Emotional Bonding Leadership from Deepak Chopra

Hi! Welcome Back.  I’m continuing my review of Deepak Chopra’s acronym for a leader, last time we looked at the letter L which Mr. Chopra says stands for Look and listen today it’s the letter E which stands for emotional bonding.  Below is Chopra’s take on emotional bonding between a leader and their followers, excerpts taken from his book the Soul of Leadership.

E = Emotional bonding. 

Leaders bring out the best in others, but successful visionaries go even further: they form lasting emotional bonds.  They are the kind of leaders we hold in our hearts.  When people are emotionally bonded to you, they want to have contact with you.  They want to be of service and share in your vision.  Deep motivation then develops.  True, lasting loyalties are formed.

To create such bonds, you must be willing to build real relationships.  Share yourself.  Take a personal interest in others, and notice their strengths.  At the most basic level, you must display healthy emotional energy yourself.  Avoid the three toxic A’s: authoritarianism, anger and aloofness.

In every situation, make it a habit to ask yourself the key questions of emotional intelligence:

·         How do I feel?

·         How do they feel?

·         What are the hidden stumbling blocks between us?

A leader who can answer these questions will be in a position to create lasting emotional bonds.

Reinforcing the strengths of others:  Again and again it has been shown that the best leaders focus on the strengths of their followers.  They build a team by assessing who does what well.  They encourage each person to develop his or her best qualities.  But that’s just the beginning.  People want to be praised for their strengths, specifically and personally.

One of the takeaways that I get from this post one is that leaders become emotionally connected in some way with their followers.  I don’t know about you but think back over your career (if you are a fossil like I) and ask yourself who were the best leaders I knew or worked with?  Hopefully you’ve had a few, in my experience I had two but unfortunately I only worked with them for a short time less than five years in a thirty year career.  However for whatever reason I think back on these two men Jim Bidlingmaier at Madison Gas & Electric Company and Bob Nash at College Cooperative Southeast with fondness even though I haven’t seen these fellas in years, why?

I believe that both men encouraged me and allowed me to grow during my time with them.  I can still see the poster behind Bidlingmaier’s desk which read “All the Aardvarks are going west. I’m traveling East”, as a young Supervisor at the time the poster puzzled me but as I think about it now it meant that you should be your own person and come to your own opinions and decisions, don’t follow the crowd but follow your own intuition and “blaze your own trail”.  That was quite a statement for a management person to promote in the Gas & Utility business back in the mid 1980’s.

Bob Nash allowed me to see into his decision making process.  Bob was assigned to head up a new project which brought higher education to rural parts of Southeastern Indiana and he was “making the rules up as he went along” because there was no rules and he had to carve out how this organization should and would operate going forward.  He allowed me and I believe some of my colleagues at the time to enter into his thinking process and give input into how things should work going forward.  Needless to say after over thirty years of work experience I rarely saw that kind of support or candor in any other supervisor I had after them.

How about you?  What about Chopra’s thoughts on emotional bonding and staff development, do you agree with him?  Do you have examples of individuals that you’ve worked with or known from your past that you developed an emotional bond with?  What did these people do to solicit your support?  Please feel free to comment, thanks for reading and until next time all my best!  Jer.

Look and Listen: Leadership from Deepak Chopra

Hi! Welcome back.

I’ve been studying the topic of leadership lately and have been reviewing what some people think about the subject.  Last time I gave you Deepak Chopra’s acronym for leadership.  In reviewing the details of what each letter in leadership means from Chopra’s perspective I thought I would take each letter and his accompanying thoughts one at a time so that both you and I can read and contemplate there meaning to us. 

Today let’s look at the first letter in leader L, and read what Deepak Chopra wrote in his book The Soul of Leadership.  L = Look and listen. 

Great leaders have a vision, and the ability to manifest it.  Defining your own visions begins with looking and listening.  You look and listen to the situation around you, but you also look and listen inside.  This involves four steps:

·         Impartial observation—look and listen with your senses.

