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Rick Butler

May 2014 - TD Magazine

A business case for a high-performance coaching culture.

Transformational Coaching

Action is revolutionary. Too many people plan, and then they plan some more. They keep doing the same thing, just working harder. Those working in the learning industry tend to focus all their time on curriculum design, learning objectives, engaging classrooms and WBT, and assessments. Unfortunately, many L&D professionals spend very little time connecting to strategic initiatives and outcomes. But learning without action is just learning. Without the action, nothing changes. Enter opportunistic risk. When times were tough, you didn’t find Batman hiding in his Batcave. You found him fighting crime—daring to make a difference in Gotham City. As learning professionals, the learning event is our Batcave. Our organizations are Gotham City. It is time for you to get in your Batmobile and find out what matters most to your organization’s executive leaders. If you don’t already connect with your senior leaders, schedule time on their calendar and get to know what drives them. Only then can you help them succeed and add value to your organization. Riddle me this Batman was known as a great detective. This is an important factor because senior leaders may not be prepared to answer the question: How can the learning function assist in meeting the organization’s goals? So, if you can get 30 minutes of their time, act like a detective. Explore how you can help them reach success. Ask them what their goals are. Ask them why the goal is important. Ask them how they will know if they have reached their goal. It is important to note that you must speak their language, not yours. The Riddler, Batman’s archenemy, was perplexing because he always spoke in riddles.  Senior leaders are not going to take the time to decipher your language. It is wise to speak to them in business terms—not “learning-eze” or what appears as riddles to them. And respect their time by staying within your allotted meeting time. Next, thank them and let them know you will get back with them, armed with a plan to ensure performance success. This should at least pique their interest enough to review your plan.Batteries to power, turbines to speedOnce you have obtained information from your senior leaders, you can start imagining solutions. To reach strategic goals, what behaviors need to happen? Once you identify behaviors, ask what the gap is in knowledge and skills. Then, and only then, decide how to serve the learning. The next step is very important: Determine how you can best drive performance after learning has taken place. Our leaders want a comprehensive plan that focuses on results, not learning. They expect that you will supply great learning, but what they really want is performance outcomes that help them reach their goals. You must be creative on how to get things done in a way that is different from what you have done in the past. It is not likely you will get more resources, and you can’t just keep working harder and maintain your sanity. L&D professionals have to be innovative in how to get the job done in less time, with less resource, but with better results. Don’t fall into the trap that everything must be covered in the classroom. Statistics prove participants will only remember a fraction of what is presented. Today’s learners obtain information on the go. How do you reduce classroom time and increase informal learning and the availability of informal learning while obtaining the same if not better results? Can you cut some programs you currently offer that are not required by regulation or do not directly support your organization’s strategic initiatives? All programs are “good” but may not make you needed.Can you reduce content? What do learners really need to know? Are you confusing them by giving them too much content at once?Can you serve content in other ways? Learners want information at their fingertips. Can you provide content in a mobile app, in an online, just-in-time learning tool, job aids? This is a new way of thinking for L&D. We have focused on the learning event for so long. I am not only speaking to facilitators, but including curriculum designers and web developers as well. What really needs to be covered in the classroom or module? Truly examine that question. What can be made available in other ways? We have to stop designing learning and start designing the entire learning experience. Included in your design should be peri-learning. Peri-learning is those activities, learning opportunities, and behavior reinforcers that help learners succeed. This could include such things as: Information and activities that prepare students to participate in not only learning but in changes that produce performance outcomes. Let managers know their role in the learning outcomes. Use posters, pre-requisite on-line modules that set the stage for what they will be learning, presentations at staff meetings, articles in newsletters, etc.Post learning event follow-up such as reminders and reinforcement are crucial. It is a must to include post learning follow-up support that will reinforce the behaviors you are targeting that will produce results for your organization. Be creative in ways to drive performance. Can you utilize incentives, contests, manager reinforcement, peer reinforcement, job aids, facilitator rounding?Does this sound foreign, or even risky? If we keep doing things the same way we have in the past, we will not be needed. Not being needed is unnecessarily risky. Look at the opportunistic risk instead. Changing our actions to ensure outcomes is strategic opportunity. As you put your plan together remember to ask: “If