Training is Dead; Long Live Employee Development

When I first told my husband about the idea for writing a book about employee development OUTSIDE the classroom and outside 'the box', he responded, “You mean, you’re going to write yourself out of a job?” Why would someone who makes her living through facilitating learning (aka 'Training'), often within a classroom or a formal learning program, try to help supervisors, HR and training professionals, and employees find ways to develop skills outside the classroom and without her help?

Well, I don’t think Employee Development on a Shoestring will put the training industry out of business. Far from it. I wrote this book because I am passionate about learning and development. I wrote this book because I am passionate about supporting leaders in their efforts to become more effective. And I wrote this book because often, training is simply not the answer.

It is estimated that 70 percent of all leadership development takes place via on-the-job experiences rather than formal learning events. The “70-20-10 rule,” as this idea has become known, says that development happens in three ways: 70 percent on-the-job experience, 20 percent through relationships and feedback, and 10 percent from formal training opportunities.

All over the world, supervisors and professionals like you are faced with a challenging task of helping their staff members grow and develop within limited budgets and timelines and ever-increasing pressures to perform more with less. Supervisors and employees desperately need alternatives and complements to the usual approach, because it is not enough. And so many of you are so overwhelmed with a growing workload that you simply don’t have the time or the requisite knowledge to come up with creative ideas for developing skills within the parameters that are presented to you.

Well, this book is here to help.

You don’t have to spend any time searching for ideas, because they’re right here in this book. You don’t have to spend time thinking up possible obstacles to each method—I’ve done that for you. And you don’t have to spend lots of time designing implementation plans because I’ve created the tools and supports that can help you quickly ensure that your employee development methods are successful and sustainable.

Who Can Benefit From Reading This Book?

Employee Development on a Shoestring is written primarily to address the needs of those in a position to help employees develop in their current jobs. Whether you are a supervisor, a manager, a director, or an executive, a key part of your role (“Job 1” as Elaine Biech puts it in her foreword to the book) is to ensure that employees are growing and learning. If you are a talent management, human resource, personnel, talent development, training, organization development, or workplace learning professional, your job is to ensure that supervisors throughout your organization are tending to this “Job 1.” Perhaps you are a mentor or career counselor or coach, and you are using this book to help your protégé or client make career development plans. And if you are a self-motivated, self-starting employee, you may enjoy reading this book to get ideas about how to take your development into your own hands rather than waiting for others to suggest strategies to you. Anyone who wants to ensure that employees are developing new skills and knowledge and who realizes that sending them to a training class cannot be, and should not be, the only path to achieve that outcome, should read and benefit from the ideas presented in this book.

Modified excerpt from the Introduction to Employee Development on a Shoestring by Halelly Azulay (ASTD Press, 2012)

Headphones image by Kevin_Morris via Flickr Creative Commons

Transparency in a networked world: Merging personas and removing veneers

Merging Personas

Remember the good ol’ days when you could choose what to display on your office credenza and desk to show a little ‘personality’? A picture of a favorite pet, or of your kids or grandkids, or your significant other. Perhaps you had your favorite sports team paraphernalia proudly displayed on a bookshelf. Maybe a trinket you brought back from your European vacation.

And that was that. That was all you shared with your professional colleagues. You controlled what they knew, and chose how much (or little) to reveal about your personal life.

Fast forward to the “Googling” era…

Cue Facebook and Twitter stage-left…

…And your personal and professional personas are harder to separate. Privacy and anonymity are harder (if not impossible) to attain. Neatly demarcating your ‘professional brand’ – how business associates, current and potential clients and the public see you – from your wine-sipping, shoes-off, family-loving ‘personal brand’ is not really an option anymore. And the lines are only going to get more blurred and blended.

Enter Generation Y and the 'Net Gen' folks…

They have grown up with this blended persona as a foregone conclusion, a part of their reality that is not in conflict, but simply an understanding that this is how the world is.

They are bringing to the business world a whole new approach of bringing your whole self to work and play, blending the informal and formal, business and personal and balancing work-life and home-life. And the future is in their hands, so the rest of us have to get used to it and get on with it.

Removing Veneers

Just yesterday I had a great conversation with a new colleague, Jeff Marmins, CEO of C7 Group. We talked about this very topic in the context of our conversation about the rapidly increasing adoption rate for in-house organizational social networking tools by business for the purpose of internal change management and process improvement as well as brand and client relationship management. As Jeff shared, and as I wrote about in chapter 12 of my upcoming book, Employee Development on a Shoestring, organizations can use in-house social networking platforms to cut through silos and increase innovation, collaboration, and rapid learning, which translates to faster and better service to clients. (Here’s a cool video of one such platform, Jive Software. )  These kinds of networking platforms can and often do allow interaction with the mainstream, public platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn). When this cross-fertilization occurs, the company’s brand, your professional brand, and your personal brand will be exposed in all their glory. Any ‘veneer’ that you’ve attempted to create so as to shield certain aspects of your identity will be shattered and removed bit by bit, leaving you naked and exposed as a holistic person visible from all angles. It is unavoidable – it’s just a matter of time.

