The Transfer

How to get stakeholders to commit to a project

Anne Geraghty, Director, Learning Solutions at Sage gives us her best tips for getting the stakeholders attention.

Tid är inte hindret längre!

När vi pratar om lärtransfer, lärresor och att skapa förutsättningar för en effektiv lärmiljö är det inte ovanligt att man är fast i att tid fortfarande är en viktig faktor. Tid att göra något annorlunda, tid att lära nytt, tid att designa om en utbildning (som kanske redan fungerar ganska bra, trots allt), tid borta från jobbet för deltagare på din utbildning och tid för att utvärdera om hela insatsen varit värd all möda och besvär du lagt ned. Alla de här faktorerna är givetvis reella, tid är något som kostar pengar i möda och arbetskraft. Men en kanske ännu viktigare fråga för dina utbildningsinsatser; har du verkligen råd att misslyckas?

För det är dina viktigaste initiativ som kommer att behöva den bästa lärdesignen. Där behöver allt vara upplagt för succé. Det kommer att vara avgörande för huruvida organisationen driver mot uppsatta mål.  Det är dina ledarskapsprogram, onboardingprogram, din tekniska träning, säljutbildning och dina övriga initiativ som kräver en tydlig beteendeförändring som är kritiska. Så att vara just kritisk när det kommer till den här typen av program tror jag är nyckeln till att på allvar utveckla en organisation. Är den här utbildningen bra nog för det jag vill åstadkomma? Kan det bli ännu bättre? Hur?

En av de kanske enskilt största fördelarna med att designa en utbildning som en High Performance Learning Journey är att du på så många olika sätt får tiden att verka för dig och gör att tid blir en tillgång som möjliggör ännu fler möjligheter att träna på arbetsplatsen. När du skapat din utbildning utifrån en HPLJ-design så kommer du att:

Publicerad av: 

Prata med Filip – boka ett 15 minuter videomöte.

  1. Minska tiden borta från arbetet, därmed minska kostnaderna kopplade till personaltimmar som behöver ersättas, produktionsbortfall och kostnader för resa och logi.

  2. Ge en mer naturlig inlärningstakt till de som går utbildningen.

  3. Uppmuntra till aktivt lärande på arbetstid.

  4. Öka sannolikheten att du når dina utbildningsmål.

  5. Få snabbare resultat! Ja, du läste rätt, att sträcka ut en lärandeinsats över tid ökar möjligheterna till att tillämpa och öva på arbetsplatsen som i sin tur ledare till snabbare resultat än vid traditionella utbildningsinsatser.

Tiden är nu för att modernisera synsättet på inlärningsmetodik och få just tiden att verka för, i stället för emot, er dig. Låt oss hjälpa dig.

Filip Knutsson
Account Manager, Promote
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Filip Knutsson

Prata med Filip – boka ett 15 minuter videomöte.

How global SAAS market leader, Sage, improved learning for the Sales team

Author: Adam Holcher
Published: September 24, 2021

Sage is a global SaaS market leader providing small and medium businesses with the visibility, flexibility, and efficiency to manage finances, operations, and people all in Sage Business Cloud. With over 11,000 employees, Sage provides products and solutions to over two million customers in 20+ countries.

 

Sales Enablement at Sage – “setting up sales colleagues for future success”

The global Sales Enablement function supports the product and skill learning and development of nearly 1,200 sales colleagues throughout Sage.

Sage has been going through a strategic transformation in recent years, moving towards a native cloud-based solution. Leaders in the Sales Enablement function identified this as an opportunity to continue to improve the way they supported sales teams as well, “providing a much better learning experience for our sales colleagues and providing them that long-term benefit,” explains Steve Hamilton, Director of Sales Enablement in North America.

A few colleagues had already graduated from Promote’s Brinkerhoff Certification for High Performance Learning Journeys (HPLJs) and recommended it to Steve.

After doing his due-diligence, Steve quickly realized that since Sage is a global company, the HPLJ certification could have a more profound impact if additional colleagues from Sales Enablement’s numerous regions were certified together.

