DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Shoes and Passion: My ASTD Experience

By Annamarie Lang

My maiden voyage to ASTD brought realization about the event and the people who attend it.  There are two main things I want to share about my first ASTD experience – they include shoes and passion – an odd but clearly related couple.

The shoe part is simple:  Wear the MOST comfortable shoes you own to cover the miles of rooms of educational sessions and the Expo floor experiencing the second thing I saw plenty of at this year’s ASTD conference—and that is PASSION.

While I have attended other conferences during my professional life, this was my first ASTD experience and I was struck by the zeal that each person had for their job as well as the company they represented.  This passion resonated in their insightful questions, sharing of organizational challenges, and their genuine desire to discuss ideas and solutions that would resolve those challenges.  It speaks so highly of the profession and I could feel their energy ‘rub-off’ on me.

I found myself asking a lot of questions about their organizations and their initiatives to develop their people.  What I found were tireless professionals wanting to help their organizations develop their most trusted resource:  people. It’s very clear to me that the enthusiasm and sincere love of what they do went beyond a job; these are people on a mission. 

As I headed back to the hotel after day two, I heard a woman talking with a colleague about what she planned to implement after hearing a presentation. What was interesting was how she described her ideas and how those plans would help leaders to be better leaders and how it would impact the business of her company.  That passion is what ASTD is all about. As I was reflecting on my experience, another woman overheard me mention that this was my first ASTD conference.  She emphatically said: “just make sure you have a really comfortable pair of shoes!”

There is no doubt passion is the word that I will always equate with ASTD (aside from the right shoes, of course). There is no doubt that I will walk away from ASTD with tired feet; but through it all, I am energized and excited about the business of people – those will be at the heart of my maiden ASTD conference.

Annamarie Lang is a Senior Consultant with the Leadership Solutions Group at Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Wishin’ and Hopin’: ASTD International Conference & Expo 2011

By Aviel Selkovits

All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go…yes, I’ve somehow fit two separate song lyrics into this blog, and I’m not even past the first sentence. What can I say, it’s a gift.

Well I’m heading off to Orlando, Florida this weekend to attend the #ASTD2011 International Conference & Expo and I couldn’t be more excited. Our industry and our profession as trainers has been going through incredible change. I’m excited to see the sessions, and walk the Expo Hall to learn what others in our industry are touting this year. So given what I’ve read in the conference program, and what I’ve been following on Twitter and the super-cool ASTD ICE app, here are the 3 things that I’m wishing and hoping I will experience, learn, or take-away from the conference:

1. The latest and greatest in the world of social media and informal learning. Every RSS feed, blog, magazine (or e-zine), and newsletter I subscribe to seems to have an article about how organizations are using (or should use) social media to extend learning beyond the classroom, and create a continuous learning environment. (I’ve even written one for ASTD’s Learning Circuits e-zine). So I’m hoping to hear some intriguing case studies of practitioners making use of all the great social networking / web 2.0 tools that are available to us as training and development professionals.

I see so much promise in this area, and I know there are some great case studies out there. I’ve “fav’d” those sessions on my ASTD app.  And don’t forget to tune into the #ASTD2011 TweetUp Monday evening where you can read all about what’s been happening at the conference in 140 characters or less.

2. Measurement and ROI. It’s not surprising that there is a track devoted to this critical subject matter. Not only are we going to be treated to the final public presentation by the legendary Don Kirkpatrick, but there are number of other sessions to attend on the importance of measuring training initiatives. More and more, I hear from our clients and others in our profession about how important it is to measure, but how difficult it can be to implement.

I have a couple sessions bookmarked to attend and will look forward to hearing some case studies for how organizations are measuring the impact of their learning and development.

3.  Last but certainly not least – networking!  Not all social networking has to be conducted online. Once upon a time live interpersonal communications were deemed ‘highly effective.’ I’m excited to return to yesteryear and spend time talking to other trainers, learning and development, HR, OD and Talent Management professionals. I want to know what others are focusing on, where they are struggling, and where they’ve made great strides.

