chapter 1

Introduction

Why Training Feels Like
Emergency Room Triage

Evolution of This Book

In 1981, while I was working as a young programmer at AT&T, my boss approached me with a funny look on his face. “I need to talk to you,” he said as we moved into a conference room. “Would you consider becoming a trainer?” His face revealed his embarrassment for having to ask me to take such a horrible job. “Yes!” I exclaimed, thus beginning a wonderful adventure. Turns out, this “training thing” was my calling.

I was shipped off for training at AT&T headquarters in New Jersey. I was going to be teaching system development and project management methodologies, which were brand new to us at Indiana Bell. I attended two 5-day workshops: train-the-trainer and advanced train-the-trainer. To become certified in a class, I had to attend it twice. Highly detailed instructor notes gave detailed descriptions of almost every factor one might encounter in a training session down to how many ashtrays should be in the room. (Okay, now I'm dating myself!)

Bell Labs had done a great deal of research on how people learn and how we should teach so that learning was maximized. One weird study had shown that students don't like corners in training rooms because they make them feel nervous. So, the training rooms had no corners, just rounded walls. The walls were painted in three color bands that drew the eye to the trainer level.

When I returned from my training immersion, I created a schedule of courses, most of which were 5 days in length. Back in the days of the telecommunications monopoly, we could attend almost unlimited training, a benefit that I appreciate to this day. We had coffee and donuts in all classes. Every 6 months or so, we'd publish a new schedule and people would sign up for the offerings. Soon we had added video libraries and additional classes, and our data-processing department's training grew into what might be called today a corporate university.

Some of you may have worked in the training field at this time. Many of you may think I made this story up. Contrast this overflowing-cup environment to what happened only 2 years later.

First, AT&T broke into pieces and deregulation began. Early retirements were offered, and I took one to start my training company. My peers in corporate training, who were now my customers, were being forced to do more with less. Many were laid off in business tsunamis that continue even now. There were mergers and acquisitions and dot-bombs and terrorists, and training was usually the first item to go.

In case you weren't there, let me explain how this book fits into the story. First, the company's training catalogs disappeared, replaced with large video libraries. Then the video libraries disappeared, and so did training itself for awhile. Companies still depended on training events if there was a problem but only when the budget hadn't been cut yet. There was no accountability, and the common strategy of sitting through 2 days of something was supposed to “fix” people. Training that emphasized process improvement gave way to training that taught technology. Thanks to the fears of Y2K, good, old technical training was dusted off and revitalized, and I'm not ashamed to say many of us had a couple of really good years. However, most of those information technology training companies are gone now.

Then, something great began to happen. Many people in different places and using different words began to say out loud that workshops didn't work, no matter what media was being used. Eventually, the term “performance consulting” emerged, but is still a code word only used among us training people. The philosophy was changing. To really affect people's performance required more than just a workshop. Strategies to improve performance might include a variety of interventions, but, to be successful, they had to include a clear understanding of the business challenge, involve aligned job descriptions and performance reviews, have strong sponsorship, and entail measurements to prove that progress was being made. Trainers were becoming consultants, which some thought meant we were all going to the dark side.

Meanwhile, back in the business world, things were getting crazy. A recession hit in 2001. Terrorists struck on September 11. Staff was cut dramatically to save companies. Trainers were out. Any training that was done was outsourced. The company had to be absolutely desperate to fund anything and so demanded complete customization from training firms. Because the world was now operating at Webspeed, the customized, emergency training/performance consulting had to be delivered yesterday. Engineers, computer technologists, project managers, and training people started talking among themselves about developing solutions faster, cheaper, and with higher quality. Anyone trying to sell a 6-month needs analysis was not-so-subtly shown the door.

So, you have training moving to performance consulting, adopting a strategy that was bigger, faster, and more complex, not to mention company-saving. Except for a period of overemphasis on e-learning (“It can all be fixed with Web-based training”), the old concept of a trainer had matured into an important player getting closer to the boardroom. Not all companies were forward thinking, but the trend was in place.

Flash forward: In 2004, ASTD published a competency study titled Mapping the Future. In this research document, ASTD continues to work toward expanding our field from the single focus on training to the more systemic focus, beyond just human and organization development to workplace learning and performance.

The Rescue Squad

This year, when the phones ring in our offices, people are not asking for the 2-day generic project management class like they would have just 2 or 3 years ago. Thank goodness, they no longer ask for a 1-day leadership class, which, in my humble opinion, is as useful as the old video libraries. Today they call and ask for help. Here are some of the calls we get:

“Help! The members of my critical project team hate each other!”

“Help! Our company is growing aggressively, but to hit our goals will require all our managers to mature into more effective leaders and especially coaches.”

“Help! Our policies and procedures are not tight, and compliance is a huge priority for our board (and the U.S. Department of Justice)!”

“Help! We are going through a huge change and need to transform now.”

“Help! We need to get our folks to improve their customer service, but they also really need to buy into the customer service philosophy; that's the only way our company can survive.”

And, all too often, I hear “Can you be here in a week? In a day? This afternoon?” Trainers all over are getting the same calls.

This book is not for the baby trainer, the newbie who has been given the task to manage the e-learning library, or teach a 1-day benefits class, or find a vendor to teach a project management workshop. This book is designed for people with some scars from the wars that have passed, people who are trusted at their companies because they care about the learners and the business and will do what it takes to help. This book assumes that you have the lingo down (whether Mager or Bloom or Kirkpatrick), have a good-enough classroom technique, have informal networks with executives and leaders to get things done, and have struggled with return-on-investment (ROI) evaluation.

So, you are getting calls asking for the impossible to be delivered the next day, too. As if that weren't enough of a challenge, you have very little staff anymore, and even less budget. And you know that this business problem has to be tackled, and as Jerry Garcia said roughly, “…it's terribly pathetic that it has to be you.” You matter, and you can help.

The Triage Approach

This book is broken into problem phone calls. I have taken my most frequent requests; shared with you the business problem and constraints; listed the quick, requirement-gathering questions that I asked; and then described the facilitation, simulation, and training techniques that I whipped together. I've included many activities, tools, and instruments that you can adapt to your own practice. Each chapter has ideas about how to measure the improvement although, as you know, this is a bit more complex than it seems and is often outside the scope of what a trainer can do on his or her own.

Each chapter is built on a template, and icons flag some of the main points:

	What They Say—The Situation: a scripted problem
	What You Hear: questioning and listening between the words
	What You Do: a whole solution
	Your Triage Intervention: overview
	What You Build: step-by-step details
	Top Priority: the absolute requirements for successful implementation of the triage intervention.

Most of the techniques are unique, but there is a little overlap. You'll see my prejudice toward a couple of things that I like to start with. I am a huge believer in assessments. In the chapters, you'll read that I often rely on DISC. DISC is a Jungian-based behavioral assessment that is offered by multiple vendors. Over the years, different vendors have assigned different meanings to the letters in the DISC acronym, although the developer William Marston (also the inventor of the lie detector) defined the DISC model as Dominance; Influence or Inducement; Steadiness or Stability; and Compliance, Conscientiousness, or Caution.

Another of my favorite assessments is called PIAV (personal interests, attitudes, and values). If there is an assessment that your company uses, simply substitute it. If you'd like more information about these two, please email me. I like to use surveys to start these sessions as well, including 360-degree assessments.

I have tried to give you enough background so that you understand why I chose what I did. Each intervention starts with learning objectives, which I think are critical to project management and measurement. I suspect it would be rare that you would be able to just plop my chapter into your world, so please, pick and choose and build the solution that fits the company you know best: yours.

How to Use This Book

I did not design this book to be read cover to cover. Instead, I hope you will browse through the chapters and find the situations that are the most like the ones you have been getting calls about. Most of the techniques are unique, but there is some overlap in a few chapters. This is really not a training technique book. You will find detailed guidelines that are designed to help guide you through training situations. I'm counting on your experience to give you the adaptability you will need to use these ideas for your problems.

Also, throughout the chapters you'll encounter a CD icon. This indicates that the particular activity or tool can be found on the companion CD, both in PDF format as well as in Microsoft Word.

Here's the general flow of how I react to these phone calls and how these chapters are arranged:

Analysis of requirements (listen, ask, collect data): Asking great questions is critical to success with performance consulting. Learn to ask and listen. Ask questions from many different directions. Be a detective or an anthropologist at your company. Look for answers in untraditional places, like over a casual cup of coffee at the coffee bar.

Prerequisite assessment: This step includes collecting data to prove the issue exists, data to clarify the issue, data (personal assessments) to make it pertinent to you, and a baseline to measure from. Surveys and assessments are great prework for all these reasons. These instruments give you data for the session that came from the learners themselves or from their customers, for example. It's very hard to argue with a rationale built in this way.

Simulation: Try to re-create the problem in class, but in a safe, metaphorical way. Set up simulations to help people catch each other in the very dynamics you are trying to improve. Always debrief as long as the simulation itself, and prepare these questions carefully. The learning happens during the debriefing.

Facilitation: Use positive, problem-solving, process-flow techniques that are efficacious in a training environment. A performance consultant is a facilitator of learning, not a trainer. Many of these techniques are facilitation techniques rather than training techniques.

Action plans: Never let them leave without closing the deal just like a salesperson. Get a commitment from them as a team or individual. Ask them to put some skin in the game.

Follow-up strategy: Always do a review after each project. Find out how the owner of the problem views the progress. Be prepared to continue the journey with different techniques, encouraging the participants to look at the problem from a new perspective.

Post-assessment or measurement: Formally measure the results of the time together and the impact on the business problem. This will probably require some new assessment questions different from the ones you use after training.

There are a couple of other things you should know about me. I am a passionate supporter of experiential learning. I believe people learn best by self-discovery, especially when complex problems are involved. These interventions are not for teaching Microsoft Word, although I think self-discovery works pretty well with that, too. Complex business problems require addressing some skills and knowledge gaps but, more important, they require addressing the motivations of the learners. That's not a place where lecture works. Remember my motto: “Lecture is a last resort.”

I have kept an eye on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences as I developed these interventions. By design, the techniques balance the different needs of different learners. For example, I fluctuate between intrapersonal techniques (alone) and interpersonal techniques (team). It is important that people be able to learn and grow in an environment that is easy for them. If you don't know about multiple intelligences research and how it affects learning, you can read more about it in my first book, The Accelerated Learning Fieldbook (1999, Jossey-Bass).

Who Me, a Project Manager?

I am passionate about project management. I am not a detail person by nature, so I have had to create project management discipline for myself. Here are a few project management beliefs I have:

Shortages of time, money, subject matter experts (SMEs), support, and so forth will always be factors. A good project manager cheerfully works within these often fluctuating constraints. Whining about how unfair they seem is a waste of the few resources you have.

Don't have too many meetings and don't have too many people at the meetings.

It may seem like the opposite, but you can't communicate too much. Face-to-face, one-on-one is best. Email is the worst.

Do a good job asking questions at the beginning, even hard questions. Nothing else helps as much as that.

Never get mad at the SMEs or sponsors. Always thank them for their help. Their jobs are tough, too. Give little gifts as you go.

It's not about you, it's about the learner. There's a person out there working for your company who needs you to help him or her—and you can. Everything else is noise, so don't let it get to you.

Change is constant. Don't just say it, believe it. Look for it. Thrive on it.

When everything is chaos, keep it simple and enjoyable. For example, instead of a complex, software-based simulation, consider one with Post-it notes and markers that smell like fruit. You'll notice my supply lists are simple and lean, giving me speed and agility and fun.

For more on project management, check out my book Project Management for Trainers (2000, ASTD). Project management is a core competency for a performance consultant.

Onward!

So, what are you waiting for? No doubt you have a few messages on your phone and emails in your inbox asking for your help right now! Here's one of my favorite quotations to help get you going: “Enable me to teach with vision, for I help to shape the future. Empower me to teach with love, for I help to shape the world” (“A Teacher's Prayer,” author unknown).

Teaching has evolved, and so too must we. Thank you for joining me on this adventure.