Measuring the Success of SoMe in Training

I have been experimenting with social media usage in training and I’m quite happy with the results. This blog post explains what results to look for in your own usage of SoMe as a trainer.There are 3 main things to bear in mind:

 

Traffic (amount of activity) = the level 1 SoMe measure

If you ask training participants to do something via a SoMe platform, it is important to look at the amount and type of traffic you get. This could be compared to Kirkpatrick’s L1 learning measure: reaction.

 

For example, I have used LinkedIn to create a group of people interested in Leadership. I can see:

• How many people have joined the group
• How many discussions have been created and how many comments have been added
• How many “likes” there have been
• Who is the top user

 

..on a www.wallwisher.com wall I can see how many posts have been added. On WordPress and YouTube, I can see how many times my blog or video has been viewed. On these latter sites, I can’t always see WHO has done what, but I can often see WHEN.

 

 

Content relevance is more about actual learning

Traffic on a site is not in itself a good thing. If all the LinkedIn group members are discussing the Euro-cup football competition, this (probably) isn’t relevant.

 

On one of my wallwisher pages, I ask leadership training participants to add references, resources, links and comments related to the motivation concept of “FLOW”. In addition to the number of things posted, it is important to take the time to look at the content of what has been posted: Is it “on topic”? Can you see what they have learnt? For example, one post talks about gardening until its dark and not noticing the time fly by – that is FLOW and I can tell that somebody at least understands the concept…

 

Note: This is about measuring relevance of content, but that doesn’t mean that learning-irrelevant posts are not interesting. Don’t forget the community / group side of all these tools…

 

 

The 3rd measure is about continuity of activity

If you can get continuity in your participants’ social media learning activities, you have really achieved something! Continuity is the idea that participants do something with what other participants have posted.

 

For example:

• Jack posts a reference of a great presentation on YouTube and tweets it with a hashtag –> when Sarah replies to the tweet mentioning something that happened in the 3rd minute of the presentation, you know she has acted on what Jack shared
• Elena posts a discussion on a Yammer group. 2 people comment and 5 others click on “like” –> you can see they have been engaged by Elena’s content
• Matthias shares a reference on a wallwisher page –> Jolien posts another reference writing “Following up on Matthias’ theme, here’s another example of….”

 

I am convinced that certain uses of social media can bring real value to the learning process. In training, this could be before, during or after the classroom experience. Measure your own efforts and you’ll see for yourself!

 

Have fun!

D

 

 

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Visit www.infinitelearning.be

Have a great weekend!

Defending training

My Twitter stream is full of excellent professional learning people and 1 major trend: Non-training based learning.

The continual repetition of ideas like 70:20:10 along with the SoMeSoLearn fashion and chats like #IHateTraining are having a great impact on the learning sector. People truly understand the first 2 suppositions of the Infinite Learning principle:

• Training does not imply learning
• Learning does not imply training

 

BUT: There is nothing wrong with training!

Many of the same people who are talking everyday about SoMeSoLearn, learning in the work stream, informal unintentional learning etc etc… don’t always say directly that training is bad. But I feel the intention is nonetheless there. And the training profession is not doing a good enough (or loud enough) job of defending itself against that intention. And while it’s harder to defend something that is not directly under attack, here goes…

I’ve been asking learning professionals 2 questions:

• What is the value of training? (as opposed to other learning approaches)
• When is training the right answer?

 

But before we get started, let’s define “training”…

Much of the anti-training movement seems to be fuelled by a particular understanding of what training is: People equate training with top-down expert-to-non-expert instruction, as if training uses exceptionally the S1 hierarchical/directive leadership style of Blanchard + Hersey’s Situational Leadership model and only the L+D department is allowed to manage it. I can understand why they would think THAT is only useful 10% of the time…. and it certainly isn’t adapted to much of the knowledge-era Gen-Y “connected” “Yes We Can” learning population!

…or, as Harold Jarche (@hjarche) told me: “Sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk isn’t training. It’s just a waste of time.”

But THAT is not how training should be…

 

During a Twitter conversation with CNY ASTD President Mark Britz (@britz) we both agreed on the following simple definition of training:

• “A formal structured learning moment that takes place out of the workflow, with defined objectives and curriculum/approach”

@hjarche referred me to the Wikipedia entry on training which says it is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competences as a result of teaching specific things.

 

Note that neither of these definitions exclude learners from the definition and creation of the training package and they certainly don’t imply that the only teaching style to be used is top-down teacher/school-like instruction.

So far so good…. Now what about those 2 questions of mine….?

 

About the value of training

1
The added-value of training in terms of competence is in skill and attitude building, not knowledge delivery. Knowledge can be delivered via multiple other channels. The only knowledge to be attained in a training environment is self-knowledge, usually via constructive feedback following relevant exercises.

2
Sometimes a training environment is used to deal with objections and reactions to new information being acquired. For example, during a change project, people are put in a room together to receive and understand new ideas, question themselves, brainstorm and give feedback.

 

When is training the right answer?