Naked and Exposed…?!

Dr. Nicole Cutts, a friend and colleague, is currently experiencing this effect, as a matter of fact. This fellow entrepreneur has built two business brands: one, her ‘organization development consultant and coach’ brand (Cutts Consulting), which allows her to make a living from providing consulting and coaching services to various corporate and government clients. A second, Vision Quest Retreats, is her ‘passion’ brand, an up-and-coming visioning retreat and coaching business catering to women looking to move in the direction of their true life purpose. She has built the brands separately, and has tried to keep them separate (albeit not hidden or secretive). Recently, she has taken a bold and risky (even risqué) approach to marketing her ‘passion’ brand: she started an online networking ‘event’ called ‘Naked Networking’, which was merely a provocative metaphor for shedding veneers and being authentic in all aspects of life. She created clever teaser ‘vlogs’ (video blogs) that depict her in suggestive, almost-naked-but-still-PG-rated garb promoting her networking events on YouTube and Facebook.

Well, in our ‘Google-ready’ world, she has experienced the first of many potential ripple effects of her choice. Her two worlds collided when one of her new corporate coaching client googled her only to discover the edgy and suggestive ‘naked networking’ YouTube videos. The new client jumped to judgment and immediately pulled the plug on the business relationship. The ‘naked’ brand of her new coach didn’t fit this client’s conservative, business-suit-wearing coach brand expectations!

My colleague has chosen to continue with her transparency and the approach in her new business identity formation, knowing that it will inherently filter out some of her potential corporate clients from choosing to work with her. These are the consequences of a highly networked, transparent, blended persona world. They are also a reality of a world in which ‘longtail’ marketing is possible and endorsed.

Are you ready to face the implications of your personal and business personas merging? Have you dealt with similar issues? I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Photo credit: Trois Tetes (TT) via Flickr Creative Commons

No One is Ever 'Always' or 'Never'

Here's a quick tip for you: No one is ever 'always' or 'never' __________ (fill in the blank with an adjective or verb).

One of the most sure-fire ways to make a difficult conversation instantly more difficult is to use a superlative  like 'always' or 'never' to describe the other person's behavior. It is guaranteed to make the conversation partner instantly defensive and offend their sense of justice, because it's probably certain to be a false statement. It's impossible for any human to be 100% consistent in any behavior or approach, positive or negative. And we have a natural need to establish fairness and justice, so the moment someone describes us in this generalized way, we immediately begin to search our memory for contrary examples to prove it is a falsehood.

If you're trying to give feedback, or resolve conflict, the conversation is hard enough to have in the first place - why add difficulty? The person who is now preoccupied with proving you wrong is no longer listening to you or open to hearing your side of things. You've damaged your credibility in their eyes. You've taken them on a detour and now you must dig back from that detour to get back on track. A waste of time for all involved!

Therefore, be very careful to stay specific and factually correct. Instead of saying, "Pat, you're always late with your reports", say, "Pat, you turned in the last three reports late." Keep it objective and keep it constructive.

Have you had any experience with this kind of derailment or escalation? I'd love to learn about it in the comments section below!

Photo by Olivier H. via Flickr Creative Commons

Retooling and Refreshing to Set Yourself Apart

Cross-posted at http://seniorfellowsandfriends.blogspot.com/2011/10/retooling-and-refreshing-to-set.html

The following is an excerpt of a story I wrote for a new book called The Insider’s Guide to Supervising Government Employees, edited by Kathryn M. Johnson (Management Concepts Press 2011). The book is a collection of stories from many supervisors whose purpose is to help government supervisors (new and seasoned alike) navigate their responsibilities and challenges more successfully. It covers several key areas including understanding yourself, getting the best work from others, and supervising in a changing work landscape. In this particular story, I illustrate the importance of ongoing self-development to help supervisors continue to achieve success in their role. In my upcoming book, Employee Development on a Shoestring (ASTD Press, expected pub. date April 2012), I describe in much greater detail both the value and suggested approaches for many development methods that happen outside the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris’ excitement was through the roof when he learned that he had been promoted. Finally! He was now officially a supervisor of a newly formed team in his agency. Chris felt a quiet confidence in his ability to excel as he emailed his mentor, Soo-Lin, to share the good news with her. After they scheduled their next monthly “coffee talk” meeting, Chris sat at his desk making lists of ideas and action items.

A few weeks later, Soo-Lin relaxed into her chair as she congratulated Chris once again on his accomplishment and listened to his tales of his first month as a supervisor. Sipping her coffee, she listened to his stories of excitement and frustration from her perspective of having been in supervisory roles in the federal government for the past 20 years.

“What are you doing to ramp up your supervisory skills, Chris?” Soo-Lin inquired.

