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Karen Fray is the Chief of Staff of the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN).Fray brings a decade of experience developing pipelines for new, diverse, and inclusive talent initiatives in support of national security. As Chief of Staff, Fray serves a critical role in ensuring the smooth day-to-day operations of NSIN and providing a leading strategic voice in the organization's direction.Previously, Fray served as the Director of NSIN’s Talent Portfolio, where she was responsible for providing flexible pathways to official service within the Department of Defense (DoD). As Director, she helped create new opportunities for national service that account for cultural differences between the military, academic, and venture communities.Before NSIN, Fray worked for the Advanced Information Systems Group (AISG) Inc. where she developed diverse talent, led education training, and supported program contracts for the Military Sealift Command (MSC). She also served as president of Central Florida’s Women in Defense (WID) chapter.Fray also sits on the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)’s Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) training subcommittee, where she creates effective training solutions through innovative concepts, methods, and technologies.

Karen Fray

To innovate in the public sector requires more than permission to think outside the box. It requires hiring and developing individuals with diverse backgrounds, belief systems, experiences, education, and needs.

Innovation as Part of the Government L&D Equation

Building a culture of coaching among your company’s managers is vital to keeping employees engaged and reducing churn. Train your managers to build trust, personalize your coaching tactics, mentor beyond your direct reports, and advocate for stretch goals.During this event you will learn to: Unlock your manager’s potential so their team’s team’s potential is maximized Use concepts like psychological safety to encourage a culture of coaching and mentorship Gain the tools to teach Karen Heber-Maccaro’s “coaching math” framework to your managers so they become better coaches Primary Capability Covered: CoachingParticipation in this event, either live or recorded, can be reported for one (1) point on your application for initial certification or recertification of your APTD or CPTD credential.

How to Train Your Managers to Be Coaching Leaders

Most accountability systems work—until they don't.

Goals get set. Commitments get made. And somewhere between the kickoff meeting and the deadline, things slip. The conversation that needs to happen...doesn't. Or it happens badly. Trust erods. And the cycle begins with people quietly dreading it all over again. 

The problem usually isn't intention. It's the framework. 

Conscious Accountability (CA) is a human-centered approach used by leaders and teams inside Fortune 500 companies, high-growth firms, and mission-driven organizations. It's built on a core premise: accountability that works long-term has to strengthen relationships, not strain them. 

In this 60-minute session, you'll get a hands-on introduction to the CONNECT framework—a seven-part model that gives leaders practical language and moves for the moments that matter most: setting clear expectations, following through without micromanaging, exchanging feedback without defensiveness, and recovering well when things go sideways. 

This isn't a performance management refresher. It's a different way of thinking about what accountability is for.

You'll leave with:


	A clear mental model you can start using in your next one-on-one or team conversation
	Insight into your own default accountability tendencies — and where they help or get in the way
	One concrete practice you can apply immediately


This session is for you if you lead a team, support people leaders, or are responsible for the kind of culture where people actually do what they say — and feel good about it.


Whether you're an HR partner, L&amp;D professional, or manager who's tired of accountability feeling like enforcement, this is the session that reframes the whole conversation.
 

Conscious Accountability: The Framework That Strengthens Results and Relationships

