Transfer This – Before You Purchase Training that makes No Difference

Would you transfer funds from your account into an asset that does not enable you to measure its contribution to your business? That is effectively what you are doing when you send an employee on a training course without giving any thought to what you expect from your investment following the event.

In the training and development industry there are players  who will take advantage of customers who are not educated in the identification of need and the transfer and application of training back into the work. These purchasers of training are easy prey for many training providers because they effectively ignore the responsibility upon themselves and the trainer for  addressing the real  issues impacting  business and individual performance.

The consequence is that the trainer designs something generic that is inappropriate  and fails to consider the learners needs and the organisations development requirements. The learner becomes confused and cannot make the connection between what is being delivered and its relevance to the job role. People only develop competence only after they recognise the relevance of their own incompetence in the skill concerned.

Whoever purchased the training slowly reinforces the reputation shared by managers in the business that training and development is making little difference to business or personal performance.

Many customers assume that a training and development intervention will automatically lead to a change in employee/team behaviour or performance, and therefore take no responsibility  to take initiative to ensure that happens. You might as well make a fire and throw your training budget onto it as commission a training event that makes no measurable difference.

So, why focus on transfer?

1. To ensure a return on your investment which can be measured in terms of business benefit
   
2. To encourage and empower learners to apply the learning
3. To ensure accountability for implementation

Who can contribute To encouraging learning transfer?

Three groups of people influence the transfer of learning process at three distinct timescales:

Before Training Management Interventions

The Manager plays a vital role in clarifying expectations with  an employee by agreeing outcomes prior to the training.  Without the perception by the trainee of the need for new behaviours, there is no motivation to change and, therefore, no readiness to learn. An Epic Failure! Managers who reinforce the new or changed performance expectations prior to a training event enable participants who are ready to learn when the training program is offered and who are able to articulate their learning needs during the event.

Before Training – Involve The Trainer

There are many benefits to involving the trainer prior to the training event. Research clearly demonstrates pre-exposure to learning through an intervention designed to reach out to learners prior to the training can significantly accelerate the likelihood of learning.

Trainee readiness can be developed via a number of methods designed to generate curiosity and interest in advance of the training session. Techniques include attractively packaged pre-course materials distributed before the start of the program including  descriptions of how the program fits into the mission of the organization, how and why the training impacts their role. Examples of prerequisites prior to training include: pre course competitions, quizzes or simple self-assessment exercises that allow trainees to score themselves and identify areas for potential development

These activities help to introduce key concepts which  generate interest and enthusiasm, and connect the content to the employee’s expected  future contribution to the organisation; this ensures the training has meaning for the employee. Involving the trainer at this stage almost certainly contributes to ensuring the design of the training  is practical, targeted at developing the competencies required by the business and relevant to individual development needs.

During the Training

Goal setting is a powerful motivational tool. Trainees can build goal setting into their learning strategy by committing themselves to sit down for a few moments at the end of the session to answer the questions what will I do with what I have learned,  how can my manager support me? What can I do more of, less of, what do I need to do differently, and what performance improvements/goals can I identify that would tell me I was doing things better?

Transfer of learning occurs when learning in one context with one set of materials impacts on performance in another context or with other related material

Following the Training

Managers, team leaders and supervisors can make a valuable contribution to ensuring learning transfer following the training event by providing on the job reinforcement and opportunity to support and encourage trainees to apply training. Simple steps include removing interference in the immediate environment, to ensure that employees are able to practice their skills without encountering obstacles (real or imagined) in their way. One to one discussions help to identify opportunity to apply and further develop new skills.

I frequently work for providers of public training programmes, whose sales personnel make little attempt to understand their client’s business and what drives business strategy, consequently with little information to inform the design of training, the output is a generic programme which fails to meet the specific needs of the attendees and only a very experienced training consultant can address the spontaneous needs of a diverse group of learners on the spur of the moment and in situ.

Generic “off the shelf” training which has not been designed to address a specific purpose impacting people in an organisation or develop specific competencies may increase an individual’s knowledge, but may not influence them or motivate them to apply the knowledge therefore making no difference!

