Training versus Learning

I truly believe that "learning" is one of the most important competencies for everybody who want to survive the crisis and who has ambition to grow. Training will not be the answer, Learning is the key to success. But what is the difference ?

Training is an activity

Learning is an attitude

What do I mean by this ? 

Training is what we do in a classroom, or via e-learning, a manual, ... Most of the time, it is somebody else who shares his knowledge & experience with us. It is an outside-in activity. Training often results in wallpaper-certificates.

Learning is very different from training. It is an attitude that happens 100% of the time. We learn from what we do. If we fail, we create a learning opportunity to prevent us from doing the same mistake twice. Good learners do this in a conscious way. They take time to reflect on what happened and what they can learn from it. It is an inside out activity. Learning results in knowledge and experiences that help us grow, improve and excel.

In Belgium organizations have to "train" their staff a certain number of days a year. E.g. in Logistics this is 5,5 days every 2 years. That means 1% of the time employees spent on improving their skills (if they attend a successful training. I honestly believe we should spent almost all of our time on learning.

My tips to improve Learning in your organization

1. Allow employees to make mistakes, if they learn from it.
2. Regularly ask your employees what they learned that day. This will start up a process where people start reflecting on what they did today and find ways to do it better tomorrow.
3. Organize learning groups where people can learn from each other. 
4. Don't focus on the amount of hours your staff attended trainings, but check how many innovative ideas (process improvement, new products, ...) they launched. This is an important indicator that they learn.
5. If you have a training departement in your organization, change it into the learning facilitation department and allow them to create a learning culture (by facilitating workshops, improve learning awareness, ...)

Become today a learning organization and start you growth and innovation. 

What's next ?

Over the next few weeks, I will publish a series of articles on the challenges for learning & development and provide some practical tips how you can improve your organization.

You can't change the weather

Too often I hear people complain about things they can't change like :

• the green light turning red just 2 cars before you arrive at the crossroad
• the weather
• traffic jams
• ...

All this complaining generates negative energy. Energy you'd better use to create new things and solutions. 

Somebody told me once: "you can't change the things that are happening around you, you can change how you react on them". Keep this in mind, and try to seek opportunities instead of blowing up problems. 

Even when it is raining cats & dogs, there are new opportunities. You can start selling umbrellas and make so much money you can move to a nice and warm exotic country :-)

So next time you start complaining, think twice and seek for the opportunity, because some things can't be changed and complaining absorbs all your energy.

Getting involvement during coaching

There are a few important ingredients that improve people's learning curve; fun, good instructions, room for practice, competent coach, ... Today I want to focus on an important ingredient that lies within the person who's learning : INVOLVEMENT. People who are involved/engaged, are open for new things, get energized by the learning and want to apply what they learned.

Common mistake :
When people are coached many coaches come up with the ideas and tell their trainee what to do. We call this the outside-in approach. Mostly these coaches pass knowledge, tips & tricks on to the trainee and they expect the trainee to copy paste this knowledge.

The inside-out approach :
A while ago I wrote on this blog an article about the ASTD session of Alan Fine (author of You already know how to be great) In his book, Alan describes how he uses the GROW model (goal - reality - options, way forward) to coach people inside out. Instead of telling people what to do, he asks them questions and triggers them to find the answer themselves (without making judgements! ). This is also what Ken Blanchard meant in his book "The one minute manager meets the monkey". Coaching is about helping people to find the answer themselves. It is NOT about telling them what to do.
From my own experiences I know this is the strongest approach on one condition ; the person is really willing to learn & grow.

You can use this technique both as external coach or as manager to coach your employees. It doesn't take hours to use this approach. It can even be done in 15min time at the coffee machine. Stick to the 4 stages of the approach, and you'll bear the fruits of it.

Questions to use with inside-out coaching & GROW approach :


GOAL :

• what do you want to learn during the coaching ? 
• what are the consequences if you don't learn this ? 
• where do you want to be in ... time ? 

REALITY :

• what has been happening ? 
• what is withholding you from making the next move ? 
• what is the problem you're facing ? 

Remark : for both topics (goal & reality) as a coach it  is important to push your trainee to make things clear himself. You can do this by asking after every answer "why / how / when, ..." questions. This will sharpen the issue and create focus for the coaching. It will make the trainee think himself. 

OPTIONS :

• at this stage you open a brainstorming with the trainee. All options are possible to go from reality to goal. If the trainee can't come up with enough options, ask questions, and push him to new options. Don't tell him what you think the options are, because if you would, you start coaching outside in. 

WAY FORWARD :

• Now you choose what options you'll use / implement and define the action plan to go from reality to goal. 

To conclude :
If you use an inside out approach for coaching you'll get more involvement, more results and motivated people, because they'll realize they have the answers within themselves which increases their faith & fire.

United we stand, divided we fall - music can save the world

How comes so many people don't realize that collaboration is one of the basic rules for success and growth. I see governments struggling to find a political majority, because parties don't want to jointly govern (I live in Belgium, the country with the world record of longest time to create a government = 541 days!). I see companies loosing money by the millions because departments are not allowed to share ideas and work together. Parents splitting up and fighting for the kids because they don't want to live together. 

