FUN: The Magic of Making Training FUN

Improving your Training delivery

2012-01-18T05:59:00.000+08:00

You have a great opportunity at this year's Trainers Meet Trainers in Kuala Lumpur to hear experts such as Thiagi and Ed Scannel. More details from grace@smrhrgroup.com

My colleague Karen Ong runs the programme Accredited Training Professional at several venues around the world. The programme based on my book The Magic of Making Training FUN attempts to increase learner effectiveness.

I came across David Sousa’s work. David A. Sousa’s ideas are valuable for all of us who would like to accelerate learner effectiveness at the workplace. We echo all of his ideas in our programmes.

Take for example the need for the First I – Introduction, in the programme, with the use of warm ups. The main objective is to create a positive environment for the learner, to get them excited about what they are going to learn. Sousa says : Relieve stress and help people feel positive about their learning environment. It will release endorphins in
the blood, which gives a feeling of euphoria and stimulates the frontal lobes.

We continue to emphasise the need for reviewing content presented several times. Quoting the works of Amunts and others, Sousa says practice does not make it perfect. Practice makes learning permanent. If practice is stopped altogether, the neurons that are no longer being used are eventually assigned to other tasks and skill mastery will decline. In other words, use it or lose it!

The use of stories during the Fourth I – Instruction is emphasised to deliver contet effectively with greater learner engagement. Sousa says that studies show that stories engage all parts of the brain because they touch on the learner’s experiences, feelings, and actions.

Reference: David A. Sousa, How the Brain Learns, Third edition, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA 2006.

Copy of session notes

2011-09-12T18:36:00.001+08:00

To get a copy of the session notes please email palan99@hotmail.com

National Convention

2011-09-12T18:35:00.000+08:00

It was a wonderful experience delivering the opening keynote at the PSMB 2011 National Convention. I spoke on the subject - 5 HR Best Practices. the Conference theme was an interesting one: New Human Capital - what’s beyond. Change was a buzzword. We as HR practitioners know that we need to adopt new strategies to cope with these changes. Every government talks about a high income economy – this can only be driven by quality talent.

Memories

2011-06-02T20:58:00.002+08:00

April 19th is a day that will be etched firmly in my memory. It was a great day in my life. His Royal Highness, the Sultan of Perak bestowed on me the title of '‘Dato’' , it was a great honour.

My wife and I were extremely nervous but delighted with the recognition. It was a recognition for the Human resources community

Creative Training

2011-01-19T19:07:00.000+08:00

I was looking at one of Bob Pike's old newsletters. He talks of the 90/20/8 rule. Adults can listen with understanding for 90 minutes. They can listen with retention for 20 minutes. We need to involve them every 8 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes learners may comprehend what is being taught but they cannot retain the information. Look at Bob Pike's Creative Training Techniques book to get more information.

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T23:13:00.002+08:00

The use of humour to support learning is not new. John Cleese of Video arts fame helped to pioneer the use of humour in corporate training with great training videos such as Meetings Bloody meetings. He sold his training video company with all the great humour training videos for great sum of money.
The power of humour is becoming increasingly valued in the business world, and there is a growing trend towards trainers and facilitators acquiring the skills that will help them to introduce humour into sessions as they see fit, rather than simply putting on a video and sitting back to watch. Improv is a tool to help trainers learn the art of spontaneity as it is humour and not jokes that makes an impact on the learner. Visit http://appliedimprov.ning.com/profile/KatKoppett
Dawn Smith looks at the link between humour and learning, and how laughter can be used in the training room to help make the message stick. Visit http://www.businesszone.co.uk/item/172912

Making Technical Training FUN

2010-10-07T21:40:00.000+08:00

This is the one question I get asked very often.

FUN is a facilitative factor to deliver content, a required condition.

The answer to the question depnds on how much we can redesign the content to make it interactive and engaging.

The Magic of Making Training FUN!

2010-10-05T21:57:00.000+08:00

After a long time, I return to blogging today. The last blog I wrote seems so long ago, on April 11th, 2010. Coincidentally, the two liner I had extracted from a Chinese proverb was:

“A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.“

The reasons for not being able to write I guess can be explained by the mad routines we force upon ourselves. We claim to be busy, I guess I was too. And, it is such a useless word when we are unable to do what we want to do.

Over the last few months, I have increasingly enjoyed the company of my four year old daughter, particularly after the very successful and hectic Asia HRDCongress 2010 Kuching, Sarawak. This evening after a long walk with my four year old daughter, I realised that I have been taking life too seriously.

I recalled the words of three friends this late evening.

Jeremy Spoor, a former colleague and a wonderful trainer from the United Kingdom used to talk about stopping to reflect once in a while. My friend Nataraj in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates always talks about the need to practice what you preach. And, Evaluation guru Don Kirkpatrick says ‘just don’t take yourself too seriously, relax.’

Just two weeks ago I experienced the joy of delivering a keynote at the Indian Society of Training & Development Conference on the subject: Leading in the Gen Y era. I recognised the fact that 80% of the audience were Gen Y. It was so much fun interacting with them.

This blog since its inception known as the Learning & Performance in Asia reflected a rather serious image. Yet, my seminal and initial work in the field was all about FUN.

The first book The Magic of Making Training FUN impacted many thousands of participants. While, my colleague Karen Ong and a host of colleagues have carried on the torch of FUN, this evening’s refection led me to believe that I have not done just cause to this undeniably important area through the blog.

Hence, I have decided to rename this blog from the original name Learning & Performance in Asia to The Magic of Making Training FUN! The Google group also is being renamed today.

From the purported Utterances of The Qaqui (Bernie DeKoven):
“Today I realize that every minute I didn't spend loving or laughing was a waste of time. It comes a little late, but I won't lose another minute by not enjoying life and the fun of it."

Learning

2010-04-11T18:08:00.002+08:00

A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. ~Chinese Proverb

Prof Ram Charan

2010-03-31T07:48:00.000+08:00

I was there at the Sime Darby Lecture series with my colleague Subra to listen to Prof Ram Charan, renowned author and former Harvard Professor. Simple message: Leaders work on their basics just like athletes do. And, they are not shy of hiring people who are more clever than them.

Skills Gap

2010-03-06T20:21:00.001+08:00

The ASTD report: Bridging the Skills Gap: new Factors compounding the growing skills shortage covers the growing importance of talent to organisational performance and the growing skills gaps that threaten many organisations today. A Skills gap is identified as a significant gap between an organisation’s capabilities and the skills it needs to achieve its goals. Communities, regions and nations pay a heavy price when they cannot find or equip workers with the right skills for the right jobs.

Jobs are changing and educational attainment is lagging; current global economic challenges may result in a jobless recovery where organisations may put off new hires and achieve productivity gains with existing employees. Such situations may provoke the social fabric prevailing in many developing and emerging economies.

Each individual is responsible for his or her own learning if they want to gain high pay or keep their jobs.

Three Idiots

2010-02-21T00:40:00.000+08:00

I watched this lovely film today with my family. Enjoyed it immensely. The message do what you are passionate about and follow your heart resonated with me.

Become an engineer if you desire so, become a photographer if you desire so not because of parental or peer pressure.

All is Well were three most powerful words I took away from the film.

My name is Khan

2010-02-18T23:22:00.001+08:00

If you want to unlearn, relearn and change for the better, here is a movie you must watch.

I watched Sharukh Khan's movie, I was so touched by the story line. My family enjoyed it too. The film is about an autistic person who shows leadership in adversity.

He shows you to be yourself, taught me so much about what prejudices mean. I only wish every American Caucasian gets to see this film. The country that elected a non Caucasian to the country's highest office must be proud of this movie.

It helps erase so much of the prejudices prevailing about Muslims and clearly communicates you cannot stop someone from showering their love and goodwill for you.

A wonderful movie. Just made me sit up and recognise what I should be doing for the needy every day of my life.

Innovations in Human Capital Development

2010-02-12T14:03:00.002+08:00

What does the year 2010 hold for the learning and development community?

We need innovations in Human Capital development to ensure learning stays on the agenda during these competitive times. ASTD and others list three key areas:

1. New ways to work with the Gen Y

2. 21st century Mentoring

3. Working with the Social evolution and breakthrough technologies

Annual Training Industry Survey

2009-11-11T09:50:00.002+08:00

Budget and Staffing Cuts Continue

The Bersin & Associates Annual Training Industry Survey is interesting; visit their website for more details. Some salient points:

In 2009, the faltering U.S. economy continued to take its toll on training organizations. Companies cut their L&D budgets by another 11 percent from 2008 levels, with median spending falling to $714 per learner. Combined with the budget reductions that occurred in 2008, training budgets have fallen a total of 21 percent over the past two years. Spending was down across all company size categories. Small companies cut their L&D spending by 10 percent; midsize companies cut 11 percent and large companies cut 12 percent of their L&D spending.

Many L&D organizations also shed jobs in 2009. The median L&D staff fell from 7.0 staff per 1,000 learners in 2008 to 6.2 in 2009. Small businesses reduced their training staffs by four percent, while midsize firms cut five percent and large companies cut eight percent of their L&D headcount.

These budget and staffing figures show that large businesses have taken the hardest hit in 2009. Large companies generally have more “fat” to cut, with more L&D program offerings and more L&D staff playing specialized roles. Although they are often slower to respond to economic changes, they are assessing – and cutting now. As part of these cost-cutting efforts, many large companies are centralizing their training operations and moving toward a shared services model.

Appointment

2009-09-13T15:58:00.001+08:00

I have been honoured with the appointment as a Director of the Human Reources Development Corporation by the Honourable Minister of HR, Government of Malaysia. It gives me an opportunity to contribute to the development of human capital.

The Human Resources Development Council manages the Human Resources Development Fund and aims to support human capital development. For more details visit their web site.

Formal education and workplace application gaps

2009-08-17T00:03:00.001+08:00

Do student grades determine their true potential?

It does not, it looks like that there is huge gap between employer expectations and what the universities produce. This inconsistency between educational output, industry requirements and priorities pose a serious problem.

Skills Invest Forum organized at the Dubai Knowledge Village assembled a team of experts to address this issue. A 2009 report titled “the Arab Human Capital Challenge – the voice of the CEO’s has lessons for all of us.

The two factors cited as causes are worth further studying – the first is the need for the universities to partner with industry to identify needs and priorities, the second is for a review of the teaching methods.

A joint study by the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings Institution and the Dubai School of Government states that a continued dependence on rote teaching methods stifles creativity and independent thinking.

In July, we had the opportunity of partnering with a government linked corporation to train 500 new graduates. The emphasis was getting them to find their inner voice and aligning their action to values. The goal was to get them to think and become work ready. It was indeed a very productive and valuable experience.

To get more details of the graduates workplace programmes and accredited training programme, please email subra@smrhrgroup.com

Emirates Airlines nightmare

2009-06-27T01:13:00.005+08:00

We talked about the three C's in the last blog.

Brands must deliver.

I have enjoyed travelling Emirates Airlines in the past but today was a nightmare. Growth creates challenges. You cut corners. I guess that's what happened today. The crew forgot to serve me lunch for 4 hours. No regrets, no apologies. Can you believe it it was the first time in my life I was served a quarter cup of mango juice with the promise she will return. She did not till I asked her two hours later. Yet, she did not say sorry.

