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Walter Pauk

Speed Reading For The Executive

Lucille Parker, Walter J. Tait And Ellis H. Wooley

Western Regional Training Conference

MJ Hurley earned his degree in Professional Writing from Virginia Tech. He has a master’s certificate in Strategic Leadership from Michigan State and graduated manga cum laude from VT with a master’s in Instructional Technologies. In addition to his work with Hurley Write, MJ worked with the Department of Defense where he served as a Human Resources Specialist; during his tenure there, he also worked as an analyst and trainer. MJ also worked for VT Group, a government contractor, where he edited awards packets for PEO Ships Front Office, a section of the Navy that runs and builds naval ships. MJ has worked as a trainer, consultant, and editor with Hurley Write for several years, working with clients such as Cross Texas Commission, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Coloplast, CKI, Discover Financial, NAECP, Zoetis, NAVAIR, the Air Force Research Lab, the US Army, Sprint Federal Operations, PCAOB, Walker Parking, UPS Capital, and BioMerieux, to name a few.

MJ Hurley

How often have you leaned across your desk or paused in an office doorway to ask a colleague a question? Or raised your eyebrows at a team member during a meeting with a tricky client, in silent, supportive communication? Along with water cooler conversations, these small confidences and day-to-day interactions are the building blocks of great working relationships. But what happens if those you work closest with are spread across oceans, borders and time zones? Can you still build the same quality of relationship with a virtual teammate? Not too long ago it would have been almost impossible. Sitting many thousands of miles apart from your colleagues, the constraints of different time zones, traditional communications technology, languages, and cultural norms would have created a tangible block to great relationship building. Indeed, in my last blog, “Bagels: The Secret to Building a High-Performing Virtual Team,"  I discussed the importance of building trust and rapport in teams. Central to this is the ability to absorb body language cues, participate in informal chat, and pay attention to the tone of voice—all of which are tough to convey remotely. So how do you overcome these challenges and build a strong virtual team? Technology can certainly play an important role. With the rapid advancement of social media platforms, web-based video conferencing, and real-time chat capability, technology has transformed the accessibility of disparate global teams and the ability to bring them closer together. Numerous web-based services offer free or low-cost video conferencing, messaging facilities, file sharing, and other resources that can enable even the most dispersed of teams to feel more closely connected.  In fact, I often find that many of these resources are already built into the information management system used by my corporate clients. However, only a fraction of the capability is generally used. So, why not explore what may already be at your fingertips—and make it work for you. As with many aspects of business, you’ve got to get the basics right. In the busy world of work, basic courtesy often gets left behind, and that’s no less true of virtual teams as it is with those who sit together in an office. I often find there can be a tendency for global team members to fire off emails to each other as their day ends, leaving colleagues on other continents to arrive in the office to a full inbox of demands. Treat global colleagues as you would those sitting next to you, with courtesy and friendliness.  When in doubt, pick up the phone and talk to your colleagues at a mutually convenient time, or use instant messenger for a quick chat. Then you can follow up by email once both parties are “on the same page.” Of course, a “mutually-convenient time” can be a challenge for some global teams. I would argue that on most global conference calls you will find at least one person who would rather be in bed. One of my Japanese clients, for example, is almost permanently exhausted by his bi-weekly 2:00 a.m. team call.  Everyone else on the team didn’t think it was a problem because he has never complained about it, whereas in reality he was simply being polite—as is the cultural norm in Japan. It’s common sense, really. Think about something fun you like doing with a friend, like swimming.  Now consider the only time your friend invites you to swim is at 2:00 am, after they get off their night shift.  Would you look forward to a 2:00 a.m. swim?  Probably not, and that’s for something you like doing! It’s even worse when it’s a business meeting that’s keeping you from a good night’s sleep. When working across multiple time zones, it’s important to choose meeting times that work for everyone, not just your own schedule. At the very least, schedule meetings at different times so everyone shares the pain!  Another key tip in creating great communication across the globe is to choose the right mode of communication channels for the audience. For instance, one of my clients is a large global pharmaceutical company doing business in over 100 countries. They have quickly learned how critical it is to choose the right communication technology to communicate with local doctors and hospital staff when conducting time-sensitive clinical trials. “Taiwanese and Malaysian doctors prefer to be contacted by phones and not email, but Singapore doctors don’t like phone calls. They prefer emails or going through a third party coordinator,” a senior clinical research associate told me. “If we use the wrong mode of communication, we may not get any responses at all!” Finally, try to create an opportunity to replicate those small interactions that happen all the time between colleagues who sit in the same office. They are the glue that bonds individuals and turns them into teams. A client of mine works for a Chinese/U.S. firm, with teams from both countries supporting the same major Korean customer. On conference calls with the customer, the U.S. team frequently finds it hard to understand business terms used and points made by the Korean customer. The team use a private chat facility, during the call, to quickly discuss or explain points to each other and compare notes. This enables them to acknowledge shared challenges and present a more effective and united position to their shared customer. Here are five tips for using technology to build a productive and cohesive virtual team.  Take advantage of what’s out there. Good communications technology no longer comes with a high price tag. In fact, there’s a lot of it out there for free. Talk to your systems team and find out what facilities your company has already that could assist your global team. If not, try Google.Be flexible and considerate. As a good colleague of mine, who is based in Houston and has team members in Dubai and Afghanistan, puts it: “I start my day as my team ends theirs!” As a global team leader, it’s not possible to create effective team communication without a little give or take on time management.Encourage different modes of communication. Choose the right ones for each job. People have a variety of preferences in terms of how they receive and share information.  A sound principle for all communication—not just in relation to global teams—is to use different methods to get your point across encompassing text, video and voice options.  Create an informal mode of communication to encourage “chat.” Instant messenger is widely available and a standard feature on most information management applications. Indeed, it is actively encouraged by many firms as a fast and easy way of swapping messages between colleagues.Make sharing part of the culture. There are a host of file-sharing tools available, such as Lotus Notes, Google Docs, Dropbox, that allow teams to document technical procedures and share resources and information. These tools also enable global companies to maintain consistency, reduce duplicated effort, and ensure quality control across their various countries of operation. Building a strong virtual team is one of those occasions when business can learn much from social media. Building communities, sharing files, and bridging geography and time zones is what the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook do best. Yet global business has been relatively slow to adopt and adapt social media for its own uses, even when the technology has been available. By activating some simple and cost-effective tools, I have seen how easy it can be to create a virtual water cooler, replicating the important moments that we take for granted in face-to-face communication and, in doing so, building rapport and understanding between people who live and work in opposite corners of the world. What strategies do you use to build an effective virtual team? Share you ideas in the Comments below.

