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John A. Peart

Look At Your Training Objectives

Eran Lasser is founder and CEO of Wawiwa Tech Training. As a tech education entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience, Eran founded and managed John Bryce Training, the leading IT training firm in Israel; TRIG, an IT training company in China, launched as a subsidiary of John Bryce and acquired by PTL China; JB-IQsoft training center, an IT training company in Hungary; KocBryce, an IT training company in Turkey and a partnership of John Bryce and KOC group. Eran also partnered to establish DAN IT Education, an IT training company in Ukraine, and Techub in Georgia, In addition, Eran managed Mentergy, which provides e-learning and distance learning solutions.Over the years, Eran was responsible for the reskilling of more than 50,000 individuals now working as tech professionals. He is frequently invited to conferences to speak on topics related to the tech skills gap, innovation, technical training, and more.Eran was responsible for the training of computer professionals in the Israeli Defense Forces (MAMRAM). He was also a member of the Microsoft Training Partners Advisory Committee (PAC).

Eran Lasser

You’ve got numbers from your training. Now what? If you find that your data are unclear, or don’t seem to guide your next steps, you’re not alone. Let’s take care of that.Preparation CountsFirst, let’s review how to set yourself up for success with metrics. Here are the key steps to prepare for action:Set measurable goals for the course. For example, start from learning objectives and set goals for how much people should learn. (See” Track Success with Metrics.”)Find the features of the course that impact the goals. For example, use A/B testing to measure the effect on the course of including videos, or making videos of a certain type. ( See “Find the Levers with Metrics.”)If you you’ve done these things, you’ll be ready for your next steps. If you didn’t do these things, and you’ve got a pile of numbers to make sense of, you’ve signed up to be a data miner. Now, mining data is an honorable profession, and if you have a background in statistics and a large volume of data (say, thousands of students), you could give it a try.However, with the limited size of datasets that we typically get from training, it’ll be hard to find patterns that are significant. So, you’ll come out ahead if you have a system designed from the start around measurable goals and measurable features.Course Focus vs. Portfolio FocusDesigning a course around measurable learning objectives may already be part of your design process. We are used to thinking about training in this way. And, this is work that can happen in isolation from other courses. For example, the learning objectives for sales training for Widget X probably have no relationship to the learning objectives for engineering training for Widget Y. This compartmentalization makes it relatively simple work to set measurable goals for courses.To act on metrics, however, requires a portfolio view. To find the courses that need work, and to accumulate insights into what levers work best, is a long-term effort that spans many courses.First, to find the courses that need work, we have to know what an underperforming course looks like. While we will have some external criteria for this, such as “X number of people need to get at least 80 percent of the quiz answers correct,” the best way to address this is to look across the portfolio and find the lowest courses. In other words, establish a baseline, then find the low outlier that should be prioritized for improvement.Next, your experiments to find levers of quality (for example, through A/B testing) will be spread out across many courses. You won’t test every feature of every course, though. In fact, you might test only one or two features in each course to make the job manageable and data easier to interpret. As you accumulate a “bag of tricks” through your testing, you can apply things you've learned from one course to the design and troubleshooting of other courses.Put Best Practices to WorkCongratulations—you’ve set yourself up with some well-designed goals and levers. Now, your next steps are relatively easy.Redesign an existing course: If your data show that a course is underperforming, and it can be adjusted by one or more of your levers, consider redesigning and republishing. This assumes that course will continued to be delivered long enough to justify the investment, which you can ensure by checking your data early in the life of the course. In fact, it’s best to plan for iteration with any course: publish, collect data, adjust, and publish again.Approach future courses differently: Keep track of the best practices that you uncover through testing, and apply them in the planning stage for new courses. More importantly, once you’ve established best practices, you’re going to include them in all of your new courses. What if one of these new courses still underperforms? At that stage, you can have a discussion about the level of investment in the course. Because even with knowledge about best practices, you’ll naturally make tradeoffs between what works best and what you can afford.If the course is a priority for the business and it’s not working well, it may be time to add more high-end features, such as virtual instructors. And thanks to your work with metrics, you were able to point out that it wasn’t working, and you know what to suggest to improve it.Share Best PracticesAs your final action, share your findings with others. When you find what works best for your training, there’s a good chance it’ll be a benefit to other designers. Of course, mileage for a particular design choice may vary. Again, what you find works for engineers in your industry may not apply to another industry or to sales, for instance. So, also keep track of the demographics of your audience and include that information with your report.In the long run, you could help lay the groundwork to make training a leading profession in the data-driven workplace of the 21st century.