Pretty cabin crew but does that help deliver the brand. I doubt they understood the vision and mission of the airline or they were engaged. All that they told me in excuse was the new 777 Boeing aircraft was too big 340 passengers and “boy, it was full.’ They regret the flight was full.

Lucky I had biscuits with me to ensure I did not die of starvation. Even if I had I do not think the crew would have minded that. They were just least bothered.

Service recovery was even worse - I was given a bag with a chocolate box opened, razor, comb, toilet soap, sewing kit. Obviously you know that I did not take the bag.

It WAS truly a great airline that served customers well. It was certainly the opposite today..

I hope they recognize that growth does not mean cutting on the quality of recruitment, training or service.

The 3 C's of Brands

2009-06-25T04:37:00.002+08:00

I read the article in the Research World - kind courtesy of my Saudi colleague Dr. Abdul Hai. The artilce talks about:

The Culture - the internal culture of an organisation,
The Community - how you engage them, and
The Commercial - the primary focus of brands.

The new world is about managing all three concepts.

Inclusiveness

2009-04-21T23:27:00.004+08:00

I happened to work with a CEO of a major Insurance company in Malaysia, who happens to be a good friend too.

His Secretary looked Chinese but the name sounded Malay. My colleague and I asked her if she was Malay and her answer shamed us.

She responded: I am a Malaysian and a human being.

Her ability to look beyond race and at how we can promote the value of the human spirit stumped me. While she was an ethnic Malay, my colleague was Chinese and I was Indian, her ability to reflect human values even though she was young thrilled me. There is still goodness left in this world.

I learned so much about values from this young lady.

Making Appraisals work for you

2009-04-15T22:51:00.001+08:00

Three Objectives

Let us review what performance management is designed to do. The principle of such a business process has three objectives:

Performance Planning & Alignment:

First, to develop and align goals that is essential to implement business strategy. This must link with the organizational structure and positions. The creation of a position is not without a reason. Organizational structure is nothing but a series of relationships/positions designed to successfully implement strategy.

Second, to create consistent goals which align employees with managers and business units and align these goals with the organization’s overall priorities? These goals also help employees themselves stay focused.

Coaching and development:

This process enables a structured process where managers are able to provide coaching and development. This can be supported by Learning & Development organization, leadership development, and other organizational developmental processes in the organization.

Employee evaluation:

This process helps to create standardized and equitable ratings and rankings to facilitate compensation decisions, promotions, succession planning, and talent management

Do Performance Appraisals work?

Ask a couple of your peers their satisfaction levels with a performance evaluation or review? It is very likely that they will express their dissatisfaction. Most of us know that performance appraisals do not work very well. Research indicates only less than 35% of organisations have an enterprise wide programme. Less than a similar number are happy with the process. Even fewer of the C level executives find it useful. It is more of a yearly paper exercise f not implemented properly.

Which of the above three objectives is the most important and how do you design a process that works?

Coaching for Competency development

In our 30 year experience working with some of the most successful organizations, we have had the opportunity of studying best practices. Research and practice clearly indicate the business process that makes an immediate impact on business and generates far greater returns on investment is when coaching for competency development takes precedence over the evaluation piece. Consider the impact of the following five processes in performance management.

Coaching:

The number one highest impact process for organizations is coaching. The impact of coaching is overwhelming with a 150% greater return than performance assessment and almost a 200% greater return than “pay-for-performance” processes.

Competency frameworks:

The number two highest impact process for organizations is in developing high-value, unique, and job-aligned competencies. When an organization has a competency framework in place and that is maintained regularly, the impact grows by quantum leaps. The process of identifying critical competencies, coaching individuals to develop the competencies and then using these competencies to assess and improve performance clearly has very high value. This was the second ranked high-impact process in performance management.

Goal development and goal alignment:

The number three highest impact process is goal development and goal alignment. The need to gain mutual agreement between the manager and the subordinate on work plans and aligning employees with organizational goals is critical.

Development Planning

The number four highest-impact process in performance management is development planning. The need for creating clear and consistent development plans such as individual development plans are very important.

Performance evaluations

Performance evaluations and linking compensation to performance ratings were deemed important for talent management. They were seen as an important but far below the other four above. This was often a sore spot as the dissatisfaction mostly came from the fairness and quality of evaluations.

The focus

Most organizations focus on Performance evaluations. The appraisal and the linkage to compensation were viewed as most important as it gave the Human Resources department significant importance and because it is a compliance-related issue. It is often said it is common sense that the appraisal is the most important. Respectable authors and researchers all are unanimous in their opinion that in fact the other four are far more important if you want the performance management process to drive business impact. I had echoed similar views in my book Performance Management & Measurement: The Asian Context.

Viewing performance management as management

If we institutionalize performance management as part of everyday management, it does not become as an annual chore. You design a situation where performance is managed everyday and coaching for competency development becomes part of the daily job. You will be able to shape the behaviors and activities of leaders, managers, and employees by design and not by chance.

The Jack Welch General Electric Model

Jack Welch of General Electric popularized the concept of the A players and the bottom 10% to fit with his business strategy of being Number 1 or 2 in every business. If not, then fix it, sell it or close it. To align to this business goal, performance evaluations were made very stringent and the bottom 10% very year were replaced. Jack Welch always communicated the view that it is better for them and GE that the bottom 10% find other opportunities that suit them best. The top 20, middle 70 and bottom 10 model, establishes strict rules to “fire the bottom 10%” in every workgroup.

From the number of speeches and seminars you get to hear that this strategy worked very well for the company. Also, not to forget that General Electric was praised for giving employees the best learning opportunities. They were hailed as the CEO factory of the United States of America. However, will this very competitive model of forced ratings to differentiate performance work for your organization?

While this model worked very well for General Electric, the question we have to ask is will it work for your organization.

The balanced score card

The huge rush towards the balanced score card approach to ensure goal development and alignment across the four parameters of financial, customer, internal process and learning through strategy mapping is very good. The model has been hailed as a great way to implement strategy. However, will you be able to mine the data needed to generate the first report so essential for managing performance. Will you be able to manage this tedious process?

While the Balanced Score Card has worked very well for some organizations, the question we have to ask is will it work for your organization.

HRDPower from SMR HRT

I would like to propose an alternative approach based on Coaching for Competency Development, given our consulting experiences and experience in implementing HRDPower, a software tool. While I will cover this in my next article, there is one message that I like to leave behind for you.

Make sure the performance management process that you choose makes the highest impact on your business. That is the only way you can make performance appraisals work and add value for you. Make the software work for you. Do not compromise your programme to suit the software.

Making Performance Appraisals work for you

2009-04-12T23:13:00.001+08:00

Performance Appraisals do not work. That seems to be the conclusion of many authors including Deming and Drucker. They have proposed various alternatives around the concept to make it work.

During the last few years, we have studied the utilization of the various performance management programmes used by organizations and the software programmes available. There is little doubt that organizations struggle to implement a precise process which will best reflect their organization’s goals, culture, and desired management style. Most organizations have difficulty with the performance management programme or the software. This leads to organizations designing a process around the system features and capabilities.

The rapid growth of performance management off the shelf software is creating quite a bit of difficulty for organizations. Research organizations studying HR systems believe a major shift is taking place. While enterprise systems are being gradually edged out because of the availability of software as a service, the main focus today seems to hinge on making the performance appraisal relevant for an organization.

Seven core processes

Performance management software systems revolve around automating the seven core processes which organizations use:

1. Goal development (also known as key performance indicators or KPI; sometimes also confused with objectives),

2. Goal alignment,

3. Self-assessment,

4. Superior assessment,

5. 360 assessment,

6. Competency development, and

7. Development planning.

Unfortunately, they don’t really help organizations decide how the performance appraisal process itself will work. This is ultimately the most important issue of all.

We will discuss this in our next post.

FUN Learning

2009-04-07T21:51:00.000+08:00

Is the use of FUN something that trainers, facilitators or learning specialists can avoid without affecting learning results? Research shows us that it is highly unlikely for great learning results when the delivery is devoid of FUN.

In my 30 over years of experience in delivering sessions and attending training, I have found the use of FUN to be a very powerful tool to gain learner attention, promote participation and accelerate retention. The resistance towards the use of FUN tools maybe largely attributed towards the stereotyped perceptions of FUN. Many years ago, the late Dr. Surjit Singh, a Malaysian trainer differentiated the use of FUN and being funny in a jovial manner. Rather than share the lengthy research background, suffice to say for now, we can certainly say the use of FUN is a purpose driven activity; being funny is largely trivia without a purpose, when taken in the context of learning. How many times have we heard participants murmuring that while the trainer is a content expert and is very knowledgeable, the sessions are very hard to pay attention to? We have also heard learners grumbling about all funny activities and jokes without any relevance to content.

I will continue in my next blog message.

Can we compete?

2009-03-22T23:16:00.002+08:00

This morning I had the opportunity to climb the famous Hindu temple Batu Caves. Close to 280 steps. It was a wonderful experience. I had not climbed the Batu Caves for the last 5 years. As with customary Hindu practice, we had gone there as a family to fulfill a prayer. The interesting part was when we climbed down the 280 steps; to quench our thirst, we decided to have a few Cokes at the local store. As we found no straws, we asked the customer service operator if we could have one and he just said “figure it out yourself, it should be somewhere there."

My wife had recently visited India. Her goal was to buy a handicraft piece in the government authorized handicraft emporium. She paid with her Malaysian credit card.It has taken three long months and we have still not received the handicraft piece. Apparently, this evening's phone call revealed that they have just about got the government permission to ship the handicraft piece. The customary answer to a frustrating question was “these things take time Madam."

Compare it with my visit to China. I had bought two water features for the office. The service representative called me at every stage of the shipping process and we received the shipment within four weeks. And, on my next trip to China, I visited the shop; I was amazed to be greeted by name by the Chinese representative who spoke only a few words of English.

I am a Malaysian of Indian origin and I just can’t stop being marveled by the competitiveness of the Chinese.

What is the missing competency link? What is that we others are missing that the Chinese seem to do with ease?

Can we ever compete with the fierce competitiveness of the mainland Chinese?

Remember the saying:

Every morning, a gazelle wakes up, ready to run fast to escape being eaten up by the tiger.

Every morning, a tiger gets up, ready to run fast to hunt for food.

It does not matter if you are a gazelle or a tiger, either way you just got to run fast.

Learning Trends

2009-01-18T23:11:00.001+08:00

I was looking at the Learning Trends and I looked at the work of several people like Bill Kutik, Masie and Mary White.

While most of the literature point to the growing use of e learning and web 2.0 tools, I was impacted by the numbers that more and more people are enjoying convenience in fulfilling their various goals in life including that of obtaining education. Increasingly more and more educational institutions are now offering online degree programs in response to the speed of life and unavailability of time.

Online learning is gaining ground in the different parts of the world but is more popular than ever in the United States. A report revealed that online enrollment in the U.S. rose from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004.

Flexibility in the delivery of online education has resulted in more people adopting e learning. The technology used since the introduction of e – learning has also dramatically improved. Current technology fuelled by web 2.0 tools allows greater interaction, social networking and flexibility. The costs have also become more affordable to most people.

A study by the American Society for Training and Development revealed that an estimated 29 percent of corporate tuition reimbursements go to online or blended programs.