“Were all trying to improve the knowledge and experience of our sales colleagues. What a great way to learn together and scale our value to Sage.”

So, Steve reached out to sales enablement colleagues in other regions to see if they would be interested, and noticed that a few key points resonated:

  • A strong focus on setting up sales colleagues for future success
  • Creating learning journeys, rather than learning events
  • Building something that’s sustainable

People quickly responded, saying “sign me up.”


Internal HPLJ Certification

Sixteen colleagues participated in Promote’s Internal HPLJ certification for Sage, and during the program, the colleagues were able to apply their learning immediately, transforming Sage’s event-based programs into High Performance Learning Journeys.

We had already begun to think about things differently. However, with more of the sales enablement team going through the certification, we’ve been able to accelerate our efforts. It has made a transformational move in our logic, our approach, and our thought process.” As a result, they expect to see more learning absorption and application by the sales teams, and sustainable utilization of that knowledge so that they can perform better in their jobs.”

Since the sixteen colleagues were going through the HPLJ certification program together, they were able to split into four groups, mixing colleagues from different regions. This approach had some immediate benefits: it allowed them to not only get to know each other better (some had never met before), but also lead to a lot of cross-pollination between the regions. And they’ve already seen other benefits:

  • “Going through it together really strengthened the Sales Enablement team in terms of our approach…We use the same language. We talk about HPLJs when we have a new initiative or project.”
  • “By having 16 sales enablement colleagues go through the certification process together, we have raised the talent level within the global sales enablement team, as well as improved the value that we provide to Sage overall.”

As the group of colleagues continues to transform existing programs and build new programs in the HPLJ format, Steve sees more positive results on the horizon. “Taking these programs and building them out into HPLJs has become our standard. Our sales colleagues should expect that when we introduce a new product or skill learning, it will be built in the format of an HPLJ.”

 

Tips on Overcoming Resistance in the Organization

As with all change processes, Steve and his colleagues expect some resistance along the way. However, they are laying the groundwork to overcome this. Steve shares some tips:

  • Most important is to show the Sales colleagues what they will gain from this new approach in terms of increasing their performance and enhancing their customer interactions.
  • The same thing goes for the Sales Leaders and Executives. Make sure they understand what an HPLJ is and its benefits—WHY it’s important to make this change, how it will improve performance and help achieve desired business outcomes.
  • Upon completion of the Internal HPLJ Certification, send a message to your Sales Leaders to let them know that your team has just completed their certification and what it means for the leaders, and most importantly, their team.


Business Impact

As they enter the new fiscal year, Sage expects to see even better business results due to the foundation that Sales Enablement is providing them on the learning side. “If youre a sales colleague and youre really invested in becoming better in your job, I think this really resonates with you, because you know theres a team that’s investing more into your success as a sales colleague. Not that we didnt before, but now its just at a higher level,” Steve explains.

Sales Enablement continues to evolve, playing a bigger role in the success of many organizations (not only at Sage). “We continue to build our portfolio of what we provide and how we serve our sales colleagues, and thats not going to change, and its certainly not going to slow down. Thats where the HPLJ comes in.”

 


What is the Brinkerhoff Certification for High Performance Learning Journeys?

The Brinkerhoff Certification for High Performance Learning Journeys is an instructional design program built on four decades of research. The certification program equips L&D professionals with a model and complete toolbox to design training initiatives that deliver performance improvement and business impact.

About Sage

Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll, and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world’s entrepreneurs.

Steve Hamilton, Director of Sales Enablement in North America.

Key findings and observation from our latest survey on the use of High Performance Learning Journeys

Author: Alex Brittain-Catlin
Published: June 16, 2021

We recently conducted a survey that was sent out to our certified High Performance Learning Journey community to find out more about the use, design and implementation of High performance learning journeys after completing the Champion certificate level.  19% of the community answered our survey and we’ve now summarized our conclusion and observations.

The survey results confirmed a number of our beliefs when it comes to the implementation of High-Performance Learning Journeys, the trends in the market, and where challenges lie when implementing such approaches.

