1. Growing People in the
Organisational Hothouse
Presented by - Graham Hart
Leadership by Design
2. Overview
Introduction
Up close growth is unique!
Best potatoes grow in the dark
Planting the seed doesn’t guarantee the
fruit
3. According to the ASTAD reporting
on the industry 2005/6
What are we doing? What seems to be working?
35 hours per employee High level investment in
learning
3% of payroll costs ASTAD Measurement and
2004 demonstration of
effectiveness
Learning can provide
Alignment with Business
strategic value to the and individual needs
enterprise in business Provision of a broad range
outcomes and human of internal/external
capital formal/informal learning
opportunities
Learning's alignment with
C level involvement and
business is indicated by sponsorship
integration, proactivity Significant investment in
and responsiveness non-learning performance
enhancing initiatives
4. Common issues in organisations
How do we get our people more engaged?
Why is change difficult?
Why aren’t we more innovative?
Why don’t our people put into practice what they learn in training?
Why can’t we grow people fast enough?
5. Learning definitions are changing!
McGill et al. (1992)
ability of an
organization to gain
Argyris (1977) defines insight and
organizational learning understanding from
as the process of experience through
"detection and experimentation,
correction of errors observation, analysis,
and a willingness to
examine both
successes and failures.
6. learning ideas are not progressing as
quickly as our knowledge of how the
brain works!
“More may have been learned about
the brain and the mind in the 1990s,
than during the entire previous
history
of psychology and neuroscience.”
Antonio R. Damasio, 2005
7. Up close growth is unique
“There are more possible ways to
connect the brain’s neurons than
there are atoms in the universe.”
John Ratey, ‘A Users Guide to the
Brain’ (2003)
8. Automation and prediction
“The brain is constantly trying to
automate processes, thereby dispelling them
from consciousness; in this way, its work will be
completed faster, more effectively and at a lower
metabolic level.
Consciousness, on the other hand, is slow, subject
to error and “expensive.”
Gerhard Roth, ‘The Quest to Find Consciousness,’
(2004)
9. We perceive what we sense plus what
we predict
'Prediction'
means that the neurons involved in sensing become
active in advance of actually receiving sensory input.
When the sensory input does arrive, it is compared
with what was expected.... Prediction is not just one of
the things your brain does.
It is the primary function of
the neocortex, and the foundation of intelligence.”
Jeff Hawkins, ‘On Intelligence’ (2004)
10. The brain needs to see a happy face
“The brain needs to see a happy face
and to hear occasional laughter to cement
it’s neural circuitry. The encouraging
sounds of ‘Yes! Good! That’s it!’ help to
mark a synapse for preservation rather
than pruning.”
Thomas B Czerner, ‘What makes you tick’,
(2001)
11. Attention Density Shapes Identity
You’ve probably had the experience of
going to a training program and getting
excited about new ways of thinking, only
to realize later that you can’t remember
what the new ways of thinking were.
Were the ideas no good in the first place
or did you just not pay enough attention?
12. Productive Thinking is the link
Focus on solutions
type thinking
Change comes from
different thinking
Design needs to take
account of frequency
of attention
13. “Ideas are like children,
we like our own the best”
Chinese fortune cookie, 2005
14. Benefits of Executive Coaching
Training + Coaching
88% increase
Productivity
Training alone
22.4% increase
Development
Adapted from Public Personnel Management Vol 36 Issue 4
A 1997 study of 31 public-sector managers by Baruch College researchers Gerald
Olivero, K. DeniseBane, and Richard E. Kopelman
15. Best potatoes grow in the dark
80 %of job know-how
from informal
20% formal
Is informal learning on the corporate radar?
16. Training functions don’t devote
much effort to helping cyclists.
Informal learning happens outside of
class.
There’s no curriculum and no certificate of
completion.
Informal learning includes things like
trying and failing, asking a neighbour,
reading a book, or watching television..
It’s how we make sense of things.
