development

Investing in a growth initiative. Yes, no, maybe, why?

This entry was posted in HR development strategy Leadership Learning and development and tagged Business growth and strategy development learning productivity on by

Imagine that you just invested a significant amount of money in a development program that aims to move your team to a leadership position in the market, a place that will give you a real edge in a few years.  It may be an adapted sales approach, a new collaboration matrix, a novel communication method, or a customer interaction system.  The management team understands this and sees the potential.  In fact, it is the management team that insisted on the effort.  They decided that without this, the competition will have such advantages in 2-5 years that the quality of our relationship with customers will not be able to compensate sufficiently to keep the momentum until the new product hits the market in 5 to 7 years.  The loss incurred will not be recovered.  In fact, the new product may as well not launch in that case.

Now imagine that about 15% of field people either decide not to adopt the new operational principles or are unable to do so but, in every case, their current results are such that their managers opt to overlook their lack of effort because their numbers look good.    After all, that’s what is evaluated in the end, the numbers, not the attitude, efforts or dedication to grow.  Quite frankly, numbers are much easier to measure. Please note that this is not a hypothetical situation, we have seen it happen a little too often.  In addition to that, because of the way the recognition programs are structured, the chances for any of those individuals to earn more as well as become the employee of the year, or being celebrated publicly throughout the corporation are very, very high.   This, we have also witnessed many times.   Now consider the following questions:

  1. What does this say about corporate priorities?
  2. What are team members supposed to do with the new initiative?
  3. How are team members interpreting the message sent by those actions?
  4. What is the point of that investment?
  5. What is the actual cost of the initiative?

Chances are that most people reading this can relate.  You have seen it happen; you have lived it.  You have felt the results.

Let us explore a few potential answers.  All of them are based on factual information.

Question 1: What does this say about corporate priorities?

Clearly, it indicates a focus on immediate results being more important, in the short term, than long-term results.  It says that, while we understand that our future depends on the growth of the competencies identified in the development programs, we are not willing or able to truly invest in that future.  In a public company, shareholders must be happy.  If the leadership team is not able to explain decisions and actions over a period of 10 years in this case, the need to please investors is founded on short term results.  The plan is therefore to invest in the future but do whatever to keep current revenues stable.  It is not a bad approach in itself.  What is often overlooked are the consequences associated with the short-term view.  It may also speak of the compensation package of the CEO.  But that is another topic.

In a private company it may indicate a lack of courage or true understanding of consequences.  It may speak of a lack of vision or that too many members of the leadership team are close to retirement.  This is real folks.  Companies have actually avoided investing in their future because a contingent of partners close to retirement did not want to see their year-end compensation reduced by 5 to 10 thousand dollars on an average $500,000.00 package.  What is $10,000.00 for anyone making more than half a million dollars?  More importantly, what does it say about the leaders of the company?

We can explore dozens of possible reasons for either public or private corporations to “overlook” investing in the future to support short-term results.  The question remains, what does it say about priorities?  Whatever the reason, the main conclusion is that the short-term wins over the future.  If an employee, whatever their level, also comes to this conclusion, how do they see their future in this group and where will they focus their efforts?  That leads us to the second question.

Question 2, what are team members supposed to do with the new initiative?

If a person sees the value for them, they will adopt the initiative.  They may look at the longer-term possibilities and determine that their mastery of key competencies will be an asset.  It may even help them in the short term.  If the company fails in their readiness to face the competitive product, they will have developed skills that can more easily transfer to another corporation.  That way of looking at the initiative will serve them even if it means using the competencies elsewhere.  In short, the company invests in their future at the risk of losing them when those skills are more relevant. 

Another person, as it is depicted in the second paragraph, decides that the effort to change is more costly than the immediate return.  Their current trend indicates that they are likely to max out on their potential bonus without the pain of learning something new.  In addition, they may be recognized as “the best” which in turn, will likely make them more attractive to another employer if things take a downturn in just a few years.  And while their manager may be on their case in the short run, they know they will eventually be left alone. 

