Learning is a Contact Sport: Ten Strategies for Boosting Professional Development
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This deck comes from my session at the 2015 Training Magazine Conference, where I'll present 10 strategies for boosting professional development. While self-study is an important component of professional, career, and leadership development, the most impactful examples of individual growth and development are found in situations where there is a high degree of interaction between learners and their colleagues.
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Learning is a Contact Sport: Ten Strategies for Boosting Professional Development
- 1. Ten Strategies for Boosting Professional Development Gus Prestera Session 101 February 15, 2016 8:00 – 9:00 AM
- 2. competenci es pipeline bench strengt h performan ce mentoring learning improving the capabilities and performance of leaders and their employees Gus Prestera Consultant | Instructor | Entrepreneur • 20 years experience developing workers and their leaders • MBA and PhD Instructional Systems with Leadership Development focus • Specialties: – Leadership Development – Professional Development – Organizational Development – Blended Learning • eMail: gus@presterafx.com Prestera FXtraining and consulting Blended online curriculum covering: • Budgeting • Rate structure • Scoping • Costing • Pricing • SOW Writing • Estimation Models • Proposal Writing • Proposal Presentation • Negotiation Prestera Academy http://academy.presterafx.com Prestera FX http://www.presterafx.com
- 4. Realm of Team Development Realm of Performance Management Realm of Leadership Development ©2014 Prestera FX, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
- 5. Based on research conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership from Experience from Others from Study from Experience from Others from Study How people learn:How we invest:
- 6. from Experience from Others from Study Workshops eLearning Webinars Degree & certification courses Books & articles Videos Industry Conferences Local seminars Websites, blogs, magazines Manager coaching After Action Reviews Being mentored Peer mentoring Learning circle Executive sponsor Community of practice SME networks 360 feedback Customer feedback Tracking performance metrics Special assignment Leading projects Shadowing Job swap Job rotation 10% 20% 70% Action learning Cross training Interim position Benchmarking Being a mentor Committee Being a trainer Increased scope of responsibilities TypesofDevelopmentActions 70:20:10Refer to: Lombardo, Michael M; Eichinger, Robert W (1996). The Career Architect Development Planner (1st ed.). Minneapolis: Lominger. Morgan McCall: Center for Creative Leadership (www.ccl.org)
- 8. 3. Make it experiential 1. Make it a KPI 5. Mix & Mingle 7. Teach Them to Fish 9. Manager Guidance & Support 4. Proof of Learning 2. Bake it into the mix 6. Gung-Ho Mentors 8. Hard Look in the Mirror 10. Future Selves
- 9. Career Fair Job Shadowing Job Rotation Curating a CoP 1:1 Mentoring Reverse Mentoring Cross- Functional Assignments Co-Teaching Mentoring Circles CEO AdvisoryCross-Training
- 10. Career Fair Job Shadowing Job Rotation Curating a CoP 1:1 Mentoring Reverse Mentoring Cross- Functional Assignments Co-Teaching Mentoring Circles CEO AdvisoryCross-Training
- 11. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • Global insurance company created a structured 1:1 mentoring program and applied it to their Women in Leadership executive sponsorship program, among other places. • Paired female middle managers with senior executives (mostly male), who volunteered to provide career advice and to act as advocates for their mentees. • Women in the program had significantly higher retention and engagement, and experienced greater advancement. • Mentoring became a key strategy in promoting greater diversity within the organization, especially within senior leadership ranks. STRENGTHS: • Gung-Ho Mentors: Great development for mentors as well as mentees • Manager Guidance & Support: Mentors can fill gaps left by poor managers WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Mentors who don’t make time for their mentees • Poorly-managed mentee expectations How’s it work? o TD matches trained/certified mentors with mentees o TD makes the introductions and helps the mentor-mentee pair establish expectations and ground rules o Mentorships can be established around any sort of learning need, including technical ones, leadership develop o Can also be used to form executive sponsorships DevelopmentStrategies
- 12. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • Big Phama manufacturer conducted a career fair at their global HQ. • Employees attended workshops on career planning, self development • Learned what resources the org had available for them to use in their development plans • Heard case studies highlighting different vertical, lateral, and diagonal paths leaders have taken through the organization • Afterwards, employees reported feeling inspired and more engaged in their self development. • Enrollment in other professional development programs increased dramatically. STRENGTHS: • Future Selves: Helps employees visualize a future within the organization • Teach Them to Fish: Employees learn what it takes to succeed, which helps them plan for success WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Big in-person events can be expensive and disruptive • One-time event at a single location can leave a lot of people out…find ways to scale and sustain How’s it work? o Large-scale event where employees learn about other jobs and pathways within the organization. o Have leaders to deliver workshops to teach others about what they do in their role and how they got there. o Help employees see not only vertical paths but also lateral and diagonal paths through the organization. DevelopmentStrategies