Understanding real world issues such as the context and culture in which the new skills will be transferred before designing a development solution is the most important preparation a trainer can do. An organisation spending considerable money on training should ensure that the trainer is aware of the issues the training must address and the potential to apply the new skills and knowledge.

Find the best fit

It is essential to research the most appropriate methods to develop the skills that are critical to improving your situation; we can acquire learning in a variety of ways job-shadowing, coaching and mentoring, these methods are often under-used because organisations do not recognise their value to the learning transfer process. . Sadly, those clients who ask for specifics about  how training and learning will impact on their organisations performance and how they might support this process are rare.perhaps their staff would benefit from our consultancy skills for training and development professionals programme to ensure that the training they commission is aligned to the needs of the organisation

If you want to ensure return on your investment as a result of your training activity take a look at some of our sample outlines and our clients comments on Http://www.spectrain.co.uk

Tips for Trainers – Managing the Classroom Challenger

Imagine the scene, it’s the first day in front of a new group of people, this contract is important to you and you hope that your  training course will attract favourable reviews. You are both positive and confident.  You begin to describe the outcomes and benefits of the course with great enthusiasm and barely make it to the end of your third sentence when you are confronted by the classroom challenger. Fresh out of charm school. A professional heckler!   Mr obnoxious clearly has taken an opinion pill and continues to challenge your delivery at every opportunity. Opinion is good if it provides positive intellectual challenge, however this is a barrage of abuse which crosses the line argumentative, rude and disruptive.

FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real

Feeling vulnerable you try to maintain your confidence and professionalism, there is a parallel thinking process going on, the conscious mind is delivering the training course content, the sub conscious is desperately searching for strategies to deal with the situation. Your view of the situation becomes distorted you misinterpret the non verbal behaviour of the majority as delegates as sympathy and the fight or flight response kicks in.  When our fight or flight system is activated, we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a possible threat to our survival. By its very nature, the fight or flight system by passes our rational mind.

Prisoners, Passengers, Protestors and Participants

How many training courses have you delivered where people have been determined to sabotage the event? Very few if any! There are 4 types of attendees, Participants attend training events with enthusiasm and curiosity they represent the majority. Prisoners have been sent on the course, the luxury of choice has been removed for them your challenge is to convince them that their time will be well spent. Passengers come along for the ride; they scan the delegate list for like minded people, and are there to observe the proceedings. Protestors are extremely rare and provide a constant source of irritation for the majority.

You have the support you need!

Once the line between excessive contradiction and valuable contribution is crossed the other delegates are on your side, they find his behaviour annoying and disruptive also but they don’t have the authority to confront the individual directly. You can neutralise Mr Obnoxious with their support and the sooner you do this the quicker that support will be available

Neutralising the Noxious

Here are a range of useful techniques that will help you to head off unwelcome challenges:

1. Take a break

Impose a 5 minute coffee break, and ask your delegates to consider those behaviours that if they continue are likely to have a detrimental effect on them and your ability to make progress ask them to consider “If the cap fits” and what behaviours would be more productive and appropriate

1. Set the scene

Sometimes people behave inappropriately because they have no experience of being a delegate. One way to head off unwelcome disruptions is to let people know how they can get the best out of the session. A pre-prepared flipchart or a job description describing a successful participant can help to establish group norms and help people to adapt to aspects of successful team working quickly.

This approach has been incredibly useful for me when working with an organisation that has decided that all of its managers should achieve a certain accreditation as a benchmark/standard. Many people resented the approach and of course wanted to use the training event to protest about their prisoner status! To set the scene and head off the conflict that this unpopular policy had provoked my rules of engagement included a statement to say that the decision had been made and therefore the purpose of the training was not to debate the decision but to maximise the opportunity.

