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Alan Greenberg

 ATD developed the Talent Development Framework and the TD Puzzle to help practitioners understand the different components of talent development, and how organizations can build their own frameworks to address their unique needs. This blog series explores each component of the talent development framework, why it’s important to the field, and what resources ATD offers to practitioners who want to learn more.Change ManagementAccording to The ATD Competency Model, change management is the ability to apply a systematic process to shift individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired state. It entails guiding those affected by a change to engage with and commit to the change, and involves developing the ability to predict and prepare for change. The emphasis on process is critical; a Towers Watson survey found that most change initiatives fail because companies see change as a one-time event. Companies require change-ready employees and change-able managers. When planning for change, managers should first ask, “Why change?” Holistically understanding the need for and components of change helps communication throughout the process. Employees will not follow a change plan unless they know why the change is necessary and view it as beneficial. According to learning and development manager Joshua Berkstresser, when employees know that the change will affect them and others in a positive way, they will more likely be committed and engaged, and the change initiative is more likely to be successful.The ATD Competency Model identifies change management skills that talent development professionals need to exhibit:• Establish sponsorship and ownership of change.• Build involvement.• Create a contract for change.• Conduct diagnostic assessments.• Provide feedback.• Facilitate strategic planning for change.• Support the change solution.• Encourage integration of change into organizational culture.• Manage consequences.• Evaluate change results.We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, and the need for effective change management is imperative. According to organization development expert Peggy Greenberg, the ability to adjust to change makes companies exponentially more likely to succeed and grow. In other words, the more successful a company’s change management strategy, the more agile and sustainable it is against changing demands and expectations of customers. With new challenges to face daily, change management is an essential part of a successful talent development strategy. Here are some additional change management resources to explore:• Assess and rate your change management skills.• Learn about the impact of change on employees and their day-to-day work.• Avoid unsuccessful change initiatives with these helpful insights. • Help pinpoint the “why” to get employees on board with new changes. • Adjust your mindset about change.• Read more on appreciating the effects of change and rewarding them appropriately.• ASTD Handbook, 2nd Edition.• 10 Steps to Successful Change Management by George Vukotich.• TD at Work, “Change Management” by Stella Cowan.• Change Management Training by Elaine Biech.• The Change Book: Change the Way You Think About Change by Trish Emerson and Mary Stewart.If improving change management is at the forefront of your educational goals, consider enrolling in ATD’s certificate program to become an effective facilitator of change.

The ATD Talent Development Framework: Change Management

If you are in sales enablement, creating a sales advisory council is a critical piece of the alignment puzzle. Why? Because everyone knows that understanding the wants and needs of the sales executive team is important. However, getting in touch with the daily life of individual sellers—their pain, their vision of the world, and how decisions affect them—is also a huge part of knowing what needs to be in your enablement plan and how it should be executed. Plus, it can help you credential yourself and grow buy-in from the teams you support.I have run many councils over the years, and I have found several tips that can mean the difference between successful outcomes and frustration.Sales Advisory Council DON’TS1. DON’T Include ManagementWhile it may seem like a good idea to include sales management in these sessions to garner their input, don’t. It will stifle the open sharing of information and keep you from getting the true picture of what is going on at the street level. Of course, there are exceptions—some team leads seem to be less threatening and less likely to cause any friction. The key is to think carefully about the effect each person will have on the others.TIP: Make the invitation to join the sales advisory council a great honor for quota-carrying reps. You can even ask regional leadership for nominations across their teams, to publish the roster in a company update, or to give fanfare at a quarterly business review. The point is to make this a team that sales reps want to join while making clear it is only for reps.2. DON’T Limit Yourself to High PerformersIt is tempting only to include the “best of the best” in your councils, but don’t. But who better to give you direction on the effectiveness of sales tools then the best in sales? Well, there’s the trick. Many of the top sales professionals have either a natural gift for persuasion or so many years of experience that they don’t remember what it’s like starting out. You will miss the majority of your target audience by not including greener reps into the mix.TIP: Include representation from all regions, segments, tenures, and skill levels. It is even better when you can meet with them all together. Most of the time, you find more similarities than differences and come up with more creative solutions when you open the discussion to a diversified group.3. DON’T Allow Project Owners to Be ParticipantsWhile it seems to make perfect sense to fully include the project owner or manager on the topic you are reviewing with the sales advisory council, don’t. No one wants to give negative feedback to the person who just spent 100 hours creating something. But more importantly, it can create defensive dialogue from the project owner and shut down the conversation. If you need to have their input, have questions and answers go through a neutral moderator. Remember, the goal is to get the real story, not confirm preconceived ideas.TIP: The earlier that you can bring a project into review, the better. If you are only getting feedback on projects that are already baked, the sales advisory council will feel like they are wasting their time.4. DON’T Ask Questions the Way the Project Owners or SMEs Give Them to YouAsking questions is an art form. Take it from the sales reps we often train in questioning skills. It seems easy enough to get a list of questions from a project owner or SME to ask sales, but don’t. That often won’t get you an actionable answer. Instead, either modify the questions, add layers of deeper discovery into the questions, or build your own repeatable questioning strategy that you can use across sessions.TIP: Instead of asking the sales advisory council if they “like” a project or even doing an add/keep/kill exercise, ask when they would use or have used it with a customer. Make sure to ask for an example of what the customer goal would be. Remember, all contacts should have a goal to get a customer from point A to point B, so what was it for this project? If you don’t get a clear answer, that should tell you what you need to know.A sales advisory council can be a valuable source of field and customer information for groups around the company. If you organize it correctly you can improve your project success, and the success of company-wide initiatives while building greater organizational alignment.In part 2 of this post, we will discuss the top best practices for running a sales advisory council.Editor's note: This post originally published on the author's blog.