One may imagine numerous other possibilities but in almost all cases, the decisions will be founded on personal value rather than team impact.  In itself, that is not the real problem.  We should all look at options that improve our prospects.  The problem resides in the probable deterioration of the team dynamics and the resulting consequences.  A few of those consequences are illustrated in the answer to the third question.

Question 3, how are team members interpreting the message sent by those actions?

One interpretation is that the leadership team does not know what they are doing.  I don’t know about you but if I conclude that leaders having influence on my career do not understand their own actions, my trust in them is seriously jeopardized.  If that is the case, I am likely to dismiss most of their decisions.  The result is that I will do what is right for me and my clients based on what I know, not on what I should consider as a better option.

Another interpretation is that someone had a budget to spend and did just that, spend the money.  If using a budget is the basis for a decision, I am likely to dismiss or overlook the actual value of the decision and the object of that decision.  Anyone with a few years in an industry will soon recognize the “flavor of the month” effort and give just enough to be left alone.  Whatever value the initiative may have is likely to be lost.  What a waste.

I am convinced that you can identify several other interpretations that most likely go down the same direction.  And in most cases, the end result is similar.  So then, what is the point of making that investment (question 4)?

If management sees the need for the future but remain focused on the short term.  If team members individually benefit or dismiss the effort with little to not positive impact on team collaboration.  If people see this initiative as disorganized or as a “make-work” project.  Why do it?  Why spend money that is considered a waste?  Why give energy to something that is not valued?  Why ask people to invest when leadership does not?  How many decisions are made on the wrong premises and result in more damage?

Which leads us to the final question, one that we must ask with more regularity.

Question 5, what is the real cost of the initiative? 

A first aspect is obviously associating the dollar value with the results or opportunity cost.  If the initiative costs $2,000.00 per person involved, how do you know that this amount is recovered, when it is and, more importantly, what increases in revenue or profit result from the investment?  We must be convinced that it was worth it if we decided to go ahead with the initiative, right.  One way to evaluate the results is to measure changes in sales trends for each person involved, or revenue change.  A better way is to compare a group of people that went through a growth initiative versus one that has not.  If both groups were trending in the same direction and one has changed its direction following the initiative, the difference is the result of that very initiative.  See https://aseret-uido.com/results/ for more information.  If no difference exists after a reasonable time span, the initiative was not useful.

What about other costs?  If a group is told that an initiative has been put in place because it is believed to be important for everyone, people will expect that all involved must join the effort.  In our case, 15% of people just don’t change.  And of these people, none seems negatively impacted.  In fact, it starts going around that those individuals are left alone.  They can keep doing what they did before.  Moreso, these people are ultimately recognized by the leadership as the “best”, the “winners”.  And yet, the other 85% are told that they must adapt their way.  What are some of the consequences of that?  Dip in trust, disillusion, incomprehension, disdain, sarcasm, condescension, and disengagement.  What does those cost?   Imagine that any of these thoughts or feelings lead to the voluntary departure of 3 of the people you identified as key potentials for the future.  It is estimated that the replacement of such people, taking into account the impact of their departure on their clients or contacts, plus the fact that they may be joining forces with a competitor, and training another person, could be in the vicinity of $220,000.00 per person.  What is the net cost of this situation?  We often overlook the hidden costs of certain leadership behaviors because the other costs are easier to measure.  Putting pressure on an individual to change when their revenue numbers are good puts us immediately in a situation in which we see the implementation of an important initiative as a potential loss.  It is much easier to push other people that are not meeting their revenue potential because we also see a loss of potential revenue.  What would we do if, on the contrary, we looked at those situations from a more positive perspective, one of potential gain.  The person already attaining expected revenue may in fact be underperforming based on the existing potential, therefore, helping that person grow may have a seriously positive impact.  The person that must increase their revenue base may react very productively if we coach them in a positive manner, looking at the longer-term impact rather than immediate progress.  The point is that if a decision is made for a valid reason, it should apply more broadly and with an outlook on the future. 