1. The doubtful and The disparaging

Use this metaphor to explain to the group that people arrive at training events with 2 suitcases labelled Doubtful and Disparaging. Tell them it’s OK to place the doubtful suitcase next to them and dip into it throughout the day whenever they have doubts that need clarification. However they should leave the disparaging suitcase outside the door because it contains disapproval and contempt, explain that if they still want it they can pick it up when they leave or we can simply arrange for the cleaner to put it with the rubbish

1. I want some attention!

Occasionally people draw attention to themselves not out of hostility but simply because they need a little attention. Rotating small groups and assigning these people to a leadership role works wonders in occupying them and channelling all of that energy

1. Recognise my contribution

I always go to events armed with a bag of prizes; they range from badges to sweets, fiddly toys, pens, and key rings. It sounds silly but we all appreciate recognition and this method is incredibly effective in rewarding and encouraging appropriate contributions

1. Thank you

There is no law that says you need to respond to every negative or distractive comment so and with great sincerity, simply thank the individual for their contribution and move on with your agenda

1. How will your boss react when he sees you back at your desk?

Use this as a final tactic when the obnoxious behaviour continues. Call a tea break and approach the individual causing the disruption. Simply say can I have a word, when you have his attention ask “Is this personal”?  This question usually generates a denial of any personal intent and catches the culprit completely off guard. You can now continue to point out the options available to you should this behaviour continue, which are to continue without the individual, or to cancel the whole event. Point out that the choice of which course of action would be best is entirely his!

Be Better! Developing Skilled Training Professionals – A Competency Based Course  Accredited By The ILM

 

Design Crimes in Learning & Development

Recently I have been “Optimising” a huge library of learning and development materials for an organisation who wish to transfer traditional teacher-focused learning to a flexible blended approach.

The collection of  learning materials has been designed by a variety of individuals and consists of a mixture of styles, templates, fonts, this is a mistake the approach has diluted the organisations branding and provides no consistency for learners, however this issue is relatively easy to address since in the future the material will be presented via a variety of methodologies aimed at producing learner-focused experiences which were simply not possible using the traditional classroom methods only.

What is difficult to comprehend is why the organisation failed to provide those they commissioned to design the learning materials with a standard template, and why these materials failed to deliver against objectives.  However the worst crimes have been committed by those who have designed the materials.

I am trying not to rant here, however when you have finished reading this article if you are remotely interested in ensuring the effectiveness of your training and development materials to accelerate learning, I suggest you go check them for examples of the following design disasters:

1. A picture is worth a thousand words, but are the selected images appropriate to convey information and to communicate goals? I am finding clipart for ClipArt’s sake in workbooks and presentations mainly, for the sake of aesthetic’s rather than to convey information. In many cases I find myself distracted by inappropriate and ineffective images and puzzled by the presentation which often became a media showcase the message or content buried.
2. Obscure objectives – Clear objectives help designers to figure out what content and activity is required to meet them and set expectations for learners. When clearly defined aims and objectives are lacking, there is no sound basis for the selection or design of material content and methods. I am also finding examples where objectives have been clearly stated and not met.
3. A focus on activities not information –workbooks stuffed with activities with no information about the purpose of the activity and no opportunity for the learner to evaluate the activity. Often the workbooks were designed  thrown together as support materials for accredited training courses which required participants to write assignments but of course when the material lacks the information required to generate new knowledge it is useless as a vehicle to provide continuous and effective learning reference resource
4. What does the learner need to know that is useful in the real world? What is the learner supposed to be able to do and what behaviours must people take to reach that business goal and acquire skills and/or knowledge that will be immediately transferable in their role at work? Oh dear I could weep –94% of the masses of material that I have assessed has been populated with excessive information about established models and left me as a learner asking “so what, how can I apply this, and why is it helpful”?
5. Spending too much time on the nice-to-know versus the need-to-know and therefore creating an information dump. You’re almost always going to have more information than you need and clear learning objectives provide a framework for filtering out the critical information. If learners have too much information they effectively overload and  unable to see wood for trees. Cover the need-to-know and put the nice-to-know in an appendix if necessary.
6. Using language that is inappropriate or patronizing. Use of unexplained acronyms, slang, culturally offensive and excessive text. The language used between the learning resource and the learner must be common to both rather than use few words to express meaning I have found pages upon pages of text pasted from Wikipedia which obviously hasn’t been proof read.

