Growing People in the Organisational

Hothouse

Presented by - Graham HartLeadership by Design

Overview Introduction

Up close growth is unique!

Best potatoes grow in the dark

Planting the seed doesn’t guarantee the fruit

According to the ASTAD reporting on the industry 2005/6What are we doing?

35 hours per employee

3% of payroll costs ASTAD 2004

Learning can provide strategic value to the enterprise in business outcomes and human capital

Learning's alignment with business is indicated by integration, proactivity and responsiveness

What seems to be working?

High level investment in learning

Measurement and demonstration of effectiveness

Alignment with Business and individual needs

Provision of a broad range of internal/external formal/informal learning opportunities

C level involvement and sponsorship

Significant investment in non-learning performance enhancing initiatives

How do we get our people more engaged?

Common issues in organisations

Why is change difficult?

Why aren’t we more innovative?

Why don’t our people put into practice what they learn in training?

Why can’t we grow people fast enough?

Learning definitions are changing!

Argyris (1977) defines organizational learning

as the process of "detection and

correction of errors

McGill et al. (1992) ability of an organization to gain insight and understanding from experience through experimentation, observation, analysis, and a willingness to examine both successes and failures.

“More may have been learned aboutthe brain and the mind in the 1990s,than during the entire previous

historyof psychology and neuroscience.”Antonio R. Damasio, 2005

learning ideas are not progressing as quickly as our knowledge of how the brain works!

Up close growth is unique

“There are more possible ways to connect the brain’s neurons than there are atoms in the universe.”

John Ratey, ‘A Users Guide to the Brain’ (2003)

Automation and prediction “The brain is constantly trying toautomate processes, thereby dispelling themfrom consciousness; in this way, its work will becompleted faster, more effectively and at a lowermetabolic level. Consciousness, on the other hand, is slow, subject to error and “expensive.”

Gerhard Roth, ‘The Quest to Find Consciousness,’ (2004)

We perceive what we sense plus what we predict 'Prediction'means that the neurons involved in sensing becomeactive in advance of actually receiving sensory input.

When the sensory input does arrive, it is comparedwith what was expected.... Prediction is not just one ofthe things your brain does. It is the primary function ofthe neocortex, and the foundation of intelligence.”

Jeff Hawkins, ‘On Intelligence’ (2004)

The brain needs to see a happy face“The brain needs to see a happy faceand to hear occasional laughter to cement

it’s neural circuitry. The encouraging sounds of ‘Yes! Good! That’s it!’ help to mark a synapse for preservation rather than pruning.”

Thomas B Czerner, ‘What makes you tick’, (2001)

Attention Density Shapes Identity You’ve probably had the experience of

going to a training program and getting excited about new ways of thinking, only to realize later that you can’t remember what the new ways of thinking were.

Were the ideas no good in the first place or did you just not pay enough attention?

Productive Thinking is the link

Focus on solutions type thinking

Change comes fromdifferent thinking

Design needs to take account of frequency of attention

“Ideas are like children,we like our own the best”Chinese fortune cookie, 2005

Benefits of Executive Coaching

Productivity

Development

Training + Coaching 88% increase

Training alone 22.4% increase

Adapted from Public Personnel Management Vol 36 Issue 4

A 1997 study of 31 public-sector managers by Baruch College researchers Gerald Olivero, K. DeniseBane, and Richard E. Kopelman

Best potatoes grow in the dark

80 %of job know-how from informal

20% formal

Is informal learning on the corporate radar?

Training functions don’t devotemuch effort to helping cyclists. Informal learning happens outside of class. There’s no curriculum and no certificate of

completion. Informal learning includes things like

trying and failing, asking a neighbour, reading a book, or watching television..

It’s how we make sense of things. Informal and formal learning are the end

points of a continuum (Buses and cycles)

Trends in blending Leadership Development approaches •Customise Executive education internally or thorough consultants and Universities

•Focus on long term strategic needs and visions

•Increasing focus on technological skills and knowledge •Use Action Learning formats

•Concentrate on Individual development plans

Doesn’t need to be a Rolls Royce Implement the right amount and type

IDP, interaction with peers, decision-making authority turning around a struggling business. More the better

Leading another functional areas, Executive Coaching, Mentoring :Moderate but not too much

People Management external Consultants Technical internal Line Managers Off site Conferences/Seminars : External Senior

Executives General Business: Internal

Conversation creates knowledge. Workers come together to share, nurture, and validate the tricks

of the trade.