(source : http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/election2008/ig/2008-Election-Cartoons/House-Divided.htm)

But, I'm hopeful. I see many people getting together. I meet people who want to share ideas and build together in a very constructive way. And that is the only way forward. If you want to learn, talk to people and learn from each other. 


Music is an important channel to speak up and say what lives among people in the street. 
In the 1970's Brotherhood of Man wrote the song "United we stand divided we fall". Later Punk group Sham 69 had a big hit with the song "If the kids are united, they well never be divided". About ten years the Dutch/Belgian punk group de Heideroosjes used this in their song "Time is ticking away" They wrote 

I don't need many friends
but those I have are real
Together we're down for life
United we stand, devided we fall
All for one and one for all

I strongly do believe that collaboration is the way forward and ingredients for this are trust, empathy, forgivingness, putting things in perspective ... Big words and even bigger challenges, but once you apply it, you feel the benefits and start growing. 

Did you know, the most successful companies are made by teams. They help people to meet and collaborate. They support teamwork. 

My advise to you :

Create structures where people can really work together, share ideas, innovate. Invite neighbors for a BBQ party, connect with friends and most of all be open to others. 

So next time you are in a hostile meeting or you end up in a out of control discussion, just stop the fuzz and play one these songs really loud and sing along. 

In case you need a heavy tune : De Heideroosjes

For the quiet version : Brotherhood of Man

Getting the message across

There has never been as much communication as today. The communication wheel spins 24/7. With our cell phones we can dial at any time of the day, receive mails, text messages, twitter, read the internet, check people we don't know on Facebook, network via linkedin, we read newspapers and watch TV (including all the commercials with information on products we'll never buy)... and at work, we attend endless meetings, read 'important' messages from the boss,... and we are supposed to absorb this information. Let me be clear "it is impossible to absorb all that information !"
99% of the information that has been sent out gets lost or doesn't have the supposed impact.
Maybe you get irritated by all these messages and maybe you just want to hear the bottom line of the messages. Believe me you are not the only one.
So next time you communicate to someone, say what you have to say, be clear and to the point in your communication. Don't cover bad news with a long positive introduction, or the bottom line of your message gets lost.
My tips if you want to get the message across :

1. say what you have to say
2. be clear & to the point
3. be clear to whom you want to communicate
4. think twice before you communicate
5. be focused when someone wants to tell you something important

Source cartoon : http://virtualpolitik.blogspot.be/2007/11/policing-police.html

Reduce waste in Training & Development

Learning & development often costs quite a lot of money. It is normal that CEO's ask for a return on investment when they spent money on learning & development initiatives. In one of my previous blogposts, I described the New World Kirkpatrick Model. This model already gives great ideas to better align the business expectations and training plans and puts focus on Return on Expectations.

But, there is more to improve the quality of trainings. I believe there is too much "waste" in learning & development. In this blogpost I give an overview of possible wastes and provide alternatives to improve the quality of your service.

For this blogpost I was inspired by an article by Bradley Staats and David Upton. It was a case study on how Wipro implemented the lean principles to improve their administrative an knowledge work. (Holland/Belgium Management Review – Nummer 141 – 2012 – p 56-65 – Bradley Staats and David Upton)

The 7 wastes according to Toyota
Toyota Lean Specialist Taiichi Ohno defines 7 important forms of waste in organizations :

1. Overproduction : manufacture an item before it is actually required. The answer to this is Just in Time Production. 
2. Waiting : Whenever goods are not moving or being processed, the wast of waiting occurs. This means that much of a products lead time is tied up in waiting for the next operation. 
3. Transporting : transporting product between processes is a cost incursion which adds no value to the product. Excessive movement and handling cause damage and are an opportunity for quality to deteriorate. 
4. Inappropriate Processing : use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If you use too complex, too expensive tools to get the job done. 
5. Unnecessary Inventory : excess inventory increases lead time, consumes productive floor space, delays the identification of problems and inhibits communication. 
6. Unnecessary / Excess Motion : this waste is related to ergonomics and is seen in all instances of bending, stretching, walking, lifting, and reaching. 
7. Defects : Quality defects resulting in rework or scrap are a tremendous cost to organizations. 

These principles are holy rules in production factories all over the world. Production always seeks ways to lower costs and improve efficiency. So why are these rules not applied on learning & development ? 

How can we reduce waste in Learning & Development ? 

 If you look at the above list, you can easily detect waste in learning and development. 

