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Bill Perry

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Does Your LMS Fit Your Business?

June 2011 - TD Magazine

Managing Learning in More Than One Way

July 2009 - TD Magazine

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When an employee decides to take another job, should an employer make a counteroffer, usually in the form of a pay increase, in the hope of retaining that employee?

Do Counteroffers Make Sense?

The modern workforce prioritizes different factors than previous generations. Local governments that recognize these shifts will have a competitive advantage.

How Local Governments Can Leverage Learning and Development to Increase Employee Retention

 Jan starts her business writing course by asking participants to write a persuasive email that has the goal of getting its reader to agree to attend a meeting. Most participants write an email that is too long, and 84.3 percent of the emails have grammatical errors. These results are exactly what Jan expected.Jan then shares with the group a variety of business emails, and asks them to choose two that they feel are most persuasive. Jan asks, “Why are they good?” “They both quickly explain exactly why I would want to be there,” Katarina, answers. Percy adds, “Mine was far too long and twisting. No one would read it all or reply.” He quickly sees how this course can help him. People Aren’t Blank Sheets We often build instruction as if people are blank sheets of notebook paper on which we are writing. This is clearly a mistake (that causes problems) on numerous fronts. Pre-existing knowledge is the foundation to build additional knowledge. Jan‘s exercise helps her participants discover pre-existing knowledge in a fun way. It is our job to help learners connect what they know to what they are learning. It is these connections that help learning make sense. In essence, your courses need to help learners perform three critical actions: activate directly related, accurate knowledgefill in critical, missing knowledgefix misconceptions. For example, in order to teach others to balance a checkbook, we can:Help people “activate existing, related knowledge” by showing them how balancing a checkbook is very much like how they managed the cash they earned babysitting as a teenager to pay all their bills and have enough saved to go out with friends. Let’s say you ask, “How can we do this?” Their answers relate to the process of inputs to and outflows from a checking account.Make sure that there isn’t any missing, critical knowledge by giving them a calculator to do basic addition and subtraction. If there is missing information, we would need to fill in gaps. Ideally, we would have determined this information in advance to know what information needs to be included in the course.Fix misconceptions by letting them know that they don’t need to know advanced math to have a checking account. When such misconceptions exist, they can really interfere with learning.Why Prior Knowledge Is SO Important Research shows that when we are able to connect what we’re learning to accurate prior knowledge, we learn more and retain that knowledge more easily. That’s because all learning is a refinement of prior knowledge. The implication is that we need to consider prior knowledge every time we deliver instruction. Doing so makes it much easier for people to learn. For example, if percentages didn’t make sense when you learned it years ago, a new lesson on interest rates will fail to make sense or “stick.” In addition, learners also must also be able to access prior knowledge. Sometimes participants have already learned something, but they can’t easily remember it. They may be overwhelmed or afraid. (See Dave Ferguson’s blog post on avoiding too much cognitive load and my blog post on when to train to automaticity for related information.) What If Learners Don’t Know Enough? (Inadequate Knowledge) Consider the following scenario: I know that the best ratio for coffee to water in a French press is one part of very course ground coffee to about 14 or 15 parts very hot water (almost boiling). I also know that the brew time is generally about 6-7 minutes. Do I know enough to make good coffee in my French press? No. This is what we call necessary but inadequate declarative knowledge (the basic facts or the “know what”). In this example, I know “what” but I still don’t know “how.” “Know how” is called procedural knowledge. The declarative knowledge I have is accurate, but I still can’t do the task. Likewise there are times when someone can do the task (they have the procedural knowledge), but they don’t have the understanding of what they are doing. For instance, have you ever been on the phone troubleshooting a technical problem with someone who is using a script? When you ask them a question, they can’t answer it unless it is in the script. So when L&D professionals say, “The only thing we care about is performance,” that isn’t exactly right either. People need to be able to perform (know how) with understanding (know what) so they have the nimbleness to change their performance as needed. What If What Learners Know Is Wrong? (Inaccurate Knowledge) Sometimes what people know is simply wrong. For example, there is a popular but erroneous misconception called the “Equal Transit Time Theory” that explains how airplanes fly (aerodynamic lift). Actually, planes fly because the wings force air downward, which forces the wing and the plane upward. Misconceptions damage further learning and can lead some learners to be resistant to correction. Scientists are still debating how wings work and planes fly! Likewise, L&D folks are still debating learning styles and other learning myths! See Dr. Will Thalheimer’s blog post debunking such myths as “people remember 10 percent of what they read and 20 percent of what they hear.”    Bottom line: We can’t assume that people actually know, what they say they know. We also have to uncover misconceptions and help people replace them with accurate information, especially when misconceptions make further learning difficult. Resources [National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum, _Background Knowledge_](http://aim.cast.org/sites/aim.cast.org/files/ncac\_BKNov3.pdf)[Strategies for Activating Prior Knowledge](http://www.classhelp.info/Biology/Strategies%20for%20Activating%20Prior%20Knowledge.pdf)How to Assess Students’ Prior Knowledge

Science of Learning 101: Why You Need to Know What Your Learners Know

 A few weeks ago, I wrote a short post, “Do the Right Thing.” For those who did not read the article, by right things I was not merely referring to ethical issues. Of course, acting ethical and appropriate are a given. I was also referring to being encouraging and helpful to others, as well as a great teammate and communicator. In essence (and in spirit), I am talking about being a servant leader and a source of positive energy—and only positive energy.Here’s some of the feedback I received for the post: “The message is inspirational—developing a positive and encouraging environment is planting seeds of success in our workplace, and for our team members, and can produce limitless benefits for our firm’s overall success.” “Fortunately, I am in a smaller company that is very leadership focused. In the past, though, I worked with managers with the attitude: “Just do what we tell you, just comply, adhere to our procedures.” They did not encourage creativity, finding new and better ways, collaboration, and even asking questions. It was just do it.” “We need people who know why they do what they do, are guided by proper values and purpose, versus so many managers who do what they do for money, power, attention, control, title, or corner office.” “We need leaders who have faith, a moral compass, and love to coach, mentor, and help others learn, grow, and succeed. We need leaders whose own satisfaction comes from the satisfaction and success of their people.” “It is true that doing the right thing helps others and helps us to feel good about ourselves. I also have found that doing the right thing is key to overall business success. A focus on personal gain can lead to short term success, but doing the right thing usually ensures the ultimate long term emotional (and financial) returns.” “I love the thought of doing the right thing as it improves morale and the spirit of an organization. Results will improve. Failure to do the right things has the opposite effects; it reduces drive, people won’t go the extra mile, and ultimately turnover, which is a huge hidden cost that management usually rationalizes—rather than taking responsibility to learn from and improve.”There is a saying that “kindness of words motivates others.” Having a sense of kindness in our work, leadership, and relationships in business, including our internal relationships, is definitely doing the right thing! Mara Vandlik of McGinn & Co., asked if women are expected to be more graceful, helpful, and encouraging than men? Granted, we could start a dialogue on that question, but my answer to her is that this is an area where men could learn from women and their natural leadership skills and competencies.Kerry Douglass, a spiritual director and counselor, thoughtfully noted that effective leadership comes through community, not authority.John Kelly of Hanover Stone Partners sent the Do the Right Thing post to two former leaders with whom he worked and respects and states that now when faced with a difficult decision or issue, he asks himself “What would Dick or Ed do?” Then the answer is clear, do what’s right. This is consistent with a recent conversation with Joe Bottari, a sophomore student athlete at Georgetown, whom I have the privilege of knowing and mentoring. When faced with what he considers a life decision, he takes the time to seek the counsel of those for whom he has great respect. Joe also believes in having great relationships with his teammates and focusing on team goals, as then work and football practice are easier to handle well.Andy Funt, CEO of Bio Films Innovations, makes an insightful suggestion that we should bear in mind to always doing the right thing—and also do the next right thing. By that Andy means the first right thing might well be an assessment or decision and the next right thing is our action. An example might be reaching out to someone to help them with their inner-confidence as we pursue our desired outcome.Aaron Spokaeski, a general manager at Billy Casper Golf, a company that definitely treasures its people and consciously tries to listen for their ideas, advice, and feedback, points out that doing the right thing means being “we-oriented” not “me-oriented.” It also means realizing that, as a manager and leader, we are a part of a team and every person is an important member of the team as well, and helping them believe that.We should live to help make lives better every day. That is living in our faith, and isn’t it the way we can be in our business lives?!Yes, surely it is. With that personal mission, we can be exemplary and highly effective leaders and team members—by doing our best work, by being positive, and by encouraging and helping others do their best work. As I finished drafting this paper, I happened to read a wonderful article about empathy. It encouraged me to go back and add this paragraph. Bottom line: Empathy helps us improve the lives of others, as well as our own. Here are just a few things we can do each day: See something at work that needs fixing? Just quietly fix it.Say thank you with eye contact and a smile and not being too hurried so the person feels your appreciation.Grab a coffee or tea with someone who could use a conversation. Conversations are a gift, if we listen to connect. A great way to lead our lives from a spiritual sense is to help make lives of others better every day, and we can have that be our personal mission in our work and leadership. We need to encourage and help our team members and other colleagues have better business lives every day. That is doing the right things and that is servant leadership!

What Does “Doing the Right Thing” Look Like in Business?

L. E. Berryi-Iill

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