Following the HPLJ certification, the great majority (91.5%) have applied their learning when designing and implementing their L&D initiatives. This supports the utility of this approach in the contemporary L&D environment. We have also found that over half (53%) of respondents have used the HPLJ approach on several occasions.

A relevant and applicable methodology

There has been a wide application of the approach when it comes to the types of programs designed by the respondents. The majority of the programs related to the area of leadership, but the HPLJ methodology was also adopted in programs that address: Executive Development, Management and Supervisory Skills, Sales, Project Management, Technical Training, and On-boarding. This supports HPLJ’s relevance for a wide range of L&D initiatives, rather than being useful for just a single type of training. Furthermore, the survey responses showed that there is a limited need for compromise when it comes to the implementation of the HPLJ approach, and, as such, that the methodology is relevant and applicable in its entirety.

Trends of more virtual sessions

Two of the trends that we have noticed—a decrease in face-to-face training requests and an increase in the number of virtual instructor-led sessions—were supported in this survey. Both internal L&D and external providers noted the decrease in the number of face-to-face sessions (internal L&D 87% & external 74%) and the increase of virtual sessions (internal L&D 89% & external 84%). This points to these trends continuing beyond the recent Pandemic, and as more of an ongoing future trend.

Barriers and obstacles to overcome when implementing the HPLJ methodology

The HPLJ certification addresses a number of the barriers experienced in the course of implementing a Learning Journey and respondents were ask to share their own experiences having carried out their own journeys. On a positive note, social learning and completion rates were not seen as much of a barrier as might have been expected. However, the survey results also supported the long-held view that proactive action needs to be taken in order to address other expected barriers. Manager engagement is still regarded as one of the greatest hurdles to successfully implementing such journeys. Secondary to this was the challenge of being able to stretch the learning journeys as far as would have been liked. Manager engagement is key because the manager plays a central role in supporting on-the-job application of learning in the workplace, as well as enabling the learner to spend sufficient time on—and demonstrate the positive impact of—what has been learned. Being able to stretch learning journeys over time becomes a challenge due to a lack of understanding by managers and other key stakeholders. Instead of longer journeys, in which skills and approaches are really trained and supported, managers and key stakeholders prefer short, hard-hitting initiatives. Many respondents commented that this is more of a hoped for, rather than a guided application model, which rarely delivers the required outcomes.

There still does not seem to be a greater awareness of Learning Journeys outside of the L&D community, meaning that key stakeholders more often ask for what they know: events. This means that the ability to sell and educate key stakeholders as to the value of such an approach is still required. Part of the challenge here is that L&D is not particularly seen as a decisive factor when it comes to bringing about business results. There is still a view, or hope, that change can be brought about simply and cheaply with fast training initiatives. This was further supported by the view that creating Learning Journey resources was seen by the business as being too extensive, and that the required results takes too long.

In conclusion, the results of this survey point to the HPLJ methodology as being a widely applicable approach with a growing base of practitioners. Furthermore, the trends in the market support the increased relevance of this approach as we move beyond the current pandemic. More work is still required in convincing organisations of the relevance of the HPLJ approach and the value that it can provide.


What’s next?

A deep dive webinar on how to overcome barriers and other obstacles associated with selling, designing and implementing High-Performance Learning Journeys

Watch the webinar here!

Cracking the Learning Journey Code

Author: Alex Brittain-Catlin
Published: May 21, 2021

The Covid Pandemic has challenged the way that many Learning and Development departments and training providers deliver training. There has been a necessity to move away from face-to-face classroom training and instead deliver virtually. This has spurred on the adoption of both Learning Journey methodology and the adoption of a Blended Approach to learning – where both digital and live training are utilised. Both of these have been aided by organizations’ rapid and widespread adoption of digital as a means to deliver training, which was a barrier for many to really embrace these approaches prior to the pandemic.

Both the Learning Journey methodology and the Blended Approach to learning were areas that Promote has championed for the last few years. However, there has been limited demand for such programmes, largely because it’s been easier to apply traditional learning approaches and organizations have been wary of trying something new. This changed with Covid 19 and its extended impact on how organization’s deliver training. Companies now realise that they need to adopt new approaches and move ahead with the new reality of Learning and Development, rather than waiting to see when Covid will end and “normality” will return.