 The effectiveness of training and the ultimate transfer of learning starts at the design stage and the design provides an opportunity to take the first critical steps to engaging your participants – stakeholders if you are reading this perhaps now you might understand why your training and development materials dont achieve all they might and need to be overhauled.

Avoid design crime visit us at http://www.spectrain.co.uk/ for  bespoke effective competency based learning  and development designs and no crimes!

Top Tips for Choosing and Using External Consultants

Many organisations find that consultants fail to deliver what was expected, and yet, many consultants experience a sense of sheer frustration because of scope creep or lack of clarity because expected outcomes have not been clearly defined.

Consultants thrive on their reputation

you’re only as good as your last job”

speaks volumes – so before you consider hiring a consultant, consider these tips to ensure you work well together:

Tip One
Define what you want to achieve. Identify measures of success. How will your organisation benefit from the consultants expertise in measurable terms?

Tip Two
Avoid the quick fix, like plasters they are a temporary solution. Identify realistic timescales and avoid shortcuts. Break “problem identification” and “solution implementation” into separate phases.

Tip Three
Assess organisational readiness. Take a global view and consider integration with ongoing projects in your organisation. Identify barriers and resistance to implementation  – be realistic, consultants are not magicians!

Tip Four
Ensure that the consultant is the right fit for your environment. Request proposals and explore what the consultants experience is in working with organisations and projects of a similar nature. Ensure all your concerns are addressed. If you find the right expertise and the wrong fit for your culture consider alternative approaches.

Tip Five
Clarify deliverables ask the consultant to describe tangible examples of deliverables and ensure they are specific in the contract.

Tip Six
Always contract with the consultant. Clear, explicit and agreed contracts can help to avoid misunderstandings and legal proceedings. Ask the consultant to provide a risk assessment before contracting, they have a wealth of experience and can often identify the dangers you have failed to consider.

Tip Seven
Ensure access to essential documents in a language that the consultant can understand. Consider all confidentiality issues surrounding the project and if necessary ensure the consultant signs a confidentiality agreement

Tip Eight
Ensure internal roles are clear, consultants do not work in isolation, they need support, and access to suitably influential internal staff is essential to executing the project. Free up the time of staff associated with the project prior to commencement.

Tip Nine
Avoid the dangers of “Scope Creep”! This can occur when the project parameters are unclear, as a result of the impact of an unforeseen event, and occasionally dishonesty on behalf of the consultant who enhances the job in the hope of additional work. . Be prepared to postpone, re-negotiate or postpone the project until you can get it back on track.

Tip Ten
Ensure regular and 2-way feedback, to resolve issues as soon as they arise. Ensure the consultant does not save any nasty surprises for the final report, and ask for any contentious/confidential issues to be written into a private letter if necessary

Tip Eleven

Develop internal expertise – identify and assign individuals to work alongside the consultant encourage them to be curious and learn from the consultants methodology, approach, behavioural techniques.

 

Tip Twelve

An efficient consultant does not want to encourage dependency and will be keen to discuss transfer of initiatives for the benefit of your business, change can be  exciting and uncomfortable – be sure to engage in those conversations and identify implementation strategies that will fast forward your change initiatives.

Available Solutions

Spectrain design and deliver training and organisation development solutions for a range of organisations. Read about our professional standards and take a look at how our customers businesses have benefited from working with us here:

We will always encourage development from within because we want you to be independent and you might find our ILM Accredited Change Leadership Training Programme and our Developing Internal Consultants Training Course really beneficial

It’s a terrible thing to see and have no vision

Every great achievement was once impossible until someone set a goal to make it a reality. Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass contains a story that provides an example of the need to dream the impossible dream.

There is a conversation between Alice and the queen, which goes like this:

“I can’t believe that!” said Alice.

“Can’t you?” the queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

When you see yourself doing what you dream about in your mind, not only does it makes appear real and achievable, but  it helps to programme your mind to believe it.

The trouble is, some people have stopped dreaming and abandoned all hope of achieving their aspirations and other people never had dreams to begin with

Helen Keller once said “It’s a terrible thing to see and have no vision”.

If you don’t have a dream, where does that leave you?