Create Your Own Virtual Water Cooler

Paul Trout helps leaders unravel complex business problems. Leaders often find themselves “stuck” when facing critical leadership, innovation, change management, marketing and/or sales issues. By leveraging cross-industry expertise in business strategy, internal politics, team dynamics, communication, research, facilitation, training and coaching, he brings an uncommonly wide range of problem-solving tools, talents and approaches to unravel clients’ complexity. He feels fortunate to have helped guide leadership through change in organizations as diverse as IBM, Harley-Davidson, Merck Group – EMD Chemicals, Alcan Packaging, the City of Green Bay, Alvarez & Marsal, Wisconsin Women in Government, Hu-Friedy, Foley & Lardner and many others. Early in his consulting career, he was selected to appear in IBM’s worldwide advertising campaign, “Who Do You Need?” in recognition of my work as a leading IBM Business Consultant. It was quite something to open the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Fast Company and 12 other major business publications and see his name and face! More recently, his previous company, Shift Worldwide, was named a finalist in both the 2010 Chicago Innovation Awards and Innovate Illinois Competition. As you might have guessed, he enjoy writing. From 2005-2008, he was a syndicated columnist on the topic of sales and “building buy-in”; my columns appeared in nearly 50 association and trade magazines, bringing total weekly readership to over 300,000 people. He as also written articles on the topic of organizational change for the publications of ASTD (American Society of Training & Development), ALA (Association of Legal Administrators) and Human Resources IQ, among others. He ispassionate about giving back and was the past chairman of both the Professional Development and Entrepreneurship Committees for the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He also regularly volunteers with Howard Brown Health Center, a community‐based health services clinic. He received a Masters in Business Administration from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Marketing and Information Systems in 1999 and also received a Bachelor of Arts from The University of California at San Diego in Urban Studies and Planning in 1991. He is one of the brave souls who has moved from Southern California, where he was raised, to Chicago, Illinois. He gets his “water fix” every day by living right on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Though he misses West Coast sunsets, he has come to love Midwest sunrises even more.