Have you ever taken an on-line learning programme? If you have not, try one now.

The Economy

2009-01-04T23:15:00.001+08:00

“It's the economy, stupid", a phrase developed by James Carville, a campaign strategist during Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992 was the slogan that led Bill Clinton to victory. While the 2008 campaign reflected President elect Barack Obama’s “Change we can believe in”, the economy is indeed worrying every person. And, the markets eagerly await the inauguration of the President Barack Obama on January 20^th, 2009. Newsweek reports that he economic crisis is far worse than what we think. Everyone is so fearful that I wonder whether the self fulfilling prophesies will take effect. When I was a student, I did not quite realize what an economic recession could do, life just went on. Now, when I look back, some of the worst economic recessions were during my college days. The first few years of work life introduced me to the world of economic recessions. I did an economic quiz though it is very American centric and achieved a score of 70% In Asia, the news was not good all around. Western Digital in Malaysia reported job losses. Singapore reported the economy slowing down. In the Middle East declining oil prices triggered fears of budget deficits. In India, there were worries too. China, on the other hand was cautious. While I do not look at Japan much, economic news from there was troubling too.

Newsweek reported on a Labor Department report that American employers axed 49,000 jobs in May, the fifth straight month of job losses, which inspired a 394-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Auto sales, the largest retailing sector and housing in the U.S., were also down. Prudence and caution may well be the buzz words for the next few months. You could also test your knowledge by taking the quiz: http://www.newsweek.com/id/140374

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T23:46:00.001+08:00

The Economy

Leadership

2008-12-29T17:10:00.001+08:00

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man but he is braver five minutes longer - Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is positive psychology?

2008-11-26T22:28:00.000+08:00

Can we get people to be happy and enjoy their work?

Can we move them from TGIF ( Thank God, it is Friday to Thank God, it is Monday.)

Yes, we can if we apply the principles of happiness. So, what is happiness?

“Happiness is a way of life – an overriding outlook composed of qualities such as optimism, courage, love and fulfillment.” The goal is to enjoy every day irrespective of what the challenges are.

What is the enemy of being happy?

It is the fear system, a biologically based response derived from our lower brain. This is often known as the reptilian brain as we share this with the reptiles. The fear system initially developed as a survival mechanism to respond to threats is triggered faster than rational thoughts such as feelings of love. Anger, pessimism, anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation are some forms of fear among us.

The goal is to focus on positives in a negative world and in negative times like these to build greater motivation and employee engagement.

This morning, I asked a group of young executives to visualize the “end in mind.”

I asked them to complete the statement, I want to be ………..

Some of them were clear; they could really describe the visual picture in their heads. They showed their desire to be what they wanted to be. They were ready to share and commit to grow.

I had to quote Dato Ahmad Pardas, Managing Director of UEM World who once shared with me a quote:
“If you want to be the person, you want to be; you must walk, talk and behave like the person you want to be.”

You must be ready to plan your path towards what you want to and follow through you become what you want to be.

President Obama

2008-11-07T00:41:00.000+08:00

Just like millions of others I waited for the results of the US Presidential election.

Well, the historic event happened, America chose a new President not because he was black but because of his appeal to a majority of Americans. As I said in my last e news some loved him, some did not like him and some really thought it was McCain’s turn. There is a famous expression in the community where I grew up. When the time is right, nothing can stop change.

Whatever happened is immaterial. The important thing is the character of America.America is truly the land where everyone and anyone can aim for the impossible. The majority white population proved they could vote for a person from another race. It is not the color of the skin but the policies of the candidate.

Secondly, the gracious concession speech by the defeated candidate McCain said so much about the person.

Thirdly, Obama’s acceptance speech was equally gracious Read the book Say it like Barack Obama.

Fourthly, America is indeed able to lead because of its ability to change and reinvent when it matters most.

Fifth, like most others I sat glued to the television and sat in amazement as I saw vivid pictures of great personalities in joy and sorrow.If only every country in the world could accept that democracy is about not just winning but the free choice of people, the world will be a better place to live.

He is truly a great leader simply because he strategised his campaign and flawlessly executed it.

Marshall Goldsmith

2008-10-03T21:32:00.000+08:00

What got you here won't get you there

The motives behind people's self interest usually can be narrowed down to four items:

1. Money

2. Power

3. Status

4. Popularity

Marshall Goldsmith says that people will not resist change if we invoke the natural law i.e touch their hot button - their self interest.

The Service Factor

2008-09-21T15:16:00.000+08:00

I had the opportunity to travel with six airlines during my three week trip to six countries. I have often wondered why is it that some airlines are consistently tops on the service provided. They are just outstanding while some are brilliant in flashes. Some are just forgettable.

On one of the sectors, I was served beef as that was the only option available. Chicken and fish were over. As I do not take any beef, I was left starving for the entire flight. I asked to see the Manager but she just did not show up. I had to go and see her to register my complaint but the seven hour flight was over.

I took a flight from London to Chicago and often wondered how these airlines can preach about service to others. They did everything right to the basics, showed us how to get out of the aircraft in the event of an emergency and served us food as a mandatory task. They did not care how customers were treated or felt. No smiles, no eye contact, no thank you, no feeling that they wanted customers. They certainly made us feel that customers were a nuisance. Contrast this to some airlines such as my personal favourite such as Singapore Airlines where they relay live out the mission – a great way to fly.

How can we get the service staff to demonstrate a sense of ownership and a customer service orientation is an issue I am sure predominant on the minds of most Chief Executives.

Reflections for the business world

2008-08-11T00:28:00.000+08:00

I was travelling with Joyce Gioia. A US based author and speaker when she talked to me about Marshall Goldstein’s , What got you here won’t get you there.I was intrigued and I went on to read about him.

Just after I did that, I went on to re - read Malcolm Gladwell’s book - Tipping Point. As they say he is "just a thinker." But what a thinker. . His provocative ideas are taking the business world by storm. So who is this person, and what can he teach us about business. What can we learn?

Danielle Sacks talks about the Accidental Guru and I produce the excerpts from the article:
"I really like that term 'momentary autism,' " a woman says softly into the mike. She is in the back of the Times Square Studios speaking to a room of some 200 people, and more important, Malcolm Gladwell, who's standing solo onstage. It's the second day of the fifth annual New Yorker Festival, and Gladwell has just finished a detailed reprise of the seven seconds that led to the infamous 1999 fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo. Minutes before, every eye in the room was locked on him as he un spooled the nano decisions that misled four New York cops into thinking the innocent Guinean immigrant was an armed criminal, resulting in 41 shots, 19 to the chest. As the woman repeats the phrase to the crowd, you can hear her digesting it as if it has just become a part of her.
It is a term Gladwell introduced to the group only moments earlier when describing what happens when our ability to read people's intentions is paralyzed in high-stress situations. Cocking his hands back in a gunlike position, he had explained in a tone that was part sociologist, part Shakespearean actor, how the cops misread a "terrified" black man for a "terrifying" black man.
"They didn't correctly understand his intentions in that moment, and as a result they completely misinterpreted what that social situation was all about," he said. "I call this kind of failure 'momentary autism.' "
It's only one of many neatly packaged catchphrases Gladwell sprinkles throughout his new book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Little, Brown, January 2005). There's "rapid cognition," "thin-slicing," and the "Warren Harding error," but "momentary autism" is the one that you can quickly imagine this woman using, explaining to her boss why she froze during the new business pitch.
Mention his impact, though, and he modestly tries to brush it off -- leaning, like any good journalist, on data points to support his argument. "Remember," he points out, "even a book that's a best-seller still is only read by less than 1% of the American public."But as the expert in social epidemics knows better than anyone, it's not how many people you reach, it's whom you reach. Gladwell and his ideas have reached a tipping point of their own, and evidence of his impact can now be found in all corners of our culture, from politics (Donald Rumsfeld used "tipping point" to describe the war in Iraq. Can we talk about our own tipping points and blinks?

Visit the article for more details http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/90/open_gladwell.html

Innovation

2008-07-12T23:01:00.000+08:00

Making Innovation work for you

I had the opportunity this morning to review Martin Lee’s article in the morning newspaper. The second paragraph quoting Jeff Immelt of General Electric made a lot of sense - the only source of profit, the only reason to invest in companies is their ability to innovate and differentiate. Five simple principles made the article readable:

1. Lead the way, as a leader walk the talk and show that you are an innovator.

2. Look for good ideas – as they say in Procter and Gamble – search and re apply.

3. Check out your assumptions – the business school professors gave a C to Fred Smith’s idea of overnight packaging service FEDEX. He went to create history.

4. Acquire the habit of creative thinking, set aside some time for brainstorming.

5. Innovation is not about mega ideas; it could be about small things too.

Values

2008-06-14T23:35:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, I heard a great trainer Yazdi speak on the subject of Values. He talked about aligning vision to values. The three messages he left behind for the audience to take away was interesting:

1. Personal gaps - the gap between the person you want to be and you are.

2. Relationships gaps - the gaps between what you aspire to have in the relationships with your work colleagues and what you have.

3. Organisations - the gaps between your ideal organisation and what it really is

It was worth knowing some salient points - Values with a context is important and High Values and High Vision is essential. We should all work towards that.

It was worth listening to Yazdi. Made my weekend.

Talent Management

2008-06-01T20:36:00.000+08:00

The critical importance of Talent

We may have the stage, the orchestra, the props, the script and the actors but do we have a hit. Not necessarily. Unless the actors are talented and play the right roles and they are directed appropriately, we do not have a hit film. To relate this to organisations, just because we have systems, processes and employees, we are far away from running a successful organisation.

Only when we appropriately hire, develop, evaluate, reward, mobilize employees and align the Talent with the business goals, can we have the organisation live up to its potential. Talent Management is driven by competencies. Talent today may be the buzz word but in reality – superior performers or talented people have always been in demand.

How do we go about attracting them to our organisations?

How do we develop them?

How do we evaluate their performance?

How do we integrate talent management with workforce and succession planning?

How do we compensate them?

These are questions that I intend to address in the next few blog posts. My approach would be to use competencies as the driver of talent. Competencies are the currency of human capital.

Details gaik@smrhrd.com
More information at my blog http://drpalan.blogspot.com/ Or Google groups http://groups.google.com/group/FUNlearning?hl=en

Five Principles

2008-05-28T00:36:00.000+08:00

I had dinner with a CEO this evening who shared with me 5 principles, he shares with his team:

1. Consistent Profitability & gGowth
2. Quality Excellence
3. Customer delight
4. Engage your employees sincerely and regularly
5. Make the place of work a FUN place.

China and Myanmar

2008-05-17T00:05:00.000+08:00

Tragedies in both countries.

Watching the television made me very sad. Chinese officials have responded very well but in Myanmar, the aid work has not been great.

Hope we can all pray for speedy relief and God's kindness to the affected people.

Image by Design – From Corporate Vision to Business Reality

2008-05-06T00:07:00.000+08:00

I have been reading this book by Clive Chajet and Tom Shachtman. Dr. Venkata Majeti was kind enough to let me have it and I have been enjoying the book very much.

There is always a question I am asked - if I am a FUN facilitator, will that not give me a rather different image. Some executives often want to be feared as they want that image. Images mean so many things to so many people. A company’s image is indeed a vital corporate asset and can make all the difference in a competitive marketplace. We live in a world full of business images. McDonalds, Apple, IBM, Dell, Singapore Airlines.