Act on Metrics

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While facilitating leadership development workshops at Emerson (a Fortune 125 company with 90,000 employees in 140 countries), there is an interesting comment I frequently hear: “I did not realize how much time you would give me in this workshop to think!”Is that a compliment or a complaint? I believe most people mean it as a compliment because they are surprised. Most of them haven’t had enough time to think in prior trainings.I’ve heard this comment many times, and it never takes me by surprise. In fact, I would be disappointed if I did not hear it. Most learners aren’t given adequate time to think and reflect when they attend training sessions.Far too many training programs rely on content rather than application and do not offer learners time for intentional reflection. In my 28-year learning and development career, I’ve seen too many programs approach learning by telling learners as much as possible in the time provided. Many of us in L&D call that strategy “ten pounds of training in a five-pound sack.”Fred Harburg, former chief learning officer at Fidelity Investments, sums it up well: “If there is no time for reflection, there is almost no chance for improvement.”L&D professionals want to create value for learners. One of the most valuable activities we can build into the design and delivery of our courses is intentional reflection and implementation planning. To improve our training programs, we must stop talking and pushing content, and let learners think.This represents a paradigm shift for many L&D practitioners. Spend less time on content and more time on intentional thinking and reflection.L&D thought leaders Roy Pollock, Cal Wick, and Andy Jefferson (authors of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning) popularized the term “learning scrap.” Learning scrap refers to content covered in a workshop that is never applied. Most L&D programs have a typical learning scrap rate of 85 percent. At best, most learners apply 15 percent of what’s taught in a workshop on the job. If you want to decrease learning scrap and increase learning transfer, build more deliberate thinking and reflection activities into your courses.In his classic book, Learning and Memory, Donald A. Norman writes, “To remember is to have managed three things successfully: the acquisition, the retention, and the retrieval of information. Failure to remember means failure at managing one of these three things.” I argue failure usually occurs at the retention level. If there is no reflection, there is no retrieval. If there is no reflection and retention, do not expect retrieval to follow.This issue is well-documented by Ruth C. Clark, Frank Nguyen, and John Sweller in another classic book, Efficiency in Learning. They refer to this concept as “information fatigue.” We need to give learners more time to process during a training program. The authors’ research shows a lack of time for reflection leads to cognitive overload. Overload implies a malfunction; learning is short-circuited. If a person attends a program to learn, and we cram it full of content without giving them time to think, it’s no wonder learning scrap occurs.Several years ago, I codeveloped a workshop with Michael Watkins (a former faculty member at Harvard Business School and founder of Genesis Advisers) to create a workshop based on his bestselling book, The First 90 Days. Our workshop designed intentional thinking activities that asked participants a series of questions at the end of each module. The reflection activities took between 20 and 30 minutes to complete and consisted of five or six questions. These were not simply recall or comprehension questions, but rather synthesis and evaluation questions (the higher levels of cognitive thinking).Some of the top executives who attended this workshop told me that if I had not built in deliberate time to think, their goal would have been to rush through the course so they could move on to the next thing on their list.Here are some ways to build time for reflection into your programs:
Build thinking time into the design and delivery of every learning program you create, no matter the delivery method (in person or virtual).Resist the temptation to add more content to your courses. Do not fall prey to the “myth of more.” More content at the expense of intentional time for reflection will not improve learner performance. It will diminish it.Remember, the goal is not to give the content. The goal is for learners to get it, which will only happen through the discipline of quiet reflection.If trainers are given the option to talk or let their learners think, many would choose to fill the silence with their own voices, but the greatest value trainers bring to a workshop is knowing when to stop speaking and give learners time to reflect.

Want Them to Learn? Give Them Time to Think

After a breach of ethics has occurred, and the public has negative perceptions, government agencies often give ethics training. Leaders should learn about ethics long before that, as part of their training to become better leaders. Linda Fisher Thornton, educator and authority on developing ethical leaders, and former Chief Learning Officer, will present the first part of this session. She will focus on how to incorporate ethics into leadership training so that it becomes a vital part of the management arsenal. With trends in ethical leadership and practical strategies for developing ethical leaders, training can positively affect the government brand.
In the second part of the session, John Umana, assistant legal counsel to the inspector general of USAID, will speak to the unique role of the ethics educator within government, drawing upon his extensive experience at USAID/OIG and with the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction as an ethics officer. John will focus on ethics "best practices" and speak to the practical challenges and issues surrounding ethics education and its impact on the government brand.

Developing Ethical Leaders and an Ethical Government Brand

Wayne is a senior partner of The Ryan Group, Inc., a management and technology consultancy serving a diverse client base in both the private and public sectors. He has published a large body of work, including books, assessments, and business simulations, and has written 11 works for John Wiley & Sons on the subjects of change and collaboration in the organization with some translated into Korean and Finnish. Wayne has written numerous college and university curricula for MBA programs including healthcare informatics, MIS/IT fundamentals, SAP, IT consulting, healthcare business processes, and others. Wayne has taught Ph.D. courses for the University of Southern Mississippi, trained faculty at Southern Illinois University, and conducted numerous business workshops here and abroad. Wayne’s other interests include scoring, arranging and conducting the background music for a film, researching ancestry and family history, exploring and digging for native Indian artifacts, and traveling and discovering.

Wayne Davis

As a career coach and management consultant, Valerie Brown empowers individuals, organizations, and teams to thrive amidst change. She is recognized for her ability to partner with leadership to align change strategies with business needs, to achieve performance goals, lead organizational change, and engage employees. Valerie holds a Master of Arts degree in Management and Leadership with an emphasis in organizational development from Webster University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance from Winthrop University. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through the Center for Coaching Certification and is a John Maxwell Certified Coach, speaker, and trainer. Valerie is also an award-winning podcaster.

Valerie Brown 

As a career coach, consultant, leadership development expert, speaker, and trainer, Valerie empowers individuals, organizations, and teams, to thrive amidst change. She is recognized for her ability to partner with leadership to align change strategies with business needs, to achieve performance goals, lead organizational change, and engage employees. Valerie holds a Master of Arts degree in Management and Leadership with an emphasis in organizational development from Webster University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance from Winthrop University. She is a Georgetown Certified Change Management Practitioner and is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through the Center for Coaching Certification, as well as a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. Valerie is also an award-winning Podcaster.

Valerie Ashford Brown

John Palguta is vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to meeting the workforce needs of government by inspiring a new generation to serve and transforming the government workplace. Prior to joining the Partnership for Public Service in December 2001, John was a career member of the federal senior executive service and director of policy and evaluation for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board—the culmination of a federal career spanning almost 34 years devoted to federal human resources management and public policy issues.

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