“What do you mean?” asked Chris.

“Well, you have a whole new skill set you need to acquire, and fast. You will certainly learn on the job, but what are you doing to proactively enhance your skills?”

“I’m not sure I have any ideas. What do you suggest?” said Chris, looking at Soo-Lin quizzically.

Over the next hour, Soo-Lin shared with Chris some of the resources that she found helpful, including books, seminars, and training classes. But it was the story she told him that really got Chris thinking about how to keep his skills and knowledge fresh now and into the next stages of his career development.

“You know, when I first got promoted, there were no supervisory training classes offered and no resources given to me to prepare me for my new role. I had to learn as I went, the hard way. Things went very well for the first couple of years and my hard work was rewarded and rewarding.

“But then, things began to shift. I was no longer getting the results I wanted from my staff. They seemed unmotivated and deflated, and I felt frustrated with my job. I applied the same techniques that had worked before, but they were just not working in the same way. I felt really stuck and unhappy. Word got around that there might be a reorganization in our department and I started to worry that I might lose my job.

“That’s when I began to realize that I had become stale; my skills and knowledge were not sufficient to produce the performance results I wanted to see. I felt baffled and lost, so I started reading every management book in the library, searching for answers. I also started looking for role models to talk with, both inside and outside my office and agency. I was amazed how happy these successful supervisors were to share their ‘best practices’ and ‘lessons learned’ with me, and it was great to learn from them about things I could do or avoid doing—and not have to learn them the hard way! One told me that he attends the monthly meetings of our field’s professional association to learn new techniques and connect and network with other professionals with whom he collaborates and shares ideas. So I started attending these meetings also—what an eye-opening experience!

“What I learned, slowly but surely, is that your skills and knowledge need to be constantly upgraded and challenged. You can never rest on your laurels just because you have reached a certain rung on the career ladder; you need to keep working or you’ll find yourself falling off—or getting pushed off. And there are so many different ways available to help you retool, refresh, and learn.”

This is an exciting time to be a supervisor. You have the opportunity to influence others in a changing landscape. You will be challenged to handle day-to-day issues effectively in the context of an ever-evolving work environment. The best way to create a balance that serves both your employees and your organization well is to keep strengthening your personal capabilities as a supervisor. Only then will you be ready and able to help others envision and prepare to meet the demands of the 21^st century government work environment.

More to Think About and Try

• What are some books, training, and other resources you could access to upgrade your supervisory skills? Are there resources that would help you on an ongoing, continuous basis?
• Who are some key people who could help you learn and develop your supervisory skills? Are there any groups you could join or people in your current network you could tap to become your mentors or “master-mind” group?
• Can you branch out and increase your network to include role models and kindred spirits?

• Can you find opportunities to bring supervisors together? Who can—and is willing to—share their lessons learned?

Excerpted with permission from The Insider’s Guide to Supervising Government Employees, edited by Kathryn M. Johnson. © 2011 by Management Concepts, Inc. All rights reserved. www.managementconcepts.com/pubs

Dancing at the edge of comfort: How to develop employees without demotivating them

I've spent this past summer drafting the manuscript to my first book entitled Employee Development on a Shoestring, which is scheduled to be published by ASTD Press in early 2012. My book is full of practical ideas and implementation tips for various ways to help employees develop new knowledge and skills outside the classroom. I'll be blogging various tidbits to whet your appetite before the big book release. Here's the first: enjoy and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Development assignments should push employees to develop just beyond their comfort zone, but no further.

There are three performance zones:

The Comfort Zone – we are fully performing our role. We experience ‘unconscious competence’ and mastery. We are able to perform easily and without exerting great effort. We do not find our work overly challenging anymore. We may be doing just enough to get by if we get too comfortable.

The Learning or Stretch Zone – just outside the comfort zone, this is where we leverage what we know and do well and are able to focus energy on new skills, tasks, or requirements. We are in a state of ‘conscious competence’ where we are building skills but have to be conscious of how we are performing to avoid mistakes and missteps. Our new responsibilities are manageable.

The Panic Zone – if we push employees too far and stretch them beyond their capacity, they may become anxious, confused, and discouraged by so many unknown or unpracticed variables. Here we operate in a state of ‘conscious incompetence’ and even ‘unconscious incompetence’, which feels uncomfortable and which we would like to avoid.

Get it 'Just Right'

When identifying appropriate employee development methods, we need to consider the level of challenge that each type of development activity would present to the employee. The activity or assignment should be challenging, but not so hard that it feels impossibly difficult. Here is a good model to help you match the challenge to the employee's needs. Our goal is to ensure that the employee is just at the edge of their 'comfort zone' -- in the 'learning' or 'stretch' zone -- but not too far and in the 'panic zone'.

So, yes, you could stretch someone too far. And you could stretch someone too little. But you have to identify the sweet spot, the Learning Zone, to get it just right.

What do you think? Have you found this to be true with your or your employees' developmental challenges?