Speed training
July 12, 2009
I’ve recently been discussing a particular type of training delivery with a colleague, which he is going to try out with a series of sessions over the coming weeks.
The concept is based around a short, sharp presentation of ideas on a specific topic within a limited time frame. There are a number of different names for the method, the original being ‘Pecha Kucha’ (pronounced ‘pe-chak’cha) which was created for young designers in the world of architecture to have the opportunity to meet and present their work in an informal setting. The short time limit on each session allowed for a lot of designers to present in one night. The name Pecha Kucha is a Japanese term for the sound of chit-chat, and in this particular form of speed-presentation, each presenter gets to present 20 slides, with 20 seconds for each slide, amounting to 6 minutes and 40 seconds in total.
Pecha Kucha is mainly for creative subjects such as architecture, design or photography, but other versions of the speed technique exist for a range of subjects. Ignite is another method that has 20 slides but only 15 seconds per slide, giving a five minute maximum length. One of the advantages of this method is that because of the length of the presentation, it is not possible to go into too much technical detail, and so it is good for simple but important messages or small sections of one subject that has been broken down.
Another benefit of this method is clearly that it can be used as a way of getting across a point with minimum time and maximum impact. My colleague was keen on this aspect as there are fundamental training needs within the team which need to be addressed but it can be difficult to arrange and deliver long training sessions due to organisational pressures such as the need to maintain service delivery throughout the day, whereas with this method those training needs can be broken down to small chunks and delivered over a period of a few weeks, in a logical order so that development takes a progression, and can be slotted easily into the working day. We are running the short presentation at the beginning of the week, with a small piece of ‘homework’ for participants to complete by the end of the week, which will reinforce and test the learning they have had, then another short session at the end of the week in which one of the participants (chosen at random so that everyone completes their homework!) gives feedback and presents the results of their homework. I’ll report back on how it goes!
Everyday learning
June 12, 2009
As we all know, budgets for things like benefits, recruitment and training are currently a lot smaller than this time last year in many companies, so HR professionals are having to be more strategic and clever with the cash they have in order to keep their organisations healthy during the recession and prepared for when it ends. Part of this is finding low or no cost alternatives to the things they used to have budget to spend on.
In learning and development, there are so many different ways in which employees can develop their skills and knowledge that don’t necessarily require an external trainer or training session. Work shadowing and buddy systems can prove more successful in many cases, because the learner is involved in a real life situation and can observe the other employee’s skills in action.
I know a newly qualified doctor who took advantage of the opportunity to work in a hospital in a developing African country on a placement scheme. Apart from the obvious benefits to the doctor in developing his newly gained skills in a very different situation to the UK hospitals, he described how the doctors in the African hospital benefitted from his placement, through the opportunity to learn the latest medical developments and techniques from someone who has just finished learning it all. Simply working alongside people from different experiential backgrounds and with different skill sets can be the most effective way to develop a range of abilities within the job role.
This philosophy is used in many large organisations; for example Google, which has a programme called ‘ambassadors’ – in which employees can swap jobs with someone in another area of the world. These kinds of secondments are invaluable for the skill and career development of the individual, but also ensures that good talent and new ideas are moved around the company, promoting more opportunities for innovation and organisational development.
What kind of alternative learning opportunities do your employees have, and how does it benefit them and the company?
McQualifications prove popular option for 2500 staff
May 13, 2009
Over a year ago there was a big news story about McDonalds being accredited to offer qualifications equivalent to an A Level (See McQualifications – the new A levels? 6th Feb 08) as well as Network Rail and Flybe. This development was designed to give young people the chance to gain work based skills that they could not get in the formal education system – such as a ‘basic shift manager’ diploma. The qualifications can be used as credits to help people to get onto higher education courses, although many of the more high level universities immediately criticised the qualifications as not being as rigorous academically as the traditional A level, and some even said that they would not accept the work-based qualifications as credits for entry onto their degree courses.
However, despite some of the negative points relating to the new qualifications, McDonalds have announced that 2,500 members of staff enrolled for their A level equivalent courses – which shows that a lot of people see credibility in the scheme, rather than showing the same snobbery as some university heads. Many of the applicants for the scheme were actually university graduates, that are looking for a practical element to their learning experience; which is what a lot of graduates seek after spending three or more years drowning in academia that can prove to be almost useless in the reality of the workplace. And at the moment this is an even more attractive proposition; with new graduates struggling to find work in the recession; as research has shown that graduate positions in 2009 have been cut by 17%. A friend of mine who lives in London has been affected by this; having graduated last year, he has still been unable to find a decent job and said that graduate recruitment London has reduced massively and is extremely competitive.
