creating a talent development culture: how "chunked" learning can boost performance

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Creating a Talent Development Culture: How Managers Can Make Training Stick and Boost Performance

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Stephen MeyerCEO and Director of Learning and Development at Rapid Learning InstituteSMeyer@rapidlearninginstitute.com

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Why it all stays in Vegas

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Sure you got some value But why is knowledge retention so poor? And what’s the cost?

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No big deal?

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The science behind forgetting Why the problem goes way beyond that

conference in Vegas What if all the training in your organization

doesn’t stick?

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What we’ll discuss

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Your training isn’t achieving ROI There’s another way that changes

everything

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Re-framing training

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This approach addresses the one killer factor in the talent development dilemma:◦ Managers are accountable for training

It’s not their fault But we can’t run from the problem

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The core problem

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Training fails because managers fail to: ◦ Assess needs◦ Build curricula◦ Deliver curricula◦ Follow up

Why? Because we never trained them

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Why training fails

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Great leaders? No Great trainers? No Either seniority or technical skill Company placed a bet

◦ “You’ll be able to get results through others”

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Why managers get promoted

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Great leaders have two qualities:◦ Strong technical skills◦ The ability to develop people

But new managers quickly discover:◦ “I don’t know how to do this”◦ “Even if I can do it, I don’t have time”

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The second core competency

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Managers know talent development is crucial

But urgent matters take precedence Training either:

◦ Doesn’t get done◦ Gets done half-heartedly

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Bottom of the list

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The Four Levels

1. Reaction

2. Learning

3. Behaviors

4. Results

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Kirkpatrick on ‘Training Evaluation’

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How often do organizations actually use the four levels:

1. Reaction – 96%2. Learning – 37%3. Behaviors – 13%4. Results – 3%

Source: McMurrer et al. (2000) surveyed the ASTD Benchmarking Forum

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ASTD Study: The bad news

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We don’t know whether we’re getting an ROI

Why training so often fails

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What the survey tells us

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How often do organizations actually use the four levels:

1. Reaction – 96%2. Learning – 37%3. Behaviors – 13%4. Results – 3%

Source: McMurrer et al. (2000) surveyed the ASTD Benchmarking Forum

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Study: The bad news

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It’s that training is just an event “I sent Jane to training, so I’ll automatically

get some benefit” That makes me feel good about myself

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The deadly assumption

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Training is a PROCESS, not an event! That’s why the ASTD survey is so troubling Without follow-up, training events fail

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You shouldn’t feel good

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Killer Sales Trainer

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I asked the sales manager, “How will you make it stick?”

His voice said: “I’ll follow up” His body language said: “I haven’t a clue”

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An uncomfortable question

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Killer Sales Trainer

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Have you heard of the “learning curve?”

Term coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1880s

He coined a less well-known term …

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Studies on knowledge retention

Hermann Ebbinghaus1850-1909

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The Ebbinghaus ‘Forgetting Curve’

immediate recall

20 minutes

1 hour

9 hours

2 4 6 8 10 15 20 25 31Elapsed Time (days)

Retention (percent)

20% retention

Source: Hermann Ebbinghaus, Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology, 1885/1913

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Follow up is the key

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Time spent in each Phase

Source: “The Promise of Phase 3, TD Magazine”, Jan. 2005

Preparation The event itself Follow up

Planning:10%

Follow Up:5%

Training Event:85%

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Follow up ain’t happenin’ Everyone believes the ROI is automatic Companies are losing lots of money

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Wasted money and effort

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Most employees

Lowest skill level

Highest skill level

Source: The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

Permanent mastery of skills

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Follow up

Training occurs

Skill im

prov

es

Skill

impr

oves

Skill

impr

oves

Follow-up occurs

Follow-up occurs

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Bersin & Associates study: Which of 22 management processes has highest impact?◦ Answer: Performance coaching

Coaching is follow up – revisiting fundamentals

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Coaching study

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The most-cited study on the value of post-training follow-up

31 people got management training◦ Result: 22% increase in performance

Same group got performance coaching◦ Result: 88% increase in performance

Coaching increased ROI 4x

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The Baruch study

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It’s all about follow up

If follow up works so well, why isn’t anybody doing it?

If we’re uncomfortable doing something, we put it off

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Isolating a learning concept

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The answer: Chunking

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Short examples◦ “Nail the first 20 seconds

of a cold call”◦ “How to terminate an

insubordinate employee”◦ “How to smoke out an

imposter in a job interview”

Breaking it down

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Why employees benefit

Adult learners are different They quickly succumb to “cognitive

overload”

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J

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Exercise

FKFB INATOUPSNA SAIRS

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JFK FBI NATO UPS NASA IRS

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Exercise

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Chunking delivers:◦ Higher engagement◦ Higher knowledge retention

Killer Sales Trainer did too much:◦ Created cognitive overload

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Shut off the fire hose

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The brain isn’t immutable It changes based on what we do Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of Googling

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Neuroplasticity

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Digital natives

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Boomers and GenXers

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“The homily in general should not go over eight, minutes – the average amount of time for a listener to concentrate.”

L'Osservatore Romano (Vatican newspaper) 3/10/2008

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Vatican endorsement

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Remember: Most managers lack the “Second Core Competency”

Chunking helps them “reframe” their talent development role

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Breakthrough for managers

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Most manager view TD through a wide lens◦ I need to teach sales reps “to sell”◦ I need to teach managers “to manage”

The result: TD seems overwhelming

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The wide lens

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I’ll teach my sales reps to make cold calls

I’ll teach my managers how to delegate

The narrow lens makestraining seem doable

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The narrow lens

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Common sales challenge is price objections: ◦ “I don’t have the budget for that”◦ “My boss will blow a gasket”

Concept: buyers who say that are making THEIR problem YOUR problem

They’re throwing you a hot potato Action step: Throw the hot potato back

◦ Make THEIR problem, THEIR problem

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Example: The hot potato

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What sales manager Connie does:◦ Kicks off meeting with “chunked” module◦ 45 minutes of discussion and role play

Her confidence as a talent developer was low

But …

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Chunked learning in action

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She got good REACTION – “Connie, that session was great”

She got evidence of LEARNING – “I’d never looked at price objections that way before”

She saw BEHAVIOR change – “Connie, I held firm on price with a prospect today”

She got RESULTS: “Connie, the buyer agreed my price was fair”

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Kirkpatrick revisited

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A Small Victory

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Spent three weeks on price objections◦ Continually reinforced the concept

Moved on to new topics on three-week cycles

In a year she achieved 17 small victories She also become a very competent trainer

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What Connie did

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For learners: Decreases cognitive overload For managers: It’s transformational Chunks of learning don’t seem

overwhelming Training gets done Managers build a new

core competency

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Game changer

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Example of chunked learning

QUICK TAKE MODULE:How To Deliver High-Impact

Employee Praise

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Key points:◦ Praise can backfire◦ Common praise missteps◦ The proper way to give praise

Do you feel inspired to act?◦ Give praise today

Example of chunked learning

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