One of the most broken processes in the workplace is onboarding. That’s according to a new study from Nintex, a workflow and content automation platform. Definitive Guide to America’s Most Broken Processes reports that 58 percent of U.S. employees at organizations with more than 1,000 workers face broken onboarding processes.“Faulty onboarding starts new employees on the wrong foot,” says Dan Stoll, technical product marketing manager at Nintex. This not only deflates morale and productivity, but it will likely “cause them to quit later on,” he says. In fact, some experts estimate that more than 40 percent of turnover happens within the first month, and another 10 percent or more leave before their first anniversary.Challenges and SolutionsSo what is the problem with most current onboarding practices? Onboard, Engage, and Develop: How Organizations Improve Effectiveness, a 2017 study from ATD Research finds that many employers take a one and done approach to onboarding. In essence, new hires receive an excessive information dump and are introduced to numerous colleagues in the first day or two on the job, and then they are simply sent off to work on their own. To improve effectiveness of onboarding programs and lessen the chance of losing new employees, ATD’s research recommends creating onboarding programs that last anywhere from the first three months up to a full year.According to Karen Lawson, author of New Employee Orientation Training, effective onboarding programs start with a written plan that outlines specific components, actions, timelines, goals, responsibilities, and available support. She notes that it’s important to involve all stakeholders in the onboarding process. The most obvious people involved are the new employees and the talent development professional who designs and delivers the orientation program. However, Lawson reminds that many more people need to be part of the onboarding process, including organizational leaders, the human resources (HR) department, the training department, and the employees’ supervisors.In addition, breaking down the timeline into segments can help give structure to the onboarding plan. For instance, plan for some sort of interaction or activity prior to employee’s first day, on the first day, and during the first week. Then, plot out and develop directed communication and learning experiences—such as manager check-ins, webinars, mentoring, and formal training—for the first month, within 60 days, and during a 90-day follow-up.Case in Point: New York Community BankOne company taking the long approach to onboarding is New York Community Bank. With a growing business comprising 226 branch offices spanning five states, NYCB needed to more efficiently prepare its new employees—ranging from bank tellers to regional managers—to perform their job responsibilities. So working with NYCB’s talent development team, Claudette Nunez, director of employee development and training, decided to introduce formal training elements into the onboarding process.Not surprisingly, the new program required employees to attend an orientation, in which the HR department provided a general introduction to the company on their first day of employment. This is no different than most companies. Here’s where NYCB diverges from most onboarding programs: employees began new hire training on their second day, and over the next seven days, they received eight hours of training each day.“During the seven days of live instructor-led classes, instructors strove to create a multifaceted environment to engage every type of learner,” says Nunez. The program used a variety of different instructional methods, including independent activities, group activities, video clips, discussions, quizzes, games, and role playing. The training classes covered topics such as an overview of banking, the history of NYCB, branch-opening procedures, product training, sales and service, and check fraud.The talent development team provided the new employees’ managers with graded evaluations of their attendance, professionalism, participation, knowledge, and skills while attending class. If an employee needed further training, the evaluation would also include additional items that an experienced member of the branch staff could cover.Nunez explains that new hires also were given access to a special online discussion board for their first 90 days of employment. “This discussion board provided a closed space in which to communicate and share information with other new employees, including those working at other branches,” she says.The result: NYCB reports that employees who were onboarded under the new program have been able to perform their job duties at a pace that is 74 percent faster than previous new hires. “After completing the program, employees would arrive at their job location equipped with the fundamental skills they needed to perform their day-to-day responsibilities,” notes Nunez.Getting StartedFew organizations manage the different pieces of onboarding well, and most new hires fail to receive clear messages about what their manager and organization expects from them. For onboarding to succeed, you need to remember that your program should be more than completing paperwork, shaking a few hands, and pointing people to the nearest deli. With thoughtful planning, input from key stakeholders, and regular interaction that lasts longer than the first week, you will not only welcome employees to the company, you can bring them into the culture and prepare them to excel.

Move Onboarding Beyond One and Done

My career in learning and development began years before I knew I would be in the field. As a compliance director specializing in affordable housing regulations, part of my job was explaining regulations and teaching procedures to others. It was a minor part of my job but my favorite, nonetheless. When the organization I work for created a learning and development role, I went for it. I had organizational knowledge, I could teach, and most importantly, I had existing relationships with several of the organization’s leaders. I landed the role and became the organization’s first learning and development manager.It wasn’t long before I found myself in areas well beyond teaching the nuts and bolts of policies and procedures. Diversity, onboarding, development planning, employee engagement … the list of areas to which I was new grew every day. A department of one, I had to upskill myself, and quickly, if I were going to succeed in the workplace and in my career.I had already started participating in many workshops and events put on by the local ATD chapter. At one of these events, someone asked about forming a study group for the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD, formerly the CPLP) certification. I was intrigued and looked up more information about it. The Talent Development Capability Model reflected many areas where I needed more knowledge, and I saw studying for the certification as a chance to gain it. Being new to the profession, I didn’t have the experience for CPTD, but I was close for the Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD).My APTD journey started around the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone was fumbling to stay connected. There were no more in-person local chapter meetings, let alone an opportunity to join a study group. I had to apply my self-study skills and self-discipline, but this was a blessing. To truly learn the capabilities, I had to apply them in the workplace.One of the organization’s biggest areas of need is ongoing training for our maintenance professionals. Unlike compliance, I have little knowledge and experience in this area. I needed to partner with a subject matter expert for content and, in many cases, facilitation. Our regional facilities manager became my new best friend.Over the coming months, we worked together to create and implement a twelve-month curriculum for our maintenance team. I applied many of the concepts from the self-study APTD course regarding instructional design: assessing needs, developing effective instructional content, and building a relationship with the subject matter expert for quality content. I learned to ask the right questions about the material to translate it from technical text to presentations and job aids that were useful for staff at all levels. It wasn’t long before we saw a decrease in hiring out certain maintenance tasks to outside vendors. Our staff were completing jobs they hadn’t before while at the same time saving the organization money.But instructional design wasn’t the only capability I was growing. As we rolled out the new curriculum for the maintenance team, we began to lay the groundwork to shift the organization’s culture from “training” to “learning.” Concepts I learned while studying the organization development and culture capability were coming to life. The impact of nurturing learning became clear: when staff are equipped with skills and knowledge, they are more engaged, and the organization becomes more efficientWithout real-life application, the capabilities are full of jargon and frameworks to memorize. The opportunity to apply capabilities from the Talent Development Capability Model on the job gave me the edge I needed to gain the certification. As my role evolves and the organization grows, I will continue to draw on the knowledge I gained from studying for the APTD exam and apply it in the real world.