David Fairhurst, the head of HR at McDonalds, has said that one day he’d love to be able to offer degree level and even Phd courses in restaurant management, and I don’t think this is a completely unrealistic dream, since there are no university courses of this kind, and therefore a lack of opportunity to learn at the higher level within a lot of careers.
Essential management skills
April 17, 2009
We all know that with the current economic difficulties, all organisations are tightening the belt and as I’ve said before, one of the first budgets to be cut for HR can often be the training budget. At the same time, managers are leading organisations through possibly the most difficult times a lot of them will have experienced, so their knowledge and skills are crucial elements in the continuing success, or even survival, of the company. Whilst it may not be appropriate for HR to go cap in hand to the board asking for money to purchase management training, it is extremely important to recognise the management skills that are needed to pull the company through the dark times, and HR needs to help managers develop, maintain and use these skills and techniques:
Delegation
A lot of employees may have changed their roles due to changing organisational needs. In many places, mass redundancies will have led to the expansion of survivors’ roles and a lot of people may be experiencing stress and anxiety at the possibility of having to carry out tasks they do not know how to do. Good delegation is key. Aspects of good delegation include explaining a task in detail and step-by-step, using questioning to ensure the person taking on the task has understood, following up any requests with an email to re-iterate what has to be done (giving clear instructions and timescales for completion) and using positive reinforcement when the person does a good job. At the moment in my organisation we are developing ‘how to’ guides for all tasks carried out, which will be used in training new starters and to delegate tasks to people who have not done them before.
Communication
At the moment, what is needed most of all in organisations is good, clear, honest communication. You only have to watch the news any day of the week to know that many companies and therefore jobs are at risk, and if your company is one of them, probably the worst thing you can do is try to hide this fact, because rumours will happen regardless of how secret the company’s information is kept, and in difficult times a lot of managers will show the staff that there is something to worry about in their behaviour, which leads onto the next point.
Staff engagement
Managers, more than ever, have an important task of finding out what will engage their staff and making it happen. Clear communication and a general air of positivity are two good things to start with. If the management team promote an atmosphere of doom and gloom, then no clever HR interventions will eradicate it. Managers need to focus on solutions rather than problems, and keep reinforcing positive actions and good work instead of continually highlighting faults. That is not to say that problems and issues should be ignored, but that the way this is communicated could make the difference between a member of staff who is engaged with what they have to achieve, even if they are dealing with a massive issue, and one who is close to despair and is therefore no more use in the office than they would be sat at home watching daytime TV!
HR has such an important job in a recession, and sometimes it’s important to get back to basics in terms of what you have to deliver to the organisation. No amount of theories, tools and strategy models can replace the day to day support, advice and encouragement HR can give management, which is a vital element in making sure organisations are equipped to survive and even prosper in the economic downturn.
Online learning through webinars
February 20, 2009
Yesterday I participated in my first ever ‘webinar’, which was for employment law training from a legal advisor. Having not been involved in online learning before I was intrigued to find out what it was going to be like.
The training was delivered from what looked like the trainer’s home, and was broadcast on the internet to all participating organisations with a webcam and Powerpoint presentation, so you could see the slides and the trainer speaking together on one screen – pretty much as you would with a live presentation. I felt that this was a really cost effective way of getting the information to us; because the training was delivered in this way there were no travelling, room hire, refreshments or paperwork costs, and the session was really inexpensive (especially as three of us watched the webinar) whereas if we had all attended a course the cost would have been in the hundreds. The other great benefit was that we simply booked a meeting room to view the webinar (I wouldn’t recommend viewing training at your desk because there will be constant interruptions) and therefore we didn’t spend half the day travelling to and from the venue.
However the session wasn’t all good – the connection was a bit jumpy and kept pausing - towards the end of the session it was really distracting and annoying. Also one thing I did miss that you would have in a face to face session was being able to interrupt the trainer in the middle of the session to clarify something and have a two way chat about it (we were able to email questions in at the end though). The tutor did at times go a little too fast to take in what she was saying, which again probably wouldn’t happen in a face to face learning session because the facilitator would be able to gauge the pace. However overall I would say these things didn’t considerably hinder the effectiveness of the learning process.