1
When direct access to a subject matter expert over a condensed period of time is more efficient than self-learning or indirect access to that SME. Example: Hard skills learning like software, programming…

2
When taking time out from the workplace with colleagues is more likely to produce discussion, (team) reflection and brainstorming than staying in the workplace

3
When the risk of making errors learning on the job outweighs the investment of learning in a safe risk-free environment

4
In my at-distance-video-interview ASTD President Tony Bingham summarised his thoughts on when training is the right answer….

5
@britz referred me to Mosher + Gottfredson’s “5 Moments of Learning Need” which states that training is only required when “learning something for the first time” or “learning more”. The other 3 learning moments can be done via other channels (performance support, SoMe, reading…).

6
@hjarche told me that “training is the right answer when there is a clear lack of skill/knowledge and when learning it for the first time”.

7
@charlesjennings told me that formal training is usually the right answer when dealing with (a) high-level concepts or (b) compliance demands.

 

… I personally add that all of the above is only true with the important (obvious?) addition that what is learnt in the training environment is practically relevant (“authentic”) and effectively transferred to the workplace. Training alone (no follow-up) will almost never do the trick. Training as part of an effective learning strategy will.

 

Good training is here to stay when it adds value because it’s done well and for the right reasons.

…and I’m looking forward to it

 

Thanks for reading
D

 

Random things to do when presenting

..list created by trainees recently

 

• Modulate your voice VISA
• Share eye contact
• Deliberate gesticulation, not waving hands around for nothing
• Deliberate walking around; not hot-flooring
• Introduction with message and/or agenda
• Power position
• Strong positive words
• No fidgeting
• Avoid long phrases and lots of details
• Only say useful things!
• Finish with the key message, like the diamond structure says
• Use humour and be light-hearted where possible
• Enthusiasm
• Smile!
• Stay and look calm
• Use visual supports
• Build up imagery step-by-step when necessary
• After interruptions, rewind and replay
• Only do 1 thing at a time

 

L+D 2.0 = Commercial and collaborative

My doodle from ASTD2012… working out a full blog post for this and will be back soon..

Creative commons apply

L+D 2.0 by Dan Steer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Leadership competences (as noted by recent trainees)

Here is the post-it note list my recent trainees made about leadership competences over my 4 day course with Kluwer. Split into knowledge, skills and attitude…

 

Knowledge – a good leader should know..

• His own style of communication
• ..and those of the team
• How people on the team feel
• The team’s strengths and weaknesses
• What gets her own people in FLOW
• What is reasonable and what is not
• The mission
• About different personalities (eg: red monkey lovers)
• Boundaries
• Which tools and resources are available, where and how to get them
• Different working methods
• The working environment, business, key players etc..
• Where we are in relationship to the mission
• The big picture

 

Skills - a good leader should be able to..

• Be clear in communications
• Communicate assertively
• Give regular constructive feedback, including good examples
• Adapt feedback frequency to the needs of the people (like with situational leadership)
• Make good decisions
• Moderate conflict
• Create strategic action
• Set expectations well
• Influence and convince people
• Build trust
• Use active empathy
• Avoid (or at least be aware of)  assumptions
• Be objective
• Adapt leadership style to the needs of the people
• Evaluate performance with a blend of objectivity and subjectivity
• Build a good network
• Set priorities
• Create a good environment in which he can gather input from the team
• Stimulate problem solving
• Coach people (when it is right to)
• Mentor people (when it is right to)
• Delegate
• Direct people and hold hands when neceesary
• Deal with own stress and the stress of others
• Inspire the team
• Solve problems
• Adapt to different situations
• State objectives in a clear and motivating way
• Keep distance when required
• Think outside of the box
• Negotiate
• Play purple (see Gavin Kennedy’s book on “Negotiation”)
• Admit when things go wrong
• Proactive
• Create effective teamwork
• Assign the right people to the right tasks
• Empower people
• Deal with change
• Use google

 

Attitude - a good leader should be ..

• Open-minded
• Adult-minded (ego state)
• Good-tempered
• Trust-worthy
• Trusting
• Think win:win
• Positive
• Consistent
• Structured
• ..but flexible
• Confident
• Inspired
• Focusses on results
• …but not forget people, emotions and feelings
• Calm under pressure
• Analytic
• “Can-do” minded

 

 

10 random tips for managers to make the best of their (meritocratic) performance evaluation system

11 random ideas from recent training participants about how to work well within their meritocratic performance evaluation system…

• Don’t forget: It’s a 2 player game (leader and follower)!
• Communicate company strategic goals to people so they can align their own goal-setting to the company
• Promote usage of the system – encourage people to do their part
• Encourage and enable good reporting, data collection and preparation of feedback/input by employees throughout the evaluation period
• Train new leaders on how to use and run the system
• Don’t wait a year to give feedback – adjust frequency of follow-up to the development level of the employee
• Assign the right people as reviewers and secondary reviewers – these people should be able to give a qualitative review
• Take the time to understand the past performance – don’t ignore this and jump straight into scores and future goal-setting
• Take responsibility for your part in the system
• Give feedback on the system to management