Elearning

I attended a most wonderful session today conducted by Edna.edu.au - the online network for educators.
I would encourage all trainers to join up - it is free - and enjoy some of the benefits of being part of this on-line community.
As Mark Twain once said,"I wanted my son to get a good education, so I took him out of school." There is so much that is new and happening on-line in education and training, that it seems such a pity to be conducting training using the same old techniques in the classroom.
I am so pleased that at Management Consultancy International we are going to be exploring how we can integrate some of the new tools into our sessions. We have already started by using video to capture sessions and ensure that the in-house groups receive a copy so that they can refresh at a later date or observe how they interact with others.
We are also going to be looking at using some of these tools as well:
1. Podcasts and hopefully picture podcasts
2. Some videocasts as well
3. Seeing how we can use Wikipedia in the sessions
4. Including Utube videos in our blog
5. Perhaps investigating Second Life as an education forum
6. Introducing an RSS feed.
As soon as I have my head around moodles, breadcrumbs, js tools and feedreaders, we will be moving Management Consultancy International and our clients way into the 21st century of learning. So watch this space....

Bruce Copley

We are so fortunate to have Bruce Copley conduct a learning session at Management Consultancy International on 31 July this year.
Bruce is my guru and has influenced the way in which we design and deliver learning to the 100's of students who come through our doors. I have known Bruce for over 15 years and still remember what I learnt with him all that time ago...
His ideas are simple and effective and make all the difference to ensuring that changes in behaviour genuinely take place. What he says makes sense in terms of incorporating holistic techniques into sessions and creating ice-breaker after ice-breaker to ensure that we don't just teach things but that our students learn.
Whoever gets to use Bruce's techniques quickly turns into a designer with fresh thinking and the ability to design programs that are different - and memorable.
if we ask most learners what they remember of a program 3 months post-training, they run for their course material and try to quickly thumb through the pages. The way in which Bruce guides designers is to ensure lasting impressions and messages that endure with the students.
I would encourage all designers and learning and development professionals to take this opportunity to refresh their thinking and as Bruce puts it:

THE SECRETS OF HOLISTIC LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION

The modern world is inundated with information, facts, figures and data. This KNOWLEDGE SUNAMI engulfs every aspect of our lives and we are literally and figuratively swamped with an endless array of books, magazines, films, videos, courses, conferences, lectures and workshops. In this dazzling smorgasbord every input we may chose to have, has the potential to become a BUILDING BLOCK OR BRICK in our “house of knowledge”. While these “ bricks” constitute important “parts “ of this house, there is something even more important without which, this house even if it happens to be a mansion will never be strong, firm , integrated or whole. This vitally important component is the CEMENT.
This internationally acclaimed learningshop is firmly anchored in timeless and universal holistic principles and practices and is widely acknowledged as the “ missing link " in education, training and managing. It does not simply offer more bricks but focus rather on the sorely needed CEMENT that holds, bonds, balances and integrates both individual and collective living, learning and loving on this planet.

ARE WE…TEACHING TO FORGET OR IS THE REAL NEED… LEARNING TO LEARN ??

Anyone who has been to school, college or university or who has attended lectures, seminars and workshops knows from personal experience that very little of what we are told, taught, study or write can be recalled after just a few days. Since we are unable to apply what we have forgotten, the learning efficiency of conventional PowerPoint presentations, lectures, workshops and seminars rarely exceeds a dismal 10% to extend their skills levels.

For more information, see the website and don't miss out on this opportunity.

Wayne Swan, Shadow Treasurer, Australian Labour Party

Wayne Swan in his lunchtime address to the Australia Israel Chamber of Business stated that in order to lift productivity levels more investment would be envisaged to skill and educate the workforce.
The ageing population is a definite danger and if we are to lift productivity in Australia, we need to look at participation levels in the workforce - this includes looking at 2nd income earners and reviewing tax rates.
Technical education also needs to be updated and there needs to be an emphasis on school apprenticeships.
All in all, there are imperatives to train more and education is a number one priority.
All of this is music to the ears of learning and development professionals so let's hope this is not just a case of false election promises and no action.

AHRI Conference 2007 - Main Learning Points

I attended the AHRI conference last week and listened in on an array of exciting local and international speakers.
Here are some of the main points that I picked up on during the presentations.

Fons Trompenaars
Riding the Wave of culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business

How do we create resourceful humans and not necessarily human resources?