A Step on the APTD Journey: Capabilities Come to Life

The Association for Talent Development’s Virtual Conference is coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean your virtual learning must end. Consider incorporating podcasts into your learning routine. Here are five podcasts that are worth checking out. For more recommendations, look to the Off the Wire column each month in TD magazine for a new recommendation.CIPD PodcastThe CIPD podcast—from the HR management member organization of the same name—is a great source of discussion surrounding HR and L&D. It's more polished than many other L&D podcasts and is viewed as one of the grandfathers of HR podcasting. Featuring some of the biggest, best, and brightest minds in HR and L&D, the podcast has more than 150 episodes on topics ranging from automation to workplace agility, unconscious bias, cybersecurity, and performance management.Trainer ToolsJohn Tomlinson set out to develop a podcast that focused on sharing training tips and effective tools for L&D professionals. But he found the conversations taking a deep dive into other topics. From there, the Trainer Tools podcast was born.Each month, Tomlinson interviews an experienced L&D professional, and together they delve into a topic of relevance to those in organizational learning and change. For example, in the "Following Their Path, Not Yours" episode, Tomlinson and psychologist Nadja Petranovskaja discuss the training room. Petranovskaja argues that online learning should be treated as a supplement to classroom learning. She also strongly emphasizes the value of classroom facilitation, particularly when the trainer lets learners guide the session.Three Big PointsHere's the deal: Give 10 minutes of your time and get three big takeaways regarding a major issue affecting companies and people around the world. That's the premise of Three Big Points, a podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review. Hosted by Paul Michelman, the publication's editor-in-chief, the series focuses on taking wisdom from the world's leading experts and making it digestible, manageable, and ready for use.The show relies on a simple format. Michelman presents a topic, introduces the episode's expert, and then jumps into the interview. The host and expert discuss the topic for several minutes before the show's signature ending: the three big points. In that part of the episode, Michelman helps the episode's guest frame three short takeaways that are easy for listeners to remember and act upon.Learning Is the New WorkingLooking for some thought-provoking discussion about the future of workplace learning? The Learning Futures Group’s Learning Is the New Working podcast may be worth exploring.Host Chris Pirie, ex-Microsoft chief learning officer and founder and CEO of the Learning Futures Group, leads stimulating conversations with leading thinkers and practitioners in the modern workplace learning space—including CLOs, learning experience designers, neuroscientists, technologists, learning technology vendors, and HR leaders charged with developing human capital potential.Topics range from the skills gap to how automation and demographic changes are reshaping all our lives—at work and outside of it—along with how the process of learning is itself changing with current and emerging technology and what sales enablement is versus what it could be.Learning UncutThe Learning Uncut podcast is great for anyone in search of quality discussion surrounding L&D. The podcast prides itself on being professional but not so edited and polished that it loses its authenticity.Hosts Michelle Ockers, Karen Maloney, and Amanda Ashby are showcasing real examples of what's happening in the L&D world that we can all learn from. It's conversational, informative, and enjoyable to listen to. Episodes run every other week and last 30–45 minutes each.Share your ATD Virtual Conference experience on social media. #ATDVirtualConference

