“What are you most proud of? What challenges are you currently having?”

As mentioned in my previous post on this topic (Part 1), senior managers and members of their management teams can contribute a lot of fantastic content to a High Performance Learning Journey (HPLJ). I want to reiterate that the more they understand the valuable role the program plays in contributing to strategic business results, the more invested they will be in making the program a success. 

First, let’s take a step back and quickly list a few of the ways senior managers can contribute:

• Giving input about which performance outcomes the program should lead to
• Sharing information that will make the program content relevant to the business (e.g. real life situations as inspiration for case studies)
• Actively participating in the program themselves. This can range from video presentations with Q&A to coaching to participating in a simulation.

The question now is how do you get them to contribute?

This post will focus on senior managers sharing information (and getting members of their teams to share). Once this important step is accomplished, it is then MUCH easier to then get them to actively participate in the program themselves.

The information that senior managers provide could be strategic targets and initiatives, information about organizational history, structure, or processes, as well as concrete challenges that get in the way of business success.

Let me be clear that getting information from someone is often an iterative process, often taking place through multiple conversations over time. So you need to plan accordingly. My recommendation is to be transparent about the process, without scaring people away with nightmares about countless meetings that drag on forever. There’s no need to tell them that you will need hours upon hours of their time because, you don’t know exactly how much of someone’s time you will need until you know what information they have and in what way they can contribute. In addition, they may not need to give so much time themselves if there are other people in the organization who have more concrete information. It’s better for the more senior person to give you the big-picture information and then direct you to others who have the details.

So what do you do?

In my experiences, it’s best to ask for a 45-minute phone call to start with and then assess the situation at the end of the call.

I won’t go into all of the details about scheduling the call and how to conduct the call—that is an art in and of itself—but there are two key points that truly make a difference in my experience.

Be Professional: For me, professionalism is a hygiene factor, and has three core elements.

• Be structured in your communication – explain the purpose of the call (both when requesting the call, and at the beginning of the call itself), agree on the duration of the call, and stick to the agreed time.
• Show gratitude – a manager’s time is valuable and therefore, it is important to show appreciation for the time he/she gives you. I always thank the person for his/her time both at the beginning and end of the call (as well as on other occasions, if you have more interaction)
• Deliver results – this might be in the form of a case study for him/her to read and give feedback on. At at the very least, you should send a short e-mail giving the person an update on the program.

Be Curious: it is common knowledge that showing genuine interest in a person and what he or she does builds trust. Let’s explore this second point further.

Be curious – get the most out of your call

After reminding the person about the purpose of the call—but before leaping into my questions—I always ask if it’s okay that we take a few minutes introducing ourselves to each other. I do this out of genuine interest, but also because it puts the person at ease: talking about his/her background requires absolutely no effort, and he/she can decide what exactly to focus on (education, career, family, etc.)

Next, I tell the person more about the program itself: it’s objectives, it’s structure and any other information that might be relevant to the purpose of the conversation.

In general, your call should have two counter-balancing purposes, to get important information and to build goodwill with the senior manager. When done well, these two purposes reciprocate each other.

Getting to your questions

Now I start asking questions. If it’s a senior manager, then I generally start with high-level questions about the structure of his/her particular organization, its history, and any recent changes. Throughout this stage, I will ask multiple follow-up questions in order to get a better lay of the land. In addition, showing genuine curiosity about the organization with these kinds of questions builds a fair amount of credibility with the senior manager, thus making him/her willing to share even more information. If the person refers to any concrete structure or process, I always ask if he/she can send material.

Two must-have questions to ask

So far, we have started to get to know each other a bit and my questions require minimal effort from the other person. Now is when I raise the stakes. Two questions that I always ask are “What are you most proud of in terms of your organization’s achievements?” and “What challenges are you currently having?” (And in this order) The first question is to get the person to be a bit more reflective and give concrete examples of what is happening in his/her organization. It also makes him/her more willing to answer the second question about challenges. Asking a senior manager about the challenges in his/her organization is very much a dance—you need to “read” the person. I always start by explaining that the conversation is confidential and that any details used in the case will be tweaked to avoid identification.