·         Analysis—Look and listen with your mind.

·         Feeling—look and listen with your heart.

·         Incubation—Look and listen with your soul.

If you want to be a successful visionary, here is where the journey begins, with two critical questions:

1.       What is my vision?

2.       How can I make it happen

As a leader, your vision exists to be shared with enthusiasm and inspiration.  The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek root en-thos or “in God”, reminding you that you must look in your soul.  Inspiration comes from the same Latin root as “to breathe and spirit”.  When you inspire others, you bring everyone into the spirit of your vision—you motivate them to breathe together in the same atmosphere.

Listening is vitally important when it comes to understanding the situation you are in, and what need is crying out to be fulfilled.  In almost every estimate of what makes a leader, the same quality is mentioned: she’s a good listener.  What makes for a good listener?

1.       Not interrupting.

2.       Showing that you empathize: not criticizing, arguing, or patronizing.

3.       Establishing a physical sense of closeness without invading personal space.

4.       Observing body language and letting yours show you are not distracted but attentive.

5.       Offering your own self-disclosures, but not too many or too soon.

6.       Understanding the context of the other person’s life.

7.       Listening from all four levels: body, mind, heart and soul.

I think this is a good place to begin don’t you when asking yourself what is leadership and what constitutes good leadership?  How can anyone be a leader without having some idea about what is going on?  And how can someone know what is going on without looking and listening to their environment?  I don’t wish to make this blogspot a political forum but perhaps we can look at those individuals who either hold the office of the President of the United States or wish to occupy it.  From a leadership perspective as Chopra has defined it here  do you think any of these individuals has a grasp of what’s going on in the country?  Do you think any of them are attuned to what the nation is feeling and experiencing since the real estate collapse of 2008?  Have any of the candidates or for that matter the President himself articulated their vision for the country and a set forth a plan to make it happen?

In my opinion, I don’t think so and that makes me leery about the future of the country at least in the short term.  I don’t see any of these qualities in either the President or his challengers am I wrong?  Can you list some examples where you think any of the people running for the Presidency of the United States are looking and listening to our nation’s problems and setting out a plan to combat them?  I’d love to see your comments on the presidential candidates leadership skills as they relate to the first letter of Chopra’s acronym of leadership—L, Look and Listen.  Thanks again for reading and until next time all my best!  Jer.

The Soul of Leadership: Deepak Chopra's thoughts on Leadership

Hi! Welcome back.  I’ve been studying the topic of leadership lately and trying to ascertain first what constitutes leadership by reading and listening to various authors who have either been in leadership positions or who have written about the subject.  In my two most recent blog posts I’ve taken a look at how Lee Iacocca and Billy Graham viewed the subject and today I want to introduce the thoughts of Deepak Chopra on this subject and in successive posts explore more fully what Mr. Chopra’s acronym for a leader means to him.

The information I’m presenting today was obtained from Mr. Chopra’s book entitled “The Soul of Leadership”.  Most leadership material, at least those I’ve read are written for the business community and having been a business student for most of my life I’ve arrived at the subject with that frame of reference.  I wanted to alter my perspective with this book because my current client isn’t a business but a church and I thought Mr. Chopra’s insights could be of benefit not only to me but others.

Now here’s an introduction on the subject of leadership by Deepak Chopra.  At the deepest level, a leader is the symbolic soul of the group.  His role is to fulfill the needs of others and when each need is met, to lead the group onto fulfilling ever higher needs, lifting the group’s potential at every step.  The inspired leader’s power base comes not from other people but from her very being, and the path she walks is guided by her soul.  Its hallmarks are creativity, intelligence, organizing power and love.

Chopra’s acronym for leaders:

L = Look and listen.  Do this with your senses, as an unbiased observer who has not judged anything in advance.  Do it with your heart, obeying your truest feelings.  Finally, do it with your soul, responding to the vision and deep purpose it provides.