Work is a demanding, pressure-packed, rats-in the- maze race with the

clock to get the job done.

Neither work nor home, a World Café is a neutral spot where

peoplecome together to offer

hospitality, enjoy comradeship,

welcome diverse perspectives, and have meaningfulconversations.

Home is a comfortable, private

space for sharing timewith family and

individual interests.

Can’t have water-cooler conversations if you remove them!

Good architecture and space planning facilitate learning..

The design of the workplace is an important component of productivity, yet architects create corporate buildings with the hierarchical floor plans and grid layouts from a previous era

Corporate efforts to reduce one-time costs and maximize usable space backfire, because they hamper the work of the building’s inhabitants for as long as it stands.

Business meetings used to come inone flavour: dull New approaches create meetings that

people enjoy, often organized in scant time and at minimal cost.

Unconferences are characterized by:● no keynote speaker or designated expert● breakthrough thinking born of diversity● having fun dealing with serious subjects● emergent self-organization● genuine community, intimacy, and respect.

Best potatoes grow in the dark Offer choices to individuals Create opportunities for interaction Improve the quality of conversations Get attention at meetings Help people learn how to manage their own

learning Time trumps perfection Give them more decision making Encourage IDP’s Help people focus some thinking time on the

future

Planting the seed doesn’t guarantee the fruit Phase 1 consists of all the activities that

happen prior to someone physically attending a session. That includes articles and books to read, questionnaires to be completed, ordata to be collected.

Phase 2 describes the learning event itself. The event may be two hours in length or three months long. It may involve participants congregating in the same room or participantscommunicating via video-conferencing or some other form of distance learning.

Phase 3 begins after the learning event. It includes the subsequent activities that are designed to reinforce and strengthenthe application of the learning.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

26 10

24 85

50 5

Linking needs with evaluation

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3

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BusinessNeeds

Job PerformanceNeeds

Skill/Knowledge/Attitude

Deficiencies

Preferences

Needs Assessment

ImpactObjectives

Application Objectives

Learning Objectives

Satisfaction Objectives

Program Objectives

BusinessImpact

Application

Learning

Reaction

Evaluation

03-14-98 WB98-51 VW

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3

2

1

To improve Phase 3 A new environment must be created

that provides periodic reminders to participants about:

the learned behavior and encourages that behavior’s use

Effective Phase 3 efforts are characterised by implementations in which Any desired new behaviours are made specific

Participants make clear, public commitments to completea task by a certain time

Participants know that there will be a consistent mechanismthat holds them accountable

Participants are regularly reminded to plan for the next phase of implementation

Obstacles are anticipated, plans are put in place to overcomethose obstacles, and vaccinations are prepared to prevent backsliding or having individuals’ efforts gradually diluted

Good measurement tools are available to let managers andadministrators of the learning process monitor the progressof the individual and group

To improve Phase 3Space learning events over time

Formal sessions should be viewed as punctuation marks, not the text

Create buddy systems or support groups

Coach online or by telephone

Encourage mentorship's

Initiate job discussions

Encourage employees to manage themselves

Email represents an enormous breakthrough, indeed it may be our miracle drug. An email can serve as

a friendly reminder ask for a brief assessment of progress, encourage participants to plan their next steps to meet

commitments made during the learning process.

By combining email contact with telephone contact,refresher sessions, and the opportunity to completefurther assessments, such as 360-degree feedbacksurveys, you enhance Phase 3’s potential for success.

You can aggregate and analyse the data compiledthrough those processes in many ways.

In summary Up close growth is

unique

Best potatoes grow in the dark

Planting the seed doesn’t guarantee the fruit

Put individuals at the centre of their thinking and solutions

Leverage the 80% informal blend

Invest in Phase 3

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