The Performance Improvement Blog

Investing in Training in Downturns and Upturns

The U.S. is emerging from a training drought that occurred during the worst economic period since the Great Depression. At least, that’s what’s indicated by organizations that do this kind of
research. ASTD reports an increase in spending on L&D in 2010 (latest year for which data is available); they estimate companies spent about $171.5 billion. Bersin & Associates reports that corporate spending on training increased 9.5% in 2011 – the largest gain in three years.  And Training magazine’s research found a 13% increase in spending on L&D in 2011. Each of these studies uses a different method for calculating spending. However, the trend is undeniable: spending on employee training is increasing.  

With this increase in spending comes a great opportunity to do things right. In our book, The 5As Framework, Sean Murray and I wrote that most training programs significantly impact only 10% to 20% of their participants. This represents a huge waste that no organization can afford any longer. As the worldwide recession comes to an end, organizations must use every dollar very wisely. Garry Marsh, director of the U.K. company THM Business Simulations, gives us some thoughts about best ways to use those dollars. Here are those seven ideas with my spin on each one:

• Get it right first time – Think in terms of what learners need, not the latest training fad (content or delivery). Only provide experiences that will help learners improve performance and contribute to achieving the strategic goals of the organization – no more and no less. Pay attention to the quality of content and quality of the learning intervention.
• Keep employee satisfaction high – Involving employees in opportunities to learn is an effective way to increase engagement. Many employees value learning more than a pay increase. To keep engagement high, make continuous learning part of the culture of the organization.
• Train your managers – Many managers did not reach that position because they were great managers of people. This is something that all managers need to keep learning. And if organizations want to prevent their top talent from leaving as the economy improves, they must give managers the opportunity to learn and grow.
• Focus on customer experience – All organizations should have the improvement of customer experience as one of their top strategic goals. To achieve this goal, they will have to train employees in how to create a better experience. Learning about the customer experience should be on every manager’s agenda.
• Spend less, get more – Organizations should not rely on the usual suspects and usual methods for delivery of training. It’s about learning; it’s not about glitzy programs. It doesn’t have to cost much to develop talent. Maybe a manager will become a more effective team leader with the help of a mentor. Maybe a manager will become more effective at giving performance feedback with the help of a coach. Maybe a manager will become better at financial management by attending the CEO’s “open-book” meetings.
• Be ready for the upturn – As the economy improves and companies start hiring again, the best talent will look elsewhere. They have stayed only because nobody else was growing and hiring. Unless managers continue to see opportunities in their current organizations and they feel respect from their leadership, they will be gone. Organizations should do something about these conditions now.
• Look after yourself – Many resources are available to help any organization be successful while keeping costs low. Look for help internally and externally. Use what the organization already owns when that makes sense and then go outside to peers, consultants, and training organizations when they can help you improve performance and achieve your business goals.

 

Deep Listening

This is a guest post from Bernard Donkerbrook:

The term you used in your last post, "deep listening", in context with employers (bosses mostly) connecting/communicating with employees on a personal level, made a big impact on me because this is such a compelling theme for me in working with clients or mentees at EQmentor.com. I understand that you are making a distinction between "deep listening" and "active listening".

My view of "active listening" is that it is a mechanistic process, as one of a set of listening tools/techniques. Active Listening is for me synonymous with paraphrasing, conveying back what you thought you just heard, both in content and in emotions/feelings.  I love the concept of 'deep listening' embodying caring, genuineness, empathy, self-awareness and  being other-person focused. A tall order for many managers, sadly.

I believe that a manager's core listening should include these quite-teachable skills:

• Nonverbal attending
• Open-ended questions
• Reflecting feelings
• Listening for understanding
• Active listening/paraphrasing
• Supportive communication/supportive feedback in the moment

The ability of managers (I use that phrase generically to represent any management level person who has people working for them, such as supervisors, executives, and other leaders.) to recognize, appreciate, and demonstrate that they (and even the company) personally value what employees are doing and contributing (and learning, growing, exploring, etc... all these kinds of things) is powerfully influenced by a manager's "deep listening".  'Deeply listening' is a way of demonstrating respect and genuine appreciation for another person. The list goes on and on of the power, influence, and value of deeply listening to people, one-by-one.  And the good news is that good listening skills by a manager can be learned! 