A Company’s image is what is perceived by its various audiences. A Company’s identity is what it chooses to shape those perceptions. One learning point from the book – corporate images must reflect reality not distort reality, if they are to positively impact its audiences. A friend Ed Jackson always used to tell me – the product or service must do what it says it will do. Good image making marries the reality with the image.

The authors say that in the modern era we must pay more attention to the intangibles – goodwill – morale and other elements of corporate image.

I wonder what are the image and the identity of a FUN trainer or that of the SMR Group. We at the SMR Group have spent several years trying to build a certain image. Let me elaborate in the next post.

Vietnam - the rising star

2008-04-30T23:45:00.001+08:00

Vietnam is a country gripped by fierce patriotism. The goal on the top of each Vietnamese mind is to recover from the war that destroyed generations. I had the opportunity to speak at The Talent Management Conference organized by SMR Group and our local partners AITC at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce. Simultaneous translation was provided and the focus of the event was unique – make Vietnamese talent a premier one in the region. The 250 participants were exposed to a variety of speakers. The number of government enterprises is going down substantially and free enterprise is blossoming in Vietnam. Our local partner bought a book to understand Vietnamese history and I had the chance to take a photograph with the legendary President Ho Chi Minh.
Organisations that have focused on their people and on their future people needs are likely to be the winners in the next expansion cycle.

March 31st

2008-03-30T21:19:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow I speak at a CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) event - the Trainers Meet Trainers KL. The subject - Collaborative Learning. I will focus on three areas:

Intentional design

Co-Labour

Meaningful learning

Journeys across the Middle East

2008-03-16T20:32:00.000+08:00

I have been in the Middle East for the last two weeks. Fascinating and incredible are words that I can use to describe my experience.While the oil is hitting the $110/- a barrel, the US$ is falling to an all time low and there is a talk about the dollar peg with most of the Middle East countries being discontinued, the growth in the region just left me speechless.

The quest to be the best and to learn faster than the neighbours is evident in every citizen in these countries. Their investments in education are substantial just as they are putting up the infrastructure.

I also had the chance to read the book the secrets of a millionaire mind. You must read it - simple and easy to read book.

Performance of Obama

2008-02-24T11:11:00.002+08:00

It is quite a while since I posted the last blog. I have been travelling through to four countries.

While navigating through the cold weather of Chicago, I found two motivating incidents:

1. The momentum of Barack Obama in the US elections was staggering; he is very likely to be the next president of the United States of America.

2. He seemed to sell the idea that“The best performance improvement is the transition from the non-working state to the working state.”

There is certainly a lot of excitement in the air and as Senator Ted Kennedy said " I feel change is in the air."

Performance Factor

2008-01-24T20:06:00.000+08:00

Appraisals get done by now for most organisations. The question now is how to translate these performance objectives into reality. Until now many organisations have focused on looking at historical performance management methods. If we drive looking at the rear mirror, we are very likely to crash. With plans in place, there is a need to look forward resulting in forward looking performance management. Anthony Politan says you can integrate what if scenarios with traditional budgeting and planning systems to change faster than industry norms and acquire a competitive advantage, Such an approach he says takes performance management to the next level. Visit this webpage to get to know more about taking performance management tot he enxt level.

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/articles_taking_performance_management_next_level.html

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

2008 is here.

I like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year.

Some thoughts

2007-12-28T13:59:00.000+08:00

I was watching the movie - I think Bourne Ultimatum and I liked the expression:

Hope for the best

Plan for the Worst

Transformations in HR

2007-12-13T22:44:00.000+08:00

Is HR delivering on the promise of transformation?

A great majority of the multinational companies globally have completed or are in the process of HR transformation. However many HR departments have yet to deliver on the transformation promise. There remains a significant gap between what is expected of HR leaders and what HR leaders deliver.

Many research studies have reported that companies are being driven by the need to align the HR function more closely with business objectives and by the desire to offer more strategic support to the organisation. yet, the HR functions of very few companies are driving business outcomes.

Many professionals from the financial profession view HR as a cost centre and one that is only essential for compliance. HR is not being seen as a strategic partner. Nevertheless HR executives perceive that they are spending more time on strategic activities.

The two decades of work still does not show the impact of HR on business performance A small percentage of time is spent on strategic, value-based interventions.

Studies indicate that although the HR function has strong competence in professional knowledge, team, interpersonal and leadership skills, it lacks competence in several key areas. It can be summarised that HR lacks the skills that are required to deliver the business credibility that HR transformation is seeking to address.

Next week we will look at what is required for business transformation.

Competency based HRM

2007-12-12T21:23:00.000+08:00

Traditional Human Resources Management emphasises job descriptions. This helps neither the organisation nor the employee. Job descriptions were part of the industrial age. With the pace of change now, we have to move beyond the industrial age.

Competency based HRM's focus on competencies enables the reinventing of the HR department. Competency becomes the foundation of all HR efforts. A concentrated focus on Competencies can accelerate productivity gains. Over the next few eeks I intend to cover this subject beyond what is described in my book Competency Management: a practitioners guide.

In the next blog post, we will talk about the transformations that are taking place in HR.

Learning the tools

2007-12-02T21:18:00.000+08:00

I read the book Marketing Genius by Peter Fisk - a great book.

Some of the ideas - Vision of Google, Rise of Starbucks, evolution of e bay and the focus of Apple make interesting reading.

Digital Natives Vs Digital Immigrants

2007-10-19T12:13:00.000+08:00

I have spent the last few days in Melbourne, Australia.

The days with academics in the University and some of the world's top CEO's of software companies was a refreshing experience.

Who is a digital native? Most likely your children and Gen Y's.

Digital Immigrants - needless to say it is more about people in their 40's and above.

It was an interesting debate.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Victoria made 4 important points:

1. Solution Pull is always more effective than Technology push. It is about soultions not how great the technology is.

2. It is always the simple things that win in the market place.

3. All it requires is to work till we exceed the threshhold to get success such as Hot mail.

4. User interfaces and learner needs are more important than the features of your product.

The business world here is buzzing with several new initiatives despite the elections here.

Manage Your Energy not your Time

2007-10-07T22:28:00.000+08:00

Time Management has always been a misnomer. We can never manage time, we can only manage ourselves with respect to time.That was a valid argument, I thought. Today, I read Tony Schwartz in this month's Harvard Business Review.

He says most of us respond to rising demands in the workplace by working longer. This will inevitably lead to longer working hours and will take a toll on the physical, mental and emotional health.

The core problem with time is that it is a finite resource.Energy is a different story. Defined in physics as the capacity to work, energy comes from four main wellsprings in human being: the body, emotions, mind and spirit.

While the body is all about physical energy; the emotions about the quality of energy; the mind the focus of energy and the human spirit the energy of meaning and purpose.

In each, the energy can be expanded by establishing specific rituals with the goal of making them habits. We can make it a ritual to exercise in the gym everyday as some of us now look at the emails. We can manage energy depleting behaviours such as anger by taking responsibility for changing them.

I thought the idea of managing energy not time would be something useful to me. I like to explore it in greater detail in the next couple of weeks.

The Poor Performance of Performance Management

2007-09-30T19:18:00.000+08:00

Annual Performance Appraisals have always had mixed reviews. Managers do not like it because of the time consuming process and employees do not like it because of its perceived unfairness. The entire exercise loses the original intention of improving employee learning and performance and becomes a dreaded process.

In a survey by New York based On Point Consulting, only slightly over 40% of line managers and HR Managers think there is value in a performance management process. While the tool by itself might be useful, the prevailing culture in an organisation is critical for its success.

One way to improve is not to just do the annual appraisal but schedule quarterly meetings to discuss performance and make the meeting a feedback event. This requires managers to be coached.

A successful performance management system should -

1. Help employees build their skills and competencies
2. Is consistently applied across the organisation
3. Uses a rating scale that enables differentiation of performance
4. Helps to build a performance culture
5. Provides data for succession planning
6. Drives Leadership development initiatives

A great economist

2007-09-24T23:12:00.000+08:00

We have talked about leading clever people, B players and preventing poor performance in the last few blogs.

I was reviewing my old notes and then decided to check out what great economists had to say. Next week, we will see a quote from someone opposed to Keynes but for this week, I thought this quote from a great economist may make sense:

"With the General Theory, as it became known, Keynes sought to develop a theory that could explain the determination of aggregate output - and as a consequence, employment.

He posited that the determining factor to be aggregate demand. Among the revolutionary concepts initiated by Keynes was the concept of a demand-determined equilibrium wherein

- unemployment is possible,
- the ineffectiveness of price flexibility to cure unemployment,
- a unique theory of money based on "liquidity preference",
- the introduction of radical uncertainty and expectations,
- the marginal efficiency of investment schedule breaking Say's Law (and thus reversing the savings-investment causation),
- the possibility of using government fiscal and monetary policy to help eliminate recessions and control economic booms."

This book by Keynes almost single-handedly constructed the fundamental relationships and ideas behind what became known as "macroeconomics".

2007-09-23T15:09:00.000+08:00

Preventing Poor Performance

2007-09-23T11:28:00.000+08:00

We talked about Leading Clever People and Effective Learning in the last couple of blogs.

Over the last few weeks I had the opportunity to read the outstanding book FREAKONOMICS. If you have not read it, you MUST. The book will help every reader - all of us redefine the way we view the world.

The most important lessons I learned from the book - the world may be complex but is not unknowable if we just can ask the RIGHT QUESTIONS. All it takes is a new way of looking.

I liked the concept of Broken Windows. I first read it in Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell and now again in the FREAKONOMICS by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

The concept first appeared in an article titled Broken Windows by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, which appeared in the March 1982 edition of The Atlantic Monthly.The idea is based on the following example:

"Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.

Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars."

A successful strategy for preventing vandalism, say the book's authors, is to fix the problems when they are small. Repair the broken windows within a short time, say, a day or a week, and the tendency is that vandals are much less likely to break more windows or do further damage. Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate (or for the rate of littering to be much less). Problems do not escalate and thus respectable residents do not flee a neighborhood.

In this context, I can only think of the Singaporean example of clean neighbourhoods.

The theory thus makes two major claims: that further petty crime and low-level anti-social behavior will be deterred, and that major crime will, as a result, be prevented.

How can we apply the broken window theory to the world of work to prevent poor performance?

Effective Learning

2007-09-23T11:17:00.000+08:00

How do we get learning to take place in a most effective manner?

Just list a few:

Good Schools
Good Teachers
Action Learning
Experiential Education
Adventure Learning
E Learning
Instructor led Learning
Active Learning
Accelerated Learning
FUN learning

We can go on discussing the various ideas proposed. Over the weekend I was rewriting my book The Magic of Making Training FUN! and as I was surfing the internet, I was overwhelmed by the amount of literature available out there. The bottom line still seems to focus on Attention, Participation, Retention and of course Transfer of learning.

Education Queensland highlghts five principles:

In essence, the principles emphasise the need to:

understand the learner;
understand the learning process;
provide a supportive and challenging environment;
establish worthwhile learning partnerships;
shape and respond to, a variety of social and cultural contexts

Let us explore these in the next couple of blogs.

How do we develop people into clever people?