Informal and formal learning are the end
points of a continuum (Buses and cycles)
17. Trends in blending Leadership
Development approaches
•Customise Executive education internally or
thorough consultants and Universities
•Focus on long term strategic needs and visions
•Increasing focus on technological skills and
knowledge
•Use Action Learning formats
•Concentrate on Individual development plans
18. Doesn’t need to be a Rolls Royce
Implement the right amount and type
IDP, interaction with peers, decision-making authority
turning around a struggling business. More the better
Leading another functional areas, Executive Coaching,
Mentoring :Moderate but not too much
People Management external Consultants
Technical internal Line Managers
Off site Conferences/Seminars : External Senior
Executives
General Business: Internal
19. Conversation creates knowledge.
Workers come together to share, nurture, and validate the tricks
of the trade.
Neither work nor
home, a World Café is
a neutral spot where
people
come together to offer
hospitality, enjoy
comradeship,
welcome diverse Home is a
Work is a demanding, perspectives, and comfortable, private
pressure-packed, rats-in have meaningful space for sharing time
the- maze race with the conversations. with family and
clock to get the job done.
individual interests.
20. Can’t have water-cooler
conversations if you remove them!
Good architecture and space planning facilitate
learning..
The design of the workplace is an important
component of productivity, yet architects create
corporate buildings with the hierarchical floor
plans and grid layouts from a previous era
Corporate efforts to reduce one-time costs and
maximize usable space backfire, because they
hamper the work of the building’s inhabitants for
as long as it stands.
21. Business meetings used to come in
one flavour: dull
New approaches create meetings that
people enjoy, often organized in scant
time and at minimal cost.
Unconferences are characterized by:
● no keynote speaker or designated expert
● breakthrough thinking born of diversity
● having fun dealing with serious subjects
● emergent self-organization
● genuine community, intimacy, and respect.
22. Best potatoes grow in the dark
Offer choices to individuals
Create opportunities for interaction
Improve the quality of conversations
Get attention at meetings
Help people learn how to manage their own
learning
Time trumps perfection
Give them more decision making
Encourage IDP’s
Help people focus some thinking time on the
future
23. Planting the seed doesn’t guarantee
the fruit
Phase 1 consists of all the activities that
happen prior to someone physically 26 Phase 1 10
attending a session. That includes articles
and books to read, questionnaires to be
completed, or
data to be collected.
Phase 2 describes the learning event 24 85
itself. The event may be two hours in
length or three months long. It may Phase 2
involve participants congregating in the
same room or participants
communicating via video-conferencing or
some other form of distance learning.
Phase 3 begins after the learning event. It
includes the subsequent activities that are
designed to reinforce and strengthen 50 Phase 3 5
the application of the learning.
24. Linking needs with evaluation
Needs Program
Assessment Objectives Evaluation
Business Impact Business
4 Needs Objectives Impact 4
Job Performance Application Application
3 Needs Objectives 3
2 Skill/Knowledge/ Learning Learning 2
Attitude Objectives
Deficiencies
1 Satisfaction Reaction 1
Preferences Objectives
25. To improve Phase 3
A new environment must be created
that provides periodic reminders to
participants about:
the learned behavior
and encourages that behavior’s use
26. Effective Phase 3 efforts are characterised by
implementations in which
Any desired new behaviours are made specific
Participants make clear, public commitments to complete
a task by a certain time
Participants know that there will be a consistent mechanism
that holds them accountable
Participants are regularly reminded to plan for the next phase of
implementation
Obstacles are anticipated, plans are put in place to overcome
those obstacles, and vaccinations are prepared to prevent
backsliding or having individuals’ efforts gradually diluted
Good measurement tools are available to let managers and
administrators of the learning process monitor the progress
of the individual and group
27. To improve Phase 3
Space learning events over time
Formal sessions should be viewed as punctuation
marks, not the text
Create buddy systems or support groups
Coach online or by telephone
Encourage mentorship's
Initiate job discussions
Encourage employees to manage themselves
28. Email represents an enormous breakthrough,
indeed it may be our miracle drug.
An email can serve as
a friendly reminder
ask for a brief assessment of progress,
encourage participants to plan their next steps to meet
commitments made during the learning process.
By combining email contact with telephone contact,
refresher sessions, and the opportunity to complete
further assessments, such as 360-degree feedback
surveys, you enhance Phase 3’s potential for success.
You can aggregate and analyse the data compiled
through those processes in many ways.