- 13. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • Consumer healthcare manufacturer formed cross-functional process optimization teams in the supply chain organization. • Representatives from different functions came together to map current processes, design new/better ones, and propose improvement ideas to senior leadership. • Because this assignment was part of each representative’s main duties and the changes discussed impacted their departments, everyone was heavily engaged. • The initiative yielded improved business outcomes as a result of the process improvements • Afterwards, many of the top-performing team leaders and sub-team leaders were promoted STRENGTHS: • Mix & Mingle: Breaks down silos and enables emerging leaders to engage with other departments • Bake It into the Mix: Employees do this in-line with their normal duties WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Team members not being empowered by their bosses to make decisions • Team members not treating this as a core responsibility How’s it work? o Managers from different functional areas come together and identify projects that require cross-functional effort and coordination o They appoint representatives from their functions to drive that project o Those representatives collaborate cross-functionally to develop a proposed solution, present it to their managers, and implement it o Great with innovation, process improvement, and quality initiatives DevelopmentStrategies
- 14. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A large public accounting firm required all third-year associates and above to team-teach more junior audiences. • For example, a third-year associate might co- teach with a manager for a workshop being delivered to first-year associates. • The third-year is essentially being mentored through that teaching process by the manager. • By co-teaching with the third-year, the manager is also refreshing his/her knowledge of that subject matter. • Student satisfaction and transfer metrics improved, and the instructors reported feeling greater satisfaction and engagement. STRENGTHS: • Bake It Into the Mix: It’s essentially mentoring, but inline with work they’re already doing • Make It Experiential: Both trainers learned/refreshed by needing to teach the content WATCH-OUT-FOR: • For co-teachers not bringing unique value to the process • For individuals not pulling their weight How’s it work? o High-performing employees paired up with colleagues in different functions or roles to deliver training o Ideal for cross-functional process training o Can be employed with one strong facilitator and a weaker one or with a senior paired with junior role DevelopmentStrategies
- 15. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A hospital president selected several dozen Hi- Pos to form a special advisory group. • The group was split into teams of 5-7 and assigned a senior leader to mentor them • Each group tackled a different hospital priority, including patient safety, quality of care, patient experience, competitiveness, etc. • With support from their mentors, teams met regularly, collected data, analyzed, brainstormed, and generated a proposal. • Teams presented their proposals to each other and to senior leadership, revised them, and gained greenlight approval. • At subsequent quarterly meetings, teams reported on progress as they implemented the initiatives. STRENGTHS: • Bake It Into the Mix: The teams are working on real organizational initiatives • Make It Experiential: Analyzing, weighing alternatives, proposing ideas are all key skills as they move up WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Team mentors not investing time into their teams • After all that, many participants will expect promotions…and there may not be enough opportunities How’s it work? o High performers—and often high potentials—are selected to form a group that advises senior leadership on enterprise initiatives o If group is large, it can be broken down into teams, and senior leaders can be assigned to mentor each team o Teams are assigned imperatives (e.g., market share, service, productivity) and asked to generate proposals, present them to senior leadership and implement them DevelopmentStrategies CEO Advisory
- 16. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • Hospitals do this all the time when they rotate interns and residents through different specialty areas. • A large mutual fund broker does this quite a bit also, rotating financial advisors and financial analysts through the various home office functions. • Employees learn about different parts of the business, gaining a broader view of the organization and developing their business acumen. • Employees feel the organization is investing in them for the long term. • They in turn reward the company with high loyalty, retention, and engagement, translating into consistently high business performance. STRENGTHS: • Make It Experiential: Doesn’t get more experiential than learning other jobs • Mix & Mingle: Rotations encourage movement of talent throughout the organization, breaking down silos WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Disruption to the organization when too many rotations are happening at once…manage timing and overlap How’s it work? o With a job rotation, employees spend 3 months to a year working in a new role, typically within a different functional area o They later come back to their primary role and/or rotate to another assignment DevelopmentStrategies