Is Learning a worthwhile intervention?

Leading Clever people

2007-09-15T13:32:00.000+08:00

Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones identify several things we need to know about leading clever people.

It is essential to know the characteristics most clever people share, these collectively make them a difficult crew to manage.

1. They know their worth.

2. They are organisationally savvy.

3. They ignore corporate hierarchy.

4. They expect instant access.

5. They have good networks and are well connected.

6. They are bored easily.

7. They won't thank you and thye assume they know most of the things.

8. They are results oriented.

What it means to work here?

2007-09-10T22:16:00.000+08:00

Signature experiences, Inclusiveness and Congruence seem to be the answer.

The Harvard Business Review article by Tamara J Erickson and Lynda Gratton describes the need for every company to have a signature experience that sets it apart. In the War for Talent, many organisations talk about being employer of choice. Signature experiences explicitly communicate what makes your firm unique and can improve employee engagement and performance dramatically.

My first question after reading the article was - are we doing that in our organisation?

Matching other organisations with the right offer may be attractive enough to bring employees to the door but may not be good enough to bring great employees enthusiastic about their work and fiercely loyal to the organisation and its mission.

To enhance the elements of engagement and to foster deeply committed employees, the following are needed:

1.A comprehensive understanding of the types of people who will be productive to the organisation over the long term. What are the competencies they need?

2.A well defined communication programme that conveys for employees the attributes and values of the organisation.

3.A coherent employee experience – none of your company's environmental elements misrepresents what it's really like to work there.

4.Respecting diversity, making people feel inclusive and enabling people from different races, religion, language, functions and gender to mix around. Small groups that cling must be educated to understand the importance of making others feel included. You will never know about others unless and until you work with them.

5.Celebrate success and share stories, identify and preserve the history but do not forget to identify the importance of change for growth.

How to stay calm when under pressure?

2007-09-06T00:54:00.000+08:00

The answer is EQ.

When you bring intelligence to your emotion, it is known as Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

Emotional Intelligence is often rated as the single most important differentiator for success in a highly competitive world. It is far more important than IQ - intelligence quotient. More importantly, EQ can be learned.

We from the SMR Group had the honour of having dinner with the Honourable Secretary of Energy from the Philippines. To him, the entire day was a compact day. He said that with a smile. Speaking at several high profile events and meeting top diplomats had not put him under pressure. The sense of humour, he displayed was infectious. I loved his lines when he remarked in jest – “if you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance. Then baffle them with bullshit.” Laughter is indeed a great influencing tool.

I relate this as I have had a packed day and have another packed few days. I am just about to collapse into bed late at night – past 130 am. Just imagine how well you can sleep if you continue to think of your flight the next morning.

Today was one of the days when the battery for my mobile phone decided to play funny and I was stranded without my mobile phone. In a world where I get extremely stressed without my mobile phone, I was relaxed. The public phone and the public transport – the train were pretty good too.

Today was a day when some of our vendors behaved like customers. They expected us to behave like a vendor and meet their needs rather then they meet our needs. Today was a day when I wanted some of my colleagues to do something and they didn't. Normally I would get a little impatient, albeit in a nice way. Today I was able to communicate my thoughts in a straight and objective manner. The world is strange place. Sanity is an important thing to survive in this complex world.

I suppose you only worry when you can do something about it. EQ is more important than IQ. Surprisingly, I was and am sane the whole day despite severe time pressures.

My wife says these things happen to you when you are ageing.

I thought differently. The Honourable Secretary of Energy from the Philippines was a great role model for me.

Oh boy! That is cool, right but I certainly do not want another such packed day to demonstrate my emotional intelligence.

Good night and be good - be emotionally intelligent.

ARTDO Bali, Indonesia

2007-09-02T21:48:00.000+08:00

I spoke at the ARTDO Bali Conference.

Around 300 participants attended the event. While I wished the Conference programme could have been more engaging, the hosts were very hospitable. And, Bali was wonderful.

I happenned to read the monograph from Hay Consulting who were exhibiting at the event.Two key statements from the monograph attracted me:

1. The phrase 'our people are our greatest asset' may sound like a platitude, but the evidence is that this is true.

2. In evaluating CEO's, accountability for human capital is a key differentiator.

What do you think?

Flexicurity

2007-08-27T22:14:00.000+08:00

The European Commission has presented a green paper - flexicurity - to balance flexible contracts with the need for job security.

This system has been hugely successful in Scandinavia.

The unions and employers have been unimpressed.

Talent Management

2007-08-27T22:10:00.001+08:00

Talent Management: Don't forget the B players

There is so much focus on the War for Talent. Everyone talks about the looming talent crisis. Stars, A players and the top 5% hog the limelight of all discussion.

What about the B players?

This afternoon I presented a tele seminar on the subject and late at night I was reading the magazine from the Institute of Personnel & Development, United Kingdom. The article Room for Growth made a huge impression on me.

The story about Hilton Hotels learning strategy coincided with my thoughts on the subject. The international hotel chain believes it has internal talent that it needs to focus on. The business results have been impressive. The Company's long term plan is to fill 80% of its senior positions from within.

Mobile Learning

2007-08-26T21:01:00.000+08:00

M-learning, or "mobile learning", now commonly known as "m Learning" promises to be the next learning revolution.

From a survey of literature, it looks like it means different things to different people. Even though it seems to be close to e- learning and distance education, the primary focus seems to be on learning across contexts (learner mobility) with mobile devices.

One definition you commonly find on the Internet is “ Learning that happens across locations, or that takes advantage of learning opportunities offered by portable technologies.”

We talked about collaborative learning in the past blogs.

We have a m learning product coming out next year. The last couple of days I have talked to at least three collaborators who seemed very excited about accommodating and supporting the learning of an increasingly mobile population.

Imagine the difference we can make to learning in countries such as China, India and Indonesia. Their huge populations are connected to a mobile phone and are learning hungry.

The learning - knowledge and skills journey keeps getting very exciting.

Positive Discipline

2007-08-22T09:49:00.000+08:00

Successful Companies enforce Postive Discipline.

They are high on Emotional Intelligence, that does not mean being nice but straight to the point. My friend Uday calls it straight talk.

What can we do to enforce positive discipline and get employees to recognise it is for their well being.

HR Professionals & Business Savviness

2007-08-22T09:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday we talked about Accountants with a heart and the benchmark data, to day, let us review the need for HR professionals to be business savy.

One reason HR professionals have not been able to make headway is their inability to partner with business. Jim Kirkpatrick has time and again written about the need for business partnerships.

Business Savvy is a competency in short supply among HR professionals. What can we do about it?

Benchmark data

2007-08-21T22:11:00.000+08:00

Succession Planning

76% Small and 72% Medium organisations have a program in place.

Top HR Professional reporting to the CEO

88% of organisations ensure HR person reports to CEO.

Employee Referral Bonus

68% Small & 92% Medium compnaies pay an employee referral bonus.

Paid leave to volunteer

80% Small and 88% Medium organisations allow employees to take paid leave to volunteer.

Source SHRM Magazine

Accountants with HEART

2007-08-21T21:54:00.000+08:00

Heinfield, Meech & Co. PC,an accounting practice,rated by their clients as "nice", "helpful" and "great staff" to describe the partners, believes that happy employees equal happy customers.

FUN is a big part of the firm's culture. Their principal partner says that they don't have a 'gotcha' attitude but reverse their approach with a positive orientation - seeking what they can do or teach rather than catch. They practice diversity, team work and a strong service orientation. They recognise their power comes from helping the businesses.

The company was rated one of the best 50 Small & Medium Companies to work for in America by the Society of Human Resources Management(SHRM), USA.

Interesting piece from the SHRM magazine.

Deliberate acts of decency for a new organisational culture

2007-08-12T20:42:00.000+08:00

Effective leaders use decencies to build great workforces one gesture at a time. Steve Harrison writing in the HR magazine talks about examples of best practices that he calls as decencies. You can mould a company culture by adopting small decencies. In my own experience, I have either experienced some of these decencies with the people who I worked for or tried them out. It is about the way leaders choose to behave – the actions leaders embrace – every day, especially during the quite moments when we think no one is watching. Some of them are:

1. Be sure that nothing important or creative is perceived as the leader’s idea,
2. Write personal notes to employees and customers,
3. Walk an employee or a customer to the door,
4. Always greet people in a sincere way,
5. Make as many allies as you can within the organisation all the time,
6. Talk about disagreements in private personally and try to resolve them or atleast agree to disagree,
7. Let every employee have a sense of ownership – give them a business card,
8. Mix with people from other departments,
9. Praise in public and reprimand in private, and
10. Be accessible to people.

They do not seem very difficult, do they?

Decencies need to be actionable, tangible, practical, affordable, replicable and sustainable. Once leaders practice the decencies regularly, employees start taking it seriously. Pretty soon, as a leader, you would have developed a new organisational culture.

Incentive Plans

2007-07-15T12:08:00.001+08:00

Yesterday we talked about the need to engage B players just as much as A players are important.

Today, I like to look at the subject of weighing pay incentives. While everyone agrees that incentive plans should motivate the employees to perform at a superior level; they should not encourage them to engage in questionable behaviour. The story of fire fighters being paid incentives to respond to emergencies in a timely manner resulted in a firefighter resorting to arson to claim the incentives is a good one to consider when we plan incentive plans.

While we have talked about collaboration and the need to engage employees, incentives cannot be forgotten. The first step in devising incentives is to determine whether they are right for your organisation and your employees. Several white papers have been published by the Society of Human Resource Management to guide employees.

Let’s Hear it for B Players

2007-07-15T01:05:00.000+08:00

Professor Thomas DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan in their article 'Let’s hear it for the B players' succinctly explain that though organizations downplay average performers because they lack the luster and ambition of stars, they may be the best supporting actors in times of need.

I was pleased to hear that as I am certainly a B player who always attempts to hire A players.

The argument that companies do not notice the importance of the B players and their roles in counter balancing the ambitions of the company’s high performing visionaries - whose esteemed strengths when carried to an extreme can lead to volatile behavior did make sense to me.

With the abundance of literature on STARS, it was refreshing to read this article. The truth is that companies need to recognize their B players are not necessarily less intelligent than the STARS. While A players maybe demonstrate an achievement oriented behavior much more, the B player clearly demonstrates an aversion to calling attention to themselves. B players often have a great temperament - Emotional Intelligence.

EQ is more important than IQ – get hired with IQ but you can only get promoted with EQ.

There is certainly a need to learn more about shaping our B players. For more details, email lily@smrhrd.com.

Principles of Accelearted Learning

2007-05-27T21:16:00.000+08:00

We have talked about Collaborative Learning to some extent in the last few blogs. Contnuing our discussions from the last blog I like to highlight some principles for learning effectiveness.For people to maximise their learning, there are at least six principles:

1. Create a positive learning environment
2. Ensure learner involvement is total
3. Make it collaborative for learners
4. Use variety to appeal to all learning styles
5. Make learning relevant to the workplace
6. Make it FUN.

Lesson on Magnets - FUN delivery

2007-05-13T23:21:00.000+08:00

Herein is some information on Magnets from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet#Characteristics_of_magnets.

Continuing our discussion from yesterday on activity based events to accelearte learning and create a collaborative environment, let us see what the information is, then we will see what I learned from kids some activities that Karen used exceedingly well in her session with technical trainers.

