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Robert Luke

TRAINING AND RESTRUCTURING IN ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVEMENT

Robert A. Luke Jr.

Organizational and Individual Power

ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT THE VIEW FROM WITHIN

Managing As Learning

Dr. Robert Vaughn is president of Arvon Management Services, a human resources development and training consulting firm, and is Professor Emeritus of Business Management Department, Business Division, Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio. He holds a PhD in business administration, an MBA. in general management and organizational behavior; a BSIM in industrial management; and a BAEd in English/journalism. He is the author of The Professional Trainer: A Comprehensive Guide to Planning, Delivering, and Evaluating Training Programs (2005) and Decision Making and Problem Solving in Management: Tools and Techniques for Managers and Teams 3rd (2007.) He lives in Mentor, Ohio.

Robert Vaughn

 These are tough times for government. Heated budget battles and rhetoric about the size, function, scope, and effectiveness of government have generated criticism not just of government itself, but also of the people who deliver public services to our citizens. Across the country—in Congress, state legislatures, city councils, political speeches and ads, the media, and elsewhere—government agencies and their employees are being denigrated. The recent battle over the budget for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for example, is just one example of how public servants have become pawns in larger political battles. Despite the drumbeat of criticism (or maybe because of it), I believe that the biggest challenge facing government today is attracting, developing, and retaining talent. A key to meeting this challenge is creating the kinds of workplaces that will maximize employee engagement. But government leaders striving to improve engagement face a different set of challenges than private sector leaders, including dealing with the constant barrage of criticism. There is a strong business case for why government jurisdictions and agencies should focus on improving engagement. Study after study has shown that organizations with highly-engaged workforces outperform low-engagement organizations—in strategic goal achievement, productivity, customer service, retention, attendance, and so forth. This is true for both the public and private sectors. However, maintaining a high level of engagement in the public sector is a tough challenge. For example, the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey revealed that engagement among the nation’s largest employer has declined. Similarly, the 2014 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings by the Partnership for Public Service showed a decline in federal employee job satisfaction for the fourth year in a row. And, while we don’t have comparable data for state and local government, it is likely that the needle of engagement is moving in the wrong direction in these sectors as well. After all, criticism of government compounded by the ever-present calls for smaller government, can’t help but affect the morale of public servants. But I try not to focus on problems without offering solutions. The flip side of challenge is opportunity, and I believe that the relatively low level of engagement in government (even the most optimistic results from engagement surveys peg the percentage of engaged employees in government at less than 65 percent), creates the opportunity to improve performance by improving engagement.However, I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution to improving engagement. Instead, each government jurisdiction and agency needs to:assess its own level of engagement (ideally through a valid employee engagement survey)analyze the results to determine what areas to focus ontake actionperiodically re-survey to see if engagement is improving. In other words, agencies shouldn’t administer the medicine before diagnosing the condition.There are instructive examples of what government organizations have done to improve engagement. These include: providing senior-level strategic leadership on improving engagementdeveloping leadership and management competencies around employee engagementimproving communication across the organizationmanaging employee performance more effectivelyensuring that employees believe that their opinions countcreating a positive work environment, such as adopting more flexible work arrangementsimproving the onboarding of new employeesclarifying the line of sight between employees’ work and the organization’s missionspan>enhancing employee prospects for career growthrecognizing employee contributions. While it’s helpful to understand actions public-sector organizations have taken to build engagement, there is no magic bullet. Instead, what’s needed is a systematic assessment of engagement and then a carefully constructed approach to dealing with the issues the data reveal. Creating a culture of engagement—and improving performance—is a marathon, not a sprint. To learn more, join more for the webcast, “Building a Culture of Employee Engagement,” March 10, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.

Improving Employee Engagement in Government—Now More Than Ever

To create a valuable and connected learning experience, it’s important to consider the range of learning styles and roles people play in an organization throughout the learning life cycle. Identifying different types of learning moments, learners, and learning facilitators enables us to take full advantage of our assets and own the learning process.Moments of Learning NeedWe should frequently consider the resources we make available to employees during a learning experience, but the process shouldn’t end there. We need to consider the moment of need learners are encountering.The concept of “moments of learning need,” developed by Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher, is a powerful learning-centric perspective that focuses on when and under what conditions a performer needs to learn something to drive a desired outcome.The moments of learning need are:Learning for the first timeLearning moreApplying and refiningAdjusting to changeReacting to failureEach of these moments has different requirements. When someone learns a concept for the first time, they build a new foundation that they can apply to get better at a pursuit. In this context, learners need the most structure and scaffolding.If adjusting to change or reacting to failure, however, they will need more performance support in real time. If they’re trying to fix or address an issue, they don’t need the same level of history and context as when learning about that subject for the first time; they just need insight on how to fix or change current performance to achieve a desired outcome.There are two emerging moments of need outside of Gottfredson and Mosher’s work that are crucial to consider.The emerging moments of learning need are:InnovatingGrowing for the next roleThese moments of need are about driving toward something new, taking original approaches, gaining insight, and expanding.As we consider these moments, we should also think about how we organize resources for different learning situations. Transposing our concept of a learner onto one of several distinct types of learning roles is useful when supporting someone throughout an entire learning experience.Expanded Learner RolesWe no longer subscribe to the traditional mindset of simply providing content that a learner consumes and then regurgitates. When we move beyond the first two learning moments—learning for the first time and learning more—to adjusting, refining, reacting, innovating, and growing, it’s critical to understand the expanded learner roles at play during different moments of learning. For instance, at different points individuals may take on these expanded learner roles:ConsumerModeratorCuratorContributorCreatorCollaboratorWhen we treat people like active participants, we expand beyond the mindset of a consumer learning experience, and instead incorporate the roles of moderator, curator, contributor, and so on.We can use an understanding of expanded learner roles and their attendant needs to apply, refine, and amplify the learning experience in innovative ways. When we identify and nurture learning moments of need and learner roles, we witness organic response to change and conflict resolution.Connected Organizational Learning RolesAnother equally important, yet often overlooked, component of a connected learning organization rests in how an organization facilitates learning and provides support throughout the learning life cycle.We can think about the following list of organizational learning roles through the lens of Robert Cross’s work on organizational network analysis, a way of thinking about how organizations become productive.We have four primary organizational learning roles:Learning connectors: People inside a business who have access to resourcesLearning bridges: Individuals who make connections across an organization or team by bringing in insights and different perspectivesCoaches and mentors: Topic specialists with an area of expertise who can help facilitate and accelerate specific projectsInformation brokers: People with access to information in a very fluid state who enable us to learn and ultimately performAll of these roles are critical for a transforming organization. It’s important that we uncover who performs these roles, identify how to nurture them, and make sure we retain them.Once we identify how the broader organizational learning ecosystem operates and contributes resources and information, learning itself will flourish without much formal intervention. This approach allows us to pull full value from our communities and make real strides toward success.

New Roles for the Connected Learning Experience

In the past I felt like I was along for the ride in my career, but now I feel empowered and in control of the decisions I make. I owe that to the APTD certification.

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