"People honor a culture that honors them."

Deciding as a manager to really deeply listen, deciding to be authentic and genuine in understanding what people are saying who work for you (and with you), is a powerful way to build relationships that are so critical in getting business done and in demonstrating that you value and appreciate employees as individuals and as contributors to meaningful work. 

 

High Touch vs. High Tech

Technology is putting up barriers to the kind of deep listening that helps two people learn from each other. This is especially true in healthcare. Medical patients, often nervous, scared, and in pain, are comforted by the personal caring and touch of their doctors, yet technology (and time pressure) is getting in the way of that relationship. Abraham Verghese, Stanford University physician and best-selling author, argues that the tendency today is for doctors to order tests before or in lieu of conducting a thorough physical exam. By doing this, they risk missing information that can help them make a more accurate diagnosis and enhance the patient experience. He makes that point in this TED talk:

 

An emphasis on “high tech” at the expense of “high touch” is happening in other workplace situations as well. We seem to be moving away from closeness and the expression of caring between employees and their supervisors. The work relationship has become automated and digitized, putting more distance between people who should be continuously learning together. Email, texting, conference calls, and Skype meetings are replacing face-to-face conversation. The efficiency of these technologies is wonderful; I couldn’t accomplish nearly as much if I didn’t have them.  But something is lost when performance feedback is emailed and difficult conversations are held over the phone.

The effect is limited when performance reviews are reduced to an annual exchange of evaluation forms between employee and supervisor. Employees are more likely to respect the sender, hear the message, and change behavior when the encounter between these collaborators is in-person and over a dedicated and sufficient amount of time. Maybe it doesn’t require physical touch, but proximity and deep listening, especially in western culture, conveys a level of respect and caring that cannot be felt from the latest communication technology.  

 

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall; I Don’t See Myself At All.

As leaders, we tend to overestimate our abilities and underestimate the amount of help we need in order to improve. It’s like looking in a mirror and not seeing yourself the way others see you. Wally Bock, in his post about a Development Dimensions International (DDI) study of front-line leaders, draws three major implications:

You can't trust your mirror. No more excuses. After reading this post you can't fall back on the "nobody ever told me I overestimated my abilities" excuse.

You must commit to the rigorous and discomforting process of getting the true picture of who you are and how you're doing. Seeking feedback must become a habit. Hearing the feedback and acting on it, hard as it is, must be part of your plan. You can get some help from Mary Jo Asmus' excellent post, "The Value of Knowing Exactly Who You Are."

You must commit to the difficult habit of getting better. As you grow and develop, that target will move as Marshall Goldsmith wrote in What Got You Here Won't Get You There.

The process for “getting a true picture of who you are” and for “getting better” is best facilitated by a coach. Bill Ryan, consultant to foundations and nonprofit organizations and research fellow at the Harvard University Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, in an interview with Ruth McCambridge, Editor-in-Chief of The Nonprofit Quarterly, describes coaching as helping an executive answer this question: “If my organization wants to get to Point X, what do I, as a leader, need to do to build on my strengths and manage my weaknesses to help it get there?” If a leader doesn’t want to ask this question or won’t act on the answer, that person is not a good candidate for coaching. If a leader is willing to learn and to change behavior, then that person will likely benefit from coaching. For video examples of how coaching can help leaders change their behavior see the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund site. 

Other modes of learning and change could also be beneficial to executives having a more realistic understanding of themselves. Carol Kauffman and Diane Coutu draw distinctions among consulting, coaching, and therapy. Based on a survey of coaches, Kauffman and Coutu created the following model to show the differences and commonalities.  



I think the researchers should have included "counseling" in this model. Professional counselors help people deal with normal life development, such as career, family, and avocation, with the intent that people learn how to successfully manage these common life challenges.  I would put “counseling” between coaching and therapy in the model. It overlaps with coaching in that counselors are “paid to ask the right questions” and counseling “tackles difficult issues at work and at home…focuses on individual behavioral change…explores subjective experience.” Counseling differs from therapy in that it tends to focus on the present, is short-term, and deals with normal life development problems.