Magnets

Magnets are materials that produce a magnetic field of their own. Extreme examples of magnets are (1) "hard" or "permanent" magnets (like refrigerator magnets), which remember how they have been magnetized, and (2) "soft" or "impermanent" magnets, which lose their memory of previous magnetizations. "Soft" magnetic materials are often used in electromagnets to enhance (often by factors of hundreds or thousands) the magnetic field of a current-carrying wire that has been wrapped around the magnet; when the current increases, so does the field of the "soft" magnet, which is much larger than the field due to the current. Permanent magnets occur naturally in some rocks, particularly lodestone, but they are now more commonly manufactured. When heated a magnet's magnetism goes down and when cooled a magnet's magnetism goes up.

Materials without a permanent magnetic moment can, in the presence of magnetic fields, be attracted (paramagnetic), or repelled (diamagnetic). Liquid oxygen is paramagnetic; graphite is diamagnetic. Paramagnets tend to intensify the magnetic field in their vicinity, whereas diamagnets tend to weaken the magnetic field in their vicinity. "Soft" magnets, which are strongly attracted to magnetic fields, can be thought of as strongly paramagnetic; superconductors, which are strongly repelled by magnetic fields, can be thought of as strongly diamagnetic

Permanent magnets and dipoles

All magnets appear to have at least one north pole (reckoned positive) and at least one south pole (reckoned negative), and the net pole strength of every magnet is zero. Despite their apparent reality, as suggested by the image at the top of the page, where iron filings concentrate in regions of large magnetic field, poles are not physical objects on or in the magnet. They are, rather, a useful concept for describing magnets. Rather than poles being the fundamental unit, it is the magnetic dipole that is the fundamental unit. A magnetic dipole can be thought of as a combination of a positive and a negative pole that are microscopically close to one another and inseparable. This is not a bad description of the magnetic dipole of an electron in a magnetic material.

The effect of aligning many dipoles and placing them head-to-tail in a line is that there appears a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other, with all the intermediate north and south poles cancelling out. The net effect is a very long dipole that appears to have poles only at its ends. Alternatively, aligning many dipoles and placing them on a sheet producing an object whose magnetic field is like that of a wire carrying current around the perimeter of the sheet. Although theories have been developed involving the possibility of north and south magnetic monopoles, no magnetic monopole has yet been found.

What I learned from the kids

I saw two magnets - basically arrow like play things that my daughter was playing with. I grabbed both of them and tried to match them at the centre. I had forgotten my basic physics. Meena, my niece then remarked that you can't do that because of the north pole and south pole, the positive and negative. My son Maha jumped in to say that the net pole strength of every magnet is zero and you can't do it because of the resistance between the north and south poles. My son Subu then joined in to talk about magnetic fields. I learned so much from this simple activity and it resulted in a productive learning event for the kids.

What was Karen's experience?

The technical trainers in Karen's class used this activity as a warm up, wrap up, as an experiential activity. Learning points such as that when heated a magnet's magnetism goes down and when cooled a magnet's magnetism goes up came from the learners.

Whoever said FUN can't be used in technical training.

Heavy content was deliverd in an engaging manner.

The result participants stayed, enjoyed and learned.

Engaging Technical Trainers

2007-05-13T01:01:00.000+08:00

Collaborative Learning – Learning in a FUN way

My colleague Karen was running a programme on Creative Training for an electrical utility. As the participants were technical trainers, we had to think of ways and means to get them engaged. Remember the three principles of collaborative learning:

1. Intentional Design
2. Co Labour
3. Meaningful Learning

While I was thinking of strategies to achieve successful learning outcomes, I recollected Dave Meier’s words – an activity based event is often far superior to a presentation based one.

I learned from my niece Meena and sons Maha and Subu on how a lesson on Magnets can be conducted in a very engaging and collaborative way. Karen was very enthusiastic to use the exercise and her experience was just outstanding.

I will share the exercise tomorrow. The learning point is you get ideas for a collaborative learning session from unexpected sources like kids.

Asia HRDCongress

2007-04-21T20:26:00.001+08:00

Visit www.hrdcongress.com to gain more details about Asia's premier learning event.

Asia HRDCongress

2007-04-21T20:26:00.000+08:00

Visit www.hrdcongress.com to gain more details about Asia's premier learning event.

From West Virginia

2007-03-26T10:51:00.001+08:00

Learning from my mentor Tom Antion

Conflicts and Not Saying NO

2007-03-16T00:18:00.000+08:00

Conflicts and not saying NO can mess you up
As I was finishing up my day today, my colleague Robert Lim gave me some important lessons in Conflict management, even though it was pretty late. He was referring to intra personal conflict, conflict within oneself. To be specific, he was saying to me that there was a need to say NO! Not too many bosses would listen to a short lecture but I did. This is something that has intrigued me all my life. My father told me to learn to say NO!. My teachers told me to say NO! Well, I will admit it. My wife and sons have told me from time to time to say NO! Not that they are pretty good at it themselves. I have lost so much money simply because I was not able to say NO.
In the Myers Briggs Type Indicator there are two dimensions the T and F – Thinking and Feeling. I agonise saying NO for fear of hurting people and in the process I have hurt myself. My psychological training places so much premium on treating people well that I just cannot bring upon myself to pain people. This sometimes gives an impression that I am indecisive or to be very critical not very open.
“Say NO when you need to, just do it politely” my Professor used to say. He does it beautifully “I love to help but I just can’t, I know you may not like it but I am real sorry.’ People who can do it do it so well. Robert’s concern was I was agonizing over something so simple, I was concerned about how people would feel when I say NO as opposed to what was the right thing to do from a business perspective.
I just learned again something very invaluable from Robert. I will only be a better person when I use the skill. Well, I hope to try and say NO when it is needed and politely. We will explore more the internal conflicts that go within a person:
1. Should I have a drink?
2. Should I smoke?
3. Should I exercise?
4. Should I buy on credit card when I have no money?
5. Should I fight when I know it is not right?
6. Should I blame someone when it is my problem?
7. Should I displace my anger on another?
Organizational conflict can occur at several levels: within individuals, between individuals, between groups and between organizations. While we will focus on intra and inter personal conflict, the principles and ideas discussed here will be valid for individual and inter-group and inter-organizational conflicts. Conflict typically proceeds through four stages even if each step is not recognized as such. The phases identified by theorist Louis Pondy are as follows:

Phase 1: Latent
Phase 2: Perceived
Phase 3: Felt
Phase 4: Manifest

We will discuss these and conflict resolution strategies in the next blog. Remember we started with collaborative learning and right now, I think it is appropriate for us to look at it considering current workplace issues.

The World is Flat

2007-03-13T23:24:00.000+08:00

I have been fascinated by Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat. I bought the 2005 book in 2006.

I mentioned it in the Learn & Perform E News after a first reading in 2006. This morning, I had a chance to read it again. It is a master piece that no executive can afford to miss. I was at the hospital this morning for a series of check ups. In between the checks I had a re read. Oh, my goodness, it is indeed a powerful book. Full of stories and an underlying message that just does not allow you to put the book away. The hospital staff were pretty annoyed with me. And, I am sure my family is annoyed with me for staying so late to finish this blog post.

I wish I had read it more times much before.

The message that the world is flat, the playing field is levelled and the ten forces that flattened the world are a must to know for any executive. The Triple Convergence and the great sorting out again are powerful tips for survival and relevance in a competitive world. The words that anything you think can be done, will be done by someone else faster, quicker and cheaper from some other part of the world in your market was quite a wake up call. All I can say is you must read the book to get the message. From 11/9 the coming down of the Berlin Wall to 9/11, the coming down of the Twin Towers, Friedman outlines the flattening of the world spectacularly.

In the chapter on the Great Sorting Out, he describes how the world is moving from a primarily vertical - command and control - system for creating value to a more horizontal connect and collaborate - value creation model. In the last few blogs we discussed the collaborative learning/working concept from our worlds and Friedmann is bringing in the concept of collaboration at a much higher level.

He quotes Lou Gerstner, the former Chairman of IBM " Transformation of an enterprise begins with a sense of urgency or crisis. No institution will go through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and needs to do something different to survive."

Do we recognise this urgency?

Active Learning

2007-03-11T22:56:00.000+08:00

I had the opportunity of running a teleseminar on the subject Collaborative Learning.
The discussions revolved around Active Learning. The goal is to ensure we have no passengers. Though there were no objections to that remark, there was a valid question. One of the participants asked the question - How do we manage passengers in a teleseminar?

Any thoughts.

Greatness

2007-03-04T23:14:00.000+08:00

The progressive transform simple lifes into great destinies.

Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Nasser, George Washington, Mohammed Yunus are some great and outstanding people who started ordinary but created extraordinary feats.

How can we collaborate to be progressive?

Difficult Conversations

2007-02-25T23:09:00.000+08:00

Over the Chinese New Year holidays, I was clearing my University papers and notes and I found some pieces of information very useful and relevant to this blog. The blog post start off with Trainer roles and deals with difficult conversations that everyone of us have to have with our colleagues and family. I have had to have them with my colleagues at work, my nephew and friends. It was and is never easy. We have great difficulty taking to bosses, colleagues and family something that we do not wish to discuss. We adopt the flight or fight mechanism.

Trainer Roles

Instructor, Trainer, Facilitator, Coach, Co-Learner are all trainer roles. They need to be viewed on a continuum, depending on the discipline, workshop objectives, personal training style and participant profiles. . Even though there is a great amount of debate among academics on the interpretation of a training role, one thing almost everyone agrees is that the role is much more than a dispenser of information. Collaborative Learning shifts the role of expert from the trainer to the learners, the one with a repository of information. The goal is to get the adult participant actively engaged in building their own minds.

Facilitating refers to arranging the learning environment to encourage self-directed learning. Some prefer a managerial definition which refers to a sequential process of setting the conditions and managing the process to produce the desired out comes. Other recent terms emphasise the social role in constructing knowledge.
Collaborative Learning requires that we be somewhere there on the continuum depending on the situation but not forgetting the need for small groups to engage in meaningful learning. This only happens when we can manage difficult conversations.

Managing Difficult Conversations

In the last two weeks, I have been disturbed by some conversations. Despite my background, I have had to take time to reflect and act on this area of having a difficult conversation. My friend Uday calls this straight talk. Nevertheless I like to share some of the thinking on this subject in this blog post.
Many of us go out of our way and take the trouble to avoid unpleasant conversations. Some years ago respected Industrial Relations practitioner Peter Rayappan and Values Consultant Yazdi emphasised the need over a cup of Malaysian Teh Tarik, the need to be straight. They said the person deserves the feedback however unpleasant it may be for the person to grow and for your organisation not to be CRIPPLED.

Managing difficult conversations is a key to effectiveness in the training room as well as at the work place. Collaboration requires we manage the difficult conversations (spoken and written) to prevent serious differences and bridge the gulf of differences in what people believe and feel. When you are able to do that, you can stand up to adversity, maintain leadership and remain in control. The words are clear and the voice is managed; there is no display of anger but the feedback is appropriately given.

