The Performance Improvement Blog

Measure Success or Measure Failure?

Tom Friedman in his July 29 column in The New York Times, titled “59 Is The New 30”, writes about 59 year old pro-golfer Tom Watson almost winning the British open:

This wonderful but cruel game never stops testing or teaching you. “The only comment I can make,” Watson told me after, “is one that the immortal Bobby Jones related: ‘One learns from defeat, not from victory.’ I may never have the chance again to beat the kids, but I took one thing from the last hole: hitting both the tee shot and the approach shots exactly the way I meant to wasn’t good enough. ... I had to finish.”

I have great respect for Tom Friedman and Tom Watson, but this often repeated saying that we learn more from failure than from success, has always bothered me. It’s just not true. Even Tom Watson, if he really thought about it, would probably agree with me. He’s known for decades, that he “had to finish.” Not making the shots he intended to make didn’t teach him anything. I’m a 40 handicap golfer. When I do something good on the course, I try to repeat it. When, as is more often the case, I lose my ball in the rough or five-putt the green, I don’t have a clue why. I don’t learn much from making errors, but I learn a lot from my successes.

When I evaluate the impact of training programs, as well as any kind of learning intervention, I look for examples of success, not to the exclusion of failure to apply learning, but my emphasis is on results that made a positive difference for the organization. Why? Because people learn more from those examples than from failure. I attribute this to three factors: 1) we can extract desirable and repeatable behaviors from successes whereas failures rarely tell us what will work; 2) learners are more willing to be open and honest about their successes; it’s less personally threatening than talking about failure; and 3) talking about success is rewarding whereas talking about failure is punishing - positive reinforcement works better than punishment.

And now there is biological research to support this notion of learning. MIT brain researchers found that monkeys learn more from their successes than their failures due to cell activity. Of course, we don’t know if this mechanism plays out in the same way in humans but it is fascinating to hear about evidence at the neural level.

Communication Increases Engagement in Turbulent Times

From what I’m seeing on blogs and nings, especially the employee engagement ning, business leaders are very worried about how to maintain or increase employee engagement in a recession. Jen Schulte, the Global Engagement Director for Mars, a $30 billion global food brands company, has advice for these leaders based on what she does at Mars.  This is the message she sent to employees (managers and “associates”):

This is a turbulent time – there are many changes going on within our business as well as economic and other external pressures our associates are facing.  Now is the time to talk with each other, reflect back on what has been done to drive associate engagement over the past few months and recognize where we need to refocus.  It is important during times like these to recognize engagement as an opportunity to build trust and restore hope in the future.

Schulte is emphasizing the importance of the relationship between a manager and his/her direct reports. She is saying that managers must communicate a message to employees that builds trust and hope, essential elements of employee engagement. We humans are troubled by uncertainty more than just about anything else. Without trust and hope, uncertainty is intensified. By paying attention to what employees need in order to feel engaged, including trust and hope, managers contribute to a sense of control and predictability that is often absent when economic conditions are as harsh as they are now.

Aligning Training with Work

Just as organizations need to do a better job of aligning training and work outcomes, government needs to do a better job of aligning education policy with labor policy. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that leaders in the U.S. government are working more closely to ensure that educational programs result in good jobs for youth and adults alike. In describing a meeting with the Senate Education Committee, the Chronicle writes:

… a pair of top officials from the Education and Labor Departments pledged to work together to better align federal education and labor programs…“One criticism that we hear repeatedly is that we have asked local areas to partner with various stakeholders, and yet inside the Beltway we are conducting siloed business as usual,” said Jane Oates, an assistant secretary of labor.

It's no wonder businesses have a difficult time finding people who are ready for work and prepared to do the jobs that companies need done. Educational institutions are not preparing them for these jobs. Government agencies as well as businesses are “siloed” with learning (education) the responsibility of one department and work the responsibility of another department. This must change both in government and business. Learning and work should be aligned (See previous blog post on "Alignment".) so that training results directly in high performance on the job and business success.

Workforce Readiness and Community Colleges

The gap between new employees’ workforce readiness skills and what is actually needed on the job is huge. An analysis of results from a survey of employers conducted by a consortium that includes The Conference Board, ASTD, Corporate Voices, and SHRM, says the following:

Employers report hiring substantial numbers of new entrants who are poorly prepared, requiring additional company investment to improve workforce readiness skills. And while many employers provide workforce readiness or remedial training to bring their new entrants up to speed, many report less than strong results. The results of the survey accompanying this report raise the question whether compensating for poorly prepared new workforce entrants with on-the-job workforce readiness training is the most effective way to address the readiness gap.

Something needs to be done about this gap in order for companies to make it through the recession successfully. President Obama’s response to this gap is the American Graduation Initiative. Obama is proposing to spend $12 billion on community colleges for the purpose of preparing more people for work.

The President said in a speech at Macomb Community College in Michigan:

…there are all kinds of examples of what's possible.  We've seen Cisco, for example, working with community colleges to prepare students and workers for jobs ranging from work in broadband to health IT.  We know that the most successful community colleges are those that partner with the private sector.  So we want to encourage more companies to work with schools to build these types of relationships.  That way, when somebody goes through a training program, they know that there's a job at the end of that training.

I applaud this investment in community colleges (Full disclosure: I’m an elected trustee of a community college.), especially the part that links employers to individuals attending community college. Even conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks likes what he is hearing about the President’s initiative. He writes:

The Obama initiative is designed to go right at these deeper problems. It sets up a significant innovation fund, which, if administered properly, could set in motion a spiral of change. It has specific provisions for remedial education, outcome tracking and online education. It links public sector training with specific private sector employers.