Coaching differs from consulting, counseling, and therapy in that the focus is on each executive’s success in the work setting. Coaching is similar to these other professions (consulting, counseling, and therapy) in that they all rely heavily on skillful listening to clients (executive) and reflecting back what is heard and what is meant so that clients can achieve deeper self-understanding and learning. Then when they look in the mirror, they should see themselves, warts and all. 

 

Google's Search for Good Managers

Managers have a critical role to play in the learning and development of the people who report to them. In fact, that relationship is more critical than anything the HR or Training departments can do to improve performance. This is born out in Google's internal study of good management.

In this self-study, Google identified eight things that “good” managers should do. These imperatives are listed here in order of importance:

1. Be a good coach
2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage
3. Express interest in team member’s success and personal well-being
4. Don’t be a sissy [I don’t know what this means.]; Be productive and results-oriented
5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team
6. Help your employees with career development
7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team
8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team

Adam Bryant, in an article he wrote about this study for the New York Times, points out that while there is nothing new in this list, Google managers pay attention to these behaviors because they are based on Google data. Another important aspect of this internal research is that having technical skills, while important, is at the bottom of the list which might be surprising to some given the technical nature of the business. Bryant writes:

technical expertise — the ability, say, to write computer code in your sleep — ranked dead last among Google’s big eight. What employees valued most were even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.

Apparently, managers are successful in Google, not because of their technical expertise, although that’s important, but because of what they do to help team members learn and develop and achieve success. In the 5As Framework, we call this relationship: “alliance”. The alliance of manager with team member is a critical factor in employee learning and performance improvement.

 

Retaining High-Impact Employees

As we crawl out of the recession, high performing employees will be in greater demand than ever (See blog post: The Coming Turnover Storm.). What are you doing to keep them? Kelly Goldsmith, professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and Marshall Goldsmith, executive coach and author, offer excellent advice for retaining these valued employees. They contend that companies need to do essentially six things to keep their talent: 1) show respect for them; 2) create a work environment in which they can thrive; 3) provide ongoing training and education to them; 4) develop a coaching relationship with them; 5) provide continual feedback to them; and 6) involve them in decision-making.

They make the case that developing these “high-impact” employees is strategically important to a company. They write:

Developing people is a strategic process that adds value to both the employees and the bottom line of the organization. Highly committed, highly competent people create financial rewards for the organization; organizations that develop their people and provide opportunities for growth are sought-after by high-impact performers. Great leaders know this simple formula. They understand it and strive to create an environment that supports it. And the result is success!

The tendency of executives is to assume that employees are motivated by money and that if they are paid well, they will stay with a company. Money is a motivator but it is not the only motivator and often it is not the strongest factor in retention. The opportunity to develop one’s skills and abilities, to continue to learn, and to feel respected and valued, are stronger drivers of retention for many high performing employees.

And this is not only true for high performers; all employees are happier and more productive when they feel respected, are developing their abilities, can contribute to the success of the organization, and are involved in making important decisions. The Goldsmiths' recommendations for retaining high-impact employees are also the characteristics of a high performance organization. 

 

How to Have a Learning Conversation

Employees learn best when they have guidance, support, and performance feedback from someone they trust and respect in the organization. Ideally, this is a boss, supervisor, coach, or mentor who knows why that learning is important and how it aligns with strategic business goals. Managers, at all organizational levels, should have regular learning-focused conversations with the people who report to them. In these conversations, described in our book, The 5As Framework, managers should ask:

1. What do you need to learn in order to help this organization achieve its business goals?
2. Given what you need to learn, what should be your specific learning objectives for the short-term and long-term?
3. How will you and I know if you are making progress toward and achieving those objectives?
4. How can I help you get the most out of your learning opportunities?
5. What resources do you need and how can I help you get them?
6. What should be our schedule for regular conversations about your progress?
7. What do we need to change about this plan?

The key to making this a successful relationship is to keep the focus on how the employee’s learning and performance improvement will contribute to achieving business goals. Companies can no longer (as if they ever could) afford to allow employees to participate in learning activities simply because they are an enjoyable break from the routine, a motivating perk, or conveniently scheduled. Managers must make sure that the time, effort, and money invested in their direct reports is contributing to the organization being successful. 