Tap Podcasts for Continued Learning

What is content strategy? In its simplest terms, content strategy for formal learning is a holistic plan for content—the knowledge that you want the learner to receive and retain. The strategy should include the planning, creation, governance, publication, and long-term maintenance of the desired mobile content.In bigger terms, content strategy is looking at the material you produce for your audience from the perspective of an “information steward,” and making informed decisions that improve the transfer of the knowledge shared and the sustainability of the information source that provided it.Understanding content strategyThis emerging and critical aspect of instructional design is part of the new normal of being a learning professional in the connected age of ubiquitous access and user-generated content. It is simply not enough to create once, publish, and then move on. We must think through the lifecycle of the content and plan for its optimal delivery through the mechanisms we have available to us, regardless of technology or platform.Content strategy may seem unrelated to learning professionals. However, this topic has been long studied and employed in the marketing and web worlds to great success and deserves a place in our essential skill sets.Numerous blog articles have been written on content strategy, the most notable being, “The Discipline of Content Strategy,” by Kristina Halvorson at A List Apart.A number of books have been written on the topic, as well. I recommend Karen McGrane’s Content Strategy for Mobile (2012) as an excellent, easy-to-read introduction to the subject that offers a clear plan of action. McGrane’s steps for a content strategy include:performing audience researchperforming competitive researchperforming content inventory and analysischoosing delivery platforms appropriatelyediting your content to meet delivery needs.New approach to contentOur roles as learning professionals, responsible for the delivery of content, are changing and will continue to change. We must continue to evolve and work to create a content framework that is scalable and strong, flexible yet authoritative.Candidly, it’s not easy, but the very challenge is what makes the role so interesting and important. This is certainly different from the “set it and forget it” approach to creating curriculum and courseware we have used in the past.This new approach to content creation and lifecycle is needed if we are to keep up with ever-tightening product cycles. It is a must if we hope to deliver content on the devices and platforms of today and tomorrow. With appropriate planning, it is possible. A bit of time researching and planning pays big dividends here.We have to create a systemic (meaning deeply ingrained in the system) and systematic (carried out using step-by-step processes and procedures) approach to delivering content to our learners. This is the “how” and “when” of “what” we are going to share with our audiences.Consider the various ways you interact with websites or platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, CNN.com, Netflix, or Amazon. Every one of these companies has a different experience for the users, depending on the device each user employs to access the content. An app is different from a desktop, which is different from the web browser, which is different from the mobile web.Pumping their respective sites through some kind of magic transformer didn’t create these experiences. Some features are omitted or tucked away, as they may be unneeded in a particular case, but the key functions the user requires in this particular case—desktop, web, mobile, or app—are accounted for and designed.So, too, will your carefully crafted mobile learning experience account for these platforms. Running your course through some sort of HTML5 mill is not the answer. You must redesign and adapt your applications to fit within your content strategy for mobile. Beyond basic considerations, such as user interface element size, and scale, there are more dramatic shifts you will have to make in your thinking.Content conversion considerationsSome of this content from your original software may stay largely intact. A thoroughly indexed and well-manicured company wiki may require only a new mobile theme, and perhaps the addition of some basic contextual awareness (geolocation could be really useful, for example) to make it a valuable mobile learning tool.Other items (immersive software simulations, for example) may require more thought prior to transporting the content to mobile handsets (or perhaps skipping them for more effective uses of resources). These devices do have constraints in terms of screen size, bandwidth, and processing power. To match the experience to the target platform, you may have to take these factors into account in your design process.When it comes to straight content conversion from e-learning to m-learning, I have mixed reactions. While it’s great to be free to leverage your content and repackage it for a new class of users, none of the simple paths to mobile learning truly put the mobile into the design up-front. They may apply a new mobile-friendly skin to the content, but that’s the easy way out.Seldom do I hear of learners impressed by mobile content delivery.On the other hand, I do hear people impressed by Urbanspoon’s scope feature, Path’s streamlined feel on smartphones, or Twitter’s ease of uploading images or adding location data to posts. This sort of smart user experience design, coupled with content strategy, takes work. If page-turning e-learning is a sure-fire way to create “snoozeware” on the desktop, then it is death on the mobile side.If we want to escape that perilous trap, we must plan our path to the mobile learning landscape of tomorrow.We can start to do that during the ASTD Mobile Learning Certificate program, being held in Chicago on July 24-25, 2014, and Atlanta on September 22-23, 2014.  Editor’s note: This post is an excerpt from Mastering Mobile Learning: Tips and Techniques for Success__, co-published by Wiley and ASTD. This excerpt has been adapted with permission from the publisher, Wiley__, copyright © 2014.

How to Create a Content Strategy for Mobile Learning

Getting outside your normal working and thinking mode is critical to creating elegant, meaningful solutions for your organization. Learn how to frame innovation so that your team can experience a whole new paradigm for thinking, based on the skills of improvisation, which leads to more creative, flexible, and adaptive work. We not only examine creativity—we apply it to real situations so that the information is useful rather than theoretical. You'll learn how improvisers can be so creative in risky, stressful situations. We will examine how creative and innovative people and organizations interact, how they manage risk, and the most effective ways to implement creativity in a culture. You will engage in improvisational exercises, small-group discussions, and intense challenges.

Innovation: What Is It and Can It Be Taught?

September 2013 - TD Magazine

The transition to a new leadership role can be fraught with political and personal obstacles. Adopting these strategies can help facilitate the process.

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