I also love the ability to meet so many of DDI-certified facilitators – my favorite moments are when attendees walk up to the booth just to say hi and “I was certified back in 1983…” But I invite everyone at the show to stop by DDI’s booth (#1602) to say hi, let us know what you are up to, what you are up against, and what you’re most excited about at the conference.

Are you headed to the conference? What are you most excited about seeing, learning or experiencing? Leave your comments here, or hit me up on twitter @DDIworld #ASTD2011.  

Aviel Selkovits is a senior consultant with Development Dimensions International.

Learning 2.0: Beware the Power Law

Excerpted from "A Practical Approach to Leveraging Learning 2.0" in ASTD's March 2011 issue of Learning Circuits. 

By Aviel Selkovits

The wonderful thing about social media is that it presents a highly democratic space. You can choose to be an active participant in the conversation, building a highly collaborative and creative forum. Or you can choose to be more of a ‘consumer’ of the information, anonymously reading others’ posts and comments.

However there is a dirty little secret to Web 2.0—and thus Learning 2.0, and that is the Power Law. The Power Law, by definition, is a mathematical relationship between two quantities. In the case of social media, it has evolved into a 90-9-1 distribution. Essentially, 90 percent of people using these tools are passive observers, 9 percent are active contributors, and 1 percent are the leaders and creators. While this distribution is perfectly adequate in the world of social media, when it comes to leadership development it can create some hurdles to effective implementation.

The impact of using these tools as part of your learning implementations is that they enable everyone to have a voice and to contribute. As shepherds of organizational development, we have to build accountability around the usage of these tools. The value of the learning activities, and the sense of community created, is greatly improved when everyone joins in the conversation.

Workplace learning and performance professionals need to promote the value of these activities and tools before the learners ever sign online or enter a classroom. As some leaders will be hesitant to be the first to post, consider putting up applicable questions they can respond to, making it less daunting to get the conversation started. Providing meaningful activities and follow-up will build their enthusiasm and accountability, which will drive them to continue practicing and honing their newly learned skill set. But beware: Don’t think if you put these new tools out there that everyone will jump to use them—as with all change, there is an adoption process that has to be managed.

Read the entire article online in Learning Circuits.

Aviel Selkovits is a Senior Consultant in DDI's Learning Solutions.

Wielding Power over a King

By Bradford Thomas

Months in advance my wife had circled the calendar for the date that “The King’s Speech” opened in theaters—I mean “theatres” since this is an English film. I could say it’s her desire to feel high-brow or to add culture to our lives, but in reality it is because of her infatuation with Colin Firth.

I have to say that this is an inspiring movie which should land Mr. Firth an Academy Award for his portrayal of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI. What made it inspiring to me is the dynamic between the two main characters—King George VI and Lionel Logue, a speech therapist deftly played by Geoffrey Rush.

You see, the King has a debilitating stammer and has turned to Logue for help. Logue’s challenge is to convince a very prideful and assertive King to do some very unconventional and less than royal things—such as wobbling his cheeks back and forth and firing off a series of four-letter words. Logue is effective because he is able tailor his approach with the King. He cuts through the “King and His Subject” relationship by refusing to call him “His Majesty.” Instead, Logue calls the King by his childhood nickname “Bertie.”

In a pivotal scene, Logue casually sits on the ancestral throne at Westminster Abbey as a way to goad Bertie into speaking with a loud and angry voice. What Logue demonstrates with these tactics is a mastery of gaining commitment.

The key to gaining commitment is using interpersonal skills and persuasion to involve and convince others to take action. This is a very difficult behavior for new leaders in particular to master. In fact, DDI found that 52% of frontline leaders aren't as strong at gaining the committment of others as they need to be.

Think about how effective you are at influencing others in your personal and private lives—whether it is your friends or family, your direct reports or manager. Here are a few tips that can go a long way towards gaining commitment:

• Sell them the WIIFM (What’s in it for ME). Help them see how they would personally benefit from your idea.
• Tailor your approach. Everyone has different motivations, perspectives and hot buttons—you need to figure out what these are and adapt your interactions accordingly.
• It’s easier to row with everyone in the boat. People tend to feel ownership of decisions when they feel that they’ve been heard. If you involve everyone in the discussion from the beginning, they will be more likely to be receptive—and even an advocate for your ideas.