 

Trust Me

The new social contract between employer and employee is no longer about loyalty; it’s about trust. Employees are saying, “I will work hard for you as long as you are trustworthy and you show that you trust me.” Employers are saying, “I can’t promise long-term employment, but if you are trustworthy and you trust me, I will support you and compensate you.” What both employees and employers mean is that while they can’t make long-term commitments to each other, if they feel respected and can count on each other to do what they say they will do and use good judgment in doing it, they will come through for each other.  

Managers, unfortunately, do many things intentionally and unintentionally that lose the trust of employees. For example, they conduct employee surveys without engaging employees in a discussion of the findings and not doing anything differently because of the findings. They ask employees to attend training events but then don’t provide opportunities to apply that learning on-the-job nor do they show any interest in what employees have learned.  Employers say that people are their most important asset and then they don’t ask employees what they think. They tell employees that this is an organization in which everyone can develop their abilities and then they don’t provide coaching and feedback.

Building and keeping trust requires avoiding these pitfalls. And it requires developing and applying certain behaviors and values. RealTime Performance writes this about trust:

At its most basic level, trust is the confidence people have that you will predictably act in their best interest, never knowingly committing actions that might harm them. There is no single activity that will build trust; rather, you establish trust over time by consistently exhibiting a number of behaviors and values.

According to RealTime Performance, if you want to build trust in an organization, you need to:

1. Be accountable for your actions
2. Act consistently with your words
3. Live your values and communicate them regularly
4. Admit mistakes and take blame
5. Listen for understanding
6. Act with integrity and ethics
7. Be an advocate for a fear-free culture
8. Face reality
9. Provide honest feedback
10. Build trust with openness

 Go to 10X10 for more information and resources for learning about each of these actions.   

 

Just-In-Time Learning

Facts and figures everywhere…not a drop to drink (my apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge).  We are inundated with information and advice about what leaders should and should not do. Books and blogs are full of ideas. The problem is in having easy access to the best of this information when and where we need it.

Mobile tools have promise in this regard. In their simplest form, mobile phones and PDAs of various types provide ready access to the Web. Wally Bock identifies some Web sites that are rich resources of information. Clark Quinn writes about mobile learning and also formal social learning and informal social learning as formats that open up tremendous possibilities for providing information where it is needed. He argues that integrating these technologies will do things for us that our brains can’t do. It’s not only about accessing information; it’s also about processing that information in creative and useful ways.

RealTime Performance has a product called Inspire which is an example of making information useful to leaders. Inspire is “…a web-based tool that empowers employees to take ownership of their leadership development by enabling them to build, drive and track their own leadership development plan.” From that tool, RealTime Performance has created something that they call Inspire 10X10 which is 10 tips matched with 10 resources on topics that are most important to managers and leaders in organizations today. 

RealTime Performance has done the work of taking mountains of information on leadership/management skills and synthesized it down to short, useable suggestions and then paired those suggestions with books, videos, and other materials that a manager can use to delve into in more depth. You can download a free example of Inspire 10X10, the one on Building and Developing Talent.  

However, even with a tool like Inspire, to really learn, that is, to really internalize these tips and make them part of the way we work, most of us need help from others. We need to understand in conversation with others how managing in this way will help us be successful, we need opportunities to practice these skills, and we need feedback on how we are doing. This is where a boss, supervisor, or coach comes in. They can provide a relationship that facilitates and reinforces learning. Knowing what to do is only part of learning; we also need others to help us with goal-setting, practice, and feedback. 

 

Just Listen!

Bosses, supervisors, co-workers, coaches, and mentors need to listen more and give advice and commands less. This is a poem that expresses this belief. 

Please, just listen.

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice,

you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me

why I shouldn't feel that way,

you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do

something to solve my problem,

you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I asked was that you listen,

not talk, or do... just hear.

Advice is cheap: twenty-five cents will get you both

Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.

And I can do that myself. I'm not helpless.

Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can and need to do

for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.

But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I do feel

no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to

convince you and get about the business of

understanding what's behind this irrational feeling.

And, when that's clear, the answers are obvious and I don't

need advice. Irrational feelings make sense when we

understand what's behind them.

Please listen and just hear me, and if you want to talk wait

a minute for your turn, and I'll listen to you.

Many versions of this poem can be found on the Web, sometimes attributed to Ray Houghton (Teen Times, Nov/Dec 1979) and sometimes to “Anonymous”.