If I had to boil down all my bluster and passion in this blog to a single core statement, it would be this: Training, by itself, does not drive performance – it drives potential; …if you truly seek to sustain measurable workforce performance you must go to the Point-of-Work and plan to address diverse Moments of Need with accessible, effective and business relevant solution assets shaped by Intentional Design. (more…)
Why build training content as a priority if there is an asset you could build that closes an existing performance gap? I’m not saying “forget training”; rather, I'm suggesting that closing the performance gap should be FIRST PRIORITY. Designing and building an asset to support performance at the Point-of-Work is actually one of the first steps that shape the core premise of Intentional Design. (See Figure #1) AND...the asset may well wind up in Training...just not as a priority. (more…)
The dreaded “C” word…Change…is as continuous and variable as the day-to-day demands of doing business. Leading Change effectively is often the difference between maintaining competitive advantage and falling behind; the difference between maintaining compliance or exposure to severe penalties and business liabilities. I’m sure you can think of others. To be effective with addressing the continuous nature of Change is to "routinize" it by building into the organizational culture as “Ordinary Work”. That means adopting cultural mindshare that adopts a discipline and protocols of Change Leadership that are agile, resilient,…
Many of you who are regular readers of my blog know how fanatical I am about performance support. After over twelve years of chasing the PS rabbit I have a confession to make...I'm done chasing PS…directly. The chase is near futile when the perfect opportunity is often deeply buried within the organization's ecosystem, and at times, never to be recognized as a viable option because...the PS solution is located in a blind spot; a blind spot known as a Training Paradigm. I've decided the chase is too narrow, and it’s really…
We had just left a national all-hands company meeting where senior leadership fired everybody up with news of a potential buy-out at $97 per share. I’d been aggressively saving in the form of stock purchases at $11 for three years and had a sizeable stash of stock options maturing. The only question on my mind right then was, “Where am I going to park the boat?” Two weeks later we were informed the company had filed for Chapter 11 and all shares of common stock were worthless, and I was…
We see many articles these days lamenting the shortfall of employee engagement in the best efforts to develop and deliver compelling options to learn. L&D responds with shorter learning events. We gamify, and we “MOOC-ify”, and we mobilize, and there’s nothing wrong with any of these attempts to engage our learners in learning. Could it be we’re chasing the wrong rabbit? Or maybe we’re chasing the right rabbit but there is a more effective way? (more…)
Boss: “I have some unfortunate news.” Me: (thinking to myself) ‘Here we go…again…’ Boss: “Your position has been eliminated effective a week from Friday.” Me: “Hmmm, something tells me this is not a joke.” Boss: “I’m sorry. This is no joke.” Bah-dump-tssshhh! (Not sure that’s the correct spelling for a rim shot, but that’s the audio clip that played in my head.) (more…)
The path to shifting a long-held training paradigm to a holistic learning and performance paradigm is not a task for the faint-of-heart. Trust me on this…I have the scars to prove it. The greatest challenge I encountered in my own journey reveals there is more Change Leadership related implications than anything else. To compound that challenge, defining a “how to” road map is a tough nut to crack because every single deployment…then implementation…then fully enabling sustained adoption… is unique to the organization making the climb to the summit. So…do we…
<Rant> To answer the question suggested by the title I offer another question – “Who gives a rip?” – as long as the end-game drives sustained workforce capability. The correct ratio is only correct if the end-game is reached. (more…)
Recently, I learned that it takes approximately 30 square miles of ocean for a loaded oil tanker to reverse course 180 degrees. That seems like a lot of ocean, but then, that’s a lot of boat to turn around – and a lot of momentum related to the existing course direction. It’s funny how momentum proves to be the primary challenge and source of resistance when standing in the way to a change in direction. While 30 square miles represents useless trivia, the significance and parallels represented by factors of…