I could do this any way I wanted to obtain the best outcomes, what would it look like?” Just because no one at your organization has done it that way before doesn’t mean it won’t work!Next, ask “Why not?” What is keeping you back? Is it the fear of risk? Remember, avoidance of risk creates risk.Next, ask, what is the worst thing that could happen? Can you live with that? Think through it. Plan for what might go wrong but work at making it go right.What is the best thing that could happen? Does it outweigh the outcome of doing nothing differently? Therein, you find your opportunisitic risk. Once you have a plan together that supports your company’s goals by addressing not only learning but driving performance, present that plan. Word of caution: your executives may not be receptive at first. This may feel foreign to them as well and they are not use to depending on you as a partner. You will have to earn this relationship. Calling all caped crusaders Now, if you are feeling a little outside your comfort zone, remember Batman had allies. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler was one of only a few persons to know his secret identity. Alfred acted as father figure and mentor to Batman. Indeed, everyone needs a mentor—someone who knows your secret identity, grounds you, challenges you, someone that looks out for you, and helps you dream big. Who is your mentor? Is it your manager, another leader in your organization, someone trusted outside the organization, perhaps a consultant? If you do not have a mentor, get one that understands opportunistic risk. They give you the strength to don the cape (so to speak) and step out of your comfort zone. They are also there to guide you and supply a reassuring hand. Let’s explore another of Batman’s partners: Commissioner Gordon. The Commissioner was not always an advocate of Batman. As a matter of fact, he first saw Batman as a vigilante. In time, after Batman proved himself a worthy partner, Commissioner Gordon went to Batman at the first sign of need. Batman became his go-to person. Not because he left things to the way they were, but because he dared to step out. He took that opportunistic risk. And let’s not forget Batman’s trusty sidekick Robin. Who do you trust to carry out your work—to partner with you in your endeavors? Batman started out as a lone star, but he quickly added a fellow crime fighter. There is always more power in multiples. Gather your team around you to help you envision reaching performance. Gather those that will help reinforce learning and drive it to performance. This may be others in the learning arena but could also be middle managers, preceptors, or students who are early adopters. Bam! Kapow! Zlonk! Finally, it is time for you to present your plan to organizational leaders—pointing out what is different about approach. Let them know what you need from them. Highlight how you will measure your progress and document leading indicators that you are on target. Once you have presented your plan and received at least support for your plan, go for it! Put your plan in place and start working it. But be prepared that you won’t win every battle. You don’t have to win every time. Just act. When you prepared your plan, you started with the end in mind—your organization’s strategic initiatives. You uncovered the behaviors needed to ensure success. You created a solution that would ensure learning. You planned on reinforcing behavioral performance by partnering and following-up with learners. Now, you need to work your plan and measure your progress. Measure your results early and often, but don’t be afraid of the results! If you are not seeing the behaviors you expected, keep driving performance until you do. Remember, not doing anything creates risk. Driving performance, however, is opportunistic risk. Along the way, manage up your results to your senior leaders. If you haven’t quite hit the mark, be honest but have a plan to engage learning until the goal is met. If your leaders see your persistence and start to see results, they will likely give you the support you need. Holy learning, Batman! Our companies are looking for true partners that will help them reach their goals. Most of your peers are still hiding behind their classroom training programs or armed with WBT’s. What will make your plan different, gain the attention of your leaders and make you a strategic partner?Partner with your leaders. Seek to understand how to make them successful in their strategic endeavors. In other words, truly begin with the end in mind.Present a complete plan that includes peri-learning—activities before during and after the learning event that ensures success through driving performance to outcomes.Measure your progress and report your findings—good or bad. Then do something with the findings. Keep working your plan, regrouping where necessary, to reach your results. You only fail if you quit. If I have not yet convinced you to take opportunistic risk, let’s look at this in a different way. What if you choose to avoid the risk and stay in the Batcave? What if you just keep doing things they way you have always done them? Will you be perceived as valuable—or as adding value? Will you be recognized as a true partner? Will you be needed in another year? If you can’t answer yes to all of these questions, you can’t afford NOT to seek opportunistic risk. If Batman had not acted, the Joker, the Riddler, and Catwoman would surely have taken over Gotham City. Who is waiting to take over for you? Are you letting it happen because you are afraid to leave the Batcave? Without a doubt, leaving the Batcave involves some risk—but it is opportunisitic risk that focuses on outcomes, not just learning. So, what are you waiting for?