STRETCH YOUR MIND BEYOND FANTASTIC DREAMS ARE MADE OF STRONG ELASTIC

No Change?

Changing Times

Many organisations begin a change process and find that their efforts are not having the desired impact are you banging your head against a brick wall in trying to figure out why your change initiatives are not producing results?

It’s not easy to have a precise plan to assist during management of change,  there are many unknown variables. However it is important to have a framework in which to plan for change.

When organisations look back on change initiatives there are often things that happened which in hindsight could have been foreseen even if the final outcomes were not predictable.

Creating a strategic framework for change is a responsibility of management. It gives everyone, including, those planning the change, members of the organisation and even customers and suppliers an understanding of the process and therefore an aid to reducing uncertainty.

Why do we need to change?

Of course if you hope to convince others of compelling reason for change then it essential that all managers understand and communicate or promote those reasons consistently, failure to communicate consistent messages will simply lead to confusion.

The questions below will enable you to check your managers or change agents understanding of the changes you are facing:

• Why change? What are the compelling reasons to change? (Growth, survival)
• What is the current situation? How does that prevent growth or, development?
• Future aims – Vision for the future. What exciting opportunity does the vision for the future present?
• How will the change affect us? – What’s in it for employees, profits, customers?
• How will we Implement change, key stages, who has responsibility for what? Who will drive the change?
• How will the change be communicated? What methods will be used to promote the change?

Personal change

• What are the implications for people? The good, the bad, and the ugly! How can we minimise the likely disruption and anxiety amongst our people?
• What will be the result of the change?
• How can we measure that we are on track with the change strategy?

Catalysts for Change

Catalysts are forces that if acknowledged and clearly defined force an organisation or an individual to challenge itself and face up to the need to adapt and change. When those catalysts are not clearly defined or  management messages are inconsistent people fail to respond because it’s probably safer to remain where they are and with what is familiar. Change evokes all kinds of fears and uncertainties. Consequently we change only if we have to.

It follows then that it is difficult to get an organisation to change unless the people inside it can see the reason for change.   Many organisations begin a change process and find that their efforts are not having the desired impact, this could be because the catalysts for change are not  conveying sufficient reason to change.

Managers often interpret this failure to embrace change as “Resistance” and to impact this perceived resistance they create a monster, This monster is a scenario embedded with threats, designed to generate insecurity, and anxiety  an extreme and exaggerated cocktail containing the dire consequences of failing to respond to change.  managers hope that the monster will  generate a sense of  urgency to drive change.

People tend not to resist things they understand and which they know will benefit them. What they do resist are things that are imposed upon them, things, which they don’t understand, and things which are beyond their control and influence.

As organizations adapt to changing market environments, managing change has become a core competency for many managers. Managers usually learn to focus on outcomes and tangible results very early on in their careers, and although outcomes are very important, a manager must also pay attention to underlying emotions and to use positive power and influence in order to sustain change and achieve continued long term success

Individual change is at the heart of everything that is achieved in organisations. Once individuals have the motivation to do something different, the world can begin to change.

When Failure is NOT an Option. Choose Successful Change Strategies See our Change Leadership Training Course Here: http://www.spectrain.co.uk/Business–Strategy-Development

Good, better, best, we never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best

Attitude – It ain’t my job

It ain’t my job to sweep the floor

Or move the stuff from door to door.

It ain’t my job to hump a ton

Of this and that – it ain’t much fun.

It ain’t my job to wonder why

The boss is looking sad of eye.

It ain’t my job to figure out what he’s got to gripe about

It ain’t my job to give a toss

Just what’s screwing up the boss.

It ain’t my job deliveries not met

Why should I break into a sweat?

It ain’t my job to sharpen tools,

If others do it, they’re the fools.

It ain’t my job to even blush, when I join the pay-day rush.

It ain’t my job to harm my health and do some thinking for myself.

It ain’t my job to ruminate

On why the place will liquidate.

It ain’t my job to stop and say

“Should I work harder every day?”

It ain’t my worry. Why should I sob? For, after all, it ain’t my job

Manage This behaviour with Spectrain’s How am I doing Training Course: