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Tom Walter is a serial entrepreneur and nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership and business culture. He is co-author of It’s My Company Too! How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement For Remarkable Results.

Tom Walter

How to Screen a Company for a Good Culture Fit

Thomas M. Darrow, SHRM-SCP, is the founder and principal of Talent Connections, LLC. He has more than 29 years of experience in the human resources and recruitment profession, including nine years with the global professional services firms of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).He was the 2006 and 2007 president of SHRM-Atlanta, the largest city chapter in the country. Under his leadership as president, SHRM-Atlanta's membership increased 60 percent, to over 2,600 members, and the chapter won a SHRM Pinnacle Award for membership growth and a Pinnacle Award for the Mayor's Youth Program. Tom also served on the SHRM Staffing Management Expert Panel and the SHRM Cost per Hire Standard Review Committee. Tom earned a bachelor’s of business administration degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame.Tom lives in Murphy, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Anne, and parrot, Mango.

Tom Darrow

Learning methodologies are cheat sheets. The ADDIE methodology (analyze, design, development, implement, evaluate) was developed by Florida State University for the U.S. Army as a repeatable and standard set of tasks to create training. At the time of its creation, similar methodologies emerged in other areas. For example Tom DeMarco, Ed Yourdon, and Larry Constantine were developing SSADM (structured systems analysis and design methodology) for data processing's growing complexity. In all cases, methodologies allow teams to follow a repeatable series of steps, adjusted for the context of their project, to drive speed and quality. These methodologies were called Top Down and later Waterfall, and that's where the problems began to emerge. David Parnas (U.S. Naval research), in “A Rational Design Process: How and Why to Fake It,” writes: "Many of the \[system's\] details only become known to us as we progress in the \[system's\] implementation. Some of the things that we learn invalidate our design and we must backtrack." Top Down doesn't backtrack easily. It's more start over than backtrack, and no one wanted to do that. Imagine painting a family portrait and then having to add another person to it. The IT industry tried to mitigate Parnas' reality by creating RAD (rapid application development). Requirements were gathered and upfront focus groups with critical stakeholders and iterative prototyping were used to drive design and development. This solved most of the backtrack problem, but many IT teams struggled with prototyping that would never end. They called this death spirals.  SAM (Successive Approximation Model), created by Allen Interactions, has emerged as an alternative to ADDIE, especially when doing e-learning solutions to drive performance improvement. The kickoff focus group is called Savvy Start, and the risk of death spirals has been mitigated through three design and three development iterations. Allen Interactions's philosophy maps the purpose of this methodology toward driving performance. The current iteration of methodology is “Agile.” This approach challenges not only the accountability of roles and ownership of deliverables, but also flies in the face of current multitasking project work. The primary difference in this approach is that smaller chunks are completely finished through locked-down teams in a fixed period of time (sprints). This is not prototyping—the deliverables are complete, useable components. In my opinion, true Agile is difficult to implement in typical corporate organizations and cultures without creating a new and independent organization. The chief energy officer of Torrance Learning, Megan Torrance, has been successful in using Agile approaches to deliver e-learning to their customers through LLAMA (lot like Agile methods approach), their unique approach to agile. So, there you have it: a brief breakdown of the methodology wars. It’s up to you to decide which works best for your design plans. For a deeper dive into the various learning methodologies, join me for the next online workshop, Essentials of Learning Design Methodologies: ADDIE, SAM, Agile, and More.