Once I’ve understood the overall challenges, and identified a good subject for the case study, I generally don’t go into the details of the case study with the senior manger. Instead, I ask if there are people in his/her team who I could speak with in order to work out the details of the case.

Getting the blessing

I do so for several reasons: it shows the senior manager that I respect his/her time, it broadens the web of people involved, and lower-level managers are MUCH more comfortable talking about the nitty-gritty challenges that will make the case relevant. I always ask the senior manager if he/she could contact the member of his/her team first in order to explain the situation and then put us into contact with each other. This makes the contact with the lower-level manager much easier because it has the “blessing” of the senior manager.

Even if we haven’t used up the full 45 minutes, I will end the call early. Again, this shows professionalism and earns goodwill. After thanking the senior manager for his/her time and help, I ask if it’s okay that I reach out with follow-up questions or to give an update on the situation. They always say “yes.”

Getting a senior management team to not only approve a development program but actively contribute is a big step towards an HPLJ. So, schedule the calls and pull out your pen and paper.

“What WE need to do is…” When a manager uses these words in reference to a development program, it should sound like music to your ears. No matter what words complete the sentence above, the fact that the sentence includes the word “we” is a major victory.

Here’s why: Most managers believe in helping employees develop new skills. However, some L&D managers might have experienced resistance from managers towards getting involved in development programs. For example, when talking to a manager about such a program, the manager generally focuses on the challenge of their employees being “away from work”; and they definitely see the task of preparing content for the program as someone else’s responsibility. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s just that development has historically been outsourced to L&D and external providers.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are a lot of best practices, not just for getting managers involved, but for getting them actively engaged in providing content.

Content is the challenge

As you well know, the best development programs focus on improving business performance and therefore need to include content (material, activities, assignments, etc.) that applies to real-life business situations. Naturally, certain managers can be quite valuable in providing this content, as they know what behavioural changes participants need to make, in what business situations, and what challenges the participants face. In addition, the more that managers get involved, the more likely it is that the program will lead to successful business outcomes (see our blog What are key types of supervisor support That impact training transfer?).

So how do we get managers involved? 

Let’s start with the obvious. First and foremost, you need to think carefully about how you communicate the business value of the program: how it will help the company reach its strategic business goals. A common mistake that people make is that they spend most of the time talking about what the participants will learn. Instead, when you speak with the manager about the aims of the program, talk about what the participants will do differently in their roles, and how this will help the manager achieve his/her business goals.

Management support is key

Second, we can’t ignore politics. In my entire career, I have never been part of a successful development program that didn’t have the full-hearted support of top management, especially the CEO. If the CEO and all members of the senior management team genuinely see the business value of the program and communicate this to other managers, then you will see much more openness. The keyword is “communicate.” It’s not enough for senior managers to value the program themselves; they need to clearly broadcast this to the rest of management.

Internal partnership and pilots

So, how do you get senior managers to see the value of the program? It is essential that you have a respected champion in the senior management team (e.g. the EVP of HR). You should work in partnership with this person to prepare presentation material for the management team that clearly communicates the Program Performance Path (PPP), as well as a draft structure of the program. Ideally, your champion should have a good relationship with the CEO and should arrange for you to speak with the CEO as early as possible.

Next, you and your champion should arrange for a pilot program, in which senior managers “test drive” the program (or a portion of the program) in order to experience it first hand. If the CEO endorses the pilot program, then the rest of the management team will follow suit. It’s preferable to involve the CEO in as much of the pilot program as possible.

Purpose for pilot program

The pilot program serves three very important purposes:

1. To get the senior managers to experience the program first hand (they might need it themselves). Once they’ve “gone through it” themselves, they tend to become great ambassadors, speaking about the experience with confidence and energy.
2. To get feedback from the senior managers about the experience (what they liked, what needs improvement etc.), as well as to get spontaneous input from them for future content (topics, assignments, business cases, etc.). You should set aside at least a few hours of the pilot for this purpose. Even if they have criticisms about certain aspects of the pilot program, showing them that you appreciate this feedback goes a LONG way in getting them engaged. It also creates accountability on their part to help improve the program.
3. To get senior managers (and their direct reports) to contribute more content to the program themselves. If you have succeeded in numbers one and two, then number three will happen easily. Suddenly they will start talking about “what WE need to do to make this program truly successful.”

Once senior managers are committed to and invested in the success of the program, you can request that they ask members of their management teams to contribute the detailed content. There are great strategies for navigating this process successfully, so stay tuned for a follow-up blog post on this topic.

Having made the decision to create a blended solution, what is required is a multi-tiered approach to make this successful. An approach that incorporates the elements of a digital support platform, a virtual method of delivery, as well as more traditional face-to-face event-based training, it’s not always such a smooth journey to actually bring it to fruition. On top of this is a change mentality to make it work together. In our experience, there are some elements that need to be in place to really make it sustainable.

We have seen a number of changes over the past few years in terms of companies incorporating a more blended approach when it comes to their Learning and Development Initiatives. This has only been accelerated in the last few months because of the need to deliver virtual training as standard. There seem to be two main camps when it comes to what will happen next, will things return to the more traditional approach of instructor lead, face-to-face, classroom-based training or will it become necessary to apply a more blended approach, where we incorporate digital support and virtual delivery as standard. We believe that it will be the latter, mostly because we can achieve better performance and results with this approach, not solely as a reaction to the pandemic.

Learning and Development Ecosystem

What we see is that creating an effective Learning and Development Ecosystem has not been without its challenges and that there are a few key elements to making this a successful and sustainable approach. For us, a Learning Ecosystem is a system where people, technology, content, culture, and strategy work in harmony to produce L&D initiatives that impact on that organization. The challenge arises that organisations may have some of the elements but without all they do not achieve an effective system that produces the results they require.

The basics are fourfold.

1. Having a blended approach mindset, which enables the design and build of effective programmes.
2. Having an effective digital support platform, which can support the learning journey over time but also focus on application of the lessons learned.
3. Using a virtual tool that incorporates the right classroom functionality to create engagement in our participants.
4. The ability to create and apply meaningful digital content.

A Blended Approach Mindset

A change in Mindset is perhaps the greatest challenge of all, and it directly impacts on the other three factors. Learning has been so dominated by the face-to-face, classroom approach that even suggesting a move to digital learning can meet very strong resistance. In perhaps its strongest form this comes from facilitators themselves, who have built up the knowledge and skills to deliver in the physical classroom. A blended approach requires not only a different mindset but also a different set of skills. Less time will be spent being the star on stage but instead will be directed to really guiding participants towards application and assisting them in this.

There is also some resistance from within organisations, just as facilitators have been used to delivering in the classroom, so have participants been used to receiving knowledge there too. Going with a new approach may be seen as being risky and there are also concerns as to how this will affect their participants, with the principle question being “how long will they be away from work?”.

It takes time for a blended approach to filter it’s way throughout an organisation. We have experienced trying to create a “big bang”, where we’ve tried to launch the idea quickly. This has mostly been unsuccessful. What we have found to be successful is a more gradual, step-by-step process. Where one programme is introduced at a time and the successes from that spread throughout the organisation. Providing support in how to build and facilitate in the digital platform, how to facilitate in a virtual classroom, and creating a core of people who can apply the blended mindset really helps too. This has had more success in bringing over both facilitators and participants and demonstrating what can be achieved by really taking advantage of digital elements. Though, a key point has also been to create support for them, someone who is able to “troubleshoot”, guide, and be there when things happen in way other than expected.

Digital Support Platforms

A digital platform may well have been a nice-to-have. A bonus to an existing LMS that could support the structure and interaction of a programme, whilst efficiently delivering pre-learning and support post-event action. However, it’s now becoming increasingly apparent that if we really want to create participant interaction, between themselves, with the managers, and with the facilitators, that LMSs just don’t provide what we need. In addition, if we would like to gain qualitative evidence that the learning is actually being applied in the right situations, we need to do more than test participants levels of knowledge but actually, focus on what they are doing. A digital platform can supply this necessity and it more of a must-have.

A drawback of digital platforms is that they often represent an additional cost to an existing investment made in an LMS. However, if we support that we can increase application by using such a digital platform, then the question remains what is the cost of having an LMS that doesn’t quite deliver what we need, particularly in a more digital learning environment. What this means is that we need two systems, one to run the administrative side and one to deliver the programme if we are to move our approach forward.

Virtual Classrooms

The use of digital meeting tools has skyrocketed over the last few months with the requirements to work remotely. Many of these have been adopted by Learning and Development to deliver virtual programmes. Though a very common trait is that they have primarily been used to transport the face-to-face classroom approach to a digital environment. This was a reasonable approach when it looked like face-to-face classroom events would only be impacted in the short-term. These tools have provided us with a way to communicate with our participants virtually but there has been a cost too. Too many times have I witnessed a group of participants who are completely exhausted after a day’s virtual training – the facilitator too. This when they have one or more days still to go. Going forward, we need to adjust our virtual classroom approach, to have more but shorter sessions, whilst using different functionality to support engagement. Suddenly, the number of tools currently available to us is reduced considerably.

There are options out there that can replicate more of the interaction that was found in the classroom. Though there is also a learning curve in how to use and facilitate through these. To really succeed, we have had to take organisations through such tools and how to use them in order to be successful.

Digital Content

With the adoption of digital approaches, suddenly there is a need for digital content that can be used within these programmes. Material that was designed for the classroom doesn’t necessarily fit the bill and there has also been a heavy reliance on the facilitator to deliver the theory and approaches that we want to get across. If we want to start delivering this digitally, we need to incorporate videos and other digital content.

To go a step further, if we are looking at really providing programmes that deliver performance, focusing the valuable face-to-face time on application rather than on learning, then we need to deliver the theory in advance. Films can do this but these have to be created. An alternative can be to go to one of the many video libraries and buy content, though this may mean misalignment between your specific message and what is on the video, along with additional and often repeat costs.

Creating video content is an area where the company’s experiences and ability to do so differ. Some have been offering digital content for a while but many others still haven’t gotten off the ground. The option of buying in that skill can be expensive and still doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of “on-screen” talent. The process doesn’t need to be so complicated or expensive, but it does require some careful planning and understanding to do this with a level of professionalism that is now expected by contemporary participants.

The uptake of a blended approach that incorporates not only the digital tools but also the flexible mindset of facilitators has grown in momentum. To create an effective Learning and Development Ecosystem is a change, and with change comes challenges. These challenges are not insurmountable but it requires time, effort, knowledge, and investment to successfully introduce them. The rewards for doing so are recognizable too. We are able to offer scalability, reduced costs, increased performance, and Learning and Development programmes that go further to meeting business demands.

Learn more in our webinar

Watch our webinar “Creating a Sustainable L&D Ecosystem“!

Like everyone else in the new Covid L&D world, you are no doubt being pressed to get new initiatives out fast. But virtual design should not be a matter of “converting” everything in your F2F programs and pushing it online, it is about creating new designs to achieve the same goals your F2F programs were intended to achieve.

Truly excellent virtual program designs take time to build – probably more time than you can afford to allocate right now. The good news is, workable designs that are “good enough” can be put together much more quickly and improved as you go.

“Over time” is key

Remember that you are creating learning journeys. Journeys start with the first steps and continue from there over time. Over time is the key word here. You can start the journey without having to have all of the latter parts of the journey elements in place.  Learning journey design does not have to be an all-or-nothing deal.

In all of the new virtual programs we have investigated these past few months, we have seen none that did not prove helpful – all had impact. On the flip side, none of them were as good out of the gate as the second-generation program that followed – all of them abounded with clear opportunities to be improved.

Efficient changes online

One of the beauties of online programming is that design changes can be made very efficiently without negative consequence. Not like old F2F world where notebooks and other hard-copy materials were used; changes implied often, implied large expenses and were frankly, a pain in the backside.

So how can you move forward and get started? Our best advice from what we are seeing is:

• Prioritize: identify the few programs that are the most important to keeping the wheels on the business bus turning and that will be of the most help to performers struggling to adjust to the new Covid world. Start with these.
• View your design work through the lens of performance improvement – what few things will most help people get important things done better.
• Performance improvement is an iterative process. Until your learners start, you cannot help them adjust with more advanced practice and feedback over time. They will not become virtuoso performers overnight.
• Apply this same performance improvement principle to your own work. You are not going to become a virtual design virtuoso overnight. You too can learn as you go and make your designs iteratively better. But you too have to start.
• An iterative performance improvement process is impossible to nurture without evaluative feedback. Build feedback loops into your designs and pay attention to what your learners’ experience is teaching you.
• Help your learners become aware of what is helping them and what is getting in their way. Build learning assignments into your design that get learners to report the systemic obstacles (work design, incentives, etc.) as they encounter them. Peers who have figured out a way to overcome these obstacles can help others. You as program leaders can aggregate obstacle information and get it to the people who can do something about it.
• Where you are able, take advantage of digital learning experience tools. When you are trying to grow learning programs to scale, it is extremely difficult to mount, execute, and especially track progress without the data these learning platforms provide. The iterative design approach we promote can be greatly accelerated with such a journey platform.

Good luck – and remember the best thing you can do is start!

My evaluation colleagues and I recently conducted an impact evaluation of a large-cohort (500+ participants), mission-critical global leadership development program for a very large company.  The program, 100% on-line, was intended to help leaders change their behaviours to be more innovative: supportive of experimentation and risk-taking, creative with trying new ideas, innovating with new market initiatives, and so forth. 

With more than 500 leaders across the globe, the impact rate (percentage of participants that applied their program experience) was greater than 90%. Leadership actions we documented in this impact study were shown to have driven multiple and valuable results: new market initiatives, new revenues, increased profits, leaner organization changes, and so forth. In short, a booming success that thrilled stakeholders. But get this: fewer than 10% of participants believed that the program helped them learn any new skill that was helpful to them.

So what made the difference?

Here are the top elements of the program that participants said helped them take action:

• Examples of practical application actions that could be taken
• Convincing evidence and messaging about the high priority of a need to change
• Examples of valuable results that changed actions could achieve
• Senior leader presence and engagement that sent the message “This is important!”
• Dialogue between participants and their managers in which commitments to act were discussed
• Peer interactions that raised a sense of accountability and shared determination

In my view, there are lessons here for all of us L&D folks who are struggling to leverage online modalities for impact and results.

Performance vs. learning

Kudos to the L&D program designers who viewed their challenge through a ‘performance-change’ lens, versus a ‘learning lens’.  They recognized the truth that when it comes to doing new things, most people already have the fundamental skills to do them, but there is something else that is keeping them from changing: lack of motivation, fear of failure, lack of trust that the new actions can make a worthwhile difference, lack of encouragement, and so forth.

Any of you facing similar design challenges would do well to think about this example. And make sure your design is chock full of the task assignments and other program parts that would address the elements in the bulleted list above.

Learn more on manager engagement!
Register to our webinar How Manager Engagement Effects Training Transfer.

“Can we make a pilot?” is a very common question I get from a lot of people I meet. I always answer like this: “What is it that you want to pilot?”. Yet, they rarely know. You can be sure of one thing though when you meet us: you never have to try if Promote works as a platform while executing a training program.