If an Australian speech therapist can wield the power of persuasion over a King, just imagine what you could do.

Bradford Thomas is a Product Manager at Development Dimensions International, Inc. (DDI)

Technology + Trust = More than an Antidote to the Big Snow

By Mike Hoban

A funny thing happened on the way to the recent blizzard in the Midwest – many offices were closed but a lot of work got done. Meetings were held; customer issues got resolved; information got shared; orders were placed. How? People working at home with enabling technology. But while the gizmos make telecommuting and distance management increasingly more viable and more effective, it’s the humanware rather than the hardware or software that is the key ingredient in the sauce of success.

Sure, the ubiquitous laptops with web access, smart phones, virtual networks, web cams, and on-line data bases all made it possible to avoid having to risk life and limb to get to the office while the 2011 Snowpocalypse was raging. But as regular telecommuters and distance managers have discovered, creating alternative working arrangements that actually do work also requires self-management and trust. And let’s not forget measurement and accountability. In fact, the gadget stuff is the easy part.

Technology is an enabler for home-based work, but it could also enable chaos, low productivity and an absence of accountability. Think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Distant or virtual management arrangements by definition lack line-of-sight in a literal way and does require some application of the old principle of “trust but verify.”

Lead and managing from a distance obviously isn’t a recent development. Communicating with and managing others in far off places has been a challenge from the earliest days of far flung empire. In many cases there had to be an act of faith that the subordinate across the country or across the ocean would be performing in a way that carried out the mission of the organization. But technology helps us go beyond that act of faith.

Last week I had a call with a director in a high tech firm who’s housed in Germany and who has direct reports in another German city, as well as in Prague, Beijing and the U.S. and who almost never sees those people face-to-face. Oh, and he himself works from his home office rather than the regional office some 100 kilometers away. We discussed what he does to provide leadership and direction to those direct reports and he identified several solid practices:

• Set very clear performance expectations, business results and behaviors
• Have very solid metrics which measure performance and have those metrics easily accessible by everyone
• Have regular phone calls to review progress, challenges, etc. The director from Germany I talked with has a weekly call lasting an hour with each person
• Listen for and probe for issues and challenges that might manifest themselves through body language in a face-to-face meeting but have to be discerned through voice tone/volume and nuance on the phone. Install video cams if the technology is available to pick up those emotional signals and to also provide for a more human connection.

And of course in addition to the controls, there is the trust that is necessary to ensure the work gets done and the management support is provided. Not every boss is cut out to be a virtual boss and not every employee can be trusted to work at home or from a distance. But it does represent an attractive alternative for many organizations and employees not just as a Plan B for inclement weather, but as a Plan A.

Mike Hoban is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI). 

The Relationship Between Skill Practice and Deliberate Practice

 By Victor L. Magdaraog

The skill practice component of our leadership development program, Interaction Management always fascinated me. In all my years working with DDI clients, I’ve always heard “ah-hahs” and literally seen “light bulbs” switching on after a good round of skill practice. The skill practice usually starts slow, with participants considering it a chore, or a workshop activity they just have to do, but after the first round of feedback, most realize the tremendous learning they just experienced. They realize what leadership is all about.

Leadership after all is an acquired skill and a form of expertise. One cannot develop leadership by simply reading books, sitting through a lecture, doing case analysis, or listening to a round of motivational speeches. You have to do it. You have to experience it. You have to want it. Unfortunately, there are very few opportunities to practice leadership on the job. Being a leader is not like a concert pianist who has time to practice before going on stage for the concert. When one gets promoted to a leadership role, there are usually no “practice runs”. You are online on the first day, and if you are not ready, it can be a rough transition. For those in leadership roles, we all know that becoming an excellent leader is tough and the result of hard work. If it were easy, we would all be great leaders.