Let’s look at the loss associated with a strong potential employee leaving.  If it costs us $220,000.00 in one year to replace that individual, how much is the 15% compensating for that in immediate revenue?  What is the longer-term cost?

The point is not to say that the15% are bad people and they should be forced to accept reality.  Neither are we saying that it is OK to let them “do their thing”.   The point is the following.  If the initiative is indeed important for the future, a company must have the courage to implement it completely.  Otherwise, don’t do it.  Save that money for something else that is going to be meaningful.

Some of you may say: what about splitting the apple in two?  You mean going halfway in with the initiative?  Are you thinking of encouraging people with a future to grow and letting short-term returns come in until they don’t?  Well, to avoid the costly consequences enumerated above, you would need to plan in advance and make both half of the apple part of your plan.  You must be able to explain your actions and the expected results.  But then, what do you say to the people that will soon be “disposable”?  How is going halfway in explained, and how will people react?

A key aspect here is decision making and its impacts. 

  1. Are you clear on the objective.
  2. Are you looking into various options?
  3. Are you considering the outcomes?
  4. Can you evaluate the costs associated with each outcome?
  5. What action will best help you meet your objective?

First, are you clear on your objectives?  Do you want to prepare for the future and yet limit short term losses?  In this instance, I would ask this: what is the most important part of that objective for the future of the company?  If it is the future, then what will be the most efficient way to get there? If ensuring optimal short-term returns to secure the future is your objective, great.  How will that be done?  What is the process behind meeting that objective?  Clarity of objective helps eliminate options early on to focus on viable alternatives instead.  What was the objective of launching the Challenger Space Shuttle in January 1986?  Stop the bad press, look decisive, avoid another delay, or ensure that we have every possible chance to bring the crew back alive?  Nobody would say that the last objective was not “the one”.  But was it the objective used to make the decision?  We now know that it was not. 

If the objective is to prepare for the future and yet limit short term losses. The second step is to evaluate the various options to meet that objective.  We touched on a few earlier.  Then step three is to consider the possible outcomes for each option.  In decision-making we tend to orient the decision toward the option that has the least negative with the most positive outcomes.  Step four is to quantify the cost of the options.  Losing 3 people that are part of our future will likely cost $660,000.00.  To what extent is that acceptable against the non-attainment of expected revenue for the year? Well, that depends on the associated number to that option.  And what is the cost associated with delaying our initiative by 1, 2 or 3 years?

Once options, their probable outcomes and costs are evaluated, a decision to act is necessary.  It does not mean that adjustments should not be considered.  Not at all.  It does however imply that changes must be seriously evaluated and in line with the original objective.

And maybe the most important question of all: If you have an objective and consider an action, it must be because something of value must be done.  That usually stems from an existing problem, right?  So, what is the problem that needs fixing?

In too many cases, the issue is not the decision to act, it is a misguided evaluation of the problem.  In this case, the problem seems to be that the current approach will not enable the group to be well positioned in the near future.  If that is the case, the loss incurred with be felt at multiple levels.  The other problem is that short-term results overshadow the long-term prospects.

ADULTS WANT TO LEARN. ARE WE HELPING?

This entry was posted in Learning and development and tagged adult learning development growth HR learning productivity on by

In challenging times for business growth, development is not a priority, right!?  In fact, hardship is often the spark that ignites incredible creativity and innovation.  Difficulty may be the best trigger for adults to learn and evolve.  Are we helping?!

Just like Daniel Goleman was a pioneer in demonstrating the existence of Emotional Intelligence (Emotional Intelligence, 1995), Malcolm Knowles may have been the first, back in 1980, to make educated assumptions for how (and why) adults learn.  His assumptions were elaborated on key differences between adult learners and child learners.

Knowles identified 5 assumptions.