• Diversity is linked to innovation and our HR tools are generally linear-based. The Myers-Briggs measurements for example imply that if we score high on one side, we are low on the other side. It categorises us as thinkers or feelers. Why can we not be both? And if we can be both, which tool could we use to measure this.
• If we are looking for a balance, this implies compromise and there is nothing worse than that. We need to develop workplaces that are BOTH inclusive and diverse and innovative. We need to take advantage of diversity, of people and things that are unlike us and reconcile this with things that are like us. We don't need balance - we do need integration. It is not a question of either/or. It is And..and.
• Organisations are made up out of explicit culture and deeper norms and values - values become norms and basic assumptions. We only talk about values when they are not yet norms
• A dilemma - you are in a car being driven by your close friend. He is speeding and hits a pedestrian and has to go to court. He asks you to lie for him in court and say that he was traveling slowly. Does he have the right to ask you to testify?
• Our culture determines how we would respond to this dilemma. Our values come in to play when we need to make choices to solve dilemmas. We have 'integrity' as a value - but how does this value help us to answer the dilemma? Different cultures would propose different solutions. One solution might be to influence the driver to respond appropriately in court and place the onus back on him.
• Leaders use objectivity = the guest point of view and subjectivity = the host point of view. Leadership allows us to connect the opposites.
• Are you a peach or a coconut culture? - is your culture private or public?
• Create an environment that encourages innovation through diversity - how can I help you to overcome the obstacles to your ideas?

Dave Ulrich

The Future of HR

What will drive the future of HR? What is the most critical HR decision you could make? "Send your worst performing employee to your competitor!"

• In HR for the past 40 years we have looked at the things we do, but not at the outcome of what we do - was what we did any good? Are we creating value? And if we don't create value, how can we be a partner in the business?
• Value is defined by the receiver more than by the giver
• Some things are so important to do, that they are worth doing badly
• To create value, start with what the business leaders want - find out what they are worried about and link what we do into what they want. HR is then an enabler to the business agenda and will create value
• The 4 stakeholders of HR - the employees; the customers; the investors and the line managers. Our focus has tended to be on the employees but now we need to look outside at the investors and the customers and assist line managers to execute their strategy.
• We build an employee value proposition by - giving the employees a sense of pride in the business; a budget; learning and development opportunities; a good set of peers to work with and good leaders
• We help line managers by building organisational capacity and by moving the business from the current state to a future state. It is worth doing an organisational audit.
• We target customers by defining their goals and we build connections with targeted customers - we use their ideas and involve them. We check our L and D curriculum with them to ensure that it is what they would want
• We create intangible value for investors - the intangible worth of a business is defined by the amount of confidence that investors have in the value of the business. We assist in building a reputation and in ensuring that there values in talent, speed of delivery and efficiency and also goodwill.
• At every meeting, talk about why HR creates value for these 4 key customers of HR. Run the HR function as though it was a business. Become a human capital developer. There cannot simply be activity in the HR department - it has to lead to an outcome.

Meeting the rich and famous

A bigger twit would be hard to find...
I was fortunate enough to interview Paul Little, the CEO of Toll as part of the start-up of the supervisory program. Paul endorsed the program and welcomed delegates to the training.
He is one of the most highly respected and influential business leaders in Australia and commands an enormous amount of awe from friend and foe. He has been involved in over 20 take-overs and has a tremendous vision and strategy for Toll for the future.
EXCEPT that- nothing recorded!! I held the small video camera really steadily as I was trained to do BUT nothing came out...what an embarrassment...my head hangs in shame...
There is no next time and our one opportunity in a lifetime cannot be repeated.
Lessons:
1. Have Plan B - when it is such a vital time, have 2 cameras in place
2. Delegate - send someone in with the right skill set

Meeting 2
At a lunch for Wayne Swan, I met Phil Burgess, Number 2 to Sol at Telstra. What a superb man - very eloquent and intelligent. He has recently made a very generous donation to the Jewsih Museum in Melbourne of an artifact received from his Aunt and he wanted the Australian immigrant community to have this.

After many months of hard work our new website is "Live".


http://www.mci.edu.au


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Article in Training Australia magazine

I am so excited because this article of mine was published in the latest Training Australia magazine.

Download or View complete Training Australia magazine article here as Adobe PDF.


OR read below:

Check your organisation’s pulse – are you an Investor in People?
Denise Meyerson, Director, Management Consultancy International

It seems like most learning and development practitioners have no difficulty in finding the right places to implement training interventions. But how effective are such interventions? Should management simply spend the money sending staff on a harbour cruise?