The new normal enables new opportunities

This “new normal” enables us at Promote to apply both the Learning Journey and Blended approaches to a wider degree, which has included the creation of a four-month leadership learning journey in partnership with a couple of our customers. Putting the theory into practice has led to some interesting lessons when it comes to implementing such approaches. What it has shown is that this is not just an adequate alternative, but is actually a better alternative for such training initiatives. We can produce better results, create more impact and performance, and at a lower cost to the customer organization. Some lessons have also become evident, that whilst these approaches may be similar to many which have gone before, changes are required to really realise the results that organizations are looking for.

Engagement is key

Engagement is a key factor for any programme. Without it results are negligible and the application of the learning can be very limited in the majority of cases. There are different elements when it comes to Engagement, whether it’s Participant Engagement, Manager Engagement, and even Facilitator Engagement and changes in approach need to be adopted with all of them.

The content of the programme needs to contain a balance between Group Learning and an Individual Focus to be relevant and applicable by participants. This furthers the idea that Learning and Development initiatives need to have an increased Focus on Application of the learning delivered in trainings rather than on the accumulation of the knowledge itself. We only see impact when participants apply their learning in key situations which actually deliver the performance outcomes that we are after.

Our Learning Journey also incorporated programme dynamics such as spreading learning over Time, ensuring that the Duration of the programme itself, and its constituent parts, were of the right length. We also had to ensure the right level of Content, to provide learners with the key understanding and ability to apply the learning in their everyday working scenarios.

The result: we’ve cracked the learning journey code

The challenge has been similar to completing a multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, where different elements come into play at different times and in different ways over the course of the journey. In doing so, we have learned a number of lessons when it comes to Cracking the Learning Journey Code.

In our guide below we’ve concluded our learnings and put together a guide for you who also would like to learn more about cracking the Learning Journey Code.

Download the guide: Cracking the Learning Journey Code

Want the full scope? Download our complete guide on all of our do’s and don’t that we have learned during our work when creating a fully virtual leadership learning journey during the pandemic.

Hur genomför man upskill och reskill med hjälp av lärresor?

Få begrepp används så mycket idag som upskill och reskill, det vill säga processen om att lära om och addera ny kunskap. Det finns olika anledningar till varför just upskill och reskill begreppen är så viktiga just nu… Varje år publicerar World Economic Forum sin rapport ”The future of Jobs Report”. Enligt 2020 års rapport estimerades att 40 % av de anställda kärnkompetens kommer ändras inom fem år vilket sätter stora krav på att företag kan reskill och upskill. Men hur lyckas man med sin reskilling? Hur tar man fram ett bra upskilling program? Här reder vi ut hur man med hjälp av lärresor kan lyckas med denna utmaning.

Kunskap om lärande

Jag har läst otaliga artiklar som berör ämnet reskill och upskill och hur man framgångsrikt ska arbeta med frågorna. Det blir snabbt ganska tydligt att kunskap om själva lärandet är en avgörande faktor för att nå ett framgångsrikt arbete med reskilling och upskilling. En viktig del är att skapa medvetenhet om lärande hos medarbetare. McKinsey publicerade nyligen en artikel om ”the intentional learner”  där man definierade kunskap om lärandet som en de mest fundamentala kunskaperna för framgångsrika medarbetare. Artikeln tar också upp ”The five core skills of intentional learners” som handlar om fem best practice-beteenden som hjälper en learner att få ut så mycket som möjligt av sina insatser där medvetenhet om lärandet även nämndes igen.