- 17. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A large retailer cross-trained its tellers, customer service reps, and merchandisers. • Cross-trained employees received bonuses upon getting certified in each of the new roles and slight pay increases. • Cross-trained employees reported higher job satisfaction due to the variety of work and the feeling of being “more important to the company.” • Having more cross-trained employees on the floor improved customer satisfaction and employee retention. • It reduced costs (fewer headcount needed to cover breaks and volume fluctuations). STRENGTHS: • Future Selves: Employees gain a broader understanding of business, roles, and possible paths • Mix & Mingle: Shadowing and cross-training breaks down silos WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Fit…not everyone capable of crossing over into other roles, so screen candidates • Disruption…manage shadowing or cross-training schedule to avoid overload How’s it work? o With job shadowing, employees might spend 1 to 5 days shadowing an employee in a different role and/or function o With cross-training, employees get fully trained/certified in other roles, and so are able to move back and forth between roles to meet organizational needs DevelopmentStrategies Job Shadowing Cross-Training
- 18. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A chemical manufacturer established several “quality circles,” which acted like communities of practice around different facets of R&D, new product development, and operations. • Volunteers from different functions and levels within company were represented on each CoP team. • The CoPs took responsibility for gathering and organizing all documentation, standardizing practices across different plants/sites, and developing training and certification programs. • Curators consistently experienced higher job satisfaction, engagement levels, retention, and productivity…they felt they had “a stake in the success of the company.” STRENGTHS: • Make It Experiential: Through curating, they are learning at great depth and breadth • Mix & Mingle: Working with other team members on enterprise needs provide broader perspective and develops business acumen WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Disruption…if CoP groups are not facilitated, they can devolve and become unproductive How’s it work? o Employees volunteer to curate one or more communities of practice o Curating involves gathering documentation, best practices, tools, standards, and other subject matter related to a domain o Then organizing, evaluating it, and presenting it back to the organization in a cohesive, effective way o Those involved in curating develop deep expertise and get immersed in the details DevelopmentStrategies
- 19. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A consulting firm paired tech-savvy millennial programmers with senior executives (boomers). • Pairs were asked to co-lead innovation initiatives. • Programmers learned business and financial acumen as well as “navigating the politics” of org change from their co-leads. • Senior executives learned a great deal about new and emerging technologies and developed a greater comfort interacting with them. • Innovation initiatives experienced fewer hiccups, and co-leads reported higher satisfaction and engagement as a result of the experience. STRENGTHS: • Make It a KPI: Linking mentoring to KPI innovation initiatives created relevance and urgency • Mix & Mingle: Breaks down generational boundaries and stereotypes WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Cross-generational rivalries (e.g., Gen-Xers feeling threatened by Millennials) • Resistance…neither party feeling they can learn much from each other…relevance and urgency needed How’s it work? o Two individuals are paired in a mentoring relationship with the intent that they will reciprocally mentor each other o Often involves pairing tech-savvy millennials with business-savvy baby boomers o I recommend linking these mentoring relationships to high-priority business projects or else the participants may find it to be too forced and contrived DevelopmentStrategies Reverse Mentoring
- 20. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE • A global insurance company established dozens of mentoring circles, each with 8 mentees and 2 mentors, in different regions, some meeting in-person and others virtually. • Each member attended training first, then attended a kickoff with their circle. • Each circle set its own goals, ground rules, and schedule based on the needs of the members. • Members reported higher engagement and appreciated most that it enabled them to meet people from other offices and functions and gain a better appreciation for the company as a whole. • Mentors especially expanded their facilitation and coaching skills. STRENGTHS: • Mix & Mingle: Circles can bring together a wide variety of people, helping break down silos and misconceptions • Teach Them to Fish: Members learn how to work together to support each others’ learning WATCH-OUT-FOR: • Poor chemistry among members • Poor facilitation can allow circle to get derailed by early challenges How’s it work? o TD forms groups of 5-7 mentees to engage with each other around different developmental needs for 6- 12 months o TD assigns 1-2 mentors to facilitate the group meetings and manage the interpersonal dynamics o Each circle of 6-10 people sets its own goals and schedule o Meets regularly to discuss topics of importance to them DevelopmentStrategies
Editor's Notes