So, why are there superior leaders and others are just not good enough?  The better ones invest time and energy in focused development, which has two parts.  The first part is the Interaction Management skills course itself.  It provides foundation skills necessary to be successful in a leadership task and through the skill practice opportunities offered.  A major area of the skill practice that is part of each course is to hone the target behaviour and provide the confidence necessary to try out the new behavior on the job.  The second step in the Interaction Management process deals with on-the-job skill strengthening of the behaviors taught in the Interaction Management course.  This is a major opportunity for deliberate practice

Over the past years, there has been an increase in interest on the concept of deliberate practice.  Very recently, popular author Malcolm Gladwell wrote about it in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, and Goeff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated, has an entire chapter on it. Renowned executive coach Ram Charan refers to this as “deliberate leadership development.” In the book Extraordinary: Stories for Aspiring Leaders, it is referred to as “Deliberate Development Initiative.”  The thinking in deliberate practice is that expertise or superior performance is achieved through years of purposeful practice and exercise.

Dr. Anders K. Ericsson, one of the leading researchers on deliberate practice says “You need a particular kind of practice—deliberate practice—to develop expertise. When most people practice, they focus on the things they already know how to do. Deliberate practice is different. It entails considerable, specific, and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well—or even at all.”

Since there is pressure on leaders to achieve project outcomes or resolve work issues, performance takes center stage, and on-the-job practice takes the rear seat.  In most situations, we are satisfied with what is good enough performance. We are happy to float, rather than learn how to swim well. If we are successful in these instances, we learn just enough functional competence. Ericsson cautions against a mistaken notion of that good enough achievement level will lead to superior performance. In some cases, being satisfied with everyday performance could even lead to “arrested development”.  To minimize the possibility of arrested development, it is necessary to couple formal learning with guided on-the-job experiences.

Our challenge as leadership development practitioners is to blend the learning outcome of Interaction Management courses with challenging developmental initiatives on the job. Helping leaders keep their focus on the learning goals as they pursue the development initiative alongside achieving performance goals, increases the likelihood of developing leadership expertise.

After learning more about deliberate practice, I have developed an even higher regard for the simple, yet powerful skill practice in Interaction Management and I am more concerned that we need to encourage our students to practice the same deliberate practice on-the-job. Would a little more skill practice help you?

Victor L. Magdaraog is a Vice President Development at Dimensions International (DDI) in the Phillipines.

Wanted: Quantum Physicist, for Leadership Development

By Matt Paese, Ph.D.

I’ve never met a quantum physicist who switched careers to go into HR. My guess, although I have no evidence of this, is that once you become a quantum physicist you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about career changes, and if you do, you don’t think about leadership development. But on the slim chance that one did, I bet he or she would have a thing or two to say about how we’re going about cultivating great leaders.

In Tuesday’s New York Times, an article in the Health section encouraged: “Forget what you know about good study habits”. Forget using a favorite study space, or creating a consistent routine. Mix it up, the research suggests. Switch locations. Space out the sessions. Study at different times of the day. Give your mind some different background stimuli, and you’ll learn more, and remember longer. Makes sense to me.

But the article also highlighted a point that many have rejected: The more you’re tested, the better. Sorry students. Turns out testing is a valuable learning tool, beyond the mere assessment of knowledge or aptitude. Practice tests and pop quizzes, because of their repetition and the interval between them, facilitate better recall and longer retention, and a significant body of control-group-based research bears out the findings.

This prompted one researcher to invoke an axiom of quantum mechanics: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which is not a first aid technique. The principle holds that the mere act of measuring something alters its very nature.

Now, I’ve never been a quantum physicist, and I’m not preparing for a career switch, but I got curious about this one. So I did what so many leadership development professionals recommend every day: I looked it up. My own miniature action learning project.

Turns out there’s a bit more to the HUP, as I’m now calling it (I’ve coined the acronym myself in an ego-preserving attempt to demonstrate one thing that HR professionals clearly do better than quantum physicists: come up with acronyms). The HUP is actually quite fundamental to quantum mechanics. And if you haven’t been paying attention to the latest in physics, quantum theory has pretty well stomped on classical theory as the best candidate for explaining all the mysteries of the physical world, birds and bees included.