E = Emotional bonding.  Leading from the soul means going beyond the melodrama of living in crisis mode.  It requires recognizing and clearing away toxic emotions so you can clearly understand your own specific needs, and those of others.

A = Awareness.  This means being aware of the questions that underlie every challenge: Who am I?  What do I want?  What does the situation demand?  A leader must continually ask these questions of herself, and inspire her team to ask them for themselves.

D = Doing.  A leader must be action-oriented.  In whatever he does, he must serve as a role model, holding himself responsible for the promises he has made.  This requires persistence and tenacity, but also the ability to view any situation with flexibility and humor.

E = Empowerment.  The soul’s power comes from self-awareness that is responsive to feedback but independent of the good or bad opinion of others.  Empowerment isn’t selfish.  It raises the status of the leader and team together.

R = Responsibility.  Responsible leadership includes choosing considered risks rather than reckless ones, walking the talk, having integrity, and living up to your inner values.  Seen from the level of the soul, a leader’s greatest responsibility is to lead the group on the path of higher consciousness.

S = Synchronicity.  This is a mysterious element from the underlying universal field of consciousness that all great leaders harness.  Synchronicity is the ability to create good luck and find invisible support that carries one beyond predicted outcomes to a higher plane.  In spiritual terms, synchronicity is the ultimate ability to connect any need with an answer from the soul.

Okay, with that brief introduction to leadership by Mr. Chopra what are your thoughts?  Have you heard of leadership described in terms of love and soul before?  I haven’t.  Do you believe that we can actually rid ourselves of “toxic emotions” in the course of being a leader?  I’d love to have your thoughts on this subject, please stop and write a comment and thanks for reading my blog; until next time all my best!  Jer

The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham

Hi! Welcome back.  Today I continue my writing on the topic of leadership.  As I mentioned last time I have a project with a local church to help their Church Council members improve on leadership, but as I also asked last time what does leadership mean?  Well that all depends on what type of entity you are and what you are trying to achieve doesn't it.  However, I do believe there are some basic tenets to leadership and in the past few weeks I have tried to study them.  Today I'd like to offer some thoughts from the book "The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham", before you say oh I don't wish to be preached at today read on I think you will find some great quotes from not only Pastor Graham but others quoted in this book.  Below unedited are my notes and take aways from the book "The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham".

Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great

He found the CEO’s with extraordinary results, what he calls “Level Five Leaders” were not ego-driven but self effacing.  They blended extreme personal humility with fierce resolve.  Instead of being I-Centric they channeled their ego needs away from themselves and towards the larger goal.  When interviewed these leaders talked about other’s contributions.  Collins reported that they would say things like “I don’t think I can take much credit.  We were blessed with marvelous people.”

Woodrow Wilson

“Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.”

Vulnerability

A leader without admitted weaknesses has no need for teammates; a leader who reveals no vulnerabilities provides no opportunities for teammates to make a significant contribution.  Grady Wilson said of Billy Graham, “He was painfully aware of his humanity—he has flaws, and he’s the first to admit them.”  Billy didn’t try to hide what he couldn’t do.  His vulnerability and style of working side by side made his team well aware of both his strengths and his weaknesses.

Teamwork

The leader’s attitude toward the team largely determines how strong it will become.  The Billy Graham team became strong because Billy nourished it and gave each member ample opportunity to exercise significant responsibility.  Cliff Barrow describes Billy’s relationship to the team.  “He sought God’s will, he was God-dependent, motivated by his love for God and man.  He was self-effacing, but he was secure in the place of God’s appointment.  He was anointed of God.  He was considerate.  He was not authoritarian.  He knew that in the multitude of counselors there is safety.  His decisions were based on mutual agreement rather than on a dictatorial basis.  He thought about and relied on the counsel of those he trusted.  He never was demeaning nor reprimanding.  He trusted people and respected their contribution.”