When stakes are high, the outcome uncertain; people feel deeply about the issue on hand and when self esteem is affected; the issue is forgotten and the person is attacked, the conversations become difficult and awkward. Usually, people either quit or fight – the typical fight – flight syndrome that psychology classes teach us.
How do we deal with:

• A disrespectful or disruptive behaviour
• The inability to say NO
• A person who agrees to everything or disagrees with everything
• One who KNOWS all
• A person who refuses to respect the absent and insists on talking about others behind their back
• One who refuses to accept that it is my mistake
• A person who smiles face to face but is busy sabotaging you behind your back.
• One who is logical nut needlessly aggressive
• One who says YES all the time and is unassertive

While the situation maybe different, the problem is the same – how do we have a difficult conversation? A friend Zainal Abidin Alang Kassim used to say to me “it is not the subject matter that makes you nervous, it is the way you think about the issue that is a worry.”

In the Myers Briggs situation, they talk about the Thinking – Feeling part.
There is an urgent need for a new framework according to researchers in Harvard for managing difficult conversations. The typical answer to be diplomatic or stay positive may not be necessarily appropriate. There is a need to identify the common structure underlying difficult conversations and manage all the separate conversations taking place in any difficult conversation.

1. What happened conversations based on perceptions – which are right?
2. The Feelings conversation – Do I deal with them or quit?
3. The Identity conversation – Is this destroying my self esteem?

Great Managers and Trainers in a collaborative mode operate more effectively on these three realms. They avoid the blame game; they are constructive, turn sources of anxiety into sources of strength.

Getting straight to the purposes by discriminating your INTERESTS and PURPOSE is often the route to success. Framing the objective of the conversation to maximise the outcome is a key skill of a collaborator. Collaborative Trainers and Managers turn a difficult conversation into a learning situation. They reduce defensiveness and promote learning. They manage the interaction by using the power of listening and getting to the heart of the matter. Focus on the issue not on the anger or the person.

Of course collaboration requires all participate. There may be occasions when the person attacks you, does not want to talk to you, just refuses to listen to you and is uncooperative. Collaborative Trainers, managers and Leaders reframe the discussion, structure effective problem solving to find solutions. Again, collaboration requires that we work together.

While at University, I was very fond and still am of the book Games People Play. The fundamental book for Transactional Analysis outlines the games people play. I am always amazed by four statements that impacted me and is of great significance to all of us in our life:

1. I am not Okay – You are Okay
2. I am not Okay - You are not Okay
3. I am Okay – You are not Okay
4. I am Okay – You are Okay

It amazes me when we realise that many of us get stuck at level 2 or at level 3. Healthy relationships must migrate to level 4. As Managers, Leaders and being in a training role, we have a responsibility to get people to the okay stage even after a difficult conversation.

That is the purpose of collaboration.

Sorry for the long blog post.

Passion for Collaborative Learning

2007-02-20T23:43:00.000+08:00

I was very pleased to read the comment to my last post.
It was a short but to the point response.

My comment that one person can derail was responded to by a simple statement – it may derail the train but so long as the passion to make the learning and work collaborative remains, the goal to help people learn and perform is paramount, such incidents are only rare obstacles. It may derail but the train can get back and up running very quickly with collaboration.

The best swordsman does not need to fear the second best but only the antagonist who has never handled a sword before is true for the trainer. A participant who knows more than the trainer is not to be feared, the one to be feared is the one who has no knowledge at all and is in the training room as a very reluctant participant as he or she has been told to do.

Dealing with a diversity of participants is always a challenge. It is here we address the issues of Trainer roles. Instructor, Trainer, Coach, Facilitator and Co Learner is some of the terms commonly used.

Let us look at it in the next blog post.

Requirements for Collaboration - my experiences

2007-02-13T23:43:00.000+08:00

I posted on Sunday ideas on how to implement collaborative learning.

This week Monday and Tuesday were tough days. Hence this additional post tonight.

Monday

It was a day of intense preparations by my team to the Board. We learned how the Board of Directors can promote collaborative learning. Tuan Haji Ishak Hashim., a Director on our Board emphasized the need for democratic learning and what we can do about it. Insightful ideas, incisive action plans and a day of soul searching led to very meaningful learning as a result of co labouring due to intentional design.

Tuesday

A day most INFJ Chief Executives would worry about. On the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I am an INFJ. FJ executives tend to be more emotionally driven than TJ executives who are more logical. That is as simple as I can describe the MBTI. Suffice for now, that there is much more to be explained in MBTI but as an ISFJ, I had to grapple with decisions I had to make as a CEO.

The day started pretty good. We had the opportunity of meeting the Chairman of one of Malaysia’s leading corporations. The one hour we were with him, we learned so much due to the collaborative nature of the meeting. His remarks drawn from Napoleon Hill impacted me enormously. This is one of the reasons I am blogging well past 1200 mid night. He said:

If you want to be the person you want to be then you must WALK, TALK and BEHAVE like the person you want to be.

Powerful learning for all of us.

The second part of the day was a painful one as a young person whom I handpicked for a senior position in the future made an abrupt departure from the organisation giving us the required notice. Challenging and tough but the truth of the matter is that people change their minds very fast.

The three months training investment was gone. My recent article Does Training lead to employee attrition ( International Society for Performance & Instruction) argued for the need to train. Yes, I firmly believe so. As much as I am a firm believer in employee training, I cannot but emphsasie the need for employee retention analysis.

More tough for me was the need for me to ask the person to leave immediately. Tough but I had to make that decision as a CEO responsible to my shareholders and employees.

Collaborative Learning requires the participation of all. It does not work one way. Maybe I was not collaborative enough. That is the only self criticism I can think of.

Managing a successful business like ours is tough. And, I learned today, CEO’s are paid to make tough decisions. I still agonise as a human being though.

Collaboration is tough indeed. The passion to help people learn and perform despite meeting people like this every now and then fuels my contribution journey.

I am sure you know how hurt I am even though I have done my job as a CEO.
Lessons learned - collaborative learning requires intentional design, co - labour and meaningful learning.

One passenger can derail the train. Beware.

Implementing Collaborative Learning

2007-02-11T23:13:00.000+08:00

We have discussed in the last couple of blog postings on the need for collaborative learning. The discussions on the three essential components for collaborative learning - intentional design, co labouring and meaningful learning set the groundwork for our discussions.

Sometimes the research on instructional methods is highly criticized for comparing average classroom sessions with carefully designed experiential learning. Hence, the need for comparing the best classroom session with the best experiential activity. Results show greater learner satisfaction, involvement and learning based on the results. Though most of the research is often in the educational setting, my own experiences in corporate training can vouch for it - I have found experiential learning extremely powerful.

The criticism from practitioners that collaborative learning takes more time and results in the content not being followed is being overcome by the strong results. Collaborative learning when well done leads to far more effective learning results and greater ROI ( return on investment).

So in conclusion, this simply means we want our learners to actively engage in building their own minds. When the groups are carefully structured and designed to accomplish learning, collaborative learning is far ahead of the traditional methods in terms of effective learning.

Using collaborative learning techniques is a stimulating but challenging task for learners. It certainly requires advanced planning. It is certainly not about forgetting all of the familiar instructional tools of the classroom for the unknown and high risk experiential learning tools. It is also not about introducing some tools to spice up the learning event on a day when you have some extra time.

Our goal to create a productive learning environment through the use of collaborative learning groups.

The question of HOW to do this is based on several factors:

The role of the trainer,
The recent advances on the learning process, and
The perception of our learners.

Shifting the responsibility for learning from the trainer to the learner helps our participants become autonomous, articulate, socially and intellectually mature. It helps them learn the content as not necessarily conclusive facts but the constructed result of a disciplined social process of inquiry.

The terminology surrounding the trainer - coach, trainer, instructor, facilitator reflects a variety of self perceptions. Even though there are many differences among the community on what should be the name, there is no doubt that the new trainer is much more than a dispenser of information.

In the next posting, we will see what are the differences in the semantics and what are the roles a trainer needs to play in implementing collaborative learning.

Using Small Groups for Effective Learning

2007-02-04T12:00:00.000+08:00

Small Groups Enhance Learning We looked at collaborative learning and the three essentials for it. Our discussions revolved around the use of small groups for collaborative learning. I had the opportunity to visit a website that detailed how small groups can lead to effective learning.

Small group work can enrich your learners’ learning experiences. Small groups are a good motivational tool because they add variety to an instructional activity and allow participants to learn in different ways. For example, by participating in small groups, some of your learners may be able to comprehend the content that they may find difficult in a lecture.

Small group activities are also important because they help your learners learn social skills such as cooperation and communication, which they are not always able to do to the same extent in a regular lecture environment.

In addition, some learners especially in an Asian situation - high context cultures, do especially well in small groups because they feel more confident about asking questions and participating in general compared to a lecture situation.

Creating Effective Groups

Some ideas from the web site give us an idea on how to use small groups successfully. The goal is to make sure that the activities you plan are well-suited for this kind of learning.

Listed in the web site are several activities that are conducive to small group learning, and that can help complement your classroom instruction:

Test or quiz prep groups –
learners can study previously or recently taught classroom material to better prepare for an upcoming test or quiz.

Reading enrichment groups –
learners can discuss a story they have just heard, and then create visual works (symbolic charades, collages, drawings, etc.) that support a theme or a main idea from the story.

Dramatic enactment groups –
learners can bring a fictional, historical or scientific event to life by presenting a reenactment to the session, or to a larger audience that may include other learners, teachers and peers.

Problem/solution groups –
learners can research a problem from a story or in a particular subject and then propose a solution by making a presentation, by writing a report, or by creating a model, a drawing or some other visual representation.

Debate groups –
learners can research different sides of a controversial issue and then argue their side in a debate.

Interdisciplinary groups – learners can attempt to solve a problem or answer a question that requires them to study several different disciplines.

Helping learners Succeed in Small Groups

Your learners need a variety of skills to successfully function and learn in small groups. Functional and learning skills include summarizing, paraphrasing and performing basic research using library and other reference resources. Social skills include listening, taking turns, and encouraging and supporting other team members. You’ll also need to help your learners learn to understand accountability—as they have both individual roles as well as overall group objectives that they’re responsible for.

Monitoring and Evaluating Small Group Effectiveness

By monitoring and giving feedback to your learners, you can help them learn how to better function in a small group. Depending on the age and capabilities of your learners, you can provide specific feedback on tasks that include how well the group divided the workload, communicated individual responsibilities, encouraged participation from each member, and accomplished its goals. This feedback is also important because it helps your learners improve their general small group skills, which include cooperation, communication, goal setting, planning, organization and follow through.

Visit http://enews.educationessentials.com/v2/i1/

Meaningful Learning

2007-01-28T21:11:00.000+08:00

While working in small groups on a collaborative assignment, group members must increase their knowledge and deepen their understanding. The learning tasks must be structured to ensure the learning objectives are achieved. The responsibility for learning is shifted to the learners in a collaborative learning environment and the learning environment vibrates with high energy and FUN. All of this is useless if the learning is not meaningful.

In summary, collaborative learning is about a small group of learners labouring together and sharing the workload equitably as they strive to achieve the learning outcomes.

CO LABOUR

2007-01-27T21:44:00.001+08:00

All learners must engage actively together towards stated objectives. If one group member watches them it is not collaborative learning. Thiagi (www.thiagi.com) often says that there can be no passengers in a game. If there are, then the entire game becomes a flop. All students must contribute equally.