So in conclusion I would say that webinars can be a really useful way of providing learning opportunities to many people across different locations at the same time, and will provide a valuable addition to an learning and development strategy. However I would stress caution when implementing web based training – it is useful for knowledge/information transfer (such as employment law as in this session) but it is not suitable for skill based training such as management skills – interactive methods such as coaching will be more appropriate in this case.
How do you keep learning and development up when budgets are cut? (2)
January 8, 2009
Yesterday I was discussing the difficulties in providing adequate learning and development opportunities for employees when training budgets have been cut, with ideas for achieving learning and development objectives with low cost options. Today is a continuation on this theme.
3. Implement experiential learning
The economic climate is providing vast learning opportunities for people who have never experienced the conditions many companies are now facing. Reviewing job roles and responsibilities, and providing opportunities for things like secondments and shadowing will allow key staff to learn through experiencing situations first hand, with the guidance of more experienced employees.
4. Free training
There are many free courses available through non-profit or Government related organisations, particularly in qualifications based training such as NVQs. There are also many free online training courses, mainly in things like PC skills. The best thing to do is Google what you’re looking for and call the local authority or local colleges.
A key factor in implementing any of the above ideas is ensuring good communication with employees on the learning and development opportunities they are experiencing, especially if it appears that the availability of external or funded training has reduced. The opportunities to grow and develop in a role are a key factor in employee job satisfaction and engagement, and looking for inventive ways to continue to invest in employees in a time where budgets are squeezed will highlight the fact that the company still has employee development as a key objective, regardless of constraints. This is something that employees will value as part of the total employment package.
Ways to communicate learning activities that benefit the employee are in appraisals and reviews, company announcements (e.g. ‘X is taking on a temporary secondment to X role, lets all congratulate them) and newsletters or emails announcing learning activities such as workshops and online sessions.
How do you keep learning and development up when budgets are cut? (1)
January 7, 2009
In the current economic climate, it will be hard to find a company that is not making cost cuts and reducing budgets in many business areas, and it is quite likely that learning and development will be one of the first areas to lose out. However the UK Commission for Employment and Skills recently published an advertisement citing evidence that “firms that don’t train are 2.5 times more likely to fail than those who do”. It is a strongly held view that in order for businesses to survive the hard times we are facing, they must focus on the skills they have in the workforce, and invest in staff to keep them engaged and ensure the business is ready to go once we come out of the recession. Businesses that do so will be better placed to out perform their competitors when the markets pick up again.
But this knowledge doesn’t change the fact that most HR professionals will have to achieve the same development outcomes or better, with much reduced funds, so how can this be achieved? In this post and the next one there are some ideas:
1. Focus the budget in the most appropriate areas.
The changing state of the economy will mean many changes within organisations, whether it is reorganisation of work, restructuring of teams or alternative product packages. This means that the learning and development needs will change accordingly, and should be reviewed to ensure that the activities are focused in the right areas and any available budget is spent wisely.
2. Use internal expertise
In many situations, the best knowledge and skills are in fact already contained within the company, and tapping into this experience could be even more beneficial than buying in external training. In my organisation we implemented a workshop programme last year where internal experts in different fields led training sessions or workshops on a specific subject. Some sessions were compulsory for some groups of employees, others were open house. This has proved to be quite beneficial and a new programme has been developed for this year, with the benefit of a year of feedback and refinement of existing sessions. The HR or L&D departments may need to support the experts in terms of putting together meaningful learning sessions and developing skills in presentation and training.
… continues in tomorrow’s post
From business to education
November 3, 2008
A while back I wrote about a scheme called Transition to Teaching, which looks to unite the business and education communities to hopefully increase the numbers of new teachers by helping business managers and employees make the transition from their existing roles into teaching positions through training and qualifications.
Today brings news that many people who are facing redundancy or have already lost their jobs in the economic downturn are looking to move into the teaching profession. Lifelong Learning UK, the sector skills council has seen a staggering 41% increase in enquiries about teacher training courses.
With the ever present threat of job losses, many people are now thinking about career changes, and it seems that education is one of the popular choices for a fresh start. Lifelong Learning UK has a scheme called Make a Difference, which encourages business managers to look at alternative management roles in the education sector. I think this is a really good scheme, as it’s good to mix management experience from different sector backgrounds, so employing people experienced in varied business environments will add value to the education sector through different perspectives, ideas and skills. The scheme also allows people to have a change in career and move to an organisation in which they feel they can ‘make a difference’ without having to radically re-train, which might put some people off a career change.