Opportunistic Risk: Signaling all L&D Professionals

This is the second in a three-part series on Gamifiying Your Instruction. (Part one can be found here.) The series is written by Karl Kapp, professor of instructional technology and internationally known author of two books on gamification both co-authored by ASTD.While the term “gamification” has only been around since 2002 and did not really gained widespread adoption until about 2010, there are still a number of examples of successful implementations of gamification.  Looking at these examples, it is possible to begin to build a list of best practices around gamification of learning and instruction. This article doesn’t exhaust specific examples gamification. Instead, it discusses best practices. To see some examples of gamification, you can check out the following articles:The Gamification of Retail Safety and Loss Prevention TrainingThe Gamification of Sales Force TrainingThe Gamification of M-Learning.Also, to learn about some of the effective elements of gamification, see the article Games, Gamification, and the Quest for Learner Engagement.Here are the 10 best practices (plus a bonus):1. Identify success criteria firstBefore you begin to gamify learning events, make sure you know what constitutes success. Is it 100 percent participation? Is it measurable business results? It is a score on a test?If success is not defined before the initiative, it is hard to know if or when success is achieved. It is hard to nail down success. It is even more difficult to get everyone to agree that success was achieved. The idea of success can be changed and morphed for both good and bad over time, so make sure at the beginning everyone agrees what success “looks” like—and someone  writes it down.2. Seriously consider alternativesThis may sound strange coming from a gamification advocate, but too many times I have seen easy, simple solutions to learning problems passed over for the latest instructional fad. While I do not think gamification is a fad, I do think that the opportunity for mis-use is vast.Even if you eventually go with a gamified solution, the process of thinking through alternatives and carefully defending the decision for gamification to an internal or external stakeholder provides a solid foundation to pursue such a solution.  And, if an alternative solution is a better fit, use it.  Only use gamification as a learning solution when it makes sense and resonates with learners. 3. Create a tie to business needsAll training and learning initiatives should be tied to a business need but gamification even more. You need to make sure that you are legitimately moving the needle on business needs and not just using gamification as a crutch to support content that is meaningless to the organization or individual.4. Create a story/contextA particularly powerful way to motivate individuals is to give actions and ideas meaning by framing them within an appropriate context. Explain why the learners are earning points, who they are trying to save, why they are searching for a treasure. Remember, gamification works well when it is within a context—create a reason why learners should interact with the content you have created.5. Use science to advance learningThere are two powerful mechanisms embedded in many gamification efforts: spaced retrieval and retrieval practice. Retrieval practice requires learners to recall information rather than simply re-read or re-listen to it.A review of scientific literature reveals that the benefits of retrieval practice have been known for at least 100 years, and they have been demonstrated with many diverse groups \[1\]. Retrieval practice alone can provide improved recall performance by as much as 10-20 percent.\[2\] So, ask learners to recall content and act on that recall—answering questions about content is a great way to have retrieval practice.Spaced retrieval involves providing learners with a quiz or course content spaced over time. It too is among the most robust findings in educational psychology research \[3\]. It turns out that the greater the amount of spacing between retrieval events, the greater the potential benefit to retention (24 hours is optimal).Spaced retrieval helps learners retain access to memorized information over long periods of time because the spacing promotes deeper processing of the learned material.  