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Urgency

In his book “On What Leaders Really Do”, John Kotter claims that infecting others with a sense of urgency is the difference between effective and ineffective leadership.  Urgency is more important than even the leader’s own work ethic.  “Sooner or later, no matter how hard they push,” writes Kotter, “if others don’t feel the same sense of urgency, the momentum will die far short of the finish line.”

Change

Leadership, by definition, means change, which makes criticism inevitable.  Even if the road ahead is progress, change produces disequilibrium, uncertainty, and a reluctance to part with the past.

“Leaders take people where they want to go.  A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”  Rosalynn Carter

Abraham Lincoln’s Leadership Lessons:

1.       Settle on your deepest convictions about your mission.  Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union (USA).  Bill Waugh was asked to become chairman of the Salvation Army.  He chose as his theme “keep the purpose of the organization clearly in mind and don’t get diverted from it”.   A leader must seek the depths of conviction so that when the fierce storms come, priorities and stance are clear.  One way to filter criticism is to reject any that distracts from the organization’s main purpose.  Billy Graham frequently would hear out a critic, then explain his calling and his determination to fulfill that mission, inviting the critic to help with what he was compelled to do.

2.       Ignore most of it.  Lincoln often chose to ignore criticism.  He said “ I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.”  Sometimes if a racehorse pays too much attention to a horsefly, it makes the fly too important.  Some people’s only taste of success is the bite they take out of someone whom they perceive is doing more that they are.

3.       Don’t respond reactively.  Many times Lincoln would write a heated letter of response to critics, but then he would hold it and just leave it in his desk.

Optimism and Hope

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the dark tunnels under Gibraltar when he came to view communicating optimism as a requirement of leadership.  Deeply discouraged by military reversals, his depressing quarters, and the power of the enemy, he realized he couldn’t allow the troops to be further demoralized by his mood.  As a student of leadership, he believed it could be developed by “studious reflection and practices.”  As he thought through his situation, he concluded he had to share enthusiasm- first, so he himself would not be demoralized; second, to inspire others.  He wrote in his diary, “ I firmly determined that my mannerisms and speech in public would always reflect the cheerful certainty of victory—that any pessimism and discouragement I might ever feel would be reserved for my pillow.  I adopted a policy of circulating through the whole force I did my best to meet everyone from general to private with a smile, a pat on the back, and a definite interest in his problems.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”  Martin Luther King Jr.

Empowerment

Inspiring and challenging others, watching them rise to their full potential, is the complex yet enormously rewarding role of the leader.  Warren Bennis observes that the successful leader is not the “one with the loudest voice, but the readiest ear”, and that “the real genius may well lie, not in personal achievement, but in unleashing other’s talents.”

 Okay so what did you think?  Which quotes or thoughts resonated with you the most?  Have you ever shown vulnerability when leading a group of people?  Have you ever felt like crying in your pillow like General Dwight D. Eisenhower?  Let's hear from you please leave a comment and thanks for reading, until next time all my best!  Jer 

Iacocca on Leadership

Hi! Welcome back.  I have been working with a local church on a project which involves leadership.  As such I have been reviewing materials on the subject to help my client defined just what is leadership and how can we improve those skills in his church.  For the next couple of posts I’d like to delve further into this topic and share with you what I’ve found in the process I hope you share with me your thoughts on the subject. 

Today the thoughts of Lee Iacocca, the man at the helm of Chrysler Corporation when he and the UAW turned that company around with get this—no government bailout money!!!  In future posts I’ll share the thoughts of such people as Billy Graham, Deepak Chopra and Jim Kouzes, but today it’s Lee Iacocca.

Mr. Iacocca in his book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?” shares his nine (9) C’s of Leadership they include:

·         Curiosity

·         Creativity

·         Communication

·         Character

·         Courage

·         Conviction

·         Charisma

·         Competence

·         Common sense

Lee wrote this book before the 2008 presidential elections but as I listened to it this past month his words and our national political situation haven’t changed.  He talks about many things in the book and if you haven’t read it you might what to pick it up and look through it.

Back to leadership and Lee’s thoughts; I wrote down just the points I thought were pertinent from Lee’s discussion of leadership and I’ll share them with you below:

Curiosity, “listen to the outsiders, read often, step outside your comfort zone.”

Creativity, “Try something different, think outside the box.”

Communicate, “Tell the truth, say it like it is.”

Character, “Know the difference between right and wrong, have the courage to do the right thing.”

Courage, “GET SOME BALLS!!!”

Conviction, “Passion, fire in the belly, wanting to get something done.”

Competence, “You must know what you are doing and surround yourself with people who know what they are doing.”

Mr. Iacocca went on to say that “leaders are made they aren’t born.  Crisis brings out leadership.”

What are your thoughts about Lee Iacocca’s nine C’s of leadership?  Do you agree with him?  How has crisis in your life brought out the leadership skills in you?  Please let me know send a comment and thanks for reading until next time all my best!  Jer

P.S. Looking for more insights from Lee Iacocca here are some more of his quotes.  Have a great day! J

Training 101: Tips on on-the-job training

Hi! Welcome back.  Today I’d like to conclude our discussion of structured on-the-job training with another example of it and then finish with some tips on conducting on-the-job training.  Every trainer will after some experience develop their own particular style of training; that’s okay, no two trainers will conduct lessons in the exact same manner and that a good thing because to mechanize the approach might lessen the richness of the educational experience.  I am providing this example to give the novice, first-time trainer some idea of what good, sound on-the-job training should look like.  How you accomplish the goals of your structured on-the-job training will vary but keep these basic steps in mind as you conduct your programs.

Structured on-the-job training example:

The six-step, task training approach:

• Step 1. Show the worker how to perform the task and explain the key elements. The trainer demonstrates task performance and explains what's happening as it happens. Where applicable, the trainer explains why this task must be done, when it is done, why it is important that it be done correctly and what’s the impact if it is not done correctly. Most of these items are should also be included in a trainee's guide if you have one.
• Step 2. Allow the worker a second opportunity to watch the trainer to perform the task. The first time through, the trainer was probably not performing the task at a normal rate of speed because they were talking during the demonstration. This second time through, the worker is simply watching so that the trainer can perform the task at "production speed."
• Step 3. Allow the worker to perform simple elements of the task. In this phase of the instruction, the trainer and trainee are performing the task together with the trainee performing at least some the task and the trainer coaching as necessary.
• Step 4. Allow the worker to perform the entire task with coaching as necessary from the trainer. Ideally, this is a one-try occurrence. For complex tasks however trainees might have to stay in this step for several passes.
• Step 5. Observe the worker performing the entire task without supervision. For each task, this is the "final test." When the worker can perform the task without supervision, he or she is considered trained or proficient in that task. For complex tasks however, experience might suggest that trainees should be required to demonstrate task performance two or possibly three times. If you have a trainee guide consider having a place to "sign off" that this particular task has been preformed successfully. There will be times when attempting to perform the task for sign off, the trainee will require coaching. In this case, I recommend that this attempt be treated like Step 4 above.
• Step 6. Allow the worker to perform task without continued supervision. At this point the trainee's training for that particular task has been completed.

Now there are three common errors made by trainers while conducting OJT Training they are:

1. Going too fast
2. Overcomplicating the information (i.e., giving too much information)
3. Not sticking to the subject

With that in mind here are some tips when conducting on-the-job training:

1. Be prepare!  Have all necessary resources available and ready to use.

2. Set aside time for training, having someone simply “tag along” is not good enough to

    provide adequate training remember our discussion on unstructured OJT?