I really believe that education should be at least partly delivered by people who have had experience in the ‘real’ business world, especially in further and higher education, as it adds a more realistic dimension to the learning that takes place. So if the recession means that more business people make the move from business to education, then providing those people have a genuine desire to be there and to make that difference, this is perhaps one positive outcome of the economic mess we’re in.
Managing change through good communication
October 14, 2008
A recent survey conducted by YouGov for Investors in People has found that all too often managers are not handling change effectively. The survey was carried out on 2,500 people, and more than half of the respondents said that they found out about change through gossip and the behaviour of senior staff, such as hushed conversations. The most popular way of receiving information about change was through one to one meetings with the line manager, rather than company wide announcements or group meetings.
Change is such a major part of business now, with mergers and acquisitions, large scale restructures or redundancies, or even day to day changes such as new products or services. All UK workers will experience some sort of change in their careers, and the consequences of communicating change badly can be huge. Change often be seen as the role of the very top level of management or HR to deal with, but as this survey suggests, line managers, as with so many aspects of employment, actually have the biggest role to play in communicating change, reassuring employees, listening to valuable feedback and then doing something with it. However it’s likely that in some organisations, even the line managers aren’t completely aware of what’s happening, so would find it very difficult to communicate effectively with their staff on the changes.
Managing change and communicating effectively are two very key skills for anyone with people management responsibilities, yet I wonder how many organisations deliver training on these areas for their line managers? This is something we have not done so far in my organisation, but something that is certainly needed.
Does your organisation provide any training for managers relating to change management or communication? Or have you been through a major change that was handled very well or very badly?
Designing a development centre
August 15, 2008
Yesterday I discussed some of the benefits that can be achieved by running a development centre to help identify the skill gaps and development needs of a group of employees, and help them to build development plans to get them where they need to be to succeed and progress. Organising and delivering a development centre is a very time consuming and complex task, and should only be undertaken if you have time, resources, buy in from senior management and the necessary skills to do deliver the event. Many organisations use external consultants to plan and carry out development centres on behalf of the company, and, whilst expensive, my guess is that this is a much quicker, more straightforward and even cost effective way of implementing a development centre, because it really is a big task. Some important things to consider when planning a development centre are:
- Identify exactly what you are trying to measure. The outcomes of the tests and exercises will be pretty worthless if they don’t relate to a specific job need. This is where measurable competencies are needed, whether it’s for the jobs the participants presently hold or jobs they may be looking to progress into. Examples might be negotiation, analytical or communication skills.
- Identify tasks, exercises or tools by which the competencies can be measured, such as simulating a real job situation (e.g. in a role play), an interview, presentation or team challenge. This is where the help of a consultant might come in handy. If you want to do something like psychometric testing it is imperative that a trained professional (i.e. occupational psychologist) carries out these tests.
- The activities in the development centre should be organised so that each key competency is measured more than once, in more than one activity, and by more than one observer. This will help to make the final data more reliable and will reduce the risk of a one off brilliant or poor performance.
- Observers need to be fully trained in how to carry out this role. It is good experience for managers to carry out the role of an observer, and helps them to understand the process of self development that they can use themselves. It also costs less to train up internal observers than to use a wholly external team, but it is essential that they are given the skills to observe and assess participants effectively and fairly, otherwise the exercise could turn out to be a waste of time.
- Build into the schedule lots of time for feedback and reflection. This is what it’s all about after all. Participants should be able to discuss with the observers their performance in the development centre, what it means, and options for progressing their development going forward.
- Having a coordinator for the whole event is a good idea, as there’s a lot of different things going on at the same time, as well as observers and participants to organise. There also might be a lot of materials to sort out, and possibly technical things like a projector or TV. The observers need to be left to get on with their job so a centre manager or coordinator will take all the stress of the organisation away from everybody else. I did this role once for an assessment centre and it was a very busy day for me, but the fact that I managed all ‘bits and pieces’ helped the day to be a success.
- Finally, the development centre should not be an isolated event. As I said yesterday the competencies measured fit very well into other HR activities, and the centre will be fairly useless if it does not do this. The biggest obstacles to post centre development are lack of time, resources, and organisational commitment, and thought should be given to the methods by which development will take place and how this will be resourced prior to the centre being implemented.
Sounds complicated? It is, but for those organisations that have the resources and are willing to provide the time, the development centre can provide a good return on investment through accurately pinpointing development needs and the ways in which they can be met, as well as identifying the potential stars of the future. It can also give participants the realisation that a lot of time and attention is being given to their needs, which is obviously another plus point of the event.