Paul Trout

The Silver TsunamiHere's a sobering statistic that should keep every C-suite executive awake at night: 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day in the US alone. That's not just people walking out the door, it's decades of institutional knowledge and hard-earned expertise evaporating into thin air.This Silver Tsunami isn't a distant threat. It's here, swirling around us right now. APQC’s recent survey of 1,000 knowledge management (KM) professionals across industries revealed that 51 percent of the enterprise workforce will retire or leave within five years. That’s half the organizational brain trust. Gone.The Boiling FrogRemember the parable of the boiling frog? The creature doesn't notice the water heating up gradually until it's too late to jump out. That's exactly what's happening to businesses today. While 58 percent of C-level executives and 51 percent of board members express concern about knowledge loss from departing retirees, the response has been glacially slow.The most damning finding? A staggering 92 percent of organizations don't capture knowledge on a regular basis. They are literally watching their competitive advantage walk out the door, day after day.Quill and PapyrusThe few companies attempting knowledge capture are stuck in the Stone Age. The survey revealed that 53 percent still rely on manual capture and documentation methods—essentially digital versions of quill and papyrus. Picture this: 30 percent of organizations wait until employees are literally heading for the exit door to capture their knowledge. Another 23 percent conduct last-minute elicitation interviews, which are typically rushed and shallow. Even worse, 37 percent depend on informal people-to-people transfers.These antiquated approaches are neither scalable nor sustainable—they're business malpractice.AI: Opportunity and ProblemEnter AI—both the solution and the problem rolled into one disruptive package. The opportunity is enormous: AI can automate knowledge capture, analyze patterns in expert decision-making, and create searchable repositories of institutional wisdom at unprecedented speed and scale.But here's the rub—the survey found that nine in 10 of respondents aren't leveraging AI to automate KM. And there's a reason: trust. Organizations are terrified of AI-generated answers that could be incorrect or non-compliant. It's a classic catch-22: the technology that could solve the knowledge crisis is paralyzed by accuracy concerns. No wonder 95 percent of AI pilots are failing to deliver business ROI, according to recent MIT research.KM and AI: BFFs for Business ValueAI automates knowledge management, and knowledge management makes AI trustworthy. This symbiotic relationship works because robust content management practices ensure AI has clean, accurate, well-governed data to work with. Meanwhile, AI handles the heavy lifting of knowledge automation to speed up the entire knowledge capture, retention, publishing, and optimization process.BFFs in ActioneGain’s Fortune 500 and Global 1000 clients are already striking gold with the combined power of AI and knowledge management:A global financial services corporation enhanced first contact resolution rates by 36 percent and cut onboarding duration by 40 percent through AI-powered knowledge platforms.A leading utility eliminated knowledge silos and sped up knowledge creation 10X while improving search success 6X.A fast-growing SaaS enterprise boosted contact center representative confidence by 60 percent and self-help utilization by 30 percent.A major federal government department serving 25 million citizens saw their Forrester CX Index ranking rise by a third in a single year.A massive federal agency redirected 70 percent of inbound calls to AI-enabled virtual support while slashing case resolution time by 25 percent.These aren't incremental improvements—they're transformational results that land these organizations in the elite 5 percent of companies succeeding with AI.Beat the Clock (and the Competition)!Your experts are retiring. The clock is ticking. Every day you delay implementing AI-enabled knowledge capture is another day of irreplaceable expertise walking out your door forever.Organizations that act now to leverage the power of AI and KM will emerge as the winners. They'll turn the knowledge exodus into a knowledge edge, transforming the Silver Tsunami from an existential threat into a competitive advantage.The question isn't whether you can afford to invest in AI-enabled knowledge capture and retention. The question is whether you can afford not to. Because in today’s knowledge-centered economy, there are no participation trophies—only winners and losers.The tsunami is here. Will you surf it or be swept away by it?