Methodology Wars: ADDIE vs. SAM vs. AGILE

The first step to engaging an online audience is to learn the delivery platform inside and out, backwards and forwards, and upside down. In fact, by not knowing the features of the online technology, facilitators and trainers have likely already lost their audience because they probably have participants on hold while they figure out how to upload the slides, share the desktop, or get the mic to work. Here are some important tips to help you “master the tech so you can ignore the tech” and focus on your event’s ultimate purpose, such as sharing information, teaching new skills, and so forth. What Is the Goal and Who Is the Audience? Always begin with the end in mind: What is the goal of the live online event? Whether a meeting, webinar, or virtual training session, when designing the overall event and its activities, think about what goal you are trying to achieve and any objectives that support it. Is the event meant to be informative, experiential, or fun—or all of the above? In addition, consider carefully the audience and the context for the event. Do participants know each other or are they complete strangers?Are participants experienced leaders, peers, new hires, or the general public?Are participants advanced in their understanding of the subject matter for the event, or are they relative novices?How experienced are participants with the live online platform?How much time is allotted for the event: 45 minutes to an hour, two hours, or three hours with multiple breaks? With answers to these questions, you will be well positioned to consider which features of the live online platform can be used for each part of the program. Without answers to these questions, it is easy to make mistakes such as using a feature just for the sake of it or providing a false sense of interactivity for the participants. Take the event seriously; it will be obvious which technical features to use. The Importance of the Producer A producer who helps with delivery is critical to ensuring that the live online event is seamless. The technology requires too much attention to expect the presenter to engage the participants and present the content—and manage all the technical details and inevitable problems at the same time. If the technical details are most important, leaving the content and participant engagement as secondary concerns, the participants will log off and ask for a copy of the slides. The producer provides a second set of hands, focusing primarily on the technology to ensure that all the features of the online platform work smoothly and as planned. Focusing on how to open the poll, highlight a point on a slide, or set up the breakout groups means the facilitator is not focusing on the participant experience intended by using each of those features. Let the producer worry about the technical details. See What the Participants See Even the most experienced in running and supporting live online events might struggle to see the event from the participant’s point of view. That is, unless they can actually see it from the participant’s point of view by being simultaneously logged in as a participant on a second (or even third) computer. A savvy facilitator or producer will use this technique to: check for lag between the facilitator’s actions (advancing a slide and rearranging screen real estate) and what participants are seeinghelp participants troubleshoot an issue they are having with the interfaceimprove the program for the next time based on the live experience seen from the participant’s point of viewaccurately provide directions on where participants should look, what they should see, and how the program should operatepresent confidently and under control with the knowledge of exactly what presenting looks like to the participants. At a minimum, a second monitor is needed to give another point of view. But to truly see and interact with a different system, use a second laptop. It could also serve as a back­up if anything goes awry with the main computer. If some participants are attending the live online event using a smartphone or tablet, consider also using one of these devices to gauge their experience. Audio: Using Phone or Using Computer Whether using Adobe, WebEx, or another online meeting tool, make it a priority to learn the exact setup of the audio choices. Additionally, make sure to always present from a clear connection or line, eliminate all background noise, and use a hands-free headset in order to easily interact with all the features of the online event. One of the quickest ways to lose the audience is to have poor audio quality. Don’t let that happen. Here is an audio checklist to ensure that the event’s audio is engaging: Does the platform use teleconference, VoIP (computer audio), or both?If using a teleconference, is it an integrated teleconference provided by the platform?If using a teleconference, is it an integrated teleconference provided by a third-party teleconference provider? Does this third-party integrated teleconference also work with the breakouts?If using a teleconference, is it a third-party, nonintegrated teleconference? What are all the telephone controls that can be pressed using the telephone buttons? Does this teleconference also include subconferencing for manual audio breakouts? What are the controls to initiate subconferencing?What are the muting and unmuting controls? Is “mute on entry” available? How can individual connections be muted and unmuted? Can all connections be muted and unmuted? Does this also mute the facilitator?What are the backup plans? What teleconference lines could serve as an alternate if the one that’s going to be used stops working? What is the plan if the VoIP stops working? Before declaring the audio ready, don’t forget one last important detail: participants almost always need help understanding how to connect to the audio. Be prepared with a slide or send them the information in advance. Have the producer ready 30 minutes early to help participants connect to the engaging sound of the event.**Editor’s Note:** This post is adapted from the new book by Kassy LaBorie and Tom Stone, Interact and Engage! 50+ Activities for Virtual Training, Meetings, and Webinars. Check it out for a detailed checklist of producer competencies, platform feature checklists and descriptions, and a wealth of virtual training, meeting, and webinar activities that drive interaction and engagement. In this book you will:explore the popular delivery platforms (Adobe Connect and WebEx Training Center) inside and out, backwards and forwards, and upside downdiscover how to start events off right and bring them to a fitting end, while achieving the event’s goals in the middledelve into what facilitators and producers need to do before, during, and after an activity.

Virtual Events: Master the Tech So You Can Ignore the Tech

The next generation of high-potential leaders has different behaviors and expectations than those of previous generations. High on the list of expectations are trust, passion, and inspiring purpose. It’s no surprise that their learning styles are technology-driven, and the preferred leadership style is that of a partnership. This type of partnership will demand consistent and frequent feedback. The main delight of this generation is making a difference.Personally, I have found the characteristics of the Millennial generation and Generation Z to be refreshing. When compared to the workaholic work habits of the Baby Boomers and the now and up-and-coming workaholics of Generation X, the new and upcoming generation values meaningful work, relationships, autonomy, and mastery.How are companies addressing the leadership needs of this generation? Companies such as Whole Foods, The Container Store, Medtronics and Tom’s Shoes to name a few are embracing the organizational behavior movement, conscious capitalism, and its four pillars:Higher Purpose – focusing on a deeper purpose than profit.Conscious Culture – values that foster care and principles and practice that build trust among team members and stakeholders.Conscious Leadership – focusing on transformation through servant leadership and serving the purpose of the organization.Stakeholder Orientation – recognizing the whole business ecosystem and engaging employees, customers, suppliers, funders and supportive communities for sustainability and resilience.One might argue that conscious capitalism works great in the public sector; however, the government sector is faced with different challenges, such as:building a workforce with a faltering “B-team”lack of transparencycontracting outdeferred maintenance.Although budget cuts, some form of mediocrity, and lack of control will most likely always be a part of the government culture, those factors do not need to become excuses for unconscious leadership. For government managers and employees, each will need to ask the question, “How conscious is my own leadership and how conscious is the team?”Leaders will need to engage their internal “action log” interpreting their surroundings and reacting when issues of power and timing are at stake. There are eight transformations of leadership in relation to conscious capitalism: opportunist, diplomat, expert, achiever, redefining, transforming, alchemical, and ironic. Learning how to move through these leadership styles is crucial for working towards conscious leadership in a more controlled work environment.Conscious capitalism advocates a way of being that requires a long-term process of well-being and serving a larger community. To that end, authentic leadership will play a critical role in implementing a conscious capitalism culture that attracts and retains high-potential leaders.Additionally, acting from a place of purpose and passion can prevent us from becoming victims of our ego. Open communication and the ability to establish enduring relationships with the support of mentors and coaches will provide a culture of accessibility. Likewise, self-discipline and staying grounded with personal and professional advancement will help present opportunities for mastery.Bottom line: Intentionality and clear navigation will be the leadership qualities that influence the development of this next generation of workers. Extraordinary organizational cultures and remarkable employee and client experiences just don’t happen. Being open to leadership transformation will be the key to attracting and retaining the high potential leaders of this next generation.For more insight, join me for my session, “Next Generation Leadership Development: Learning for Every Phase,” at Government Workforce: Learning Innovations. I will discuss what you should be doing to develop the next generation of leaders, as well as overall government trends and how individual agencies are meeting the training challenges of next-generation leadership development.

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