Lever Learning

Winning stories from ASTD ICE in Denver….

Emma Weber — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:34:20 +0000

I returned yesterday from my US trip to the American Society of Training and Development, International Conference and Exposition in Denver Colorado. It was a great conference. 9000 attendees, many of whom were from outside of the US.

I’ll be sharing on my blog learnings, insights and favourite speakers from the conference but firstly I’m excited to share with you a new service from our partners, Fort Hill Company, that was launched at the conference. Many of you will know Fort Hill Company as the Online Learning Transfer specialists – they are committed to helping people get better results from their learning. One of the key steps in learning is sharing your wins and they have create a very cool online tool that helps collect these success stories and through crowd sourcing from the group gets the best story selected. Once the wins and achievements are captured then it becomes easier to demonstrate the value of your initiatives.

They launched ‘We Achieve’ at the conference and created quite a buzz! Well done to Michael, Kathy, David and the team. Awesome work. The online tool was designed to help you showcase results from your initiatives by identifying your participants’ greatest achievements.

I love that with We Achieve you can:

Ask participants to share their stories of achievement after an initiative
Use wisdom of the group to identify the most compelling examples
Have participants see and learn from each others’ achievements
Demonstrate the value created by your programs and initiatives

Using the tool at the conference they asked attendees to share their greatest insight or learning from the conference, and then we were asked to vote on the most popular – The winning insight was:

“Our value as L&D professionals is to improve performance. If we are not achieving business outcomes we are not adding value.’

Wow – this was voted as the most powerful insight from the conference and how poignant is it? As Learning and Development professionals we want to be adding value and achieving business outcomes. It’s not about learning, programs, change, growth – the bottom line is achieving business outcomes. I love it!

Great work to the Fort Hill team for uncovering this gem and for creating a tool that can capture the stories and outcomes in a very easy fashion. I’m going to introducing the tool to my clients immediately. You can sign up for a free trial account now here -

Let’s get on board with ‘We Achieve’ and achieve and share those business outcomes -

Keynote reports for the AITD 2012 conference: Future trends that are already here…

Emma Weber — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:20:56 +0000

Dr. Jay Cohen (you can visit his website here) reported on his PHD studies about Learning Transfer and the role of the Front Line Manager in Learning. He wants us all to ensure that the managers in our organisations are Learning Leaders, helping us create the results from Learning rather than leaving it to us (in L & D) to create the results.

He shared worrying studies from UK that a CIPD study reported only 21% of managers were coaching their teams. It’s a concern I share that people are just too busy to have developmental conversations with their staff. I like to think that the effect of development can be magic but stress that it won’t just happen by magic. Managers and Leaders need strategies and tactics to help them. Dr. Jay suggested that priority needs to be that the expectation of managers involvement in learning is set in role descriptions, job advertisements and KPI’s and that being a Learning Leader is a role essential not a optional activity. Food for thought.

Charles Jennings from the UK also spoke the importance of the role of the manager in the context of 70 / 20 / 10 framework being the way forward for Learning and Development. For those unfamiliar with the framework it is 70% being informal on the job learning, 20 % learning through people and 10% learning in a classroom / workshop environment. It’s widely acknowledged that the percentages aren’t an exact science but show the trend away from classroom learning as learning content is so easily available now ‘think TED, You Tube, Itunes U, learning needs to be focusing on context of application. Charles talked about the key elements of learning experience, practice, conversation, and reflection. While Charles and I didn’t agree on everything – I’ve decided I favour the evolutionary approach towards 70/20/10 rather than revolutionary one – it was great to hear his call to arms for L & D professionals to change the way they are playing the game.

Finally – the conference was a buzz with social media with a live twitter feed on the stage. Check out the Twitter feed #ASTD2012 for tweets from the event. The great debate being, “will social media learning replace face-to-face learning.” Obviously the outcome was their is a need for both but it was great to hear both sides of the argument. Well done. ‘Dr. Rich’ Allen and Anne Bartlett-Bragg (@AnneBB). The most entertaining keynote though was Joyce Seitzinger (@catspyjamasnz) who through her enthusiasm for social media and twitter and all things social convinced many to create a Twitter account there and then. She stressed that learning via Twitter isn’t a future trend it’s happening now and is definitely here to stay.

I must say that the AITD Conference has been quite the learning experience and has definitely brought to mind some interesting thoughts and ideas. I am excited to head over to Colorado next week to see what’s in store for the ASTD Conference!

One on one, over the phone – you are never working in isolation!

Emma Weber — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:42:10 +0000

Even though 95% of our learning transfer work is delivered by phone one-on-one with participants they are never working in isolation. Some of the questions most frequently asked by our coaches in the follow up sessions are: Who can help you with your actions? Who do you need to work with to get the best results? Who can you learn from or collaborate with to help you move forward?

Whether it’s our team, family or friends we all receive tremendous support from a whole host of avenues. Big ‘thank-you’ shout out here to David Powell who gave me some terrific help with business vision this morning.

With thanks in mind I popped out for a coffee and stumbled upon an article on the ‘rescue hug’ – the article details the first week of life of a set of twins. Apparently, each were in their incubators, and one was not expected to live. A hospital nurse fought against hospital rules and placed the babies in one incubator. When they were placed together the healthier of the two threw her arm over her sister in an endearing embrace. The smaller baby’s heart rate stabilised and her temperature rose to normal.

What a poignant reminder of the power of 1 + 1.

The Simple Power of Calibration To Create Change

Emma Weber — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:42:28 +0000

Working with a new client recently I was reminded of the power of the calibration.

The participant eagerly shared the progress they had made between the training program and the first call.

In their mind they had already moved from a 6/10 at the end of the program to a 7/10- great progress. They could describe specifically what changes they had put into place and they were good solid changes.

I stretched them to think about what number they could possibly get to, what would be their personal maximum? If they could get to a 9/10 they would be very happy.

I probed on what the difference was between a 7 and 9… “I would be asking questions on the phone as I would if a customer was face to face”. Light bulb moment- I checked in on the types of questions and they were crystal clear as to the specifics.

Next step was to get underneath the behaviour and work out why this wasn’t happening currently. As the conversation unfolded the participant revealed they had been making assumptions around readiness to buy on the phone vs. face-to-face. On challenging their assumptions they were prepared to create a fresh set of assumptions and beliefs that would help them positively make the most of the call. Such as; ‘the client might choose to buy from me’ or ‘the client has to buy somewhere’. Note that the participant loved the training and had specifically put into place some actions. On stretching them we could take them to a new level and new insights.

I used the calibration tool to identify the gap on calls with most of my clients. It’s a quick and powerful way to identify an area where you can get some great results. Try using it with your team to stretch their perspective.

My first Webinar – Learning Transfer Solutions from the Field

Emma Weber — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:57:54 +0000

I was asked by Elnet to be a guest speaker online, as part of there series they are running on Learning Transfer. Some great speakers are still to come including Geoff Rip from Institute of Learning Practioners and Michael Papay from Fort Hill in the US. Thanks to the Elnet team for hosting.

As my first ever webinar I did learn some good lessons (like using the arrows on BlackBoard to move the presentation forward as oppose to the slide display as it’s 10 times slower!) however, it does cover our process and some good examples from the field.

Enjoy!

https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-03-26.1554.M.13B44A9363996AE021DC60C3DBBF87.vcr&sid=937

Learning Transfer – Solutions from the Field
Facing the reality: How Australian companies are solving the Learning Transfer challenge

In this session you will learn:

The challenges and opportunities that learning transfer presents right now
The model Australian companies are using to solve the Learning Transfer challenge
A case study from one of Australia’s premium Automotive Retailer
Quick wins for effective action planning to take away and implement immediately

Feel free to share any feedback or questions below – always happy to talk Learning Transfer!

Join Me Online or in Person- UP & Coming Events

Emma Weber — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:47:48 +0000

I’m involved in some really interesting collaborations at the moment and you’re welcome to join in too!

Elnet are hosting a four-part webinar series about Learning Transfer. Roy Pollock from Fort Hill ran the first session yesterday which was tremendously interesting. Did you know that in a recent survey of Senior Managers less than 25% of them felt Learning and Development contributed towards company goals – very confronting but as Roy said, “We need to know to be able to create change”.

I’m up next and in my session on March 27^th you will learn:

The challenges and opportunities that Learning Transfer presents right now
The model Australian companies are using to solve the Learning Transfer Challenge
A case study from one ofAustralia’s premium Automotive Retailers
Quick wins for effective Action Planning

To register for the webinar click through here.

If you’d rather meet in person and connect with colleagues and peers I’ll be at the AITD conference in Sydney next month, April 18^th / 19th. I’ve just finished recording a video trailer for my session: Closing the Learning Loop: Creating Learning Dashboards for Communicating Results that will be available on the AITD website soon. The conference has got a great line up of speakers and I’m looking forward to not only speaking but learning a great deal as well. You can register for the conference here.
Finally, if you have time to venture further a field I’m representing Australia on a global learning transfer panel at the ASTD conference in Denver in early May.

Becky Peters and I are looking to get a strong Australian contingent together so if you are going or intend to go let us know and we can co-ordinate a meet up. Last year it was an amazing event and I personally found the connections and learning from the conference helped me take my business and work to a whole new level.

Turning Learning into Action Methodology Training- Smiles from the Group!

Emma Weber — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:51:34 +0000

Turning Learning into Action Methodology Training: March 2012.

LIW Centre for Leadership, Chowder Bay.

From left to right.

Joanne Martin, Tania Curley, Erica Bagshaw, Phenella Lill, Hilary Chatterton, Emma Weber, Ros Burton, Keke Quei

Learning for Change

Emma Weber — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:31:23 +0000

Fundamentally Learning Tranfer is about changing habits. I love the work of Leo Babauta form Zen Habits. He has written a step-by-step process that can support you in your change. This article is definitely good one to add to you learning transfer tool kit. http://zenhabits.net/change-muscle/

Transfer vs. Stickiness: The Same or Different?

Emma Weber — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:31:54 +0000

The phrases “learning transfer” and “learning stickiness” almost seem to be interchangeable in the workplace. “We really need to make sure this learning sticks” or “This conference learning really needs to be sticky”. Does it mean learning needs to stick in the mind or stick to the person?

My view is that what people really want- whether that’s the CEO, the L&D manager, or the conference manager is for the learning to transfer. To transfer back to the workplace and to transfer into real behavioural change.

Stickiness seems to be more about remembering- and it has a place in learning. Stickiness strategies often include making things memorable. Using sound, colour, stories and visuals followed by reinforcing with podcast’s and videos are great for memory retention.

Yes, obviously when a person leaves a learning event they need to remember what they have learnt- if they can’t remember it they can’t use it anyway. But generally, we can all remember that to be a great manager we should ask more questions, talk less and give regular feedback. Whether we do it or not is another matter.

Focusing on transfer ahead of stickiness is the only way to make it really count.

Travel and Learn

Emma Weber — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:16:19 +0000

STA Travel is a worldwide company offering cheap flights, round the world trips and student travel. They posted this video in 2011 which shows the potential of learning new things whilst travelling. Three guys were sent on an amazing trip around the world, and STA have crammed the most illuminating moments of learning into a short 1 minute video.

It just shows that the potential for learning is everywhere – be that whilst in a foreign country, perhaps learning a new cooking skill, learning how to dance, learning a new instrument, or even a new sport.

Take a look at the video here -

Please feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on travel and learning.