Ingen annan typ av kompetensutveckling

Det är lätt att tro att reskill och upskill är en annan typ av kompetensutveckling än det vi är vana vid, vilket det faktiskt inte är. Kompetenserna är nya, men sättet att nå dem bygger på samma fundamentala grunder som alltid. Att vi dessutom har lärt oss massor om lärandet under bland annat det här året, gynnar bara grunden för kompetensutveckling. Med automatiseringen och digitaliseringen som centrala drivkrafter för det stora behovet av kompetensutveckling krävs givetvis teknisk kompetens MEN minst lika viktigt kommer behovet av soft skills att vara; samarbete, feedback, coaching, individuell reflektion, värderingar och till exempel nätverkande. Listan kan göras lång på efterfrågade kompetenser. Gemensamt för soft skills-utvecklingen är såklart att det är beteenden som ska förstärkas och skapas.  Och när det kommer till beteenden så vet numera de flesta av oss vilken utbildningsdesign och metodik som är mest framgångsrik – lärresan. Men vi kan väl vara överens om att med de ökade kraven på utveckling av nya kompetenser – i hög takt – innebär att också kraven på hur kompetenserna och beteendena skapas. Att lärresan med sina komponenter blir ännu viktigare och rent av en förutsättning för ett framgångsrikt reskill och upskill-arbete.

Tätt samarbete mellan HR/L&D och företagsledning

Givetvis, som vid alla kompetensutvecklingsinsatser, måste man veta vilka nya kompetenser och beteenden som man ska skapa och vill uppnå. I samma takt som behovet av rätt kompetensutveckling ökar så ökar också kraven och förväntningarna på ett tätt samarbete mellan företagsledning och L&D. Det blir än mer viktigt att företagsledning och HR eller L&D samarbetar och tillsammans levererar insatser som främjar företagets utveckling. Fortfarande är det allt för vanligt att L&D och företagsledning inte kommunicerar och att L&D levererar på upplevda behov eller rena gissningar, och hur bra blir resultatet då? Om L&D och HR-avdelningar ska ha en chans att möta kraven måste kompetensutveckling bli en punkt på den strategiska agendan och företagsledningen måste vara väldigt tydliga med vilka behov de ser och vilka kompetenser som krävs för att stötta företagets strategiska inriktning och mål.

Program Performance Path (PPP) – en förutsättning

En grundförutsättning för en framgångsrik lärresa är en väl genomtänkt Program Performance Path (PPP). I PPP’n definierar vi, från höger till vänster, Business Rational, Performance Outcome, Moments that Matter och Learning Outcome. Aldrig förr har Performance Outcome och Moments that Matter varit så viktiga som nu; i vilka situationer ska beteendena användas och vad ska de leda till? Vi måste tvinga oss att bli specifika i hur kompetenserna ska användas för att veta hur vi bäst ska lära oss dem, vad ska din reskill och upskill bidra med – konkret?

Än mer stretchade dimensioner

Som jag tidigare nämnde är svaret på frågan kring hur man lyckas med sin upskilling reskilling att arbeta fram en lärresa som stödjer era behov och mål. Men vad innebär då en lärresa? En lärresa handlar om att stretcha dimensionerna; tid, relationer, stödsystem, affärsnytta och utrymme för var utbildningen sker. Det är lätt att inse att framgångsrikt reskill och upskill-arbete bygger på än mer stretchade dimensioner. Vi behöver tid för att utvecklas, träna och hinna utsättas för situationer där de nya kunskaperna ska tillämpas. Vi behöver bredda relationerna och lyfta blicken samt ställa oss frågan ”vem eller vilka är redan bra på det jag ska lära mig?”. Finns kompetensen redan internt? använd den! Om inte, ta hjälp utifrån! Vi har under det här året lärt oss att virtuell utbildning och digitala verktyg är här för att stanna och kommer vara en självklar del i alla utvecklingsinsatser. Det innebär bland annat att intern kompetens blir än mer lättillgänglig och att bra erfarenhet och expertis finns att hämta endast ett Zoom-möte bort.

Stretchade tankesätt

Med bakgrund mot ovan är det intressant att fundera på hur vi ytterligare kan stretcha lärresor som boostar kunskapen om själva lärandet, hur kan vi ytterligare nyttja relationer för överföring av kunskap etc.