3. Make sure that everyone can see and hear what you are doing.

4. Don’t try to teach more than three (3) specific topics in any one training session.    

    (That information was contained in our last post remember?)

5. Emphasize key items or steps and review these elements frequently during the

    training.

6. Always allow trainees to ask questions and respond to their questions or concerns

    immediately.

7. When appropriate, provide written material (handouts and job aids) that the

     trainees can refer to or write notes on.

Okay I couldn’t resist here are a few more tips when conducting on-the-job training:

1. Slow down!  Don’t move too rapidly when demonstrating or explaining material.

2. Begin the training at the point where the trainees are.  Never assume that a trainee

    should already know something, particularly with experienced trainees.

3. Check your ego, assuming a superior attitude can discourage others from learning.

4. Be patient, allow the trainees to make mistakes and learn from them.

5. Be accessible, allow trainees to come back later for additional help.

Well there you have it my program on how to design a structured on-the-job training program.  We’ve discussed a lot in the last four posts: the difference between structured and unstructured on-the-job training, training and change, needs and job/task analysis, learning objectives and lesson planning, and today more examples of structured on-the-job training and some tips.

I hope you found this series on structured on-the-job training helpful and informative.  If you have comments or would like to contact me for help with your training needs please leave a comment for me.  I’ll have another topic next time but until then all my best!  Jer.

Training 101: Learning objectives and lesson planning

Hi! Welcome back.  Last time I wrote about how to develop a structured on-the job training program and we looked at three issues: change, needs and job/task analysis.  Today I would like to continue the discussion on how to design a structured on-the-job training program by writing about learning objectives and lesson planning. 

I’d like to mention at the outset that these two issues are very academic just ask any teacher and I don’t wish to get too technical in this blog but I feel that these topics are very important for you to know and understand so that you can either develop a structured on-the-job training program yourself or at least talk the lingo when you speak with a workplace learning professional.  I will guarantee that if you review these blogs on structured on-the-job training and apply them that you will improve the training your employees receive at your workplace.

In my January 3 blog entitled “Structured vs. Unstructured OJT” I stated that unstructured OJT doesn’t help an organization improve their effectiveness for the following reasons: It’s inconsistent, incomplete, lacks vision and contains bad habits.  Today’s topic areas--learning objectives and lesson planning help to correct the deficiencies that accompany unstructured OJT.

Learning objectives are just that those things that you wish to accomplish and improve as a result of your on-the-job training and lesson planning is the roadmap if you will of how you are going to do it.  Remember last time we said that needs analysis identifies what gaps in skill, knowledge or awareness exist between the current and desired levels of performance.   And that job/task analysis takes each job: identifies the various thoughts, actions and decisions, of each task and describes each step starting from the beginning and ending with the final task which must be accomplished to successfully complete each job/task.  Well after you complete a needs and job/task analysis the areas where knowledge, skill or awareness are lacking become your learning objectives.  It’s as simple as that, where is the worker deficient, what are the areas that they need to improve on to obtain a level of performance that you are comfortable with and can tolerate—those items are your learning objectives!  For effective on the job (OJT) training you should have no more than 3 specific training objectives or goals for each training session.

I talk a lot about golf and football because I’m passionate about these two sports.  Have you ever tried to learn golf while on the course?  Perhaps you were playing with your friends or spouse and they were trying to give you pointers while you make your way around the golf course, how did that experience work out for you?  If you are like most people you probably hated it and became easily frustrated why?  Well most likely your friend or spouse was critiquing every move you made and you couldn’t concentrate on any one thing.  The same thing happens on-the-job when you have someone critiquing every move the trainee makes with no plan or specific goal in mind.