29. In summary
Up close growth is Put individuals at the
unique centre of their
thinking and solutions
Best potatoes grow in Leverage the 80%
the dark informal blend
Planting the seed Invest in Phase 3
doesn’t guarantee the
fruit
small capacity of working memory, many small bites of learning, digested over time, may be more efficient than large blocks of time spent in workshops. The key is getting people to pay sufficient attention to new ideas, something the“e-learning” industry has struggled with.. Perhaps any behavior change brought about by leaders, managers, therapists, trainers, or coaches is primarily a function of their ability to induce others to focus their attention on specific ideas, closely enough, often enough, and for a long enough time.
“ A tremendous amount of brain power is wasted every day because managers still think their job is to tell people what to do,” he says. But, in reality, “workers know much more about the work they are doing than the boss does.” Being told what to do can actually sap their motivation for the job. “The suggestions managers and co-workers typically make are always a crap shoot: You scramble for ideas and hope that one will fit,”Mr. Rock says. “The problem is that, even if you do have a winning idea, the person still won't do it because the suggestion came from you. So, in a sense, it is a game you don't want to win.”
Formal learning—riding the bus—is great for novices. It’s useful to have help getting the lay of the land and getting to the destination. Training departments are very talented at setting up bus routes. Informal learning, what the bicyclists do, is most appropriate for people who already know the territory. They want tips on the new shortcuts and the essence of a topic. They want to plug the holes in their knowledge, and they won’t sit still for bus rides to their destinations. Here’s the irony: The cyclists are the high performers. Raising their performance 5 percent blows the roof off. (Whereas raising the performance of novices 5 percent doesn’t even register.) When it comes to learning, most corporations are spending the most money where it will do the least good.
Work is a demanding, pressure-packed, rats-inthe- maze race with the clock to get the job done. Home is a comfortable, private space for sharing time with family and individual interests. Neither work nor home, a World Café is a neutral spot where people come together to offer hospitality, enjoy comradeship, welcome diverse perspectives, and have meaningful conversations. Shared spaces encourage dialogue.
You’re going to spend your entire life learning so you might as well get good at it. Embracing mindfulness is your first step. You’ll need to be flexible, look at things through different lenses, reflect on what you see, try new things, run thought experiments, and pay attention. A mindful person often cuts off the mindless auto-pilot of aimless living
Is it possible that the learning and development profession might enjoy such dramatic advancements? What could happen that would catapult us to an entirely new plateau of results? And where is that breakthrough most likely to occur
as entering activities in a planner or adhering to a checklist, is the best kind of management. If employees create mechanisms to help them remember new behaviors or to eliminate inappropriate behaviors, that’s a more powerful tool than most external influences
Space learning events over time. One change that many organizations have implemented is to space learning events to create opportunities for application and then coming back to report, evaluate, and be reenergized. Create buddy systems or support groups. At the conclusion of any learning event, buddy systems can be created or lunch groups established to keep the implementation of learning moving forward by meeting on a regular basis. Coach online or by telephone. A regularly scheduled telephone call from someone available to discuss implementation steps or any challenges that a participant has encountered has been shown to greatly increase the degree of implementation. Encourage mentorships. Similarly, someone inside the organization who can mentor another employee performs a valuable service. By periodically touching base, a mentor shows interest in his or her participant’s progress and offers assistance when needed. Initiate job discussions. A manager or supervisor who regularly provides reminders to practice new behavours
in the implementation and follow-up process. While the benefits of having a mentor call every week or two to discuss an employee’s progress is obvious, email is a more economical vehicle to reach participants. An email can serve as a friendly reminder, ask for a brief assessment of progress, and encourage participants to plan their next steps to meet commitments made during the learning process. By combining email contact with telephone contact, refresher sessions, and the opportunity to complete further assessments, such as 360-degree feedback surveys, you enhance Phase 3’s potential for success. You can aggregate and analyze the data compiled through those processes in many ways. You can find out which participants are following through with their commitments; you can analyze the type of goals or commitments participants are selecting (and ignoring); and you can evaluate those goals and provide more challenging ones at a later date. Comparing the effectiveness of one training or development intervention with another is also now possible.