The Conference Board report cites programs at several community colleges that say they have been very successful in linking students to companies and jobs. This is a useful relationship because many companies, especially small businesses, do not have the resources or the capability to adequately prepare people for the world of work and train them in the innovation and management skills that are needed in organizations today. Community colleges can help them address this problem. Employers should work with community colleges as equal partners in preparing students for jobs that will help make these companies successful. Employers should not wait for federal funding and new federal initiatives, which could be delayed in Congress. Employers should initiate contact with their local community colleges (as well as local private and public four-year colleges and universities) and plan a program together that prepares students for real jobs in their companies.

Patagonia and the One Percent Solution

Philanthropy can make good business sense. In a Fast Company interview, Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia founder and outdoorsman, talks about what companies can do to protect the environment. He helped start an alliance of small companies called One Percent for the Planet. Members donate 1% of their sales to nonprofits working on environmental issues. To alliance members this is a business investment. Chouinard said:

You have to get away from the idea that it's philanthropy. I look at it as a cost of doing business. Every business should say, We're polluters, we're using our nonrenewable resources, and therefore we should tax ourselves. Being part of One Percent is also good for business. The six largest companies in One Percent, including Patagonia, are all reporting that we're now having our best years ever. Think of it as a marketing cost. We'll tell a winery, "Okay, your wines are selling for $10. Charge $10.10. Nobody is not going to buy your wine because it's 10 cents more a bottle. In fact, you can add only 6 cents, because you can write off 40% of your donation on taxes." If you're a gas station and your receipt says, thank you for your purchase; 6 cents will go to the environment, I'll bet a lot of people would go out of their way to buy that gas.

As an investment, the One Percent companies should expect the environmental nonprofits to have the same high quality of management and effectiveness that they expect of themselves. The nonprofits should be continually learning how to improve themselves (See: Developing a Learning Culture in Nonprofit Organizations) and use their precious funds wisely. This should be the agreement: businesses will donate to nonprofits that are doing things they care about; nonprofits will work on making their organizations effective and efficient.

If You Want Recognition, Ask For It

I’ve posted previously about the critically important employee-boss/supervisor relationship in employee learning and development. This alliance is one of five key factors in achieving business results from any learning intervention (See "5As" webinars listed on this blog.). Responsibility for forming and maintaining this alliance is shared by both the employee and boss/supervisor. If employees wait until their bosses give them the feedback they need, they might wait forever. Sometimes employees must take the lead on this. Steve Roesler makes this point in his blog post: Performance Speaks for Itself, But Not at Work. He writes:

Employees at all levels beg for recognition. Managers get paid to manage (which includes develop and grow) their employees. But for some reason, many of the same managers who value performance don't acknowledge it. The result: Their stars look for another stage where their managerial audience will pay attention to the show… Here's the reality: you have to promote your career and your performance. It's organizationally astute to keep a list of your specific contributions and remind your manager periodically of your aspirations and accomplishments.

Employees are reluctant to initiate these conversations. A common refrain I hear from employees in many different organizations is, “My boss doesn’t appreciate what I do for this company.”  This might be true and it’s unfortunate. However, if employees want to be appreciate, they may have to start these conversations. This is especially true now with many organizations cutting to the bone and managers doing the jobs that two or three managers did before the economic downturn. In this environment, bosses will pay attention to squeaky wheels and postpone giving feedback to high performing employees. This is a mistake – everybody needs recognition and reinforcing success is just as important as improving areas of weakness.

Best Leadership Blogs

It's not easy sorting through millions of blogs to find the few that are worth our valuable time. Some help with this has been provided by The Ken Eikenberry Group. They are conducting the “3^rd annual Best of Leadership Blogs” competition and have narrowed the list down to 10. You can vote for your favorite at: http://kevineikenberry.com/surveys/best_blogs_09.asp  The list includes:

Leading Blog by Michael McKinney

Great Leadership by Dan McCarthy

Seth Godin’s Blogby Seth Godin

Jon Gordon’s Blog by Jon Gordon

Leadership is a Verb by John Bishop

All Things Workplaceby Steve Roesler

Work Matters by Bob Sutton

Leader Talk by Becky Robinson

Next Level Blogby Scott Eblin

Leadership At Workby John Baldoni

I would add Sean Murray’s RealTime Leadership blog to this list, but that’s just me. What leadership blogs would you put on this list of the best?

Learning About Learning From Nonprofit Organizations

All organizations in this day and age, whether business, government, or nonprofit need to be constantly learning or they will not be sustainable. From the manufacturing behemoth GM to the local homeless shelter, changes in the economy, technology, generational issues, and expectations of stakeholders are driving these organizations to be more effective, more efficient, and more honest. To do this, they must be constantly learning and learning how to learn.

In conjunction with the publication of my new book, Developing a Learning Culture in Nonprofit Organizations, I had the honor of being interviewed by John Baldoni for a blog he writes for HarvardBusiness.org. He asked me three, thought-provoking questions:

1. Organizations are cutting resources and headcount. Why is it important for an organization to create a learning culture?

2. What can the for-profit world learn from the nonprofit world about establishing a learning culture?

3. What is a key take away from your book that has relevance to a manager seeking to navigate hard times?

Read my answers in his blog post, What Nonprofits Teach Us About Learning.

Baldoni concludes his article by saying:

Next generation organizations will continue to evolve in response to the dynamic nature of bringing people together to work. Central to future success will depend on how well the organization can adapt and innovate. Those competencies will depend on creating a learning culture.

I think that's exactly right. Any organization that wants to be successful, by any reasonable measure, must continually seek feedback, reflect on the meaning of that feedback, and use that information for performance improvement. And this learning process must be integral to the way the enterprise operates, not the exclusive purview of HR, or the CLO, or a few senior managers.