What Not to Do When Launching a Sales Advisory Council

**(Alexandria, VA) April 28, 2020—**Stories are a common language. They are memorable, actionable, and emotional, making them perfect for training and instructional design. In Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories That Train (ATD Press, April 2020), master story designer Rance Greene shares his story design process for discovering, designing, and delivering winning instructional stories that connect audiences emotionally and intellectually and motivates them for action and change.“There’s a tendency to avoid the language of stories when it comes to training adults,” says Greene. “Unfortunately, storytelling as an instructional design skill has been largely abandoned. We know instinctively and research continues to prove that storytelling works amazingly well for learning. But when it comes to writing the story and connecting it concretely to learning objectives, designers may feel intimidated or too pressed for time to think creatively.“The goal of this book is to thoroughly equip talent development professionals and educators with a repeatable process to design stories for any training initiative on any timeline,” states Greene. “The story design model seamlessly blends with instructional design, to empower the designer to develop stories that connect with audiences both intellectually and emotionally.”Greene focuses on knowing your audience and what you want them to do; unearthing the best story for instruction by asking the right questions of stakeholders and subject matter experts; creating relatable characters and strong conflict for powerful stories; storyboarding a finished product; overcoming common barriers; and maximizing stories for training. Instructional Story Design examines stories from many different delivery methods, including instructor-led, blended learning, microlearning, games, branching scenarios, and immersive technologies like virtual-reality.Greene uses relatable stories to illustrate his points. The book is a comprehensive resource, including case studies from Pizza Hut, Southwest Airlines, and PepsiCo; an audience profile questionnaire; a character description worksheet; a complete instructional story design plan; and tips for using graphics, audio, and video.He adds, “Through storytelling, talent development professionals have the power to change the culture of training within their organization and create training that makes a lasting impact on their learners.”About Rance GreeneGreene is a playwright, songwriter, and story writer. His connection of instructional design to story design has made him a sought-after speaker and consultant. He formed needastory.com to help talent development professionals and leaders understand their audience. His presentations are noted for their lively interactions, practical skill-building and stories. He involves audiences and students by asking them to think, respond, analyze, and ultimately discover that they are the best storytellers for their audience. He is based in Dallas, Texas.About ATD and ATD PressThe Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest association dedicated to those who develop talent in organizations. ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD Press publications are written by industry thought leaders and offer anyone who works with adult learners the best practices, academic theory, and guidance necessary to move the profession forward. For more information, visit td.org/books.Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories That TrainISBN: 978-1-950496-59-4| 280 Pages | Paperbacktd.org/books/instructional-story-designTo order books from ATD Press, call 800.628.2783.To schedule an interview with Rance Greene, please contact Kay Hechler, ATD Press senior marketing manager, at khechler@td.org or 703.683.8178.