1. Overproduction : why do we send people to a 2 day course, if they only need 10% of the content of this course. This is often the case when companies send employees to e.g. a course "Advanced Excel", while the employee only needs to know how to create & use a pivot table. There are good tools & providers who supply individual, tailored trainings at a low cost (e.g. www.givi.be where you can say which specific module in excel should be trained). My advise : be creative and only produce what is really necessary to the business. Maybe you might find the course useful, but it is of no use for your customers in the business. 
2. Waiting :  don't wait for the annual appraisal to add training needs to you individual training plan. If an employee has a specific training need at a certain moment, deliver an appropriate solution at that moment, so he can proceed on his work with the new knowledge. 
3. Transporting : The biggest chunck of trainings are still classroom trainings. I believe we should analyze the training material and check what can already send before the training. People don't need to go to a classroom if they can get a part of the training by e-learning (e.g. theoretical information, concepts, ...)
4. Inappropriate processing : make requests for training as easy as possible. Don't use 24-step procedures with approvals by team leader, manager, HR, VP and CEO. Believe that if people request for a training they really need it for their job. They won't enroll for a training they don't need. So make it as easy as possible to enroll for trainings. 
5. Unnecessary Inventory : In the past I've seen organizations with fantastic Learning Management Systems (LMS), with gigantic training catalogues. There were even sooooooo many trainings in this catalogue that nobody could find an appropriate training any more. Some of the trainings were even out-dated. My advise : Make a clear overview of trainings you provide, easy searchable and frequently updated. 
6. Unnecessary / Excess Motion : make sure training facility is nice. Don't put people for a training somewhere in a back room without daylight. 
7. Defects : If you provide a technical training, make sure all the equipment is state of the art and works well. If possible have a back up plan at hand, because waiting because of a defect tool during a training, reduces the success of the training initiative dramatically. 

Conclusion :

Above I only mentioned a few suggestions to reduce waste in learning & development activities. Go search actively for waste reduction. Dare to ask why you do things in a certain way for years and dare to change the procedure if necessary. 

If you do reduce waste, your customers will appreciate the learning & development activity more and will be more eager to learn more and faster. 

Good luck !

ASTD session on Talent Management by David Wee

On Tuesday I attended a session by David Wee (Signapore) on Talent Management. I was triggered, the moment I read the title of his session "Getting 90% of your people to perform like the top 10%". And he accomplished to live up to these expectations. It was a great session, brought with enthusiasm and a lot of passion. I would like to share some of the highlights, but first you can watch a short video of David Wee explaining about talent

About the talent zone & talent ecosystem :

A talent ecosystem is a set of conditions that create room and possibilities to grow talent. As David Wee explains in the above video, both Beethoven and Tiger Woods lived in excellent ecosystems to grow their talent. 

But to create a talent ecosystem, you need to know your talent zone. There are 2 important elements that define the talent zone : Passion (love what you do) & Ability (doing what you are great at).

If we put these two on a diagram, we get the following overview :

1. If you have to do things and you are really not passionated at all about it and you are not good at it, then you are in the prison. In that situation there is only one thing you should do : STOP !
2. If you are highly competent, but not passionated, then you are in a situation of Unfulfilled dream
3. If you are very passionated at something, but you are not good at it, you have unfulfilled potential. In that situation, you'd better find yourself a good coach, read books, attend seminars, ... and practice to grow your ability. Only by doing this, you can get into the talent zone. 
4. People who are very capable at what they are doing and who are very passionated about it, they live in the talent zone. 

Try to find out where you are on this matrix and define your strategy for the future so you get into the talent zone. Jim Collins already stated in his session that great companies have belief that all people have talents. It is everybody's responsibility to grow towards the talent zone. Employees need to take initiatives to grow, but also the organization, HR, direct management can support the associate to develop a passion and grow the ability to get into the talent zone. 

Building Talent ecosystems

There are 6 important elements for organizations to create sustainable talent ecosystems :

1. Share deeply belief that everyone has talent
2. Make the business case for talent : bring stories about people's talent. Leaders should lead by example and invest in talent, they should drive talent management. 
3. Create conditions that demand the best from people. you can do this by working supporting people to practice their talent, give them self belief and intrinsic motivate them (e.g. give compliments, tap on the shoulder, ...).
4. Develop people to be the best they can be 
5. Hold people accountable for results
6. Give people a purpose to grow others.  

As you see in the list above managers have an impact on growth of talent management of their associates. They need to develop associates and belief the associate will succeed.  This brings us to the virtuous and the vicious circle of talent management. 

Impact of management belief on talent development

In the virtuous circle there is a positive atmosphere. The manager has belief in his people, which makes associates feel energized which leads to great results. 

In the vicious circle, the manager has few or no belief in his people. He sometimes don't want to invest time in them. All of these kind of excuses make people feel disengaged, which lead to poor results. 

It is in other words important that managers create a positive climate where the ecosystem for talent management arises and people feel engaged. Only this attitude can create the positive talent ecosystem to grow organizations through their people. 

What did I learn form this ? 

The matrix is a good instrument to detect what action should be taken to get somebody in his talent zone. Once we have a good picture on where the person is, we can further develop the talent. 

There are different aspects that have an impact on the development of people's talent. I like the concept of a talent ecosystem. It makes us aware there are many aspects that influence the talent development of our associates. All aspects should be respected, to grow talent.