SPECIAL OFFER: For my LinkedIn family and blog followers, I would love to have you with me on this journey as I write this book. I would be honored to have you offer feedback on short pieces I write. This short piece today is the second draft of a Foreword. In return for your time and insights, I will provide you a copy of the book at no charge when I cross the finish line in a couple of months. (more…)
Foreword There is a prevailing myth that “TRAINING DRIVES PERFORMANCE,” which represents a false narrative that limits effectiveness when we depend on training for default solutions. The myth prevails because we in Learning & Development (L&D) have done an outstanding job of setting false expectations for our operational stakeholders that all performance issues default to training as the standard solution. They bought it, and sadly, so did we. In reality, Training only contributes to POTENTIAL. Why? Because performance does not happen until our workers return to their respective Workflows. Last…
Here goes nothing. This has been a risky piece to write. I suppose confessions are that way. I fully anticipate judgements to come from my words here, but it is okay – I have the comfort of knowing which judgement matters and Who makes it. (more…)
It seems I read too many black ops books and look at missions from a tactical perspective before nailing down an actionable strategy to move forward. No Delta Force team moves to execute on a leadership request on a mission without completing a thorough and comprehensive reconnaissance effort first. We (L&D) could gain considerable insight into adopting this approach to ensure an effective design strategy if we recon the mission intended to render an effective solution. Too often we receive a request for training and then go in “guns blazing”…
Despite thirty plus years in the corporate learning space I am sensing an overwhelming demand to reiterate the critical nature of shifting emphasis to a post-training ground zero - Point-of-Work. If you’ve read any of my postings of the last several years on the blog at my website – Living in Learning – you will find evidence of cross-industry applicability to performance solution design concepts that front-end training development. I refer to the Point-of-Work Assessment Methodology as a pre-design discovery event. Why “pre-design”? As a performance consultant at the core,…
Yes, I have just coined a new phrase to highlight a common affliction within organizations often found lurking behind “resistance to change.” What parts of the organization? All of them actually, but...the most capable entity in position to overcome status quomentum is Learning and Development (L&D)...or it should be. In fact, L&D has unfortunately played the role of perpetuating the deeply embedded myth driving status quomentum – Training Drives Performance. Because of that myth our operational stakeholders look to L&D (referring to us as the Training Department) for resolutions to…
Is it time to create an organizational entity scoped and chartered to ensure sustained workforce capability? Is it time to enable performance IN Workflows at Moments of Need found at Point-of-Work? Ask the operational stakeholders if they are after knowledge...or the capability to execute at Point-of-Work to add measurable value to the bottom line. They want results. Their challenge is the blind spot we've created by selling the idea that Training drives Performance...so that's what is typically requested. Training alone is NOT going to deliver the mail. Here’s a disruptive…
Friday afternoon I had one of those moments where “poking the bear” was top of mind. The thoughts that surfaced triggered a brief paragraph-sized post…launched around 2:00 PM ET on Friday…10,017 views as of noon Saturday and some great dialogue still underway. “Why poke the bear?” or maybe, “Who is the bear?” Funny thing, the bear is not a “who” as much as it is a “what”. The bear is a myth. that many organizations at the enterprise level must overcome…simply put, it’s a blind spot. The bear is a…
In my current coaching “gig”, I’m blessed with plenty of time to troll networking sites to read a diversity of thoughts and ideas shared by other L&D professionals. This morning I ran back through a thread of comments I’ve been tangled up in from an earlier post on my favorite topic and current passion - Point-of-Work. As is often the case, a question morphed into my head triggered by the increasing conversations of others lamenting why L&D is so resistant to Change…Change specific to adopting an evolved paradigm that keys…
The bus left Crossroads Community Church at 5PM for an overnight cruise from Cincinnati to New Orleans. One might think leaving that late after carb-loading on pizza would promote sleeping most of the way. Yeah…right! I honestly think the bus rides to and from New Orleans were meant to represent the suffering part of the mission journey. Can’t speak for everybody else, but I got about 3-hours of sleep in twenty minute bursts. Between the A/C pumping ice cold air into the bus and stopping at truck stops every two…