Many out there are looking for a platform, a tool or digital support and wants to “try and feel in the system” or “click around” before the decision is made to invest. Let us start there. Is it really the system you have to try out? Wanting to try if Promote could be used as a digital platform to implement an on-the-job-training for a pilot? We know that it works. You can leave that part to us.

There are multiple organizations within our two target groups; middle-sized to big corporations with internal Learning and Development departments as well as training providers all over the world that already tried if it works – we promise. Our clients have implemented multiple training programs supported by Promote for you to feel certain that Promote is an excellent tool for what it has been designed for – to push and implement learning journeys, make a training program to a process, get the wanted effect from the training program etc.

However, there are other reasons, good reasons, to make a pilot. Here are three of the most important reasons:

1. Test how mature and open to change the organization is and communicate thereafter
2. Challenge the organization to formulate a goal, concrete actions and effect as a result of the training program
3. Clarify and concretize which roles and resources are required within the organization

Insights concerning these three bullet points contribute to successful progress with Promote or another platform for your training program. When focusing on these three bullet points you will realize quite quickly that a pilot is very little about the tool itself. Features and technique should not be in the centre when doing a pilot. A pilot’s primary focus should be about design, work method and your organization. Let me dive into these three bullet points:

1. Test how mature and sensitive the organization is and communicate thereafter

Since Promotes sole purpose is to push learning journeys the assumption is that the organization is prepared to change its mindset and see the training program as a learning journey and not only an individual course. Which means that you see the training program as a process, not an event.

Those who had hoped for an “ordinary”, let us pretend 2 day course in a classroom, without any preparations and a plan to actually implement in Promote and hope for a good result is going to be disappointed. Bullshit in, bullshit out, poorly expressed!

2. Challenge the organization to formulate a goal, concrete actions and effect as a result of the training program

The organization needs to do its homework for a successful pilot – that’s unfortunately not something we can help you with. This means that you have to be prepared to put in some effort into the pilot – unfortunately, it will not do this on its own. Above all, it is about setting a goal that is connected to the business growth and to find the situations and behaviours that will lead to development, and the results you want to achieve. Within the HPLJ-methodology we call it “Moments that matter” – the opportunities you get to practise your new knowledge.

Moreover, this means that you as the project owner is prepared to demand that it is expected to complete all the assignments throughout the training program from the organization. Also, this means that the organization is prepared to demand that its managers be involved.

3. Clarify and concretize which roles and resources are needed within the organization

When the pilot starts it is relevant to talk about the roles and resources within the organization that are required. Which roles are needed? Who should do what? How do we divide the work? In some cases, it could be relevant that the training provider has the responsibility to design, build the training program in Promote, import the participants and send the invitations.

In other cases, these assignments are divided between different functions within the team, such as Program Manager, facilitators and Administration. In my experience, it is when clients have worked with Promote for a while and you have a clear vision of how the organization want to use Promote, that it is relevant to talk about roles. HOWEVER, we always find the right roles with our clients, but it is after we have an understanding of the organization and have seen how the client wants to make progress and which results the client wants to achieve.

A pilot is an investment – for you and us

To conclude, a pilot is an investment – in time and resources – for us and for you. A pilot is not to test functions in a system, click around and feel it. A pilot is to create the right conditions for a new way of working and prepare for a behavioural change, better results and a clear effect – as successful as possible.

Other benefits with a pilot for a training program with Promote:

• You are not bound to something that you, in the end, would not use if you for some reason are not happy (however, we are certain you are going to be ?)
• You can try us as a provider and partner in your Learning and Development team. We have years of experience to cooperate, coach and support Learning and Development departments, Managers and teams – let us know if you want to get in touch with a reference
• For a small investment you get A LOT: knowledge, insights, results, thoughts and wonderings – regarding training programs, designing a learning journey and the effect from the training program! That we can guarantee – what you choose to do with your new knowledge is up to you – and we promise not to leave you hanging!