Here’s my challenge to learning and development practitioners. Spend a few moments giving thought to a recent training intervention that you either coordinated or delivered. Formulate a single sentence that captures the essence of the goal of this intervention, for example “The report writing training was designed to …”. Next, create a further sentence that clearly describes the impact the training had on the individual or team. Start with these words: “The training resulted in these changes in the level of skills or behaviour in the business:…”. This last sentence should avoid mentioning how much the training participants enjoyed themselves or how wonderful the facilitator was.

It is the follow up evaluation of the effectiveness of training where so many learning and development practitioners trip up. Like any management professionals, we should ask ourselves if the results of our training are both value for money and properly aligned to the goals of the organization.

The potential wastage of resources on poorly developed training interventions is huge. In Australia, the average spend per person on training is $450*. This is in addition to the $2.5 billion in federal funding of the apprenticeship and traineeships schemes this financial year. Add to those figures the $280.6 million set aside by the federal government for skills vouchers and we can begin to understand the massive scale of L&D spending and the potential for squandering these resources on misconceived efforts.

There is little research conducted on the specific impact that training has on business results. As professionals, could we hold our heads high when discussing the impact that our interventions have in terms of concrete business outcomes?
As a training consultant, my mantra is if training doesn’t lead to change, why do it at all?
It would be far better to spend the money on a cruise around Sydney Harbour than engage training where it isn’t needed or appropriate. Not only will it cost you less but I can guarantee that it will also lead to far greater levels of employee motivation and engagement!

Traditionally the development cycle in learning and development has always been “plan, prepare, deliver and assess”. However, this framework is not enough in linking the specific learning generated by training to business performance. A far more useful tool to implement is the ‘Investors in People’ standard. This is the only recognised globally recognised HR. standard used to determine whether an organisation’s performance improves due to a planned approach to people development. The standard is available on the Investors in People website: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk.

The Investors in People benchmark provides us with a framework to continuously evaluate our training and determine what difference our learning strategy makes to the both the participants and the organisation as a whole.
In the UK, over one-third of the workforce work in organizations which use the Investors in People standard. Research has shown the profitability increases that these organisations experience – a jump in annual profit of £353 per employee attributed to Investors in People.*2

Let’s look at Investors in People a little more closely. The standard has 3 main principles; ‘plan’, ‘do’ and ‘review’.


On the Investors in People website, you’ll find a useful tool to help you diagnose your organisation to determine whether you meet the evidence requirements and criteria of the standard. There is no charge for using this tool and it allows you to conduct an internal survey of where stakeholders feel the business stands against the benchmark’s requirements.
Here are some further challenges I have for learning and development professionals who are keen to ensure that their training delivers this elusive ‘return on investment’:
1. Know the budget that is spent on training and express this as a percentage of payroll.2. Start changing the types of conversations that take place around training. Avoid talking about delegates who had positive feedback or training that "all went well". Of course this is important, but it’s more urgent to find out what difference the training made in situ. Once this has been investigated, learn to express it in a few sentences for example "As a result of the intervention, we increased sales by twenty-seven percent” or, “There were better customer feedback reports” or, “we noticed that the team worked more cohesively..". Such success stories need not be strictly quantitative as other factors may provide equally useful information to management.
3. Conduct the ‘Investors in People’ diagnostic and have a strong sense of where you currently stand against the criteria of the standard. Understand the areas of your operation which are close to meeting requirements and areas in which you have further work to do.
4. Set in place some action items that allow you to move closer to the benchmark. Determine realistic goals – it’s no use throwing your hands up in desperation believing that you are too far off the mark to even get started!
5. Never go to a budgeting meeting with a begging-bowl - asking for more money for training. Set yourself the objective of having so many positive stories illustrating the impact of training on the organisation that purse-holders are keen to provide the funds.
In summary, all learning and development practitioners know that investing in people makes commercial sense. It’s now our task to prove this in a more concrete manner. The Investors in People framework provides a way of monitoring your progress. Remember: What gets measured, gets done! Investors in People can help us make these measurements to guide your journey forward.

* This figure is quoted in the latest survey of the retail industry 2006
*2 This is figure quoted in extensive research available on www.investorsinpeople.co.uk



Denise Meyerson PhD
Denise is the Managing Director of Management Consultancy International, a leading provider of training solutions and an advising organisation for the Investors in People standard. Visit our website on www.mci.edu.au