  • First, adults are self-directed in their learning. As such they can make a conscious decision to learn.
  • Second, experience becomes the most significant learning vehicle.
  • The third assumption addresses the readiness to learn by adults. This readiness is directly related to the role and responsibilities of the adult learner.
  • In fourth place comes the orientation towards solutions rather than simply a subject matter interest.
  • Finally, Knowles underlines the internal nature of the motivation to learn.

 

Since 1980, hundreds of publications have discussed the principles of adult learning.  The majority seem to agree with Knowles with only slight variations.  For me, the revelation came from Dr. H.B. Slotnick of the University of North Dakota.  His principles were quite similar to those of Malcolm Knowles.  In short, adults need a reason to learn and the learning needs to provide a solution to a current problem.  Learning also has to be experiential.  The main difference is this last point, the learner needs to teach back as soon as possible.  I believe this last point is significantly responsible for the many successes we have had in the last 15 plus years.

Before I elaborate on this, let me summarize a number of observations from the hundreds of development programs on which I have been directly involved.

 

Adults fully engage when a development effort is directly and intimately associated to their daily activities and when the learning allows them to figure out solutions or new approaches to challenges they are facing.  A good example of this is the work we are able to accomplish around case studies.  We use a combination of existing (generic) cases as well as customized situations.  While case studies in general are very effective, the value and impact of the latter often seems superior simply because situations are so close to participants’ realities.  A case is created following interviews with participants and supervisors, even with customers.  In our Coaching/Leadership program, a guide is provided for learners to create their own case.  Each customized case is based on a current and meaningful situation… and only names and places have been changes to protect the innocents.  Countless participants have reacted so positively to the learning process that they want to “leave immediately and go apply what I learned with my colleagues/clients”.  With generic case studies, the results are often similar as long as we facilitate a discussion that links the learning to participants’ reality.

In the previous paragraph, I mention “allowing adults to figure out solutions”.  This a critical factor.  Whereas we are constantly asked to “give” solutions (identified here as the “want”) it is when participants figure out their own solutions (we believe it is the real “need”) that such solutions become most viable.  While examples of this would fill pages of text, one in particular illustrates the idea quite vividly.  Years ago I was managing a team of sales people.  One day, one of them asked me for solutions to gain better access to a groups of customers.  Even then, I was reluctant to “give” solutions.  I wanted the individual to figure out best options and guide them through the process.  Still, that person insisted that I share some of my ideas.  So I did.  And for each one, here is what I heard as a reply: “I tried and it did not work” or “that’s not my style” or “that will not work with them”.  No solutions were found at the moment.  About 6 months later, the salesperson in question called me, very excited to share that they had found a solution.  Which was almost word-per-word, one we had discussed some 26 weeks prior.  Whatever happened in that time period, the solution came from the person and as such, became much more valuable.  Some solutions should be offered in development programs yet, helping participants fine-tune or craft the solutions to their specific situations is often the best way to go.

Adults participate more actively when the training initiative is put in place as a result of a needs assessment.  When corporations or teams deliver on what individuals have identified and defined as development requirements, the resulting level of engagement is usually very high.  Robert Cialdini would explain this in part though Reciprocity (Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini, Harvard Business Review October 2001.)

If a training program is organized by management on a topic that may not be top of mind for learners, it is necessary to clearly state the reasoning behind the choice and the expected outcomes/benefits for the efforts.  It is true that learners don’t always know what will help them.  It certainly isn’t the rule however, and I do believe that people usually have a good sense for what they need to improve in order to be more productive.  This is especially the case in a well-functioning team.  Nevertheless, a clear and value-based reasoning for any developmental effort usually increases the engagement level of adult learners.

In spite of what can be significant differences in learning styles, adults tend to value a structured and productive exchange of ideas between people holding similar roles or responsibilities.  When adults get together and are in a position to provide each other with solutions, options and perspectives, we have to give them the opportunity to do so.  When done correctly, the payback can be enormous.  Since adults also need to limit their time away from their daily activities (read accountabilities), it has shown increasingly valuable to cover the more theoretical aspects or methodologies with preparation work.  This allows individuals to “study” on their own and at their favored pace.

As facilitators of learning, we have to understand that people have a spectrum of reasons to be motivated (or not) to accept and eventually integrate new elements of information and skills.  Over the last 12 years and following published experimental results, we have developed a better understanding (and guiding principles) on motivations.  The determination of adults is based on the importance and ability for them to express their innate values, competencies and traits.  For example, a person that cares about collaboration, precision, quality, integrity, and adaptability, will likely be more interested to learn when the competencies or principles covered in a program will contribute to those natural traits.  The same individual may “tune out” if developmental work is oriented towards competition, rapid fire solutions, generalities or strict step-by-step processes.  Recently, I facilitated a session on project management.  In part because a system was already in place in the company and also because key projects were already in place, we opted for a step-by-step approach, filling each step with actual actions that needed to take place.  Many participants gained from this approach, it made sense to them and helped find solutions.  In the program evaluation, others expressed they would have preferred a more general discussion on project management rather than covering each step.  The need expressed is based on the necessity to better understand how to manage projects and then associate efforts.  We were facing 2 sets of needs based on different motivations. Humans are self-motivated either via internal needs or external factors.  Internal aspects address conformity or quality of task.  External motivators are either of a social nature or one of tangible rewards.  Adults will learn when and if their motivation is triggered.  An internally motivated person will be more interested in learning skills that will allow them to perform in a manner that is safer or more elegant rather that increase their reputation or short term impact.  Unless of course reputability is also associated to safety and stability.  Because learners intrinsically have different motivators, or facilitator’s approach to learning has to appeal to every participant.  It is therefore our responsibility to help learners see and feel the value of the experience.

So far we have identified six essential aspects of adult learning.

  1. Learning needs to relate to the current role of people or at least to a relatively immediate future.
  2. Learning efforts have to lead to solutions. Sharing and building of adapted solutions is necessary.
  3. Learning should be organized on expressed needs.
  4. Learners often demand to fully understand the reasoning behind growth efforts (the Why).
  5. Learners will need activities that match a variety of styles in order to engage all of them as completely as possible.
  6. There are a number of reasons for learners to be motivated to accept and integrate new concepts. It is essential to address each of the motivations.

In the paragraph following the introduction, I made a point on the necessity for “teach back” and our experience over the last 15 years.  Even when learning efforts are in line with the principles of Knowles, Slotnick and the 6 aspects summarized herein, deep learning and associated sustainable changes happen in earnest when adult learners are given the opportunity to put concepts to practice, get results, internalize the reasons for their outcomes and explain how their actions have generated such payback.   Adults need to teach back.

Adult learners will truly commit to their learning when they have the chance to teach others.  That is in large part the reason for us to continually insist on a structured follow-up program after any learning effort.  Imagine a learner that is initially sceptic on some methodology and has no hesitations to say so.  Then move forward a few weeks and hear the same learner explain to others in the group that they were “wrong” and how beneficial the previously vilipended concepts have since been on fixing a major issue and change outcomes for the better.  The Big Fish principle explains in detail how practice, results and sharing of such results influence integration of new behaviors and propagate the solution-based evidence for others to learn.  Evidence has consistently demonstrated that even the best efforts for learning cannot yield optimal results without sustained teach back.  For all the teachers, facilitators, trainers and leaders reading this, you intrinsically know that teaching, facilitating, training and leading has forced you to better understand, grasp, and integrate any concept or methods that needed transmission.  We owe it to adult learners to offer every opportunity to do the same.

 

Ideally, learning and development prepare us for challenging times and help propel the longer term planners ahead of the proverbial curve.  Reality has shown that most efforts are exerted when our noses are painfully pressed on the wall of adversity.  The upside of this is an increased determination to learn when the current ways do not work anymore.  It is however critical that efforts are oriented in accordance to the principles of adult learning.  Otherwise we only contribute to the misconstrued perception that learning efforts are an expense we cannot afford rather than an investment we have to make.