It also avoids two inherent problems with mass practice (learning all the information at once); the problems of learner fatigue and the likelihood of interference with preceding and succeeding learning.6. Make scoring and winning transparentFirst, make the scoring easy. Avoid complicated algorithms or formulas. The learners should be able to directly link their actions and activities to a score so they know what they need to do to be successful. Second, determine what happens in various scoring scenarios ahead of time. Run various scenarios to see what happens—what is a learner gets every question wrong or right or skips every question. Yes, it might be a scenario that will never happen but, if you can imagine it, the learners will do it. You want to know of any potential problems ahead of time, not during the process.7. Keep the rules simpleComplexity is not an ally in creating gamification. When developing gamified solutions, a tendency of the design and development team is to add complexity, avoid that tendency.  Also, provide a tutorial level or experiences so that the learners are able to learn the rules in the beginning with little to lose. You don’t want the experience to be about who knows the rules the best, you want it to be about who learns the most.8. Keep leaderboards smallNo one wants to compete against the world’s best. Except, of course, if they are the world’s best. Otherwise keep leaderboards small. If possible, allow the learners to choose their own friend to place on a personalized leaderboard or structure the leaderboard by department or territory to allow individuals to contribute to a larger goal.Consider only showing a relative position on the leaderboard. This might mean showing the five scores above and below a learner’s score. But remember, regardless of what you show the learners on a regular basis always allow access to the top scores (don’t hide anything from learners).9. Use levels and badges appropriatelyUse levels to guide learners through linear content and tie each level to a specific learning objective (usually a terminal objective). Let the learner know how many levels they are going to need to complete before the learning is over.Badges, on the other hand, are good for showing non-linear progress. Badges can be tied to either terminal or enabling objectives. Also, if possible provide a place where learners can “show off” badges to leverage the social effectiveness of gamification. 10. Playtest the gamification experienceBefore releasing the gamification program to all 10,000 employees in your organization, playtest it with a small pilot group. You will find flaws, cheats and shortcuts you never imagined. Humans are among the most creative creatures on the planet, they will find things you didn’t anticipate. Learn about those elements beforehand, conduct a playtest (or two or three).Bonus: monitor learner progressOnce the gamification event is launched, you cannot sit back and let it unfold without monitoring. Most gamification platforms provide rich backend dashboards that allow for a close inspection of the process.Take advantage of these dashboards. Look for players moving unusually fast or slow through the content and then find out why. Look for people earning more points than you thought possible, look to see if interest is waning or if all the learners are getting something wrong or too much or too little time is being expended. One advantage of gamification platforms is that they provide rich, real-time data—leverage that data.In the next post, we answer the question: “How can you make learning more intriguing with gamification?”Want to learn more about game design? Join Karl and Sharon Boller for the LearnNow: Game Design event, September 22-23 in Atlanta or December 8-9 in San Francisco.References\[1\] Larsen DP, Butler AC, Roediger HL. (2009) Repeated testing improves long-term retention relative to repeated study: a randomized controlled trial. Med Educ. 43: 1174–1181.\[2\] Dobson, J. L. (2013) Retrieval practice is an efficient method of enhancing the retention of anatomy and physiology information. Advances in Physiology Education. 37: 184–191, 2013; doi:10.1152/advan.00174.2012.\[3\] \[4\] Carpenter SK, DeLosh EL. (2005) Application of the testing and spacing effects to name learning. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 19: 619–636, 2005. And Cull W. Untangling the benefits of multiple study opportunities and repeated testing for cued recall. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 14: 215–235, 2000. And Cull W, Shaughnessy JJ, Zechmeister EB. Expanding understanding of the expanding-pattern-of-retrieval mnemonic: toward confidence in applicability. Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied. 2: 365–378, 1996.

Rick Butler

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