-learn in order to Out-execute
competitors?

30. © BTS 2010
NEW BOOK!
Published by
Berrett-Koehler
www.amazon.com