Why? Classical theory has proven inadequate in its presumption that particles in the world hold, for example, constant positions. Among other problems, sometimes classical theory just can’t find things (e.g., electrons), because they’re constantly in motion. Quantum theory, however, recognizes that sometimes particles or organisms must be understood not by where they are, but rather by the trajectory they are taking – where they are going and have been.

In a similar vein, study and testing that occurs across a series of events and measures better suits the manner in which our minds naturally acquire and retain new wisdom. Once again, movement and trajectory better suit and describe nature. Location and position oversimplify.

So what would the quantum physicist have to say about developing great leaders? My guess is that we would be encouraged to examine leadership over time, and to gather multiple observations, to learn the trajectory of growth, or lack there of. Quantum wisdom would recommend that we assess routinely, and check for patterns.

Heisenberg might remind us that simply conducting a leadership assessment affects leadership, so while we would be wise not to over-assess and create paralysis, we would do well to adopt a consistent means of taking stock of where we are in our quantum world.

Of course, a real quantum physicist would certainly have much more to say about the HUP and my conclusions, if one ever comes to HR.

Matt Paese is the Vice President of Executive Solutions for  Development Dimensions International (DDI)

Defining Done

By Barry Stern, Ph.D.

 For about the past six months, my newfound friend and colleague Russ has an out of office message that simply says "define done."  Easy for HIM to say. Pretty much impossible for me to do, even when I'm mowing the lawn.  In two words Russ has captured one component of my lifelong struggle. I've never been very good at finishing.  It’s rare that anything I touch really seems done. When I write a sentence I can always tweak it. Is the split infinitive bothering me today?  Why did it bother me yesterday but not today? Can it be said in a more parsimonious way?  My life and my career seem to exist in shades of gray.  I envy those decisive people who just seem to know when something is "finished".  Their world, so black and white, so clean.

Perhaps Russ' question is borne from his IT/software background.  I have been surfing the net and found that one possible definition of done in the world of agile software development is that "a feature is implemented, reviewed, and unit tested, but not necessarily documented". 

Ubiquitous communication options and the liquidity of words has made defining done even more challenging. When am I done with participating in the never-ending email thread du jour?  I want to be "first out" or "never in".  More pervasively,  I notice nobody "writes" formal communications any more.  Now we "craft" them, which yet somehow elevates to new heights of verbosity and self absorption.  We are drowning in a world of crafted bits.

What about HR professionals? How do we define done as we develop people? Do our definitions of done limit those who can fly so much higher?  Or place too many undeserving artificial ceilings on folks? Are we really taking the time to systematically identify their apogees?  Can we ever say that a person has been developed, reviewed and unit tested?

How do you "define done" in your work?  When you deftly design that onboarding  experience for your new employees?  When you develop your new competency model?  Do others agree it's done? How are your definitions of done in fact defining you and your body of work to yourself and others?

Rather arbitrarily, I guess I'll stop here.

Barry Stern Ph.D. is vice president, Consulting Services and Delivery for Development Dimensions International (DDI). Follow him on Twitter.

Curiosity. Karma. Whatever You Want to Call It.

By Jazmine Boatman, Ph.D. 

Do you fill out those diner satisfaction surveys they give you with your check at restaurants? I do. Those surveys about “What’s the State of Consumerism today”? Yep, those too. I’ve also filled out customer satisfaction surveys after a few internet purchases I have made.  As someone who, frankly, makes a living out of survey research, I feel compelled (and a little guilted) into doing others’ 5-point ratings to help someone else try to learn a little more about what I think.

Although rating the quality of the beef pot roast last night is a little different than rating the quality of leadership in business today, there’s the same underlying inquisitiveness of wanting to state your opinion and hearing what others have to say. You never know if something juicy (unlike the pot roast) will turn up.