Strike Gold in the Silver Tsunami With AI-Enabled Knowledge Retention

Teamwork allows us to engage in important work, and teams hold immense power. Those on teams share perspectives, brainstorm ideas, and produce results beyond what’s possible alone. With organizations relying increasingly on teams to deliver impact, teamwork skills are needed more than ever.Part of the ATD Soft Skills Series, Teamwork in Talent Development is for talent development professionals who serve as team leaders or team members and wish to improve their collaboration abilities, build successful teams, and maximize their team performance for solving business problems, meeting learning needs, promoting culture change, and more.Author Thane Bellomo is an organizational development innovator, author, and speaker who has spent more than 20 years working with Fortune 500 organizations and leaders in manufacturing, healthcare, government, and the energy industry. We recently spoke with him to get some insights on key takeaways from the book.1. Why write another teamwork book?I often get called on to help organizations with teams. In such cases, leaders are struggling to create high performing teams and don’t quite know how to do it. There are a million teaming models and formulas out there that outline the attributes of high-performing teams, yet I still see leaders and organizations wrestling with this problem. My observations are that many leaders don’t often think about the upfront work of team creation. What circumstances are most likely to drive the development of team performance? What are the attributes of team support that help high-performing teams develop? I haven’t seen many resources that address the upfront work needed to create the circumstances most likely to develop high-performing teams.An analogy for this is trying to grow crops in unfertile soil. You can read all the books about how to plant, when to plant, and how much to water. But if your soil is poor, then none of that matters. What I address in this book is how to ensure that you are working with fertile soil. When we create the correct conditions, the likelihood that we will end up with high-performing teams is much greater. This book addresses a gap in teaming literature, which will help leaders.I also wrote this book to outline the far-reaching impact that creating high-performing teams can have on your organization. People often think that teams are just groups of people that complete a task or packet of work. That is such a limited view of how powerful teams can be in your organization when done well. In terms of the development of trust and community, high-performing teams have enormous downstream benefits. Leaders don’t often approach teaming with this in mind. This book will help leaders not only recognize that value but work to create it.2. What is the one thing that you hope people take away after reading this book?I want leaders to understand that well-formed and well-led teams solving important problems lead to the development of trust and community within the team. Teams accomplish a lot of work, which is a good thing. But when people struggle together to accomplish important things, they develop high levels of trust and relationships that end up resembling what we might call a community. Communities care about one another; they want each other to succeed; and they create circumstances where people will provide high levels of discretionary effort to ensure the success of not only the project itself, but of each other.The relationships forged in these instances live on long after the team is disbanded. Team members continue to collaborate, maintain communication, and help each other succeed. The result is often high levels of cross-functional and cross-departmental information sharing and innovation. This dynamic can be a big differentiator in your organization’s ability to compete in the market.3. What is the biggest gap you see in how leaders lead teams?The biggest gap in how leaders lead teams is in the initial framing and formation of the team. Leaders often throw a group of people together and tell them to go do something. This approach undercuts some of the most powerful factors that determine team performance. First, teams should be thought of as problem-solvers, not task-doers. This is an important distinction that is often overlooked. When we task teams to solve a problem, we have the opportunity for coming up with better solutions. This dynamic allows us to leverage the innovative capacity of the group to engage with the problem and develop solutions.Second, high-performing teams are more likely to form when they are engaged in important work. Leaders often assume that just because they want a packet of work completed, the assignment is important. However, if the team doesn’t feel the assignment is important, then they will not naturally provide discretionary effort to solve the problem or execute the work. Important work lends itself to discretionary effort, engagement, and collaboration.We know this because the inverse is true. When teams engage in unimportant work, we tend to see the hallmarks of low-performing teams—lack of discretionary effort, disengagement, variable effort, and destructive conflict. Helping the team understand the importance of the work you are asking them to engage with is key. If you can’t convince them that it is important, then that might be a clue that it really isn’t.4. What team