Education is all about repetition and context but when you are new to a task and have no frame of reference how do you build on what someone is telling you unless you gain familiarity and confidence in the basics?  The human mind can only recall seven items at one time, why do you think telephone numbers are seven digits long?  When the eighth item is mentioned something gets messed up in our brains (how’s that for academic jargon) and we can’t retain the message and connect the dots as to why one item is related to another.  If you concentrate on only teaching no more than three items during a training session your chances of success with that topic increase because the trainee can start to understand what is being communicated to them and how the first item relates to the second and so on, if you don’t believe me try it out for yourself on any material you are trying to teach to someone else and improve their skill level I think you’ll find out I’m right.

After you have your objectives you must have a plan as to how you are going to teach so that those objectives can be learned, that plan is your lesson plan!  In order to successfully deliver the training and meet the learning objectives you have identified, some type of lesson plan should be established to guide you through the program.  This plan should provide structure for you and show how you will link various aspects of your training program together.  A typical lesson plan should contain these basic elements.

            1. The learning objectives you wish to achieve.

            2. The subject matter you wish to cover.

            3. The activities, methods or special instructions you wish to demonstrate or

                impart subject knowledge from.

            4. How much time will be designated to each topic area?

Lesson plans vary with every trainer and can be as simple as 1-2-3 on a piece of paper.  An example of a lesson plan appears below.

Sample Lesson Plan

Topic: Introduction to Voice Mail

Objectives: After completing this session each trainee should know:

                  1. What voice mail is?

                  2. How they may benefit from it.

                  3. What each voice mail option does.

                  4. How to setup some voice mail accounts.

Subject                                                Activities/Methods Used                     Time

1. Explain the learning            Provide a copy to each trainee                       2 min.

    objectives

2. Introduce voice mail           Explain, use handouts                                     1 min.

3. State voice mail benefits    Explain, use handouts and ask for                  5 min.

                                                additional benefits.

4. Review voice mail options  Explain, use handouts, show options 60 min.

                                                using computer system.

5. Break                                                                                                           15 min.

6. Demonstrate setups            Use computer system and handouts              30 min.

7. Allow trainees to practice  Use computer system                                     30 min.

8. Review subjects, answer questions and ask for input.                               15 min.

Okay there you have it we’ve completed the second session on how to design a structured on-the–job training program.  Next time I’ll finish my discussion on structured on-the-job training with some examples and tips which I hope will help you improve your training sessions; until then thanks for reading and please comment if you have any questions or would like to post a comment.  Until next time all my best! Jer.

Training 101: Change, need and task analysis

Hi!  Welcome back everyone!  Our winter weather here in Southern Indiana is great this January the expected high for today is in the high 50’s!  With that said, I’d like to get some exercise by hitting a little white ball but first things first today’s blog.  I’m trying to make this blog conversational and informative and I hope that is how you’re reacting to it. 

Last time I wrote about Structured vs. Unstructured on-the-job training and I presented further evidence as to why structured on-the-job training is more beneficial to organizations.  Today I would like to continue the discussion on how to develop a structured on-the-job training program.  I’m actually going to breakdown the process into several posts for two reasons: one I don’t wish to bore you with professional jargon and two, I hope that the information you receive from this blog is at least understandable and makes sense logically to you.  You may not have the desire or skill level to implement these concepts (that’s where I can help) but understanding them can make you a better consumer of professional development programs in the future.

Today I want to write about three items: change, need and job/task analysis.  The first concept will be readily apparent to all of you the last two are somewhat technical in nature but I will attempt to explain them so that you can understand them and add them to your professional vocabulary.

First why is it that most of us resist something new?  It’s usually because we become comfortable with how things are and don’t wish to change!  I remember the early 1980’s when the personal computer was coming out, Apple and Microsoft were the their infancy and computer programs weren’t “bundled” or integrated, by that I mean that a word processing application couldn’t mesh or work with a spreadsheet for example.  There was no such thing as a thumb drive in fact portable storage was done by use of a “floppy disk”, a flexible 5 and ½ inch disc that looked like a cheap 45 rpm record, remember those?  Boy does that date me, what can I say I’m chronologically challenged!!  Anyhow, my point is that like today every program required a username and password and software was updated oh about once a year.  Now back then I didn’t mind remembering passwords because the thought of keying them into a computer had a kind of a “Star Trek” quality about it.  Today I’m showing my age and I don’t wish to learn the new program’s features or come up with a different password for every application on the web.  I’m resistance to change!