- While self-study is an important component of professional, career, and leadership development, the most impactful examples of individual growth and development are found in situations where there is a high degree of interaction between learners and their colleagues. Whether it’s working with a manager, an external coach, a mentor, an executive sponsor, a peer, a cohort, or other members of their development network, people develop more profoundly and more rapidly when their development is rich in person-to-person interaction. If this is true, then why are so many of our development programs and individual development plans so reliant on self-study forms of learning (e.g., books, elearning, videos)? In this session, we’ll examine ten strategies that you can employ immediately to infuse more interaction into your development initiatives. We will look at real-world examples of each strategy in action and consider its strengths, weaknesses, and ideal uses. By increasing the quality and frequency of interaction—and making development more of a contact sport—you will see tangible gains in not only individual outcomes but organizational results as well. The ten strategies to be discussed revolve around individual mentoring, group-based mentoring (e.g., mentoring circles), cohort-based learning assignments, experiential learning, manager coaching, and feedback loops. As a handout, I will provide as a one-page summary for each strategy, containing a brief description, a real-world example, strengths, weaknesses, best uses, and other key information. During the session, I will introduce the core elements that need to be part of any successful development strategy (e.g., interaction, feedback, reflection, growth, alignment, accountability), then break up the audience into groups and ask them to discuss one of the strategies—referencing the handout—and will apply that strategy to a specific audience of their choosing. We’ll then have each group present their strategy to the rest of the audience and discuss. Along the way, we’ll address common concerns related to time, cost, tracking, evaluation, and organizational impact.
- Today, much of the professional and leadership development time, money, and effort are focused on providing learners with content that they can study. We buy or build elearning, workshops, books, articles, videos, and a host of other content resources for them, then those resources out to our learners. We as talent development professionals spend much of our time acting as producers or purveyors of content, and our output is measured in terms of number of resources and seat time. We spend relatively little on promoting the feedback and reflection that come from coaching, mentoring, and experiential learning. In contrast, when successful people are asked how they developed the knowledge and skills to become successful, they tell us that 70% comes from their on-the-job experiences; 20% from the coaching and mentoring they received from others; and only 10% from study, which includes schooling, certifications, and job training. Shouldn’t our efforts and expenditures mirror this reality more closely?
- The research—and our own experience—tell us that learning from others and learning from experience have a much greater impact on an individual’s professional and career development than learning through study. Ideally, professional development will involve a mix of all three types of learning, but if we’re trying to boost the effects of our professional development programs (with limited time and resources), we should really focus on experiential learning. This is where we get the biggest bang for our buck.
- Based on what we’ve just discussed, here’s a recap of 10 best practices that will enable you to boost the impact of your professional development programs significantly. Bake it into the mix: Build one ongoing set of professional development responsibilities into each job description (e.g., at certain levels of the org, you should expect to be a mentor, curator, instructor, quality circle member) at lower levels, they should be expected to participate in a certain number of development hours…as mentee, as learner in a course) and then treat it with the same level of importance as other performance factors. Make it a KPI: Track development and reward it, just as you do with other key performance indicators (KPIs)…organizations that enthusiastically develop their people experience lower turnover, higher engagement, better productivity, greater resilience in the face of change, and stronger performance results. Make it experiential: Learners should need to go do something job-relevant with what they are learning…develop a new process, tool, technology, standard, etc. Go out and benchmark best practices, write documentation, build a course, teach a course, etc. Proof of Learning: Ensure development plans always culminate in a “proof of learning,” in the form of a job-relevant task that demonstrates a change in competency level. Mix & Mingle: Break down silos; create opportunities for rotational assignments, no matter how brief; cross-training, job shadowing, cross-functional assignments. Gung-Ho Mentors: Build a cadre of skilled and enthusiastic mentors and create mentoring opportunities. Teach Them to Fish: Teach people strategies, processes, and tools for self-development and self-directed learning…don’t assume that because they’re educated they know how to learn and develop themselves effectively. Hard Look in the Mirror: Provide opportunities for introspection to discover blind spots and potential derailers, with the help of diagnostic instruments, 360 feedback, and developmental coaching. Manager Guidance & Support: Provide guidance in crafting an effective development plan, help them connect with resources, and then provide encouragement and accountability. Future Selves: Provide visibility into possible future selves and pathways through job shadowing, career fairs, and career profiles
- There are many professional development strategies to choose from, but we’re going to focus on 10 that will really help you boost your organizational efforts.
- There are many professional development strategies to choose from, but we’re going to focus on 10 that will really help you boost your organizational efforts.