Learning: The Magic of Making Training FUN

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 perf...

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 thu...

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. Eve...

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 peopl...

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.

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 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...

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?

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: 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.

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...

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.

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?

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

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.

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 – g...

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.

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 atte...

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.