behaviors are most impactful for creating high-performing teams?The most important attributes and behaviors critical to team performance are their level of curiosity and their ability to challenge. It is a tautology that humanity advances through disagreement. Only through wrestling with differing ideas and perspectives do we triangulate onto the most effective answers. Too many teams have cultures that stifle disagreement and frown upon vigorously challenging one another and leadership. I advise leaders to build team cultures where the expectation is that everyone approaches disagreement with curiosity. “Tell me more” should probably be the most used phrase on any team, particularly during disagreements. This opens the door for people to engage in dialogue and perspective sharing.Curiosity also permits vigorous challenges. The team norm should be an expectation of disagreeing that leads to solutions. Leaders can set a good example by asking their teams, “Tell me why I am wrong,” or maybe even better, “Tell me why this is a bad idea.”5. What are the outcomes that you hope leaders and organizations will get by using this book to guide their team leadership?I hope that leaders will recognize the “if you want teamwork, then give the teamwork.” I hope that leaders will internalize that trust is an outcome of people effectively struggling together to accomplish great things. I also hope that leaders will spend a lot more time up front thinking carefully about the importance of the work they are tasking the team with; framing the importance of that work; tasking the team with solving a problem; and honoring the importance of the work by providing the team autonomy, funding, and effective sponsorship. When all components are in place, leaders are much more likely to create a high-performing team and reap its benefits.How can organizations best drive the development of high-performing teams?Organizations can take the lessons from the book to build an effective team approach into their culture. They can define the way in which they “do teams.” Process the idea that teams solve important problems; honor important work by giving teams autonomy, funding, and sponsorship; and encourage curiosity and challenges. It is all well and good when leaders know these things, but unless they build the approach into how teams work, then it is just another aspiration that people might talk about but which they actually never do. This dynamic only ends up breeding organizational mistrust.It also ends up sabotaging efforts to create high-performing teams in the future. People end up not believing you when you say the work is important, they end up not trusting that they will be given support, and they quickly lose interest. What likelihood do we then have of a high-performing team where a sense of trust and community are built? Make the principles outlined in the book a part of how you do business, and you will do better at creating high-performing teams, solving your most difficult challenges, and creating communities within your organization that drive innovation and cross-functional collaboration.About the AuthorThane Bellomo is an executive coach and team and organization development practitioner. He has more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 50 leaders to maximize their potential and optimize their results. Thane is an accomplished author, speaker, and coach and spends his time studying how leaders and teams most effectively form and function.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.Teamwork in Talent DevelopmentISBN: 9781952157660 | 152 Pages | Paperbackhttps://www.td.org/product/book--teamwork-in-talent-development/112113To order books from ATD Press, call 800.628.2783.To schedule an interview with Thane Bellomo, please contact Kay Hechler, ATD Press senior marketing manager, at khechler@td.org or 703.683.8178.

Teamwork in Talent Development: Q&A With Thane Bellomo

Scott Pitts has spent nearly two decades in the learning and organization development professions, 16 of which have been in the financial services industry. Prior to his current role as a learning strategist for a major financial services firm, he created and led a learning department for the largest bank in Missouri not headquartered in a metro market. Currently, he partners with executives to recommend firm-wide learning and organization development solutions. Scott has performed and led nearly all learning functions as defined by ATD.Scott is also an associate adjunct professor of training and development, as well as organization development and change, at the Walker School of Business at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. Scott is also serving as a captain (promotable) in the United States Army Reserves for the 7th Psychological Operations Group in Mountain View, California. Scott is active in serving the Army and his local community by training local educators, clergy, and behavioral health professionals on suicide intervention. He also serves on the Business Education Advisory Board for Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri, where he advises department leaders on curriculum enhancements to train future business leaders in Southeast Missouri.Scott's idea of good self-care is sitting on his porch on his six acres of Missouri woods with cold beverage in hand, Darius Rucker playing, and his kids exploring the woods.

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