If one person is watching the others complete a group task, then it is not collaborative learning. Elizabeth Barkley and colleagues (www.amazon.com/Collaborative-Learning-Techniques-Handbook-College/dp/0787955183) say that the meaning of the Latin based word collaborate shines through as clearly today as in antiquity: to co-labour. Equitable engagement is an important element.

However it is useful to consider learning styles of the learners here. Whether all members receive the same group task or different tasks, all learners must contribute more or less equally.

I say this because recently we had an experience where a participant dropped out of a programme that we conducted commenting it consisted of too many small group activities. On hindsight, I wondered whether the tasks that the learner received in the small group activity could have been planned better.
Nevertheless co labour is still insufficient. The third feature of collaborative learning – meaningful learning should take place. We will discuss it in the next post.

Intentional Design

2007-01-22T08:28:00.000+08:00

Collaborative Learning

It is all about working with others. This is the thinking behind the 5 I’s in the book The Magic of Making Training FUN! Even though collaborative learning has been called by many different names, the essence of it all remains stills the same, working together to achieve shared learning goals cost effectively. Whatever names, it maybe called; there are three essential features

1. Intentional Design
2. Co Labour
3. Meaningful Learning

Intentional Design

Having a group exercise if of no use unless and until the facilitator structures intentional learning activities for the learners. Very often, I have seen facilitators give a group exercise simply to break the monotone of a lecture. There is no purpose of alignment to the learning objectives. And, the learning gained is also not processed adequately. In today’s world where there are many ready-made prescriptions available, facilitators may structure learning activities by choosing a suitable one from a list of pre-structured activities. These have been sometimes called as frames too,

We will discuss the other two essential features of collaborative learning in tne next blog post.

Small Groups for effective learning

2007-01-21T06:43:00.001+08:00

Why Small Groups?

We promote the use of small groups for FUN learning in all our training programmes, as they are very effective in accelerating learning as well as maximising retention.
Even though many learning professionals use small groups to enhance learning, I was often perplexed that very few of them actually know the thinking and the underlying foundations behind the use of small groups. There is a need to explore this subject in this blog to facilitate greater understanding over the use of small groups in learning.
Practitioner’s perspective
From a practitioner’s perspective, it makes sense, as it is easier to manage the participants in small groups. There has been extensive work from academic cum practitioners like Thiagi and Mel Silbermann. Practitioners like Bob Pike use round tables to get group work going while academics like Brufee provided clear epistemological distinction.
Active Learning
When I wrote the book The Magic of Making Training FUN, my colleague Dr Nat and classmate Dr Ram helped me explore the theoretical foundations behind the use of small groups over many cups of tea. One of the involvement tools that we came up with was the small group formation in a less mandated way. I was convinced that small groups led to greater involvement and the one word that consistently came up in all the literature was active learning.
Our own experiences sending children to one on one tuition centres, coaching classes or personal experience of running training for small groups versus large groups weighed heavily on our minds. The goal was in active engagement of the learners. The traditionally large classroom allowed for passivity unlike the small group. This is what prompted Thiagi to say “there can be no passengers in a learning game. “ Research on cognition and the brain confirms our learning that interaction-involving peers is effective in promoting active learning. However our experience also suggested that for learning to take place, the small group has to work well together. Often, in training, I have found people complaining of domination and participants wanting to change groups. So, is this all about collaboration? You bet, it is.
Collaborative Learning
The goal is for the small groups working in pairs or threes to achieve shared learning goals. If an individual chooses to work in a group yet refuse to interact with others as he or she prefers to work alone does not lead to group work. In collaborative learning, the learning activities are expressly designed for and carried out through pairs or small interactive groups. There are three critical areas behind collaborative learning which is driven though small groups. I hope to discuss them in the next blog.

Focus of this Blog

2007-01-20T22:56:00.000+08:00

As I begin to blog more promptly, I must introduce to all of you the Google. Group FUNLearning.

My interests in terms of research, consulting and training is firmly focussed on the areas of Learning & Performance/

Within this macro area, I have focussed on making learning FUN – ensuring the attention, participation and retention of the learning of the participants. Equally important is the transfer of the learning to the workplace.

Our businesses within our SMR Group (Specialist Management Resources) maybe summed up as being in the Competency – Learning – Performance areas. Our software, consulting, training and outsourcing functions are all passionately committed to helping people learn and perform.

Though in the past I have covered several areas in this blog with 14 postings over the last 3 years, they have all still focussed on the areas of learning & performance – leadership, talent management, competency & performance connection, Rainbow, Planning etcetera.

My goal is to blog on the theoretical and practical foundations on the subject of Making Training FUN for the next few weeks before moving on to Competency Implementation.

I look forward to being able to contribute to this blog over the next few weeks on this subject.

Welcome to the year 2007

2007-01-07T22:41:00.000+08:00

Hi!

I have not been prompt with my blogs.

I am sorry.

However, my New Year resolution for 2007 is to be prompt.

Starting with Jan, I plan to do it weekly before progressing to daily.

Have a great year ahead.

Happy New Year.

Rgds

Palan

Resonant Leadership

2006-09-08T19:00:00.000+08:00

What is resonant leadership?

Change has happened so quickly, so completely, or so globally. The new world requires a new kind of leadership competency. Resonant leaders as the authors call it, are stepping up, charting paths through unfamiliar territory, and inspiring people in their organizations, institutions, and communities. Leaders who can create resonance are people who either intuitively understand or have worked hard to develop emotional intelligence - namely, the competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

The Renewal process

Renewing yourself and connecting with others relies on three key elements that might at first sound too soft to support the hard work of being a resonant leader.

Mindfulness,
Hope,
Compassion.

These are the three elements absolutely essential for leaders to create and sustain resonance within them and others.

Dr Richard Boyatzis

Leadership and Managerial Competency guru Dr. Richard Boyatzis was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August to deliver a high impact workshop. For me the take away was his statement that Resonant Leadership is common sense but not common practice.

The Competency Performance connection

2006-05-13T21:25:00.000+08:00

The Competency - Performance connection was the title of my early morning keynote on Day One of the Asia HRDCongress 2006, Jakarta, Indonesia.

I used the examples of world renowned personalities to highlight the point that Competency was fundamental to Performance.

The 600 strong audience seemd to buy in to that idea.

What do you think?

Leadership in Challenging Times

2006-04-11T22:51:00.000+08:00

I had the privilege of speaking to the CEO Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia. My keynote revolved around the subject of Leadership: Pathway to Greatness.

I based my session on the work of Jim Collin's - Good to Great and Kouzes & Posner's Leadership Practices. Though both were Western models, I used them as a reference point to highlight Asian best practices. I did not touch upon much of Jack Welch's thoughts though.

Interestingly when I brought up the subject of getting the right people on the bus as an important element to achieve Level 5 leadership, the President of one of Indonesia's leading airlines highlighted his situation.

It was not about getting the right people on the bus but it was about getting rid of the poor performers. To him, that was the most challenging role as a CEO particularly in a highly political situation.

He referred to JackWelch's focus on getting rid of the 'C' players if all the attempts to move them to 'B' or 'A' players do not work.

What do you think?

Talent Management: Exclusion or Inclusion

2006-04-08T20:19:00.000+08:00

Is Talent Management the exclusion of many as a large number of consulting professionals seem to preach? Is the view that Talent will always be restricted to a few while the majority of the workforce will remain average appropriate?

These questions dominated the agenda of the recent HR Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event organised by Yayasan PPM, Indonesia, this week was a lively one. As the key note speaker, I had to bring the subject to the ground level in Asia.

Firstly, anyone with the right learning opportunity can perform to the required standards.
Secondly, any one who is able to connect his/her passion with his/her practice(work) is able to exceed expectations.
Thirdly, we have to be careful to with the understanding of the word talent. It is not meant to be exclusive but Talent Management is a HR response intended to address the business strategy by focussing on a selected number of profesisonals who are adding value to the organisation.
Fourthly, it is about attracting, recruiting and retaining people who can add value to the organisation. This does not imply we ignore the majority of the employees taken care of through functional competency development and day to day employee care.
Finally, talent management is all about creating a mindset that talent must be cultivated and not left to languish.

Training Careers

2006-03-27T00:17:00.000+08:00

A young person approached me this morning and asked if it is a good idea to become a trainer. I used the classic answer used by consultants - " it all depends."

Of course, it depends on what the young person wants to do, what his/her goals are.

To explain myself I had to rely on my personal experiences and let the young person decide what is best. From my viewpoint, I certainly think training is indeed a very noble profession. You can call it by whatever name you want but if you are in the business of helping someone learn and if that learner is able to apply it in some form of work, I think you have evolved into a trainer.

Training has been around since stone age and all of us have learned right from the day we entered into this world. The question is - was that training or learning cost effective. Hence a professional trainer is one who impacts people in a positive way. A Professional trainer is one with good communication skills and subject matter expertise. To achieve professional status requires structured learning.

Organisations require training because they are in a constant state of change or with a desire to learn and grow on an almost continuous basis. Training is about helping people change and transform through learning. Training is often described as learning attitudes, skills and knowledge (ASK).

Four key developments have shaped the face of training today -

Adult Learning,
Transfer of Learning to the Workplace,
Evaluation Strategies, and
Information Technology.

We will continue to look at each of them in the next four days and review how these four have impacted training today.

Negativity Vs Positivity

2006-03-24T23:50:00.000+08:00

Rainbow Creators

What do you do when a friend feeds you negative information?

Do you respond defensively?
Do you accept that as a fact?
Do you filter the facts from the criticism and do what is neccessay for your growth?

Today was an incredible day. I had a friend who fed me a lot of information that was negative.

I paused - took the criticism - tried not to be defensive; never for a moment did I let that jostle my sense of cool. I figured it was a perception - I needed to understand that better.

Nevertheless, I did not forget the point I made in my book Creating Your Own Rainbow that all of us need to -

Recognise We can make a Difference.

Planning

2006-03-23T23:06:00.000+08:00

Planning

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part

I experienced this situation today.

The lack of planning by a colleague threw the entire day's plan into disarray. I was not sure whether it was the person's fault or that we did not have the depth to plan for alternatives.

We sure did survive the day reasonably well but thought we could have done better if only everyone involved had planned better.

Last minute changes and let downs are difficult to manage if the customer is to be satisfied.

Consistency in exceeding customer expectations comes from adaptive planning - a word used by Professor Moshe Rubenstein to describe a managerial response to plans and changes.

High Impact keynote presentation

2006-03-21T23:55:00.000+08:00

Keynotes

I had the opportunity today to present at a high level Industrial Relations Convention. Possibly, I was the only non lawyer speaker there. While others were talking about the right of the employer to dismiss and the right of the employee to basic work, I was there to talk about Talent Management. The first session after a sumptous lunch is always a tough one.

I used a simple formula - one idea for every ten minutes. Each idea had a theoretical point, a practical example and a story. Let me tell you the 200 people in the audience loved the stories as they were woven into the subject.

To me, a high impact keynote presentation must involve the audience as well as impact them.

Asia HRDCongress 2006

2006-03-21T23:42:00.000+08:00

People development

This year, the Asia HRDCongress will move to Jakarta, Indonesia. For details please visit www.hrdcongress.com

The highlight of the event will be a keynote by the former Prime Minstter of Malaysia Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.