Training is often difficult to implement because of the same reasons people are resist to change.  James O’Toole in his book “Leading Change”, studied why people resist change and found that everyone has their own theory on this subject.  The following is a list of are some reasons why people resist change.

* Human Nature-        It is a natural tendency to resist change.  Even though life itself is

                                    always changing.

* Satisfaction-             Many people are happy with the way things are now.

* Fear-                         Some folks are afraid of the unknown.  They may not be perfectly

                                    happy with the way things are now, but at least they known how to

                                    work around it.

* WIIFM-                     What’s in it for me?  People may believe that they will not benefit

                                    from the new changes.

*Ego-                           My way is the right way; your way will never work.

* Perceived uniqueness-That may work for so and so, but we are different it will never

                                    work here!

* Groupthink-              We’ve always done it this way before!

Many of these reasons for resisting change stem from one common theme, fear.

There is an axiom for fear it is:

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

If you can disprove many of these false reasons or feelings, true learning can begin.  As long someone believes that they can’t do something, they won’t be able to, they will refuse to try and change will never take place.  Training is all about change.

The first thing one must do to design a training program is to analyze the problem or need and then the job or task under review.  Let’s take these two concepts one at a time.  Needs analysis identifies what gaps in skills, knowledge or awareness exist between the current and desired levels of performance.  If you are an “average” golfer your score is somewhere north of 100 for 18 holes.  In fact, the average golf score shot by 25 million or so American golfers is 102.  To become a “bogey” golfer, (one over par for each hole) you’d have to shot around 90, only 5 percent of people who play golf can shot a score of 90.  I have and I’m still not playing for money on Sunday.  But that’s not the point I wish to make, if you wish to play better golf you need to analyze where your game is lacking, what are the areas that are keeping you from reducing your average score from 102 to 90?  These may include a number of things but this isn’t a blog about golf it’s a blog about business topics so the gap between 102 and 90 contains those things that you must improve upon to be a better golfer, that’s needs analysis.  “I need to be better off the tee or around the green for example”.  These gaps are the areas you should concentrate on in designing your training program.  Never begin any training program without establishing with all interested parties what the purpose of the training is and how the program’s quality and success will be measured.

Training can overcome deficiencies in knowledge, skill or awareness.  Training may lead to a change in behavior or attitude; however behavior and attitude changes are not always a direct result of training.  As mentioned earlier, people resist change for a variety of reasons.  Often training is requested to address behavior and attitude problems when the solution to these concerns may lie beyond what training can provide.  Before you begin any training program you should determine if the purpose of that problem is to overcome a lack of knowledge, skills or awareness.

Finally Job/task analysis- Each job is made up of tasks behaviors which are thoughts, actions, and decisions that one must make in order to do the task.  Some examples of task behaviors include:

• Procedure- performing a series of steps in a specific order.
• Troubleshooting- matching existing problem situations or symptoms with probable causes and the actions that are likely to resolve them.
• Decision making- determining the action to take based on the arrangement of varying conditions in a given situation.

The purpose of a job/task analysis is to take each job, identify the various thoughts, actions and decisions, of each task and describe each step starting from the beginning and ending with the final task which must be accomplished to successfully complete each job/task.  To enhance the delivery, retention and execution of the training topic, try to group units of information in increments of seven (7) items or less. 

There you have it your first lesson on how to develop a structured OJT program.  How have you gone about designing training for your business?  Are you trying to remedy a problem that is not related to a lack of knowledge, skills or awareness with a training program?  If so, how did that what out for you?  Well thanks for reading and until next time all my best!  Jer.