DDI’s last Global Leadership Forecast asked more than 12,000 leaders from around the world what they thought and only 4 in 10 leaders were satisfied with what their organizations offered to develop their leadership capabilities. It was particularly interesting to find that HR professionals and leaders seemed to hold the other primarily responsible for the failure of these development programs. Trend surveys like this are not only practical from a continuous improvement perspective for organizations (What can we do better?) but innately fascinating from a voyeur perspective (What are others doing wrong?).

This year’s Global Leadership Forecast pushes inquiring minds further by asking not only about satisfaction with current leadership practices, but what is needed in the future to be successful, and we also partnered with Gary Hamel to ask about management innovation. Are organizations finally pushing past the status quo to open the doors for more flexibility and innovation that might just be the key to their future survival? Maybe you don’t need to build good survey “karma” like I do, but aren’t you a little curious?

Jazmine Boatman , Ph.D., is Manager of the Center for Applied Behavioral Research at Development Dimensions International (DDI).

The Top 10 Most Annoying Things…

By Mark Dembo

The other night I was watching TV with my kids, (or should I say I was sitting with them while they were “media surfing” between live TV, DVR, computer chat, and text messages; but that’s a topic for a whole other article), and we happened on a special on Nickelodeon – a report on the Top 10 Most Annoying Things Parents Do. The basis for the show, hosted by Linda Ellerbee, was a survey conducted of kids, so it had a very interesting perspective. Their top 10 responses to “It’s so annoying when parents…”

10) …say, “Go ask your mom!” or “Go ask your dad!”
9) …obsess about things that don’t matter.
8)…say, “Because I said so, that’s why!”
7) …say, “When I was your age…”
6) …say, “When you’re older, you’ll understand.”
5) …tell old and really corny jokes to my friends.
4) …treat me like a little kid.
3) …nag me.
2) …say, “Act your age!”

And, finally, the number-one MOST annoying thing kids say parents do is when parents…don’t act their age!!!!

This list got me wondering how many people in our own organizations, if surveyed about their leaders, might have similar things to say. So, taking some creative liberties, here’s what I envision the “Top 10 Most Annoying Things Leaders Do” might look like:

10)…say, “I don’t know why we do that, go ask someone else.”
9)…obsess about the trivial in order to exert control.
8)…say, “Because I said so, that’s why!”
7)…say, “When I was in your role...”
6)…say, “When you’re in my position, you’ll understand.”
5)…tell really corny jokes at staff meetings.
4)…treat me like a little kid.
3)…nag me (e.g. don’t trust me to get my work done).
2)…say, “Act your age” (e.g. don’t complain about things around here).
1)…don’t act in a manner that befits their role (e.g. THEY complain about things).

I think we can see many similarities here in both the actual list, and the somewhat fanciful list I’ve created, yet I’m sure you’ll agree that many of these items ring true.

How can we ensure that we develop effective leaders who can get results, yet not be seen as overbearing, annoying parents? At the most fundamental level, this requires clearly articulating now only WHAT leaders need to do, but HOW they need to do it. And, our experience shows that many while many organizations are good at explaining the “Whats,” it’s the “Hows” where many leaders and organizations struggle.

At DDI, we teach and talk about the “Key Principles” – the essential behaviors and traits that apply whether you’re a leader, an individual contributor, or for that matter, even a parent. These principles, when practiced with authenticity, help leaders become organizational catalysts. Specifically:

1. Maintain or enhance self-esteem.
2. Listen and respond with empathy.
3. Ask for help and encourage involvement.
4. Share thoughts, feelings, and rationale. (to build trust)
5. Provide support without removing responsibility. (to build ownership)

The Key Principles may seem simple – yet they are neither simplistic nor easy to practice. If we all work to align our actions with these Key Principles, imagine how we can improve the quality of our interactions with those we work and live with. Better yet, if we can help others in our organization learn and apply these behaviors, not only can we avoid the “most annoying leader syndrome,” we may actually improve the organizational culture, enhance engagement, and impact organizational results. Now, just need to figure out how to deal with the “corny joke” syndrome”…

And, if you really want to be bold and adventurous – try it out with your kids!

Mark Dembo is a manager for Development Dimensions International (DDI).