Nedan har jag summerat några exempel på aktiviteter som driver i den riktningen och som kan hjälpa ert arbete med upskill och reskill på vägen:

  • Skapa uppgifter som uppmanar till att hitta kunskap på egen hand och att söka nya kanaler.
  • Skapa uppgifter som handlar om planering av lärande även efter att utbildningen är slut.
  • Om jag skulle bli ännu bättre vad skulle jag göra då? Låta deltagarna, som en del av utbildningen, komma på uppgifter.
  • Vänj medarbetarna att reflektera över det egna lärandet.
  • Hur kan vi använda andra delar i organisationen för att bli bättre på ett specifikt område; teama ihop medarbetare från olika delar av organisationen.
  • Para ihop yngre och äldre kollegor i utvecklingsteam.
  • Test att bygga er PPP där ni börjar med slutet för att hitta era önskade beteenden och vad de ska leda till.
  • Ta hjälp om ni känner er osäkra, det finns mycket kunskap både internt och externt!

* According to the 2020 report, an estimated 40% of employees’ core skills will change within the next five years. This means that 50% of all employees will have to upskill or reskill. The future of job reports 2020. 

Five Impact-busting myths about Learning & Development

Author: Professor Robert Brinkerhoff
Published: April 30, 2021

Back in 1994,  I wrote a book with colleague Steve Gill titled The Learning Alliance: Systems Thinking in Human Resource Development. The premise of this book is “…that learning adds value and improves human performance only when it is viewed and managed as an integral process within a larger system…”

In that book, we identified Five Myths about which we said “… the more that these myths are believed and practiced, the less likely it is that L&D will be producing value.” (p. 40).

Here are the myths and what we said about them back then. Fast forward now nearly 30 years. To what extent have we busted these myths? Are they still shaping practice in ways that they impede value? Or have we moved beyond them?

What do you think?

  1. Training makes a difference
    In our impact evaluation studies of training programs (leadership development, manager skills, etc., etc)  we always – always! – find that in the same program, some people used their training to produce worthwhile results, and some did not. But the training was nominally the same for all of them. What makes for the difference?  What makes the difference is almost always in the “before” and after” environment how were they prepared for and introduced to the training; what were expectations for their using it, or not; what kind of support did they get to apply their learning, and so forth.
  1. The purpose of training is to achieve learning objectives
    Nearly all the books and articles you can find about training design talk at great length about the need to express learning objectives in clear, concrete, and especially measurable terms. Good advice, as far as it goes; but too many practitioners let the story end there. New learning only provides the capability. What turns capability into value is behaviors – application of the learning in new or improved performance. A focus only or even mostly on learning frustrates value.
  1. The L&D professional’s job is to manage successful training programs
    The fallacy in this myth lies not in the word successful, but in the word programs. The training business is flooded to the gills with training programs and content – with more vendors selling more programs and content every day.  The myth extends to the habitual belief that processing people though these programs with efficiency is the L&D department’s job. Wrong, if it ends there. The job is to help the client organization use learning (the stuff that is presumably in these programs) to accelerate the execution of important change and strategic initiatives.
  1. Training is L&D’s job
    Most larger companies in the world have a training department. This fact attests to the emergence of training as a profession and the importance of the role in today’s organization. (Note: back then there was no such thing as a CLO). The implication of the name on the door is that the function therein is responsible for producing the performance improvement and results that are the reason for training’s existence. But turning learning into performance requires an alliance wherein trainees supervisors, their managers, and senior leadership all have a role to play in making sure that there is alignment, focus, intentionality, and accountability for the performance focus and support that must be embedded within the training initiative. In short, it takes a village to get results from training.  Delegating learning and performance accountability to the L&D function is a fool’s errand.
  1. Trainees should enjoy the training they receive.
    No quarrel with the premise that training is often (though not always) more effective when it is enjoyable, and we certainly do not promote learning designs that are on a par with root canals. But focusing on satisfaction (think the ubiquitous “level one” survey) is the value-buster.. At the root of this myth is confusion about who are the rightful customers of training. If training is meant to help the business perform, then the legitimate customer for training is senior leadership and the managers of trainees – those who are accountable for the goals that trainee performance should be helping to drive, that the training is presumably meant to impact.

Busted myths?

To what extent have we busted these myths? Please let us know your thoughts by voting at our mentimeter poll: VOTE HERE!

The results: