Having a growth mindset

You can read about Carol Dweck’s growth- or fixed-mindset theory in Chapter 2. Whether your organization believes that anyone can learn anything is an important part of how well your organization grows, how it develops its people, and even how successful it will be. A company with a growth-mindset philosophy will be a trailblazer in reskilling or giving employees an opportunity to learn new skills so that they can take on entirely new roles or jobs in the company — perhaps in a completely different department.

Having a learning mindset

Probably the least known of the “mindset set” is the learning mindset, which is grounded in adult learning theory. The learning mindset is closely related to the TD profession. The premise seems similar to Carol Dweck’s research, except that it speaks directly to the TD profession.

An article by Craig Fischer outlined key components of skills that can influence your organization’s learning culture. The definition is threefold:

• Everything is learnable, and focused practice leads to improvement.
• People and organizations thrive on continual development and learning.
• All skills and abilities are “in process” rather than static.

Fischer suggests that the best facilitators learn publicly, give up the driver’s seat, ask open-ended questions, show appreciation when you learn from a participant, and ask for feedback. Sounds like good advice for every facilitator.

Recognizing other mindsets

The idea of the power of positive thinking has been around for more than a half century, and it keeps coming back. Why? Perhaps it’s because physical and mental benefits of positive thinking have been demonstrated by multiple studies. For example, research indicates that positive emotions contribute to important life outcomes (Waugh and Fredrickson, 2006) and better physical health (Doyle, Gentile, and Cohen, 2006). Having positive emotions can give you more confidence, improve your mood, and even reduce the likelihood of developing serious medical conditions.

According to business theorist Chris Argyris, there are two dominant organizational mindsets: the productive mindset, which seeks valid knowledge for clear reasoning; and the defensive mindset, which is self-protective and self-deceptive. When the defensive mindset is prevalent, truth can be ignored when seen as threatening, which can lead to learning that’s based on false assumptions (Argyris, 2004).

It appears that whether your mindset dwells in the positive or the negative, you will be right, or as Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

An organizational mindset for today’s learner

Today’s learners must be lifelong, agile learners. They must be accountable for their own development, which isn’t easy given all the changes they face. Organizations that realize that employees want to be developed fare better than those that don’t. Employees are an organization’s biggest asset to ensure that it meets its business objectives. Employees are also one of the largest expenses. Depending on the industry, payroll costs can vary from 15 to 60 percent of gross revenue. As with any investment, you want to make sure that your employees have the benefit of being the best prepared they can be. Effective training designed specifically for your organization provides your employees with essential skills while bringing with it many business benefits.

An organization that has a winning developmental mindset believes and supports several things. An organization that is resilient, successful, innovative, and agile usually has a workforce that is prepared for whatever changes occur. These successful organizations must have a mindset that

• Expects leaders to champion learning
• Promotes a growth mindset
• Enables social learning and learning from others
• Expects managers to develop their people
• Believes that all employees must be accountable for their development

Ensuring that all this is occurring all the time requires agility. Learning agility is the capacity for rapid, continuous learning from experience. Agile learners are good at making connections across experiences, and they’re able to let go of perspectives or approaches that are no longer useful. In other words, they can unlearn things when novel solutions are required. People with this mindset tend to be oriented toward learning goals and open to new experiences. They experiment, seek feedback, and reflect systematically.

Helping managers be better coaches

You will want to improve your supervisors’ and managers’ talent development skills. Here are a few skills to get you started. Ensure that your managers and supervisors know how to

• Develop an employee’s individual development plan (IDP). This is a great place to start because it requires that the manager and employee discuss career goals. IDPs provide a blueprint for each employee and are especially useful because they track goals and document accomplishments.
• Offer development options beyond the job. Employees learn new skills and obtain a better understanding of how the organization works if they have opportunities to develop outside their departments. Managers can offer to shadow someone else, stretch assignments, and allow job swaps.
• Inform employees about opportunities. Whether it’s a job opening, cross-functional team membership, or a temporary role, each possibility offers an opportunity to learn and become more valuable to the organization.
• Set performance metrics. Metrics clarify the goal, and incremental objectives help employees see progress. Performance should be discussed at least once each month.
• Give employees what they want. Generally, what employees want isn’t unreasonable: honesty, fairness, trust, support, and respect. Managers can ask people for ideas, act on them, and give credit to the employees.
• Suggest networks. Employees who link with others grow from the relationships. Help employees find mentors, coaches, professional associations, or a learning community of practice.
• Communicate the organization’s strategy and direction. Employees can keep their career aligned to the organization with this information. As the organization pursues new opportunities, employees will have the option of developing the skills that will be required.
• Invest. Investing in an employee might mean to spend money so that the employee can attend a conference, or to allow the employee time to meet with an onsite book club.
• Remove barriers. Run interference for employees, make introductions, bridge departments, and find ways to help employees continue to learn.
• Accept mistakes. No one wants things to go wrong. No one plans it. But when it does happen, it’s a great opportunity to reflect, learn, and try again.
• Cultivate a growth mindset. Ensure that all employees have a growth mindset regarding their own and their teammates’ potential.
• Be a great role model. Probably the best thing a manager can do is to demonstrate that learning is important. Accept feedback and be open to bad news. Get managers involved in facilitating classes for the TD function. Managers and supervisors need to invest in their own learning and should share what they are learning.

Managers need to be able to coach on the go and while things are happening by asking just three questions:

• What went well?
• What didn’t go as well as you would have liked?
• What will you do differently next time?

Helping managers and supervisors with development ideas

You can do many things to help supervisors and managers complete their role as employee developers. The Manager’s Employee Development Ideas Checklist in the nearby sidebar can be helpful to new supervisors or managers who just need a boost. Give a copy to them so that they have a handy list of ideas they can use to develop their employees.

Suggest to managers that when an employee is gone for a training or conference, assign someone to complete the learner’s work while they are away learning for two reasons: 1) It provides a developmental opportunity for someone else; and 2) the learner won’t return to a stack of undone work.

Helping managers give better feedback

Help managers understand the value of feedback when it’s tied to examples. This approach helps employees learn incrementally. Feedback should consist of both constructive changes and reinforcing comments, and it should be timely. Tell managers to think about the last sporting event they attended. Did the coach wait until the end of the game to tell the players what to do? Of course not. Coaches are constantly coaching throughout the game. It's important to provide feedback at the time that the employee can use it the most — when the behavior occurs.

Feedback should be used to recommend further improvements, tied to data or examples when possible. Unfortunately, many managers have difficulty being candid and honest. You can help them be better by offering resources and practice sessions. Start by sharing these concepts with your managers:

• Schedule sufficient time in a private setting.
• Begin with strengths first.
• Listen, listen, listen; aim for a 50/50 discussion.
• Focus development areas on employee behaviors, not personality traits.
• Provide examples to substantiate the feedback.
• Provide suggestions for performance improvement.
• Use clear and specific language during the discussion.
• Solicit the employee’s questions or comments throughout.
• Obtain the employee’s commitment to address the feedback.
• Offer your assistance.
• End on a positive note and discuss next steps.

Feedback seems to be a sticking spot for many managers and supervisors. Yet, for managers to be able to develop their employees, they need to be able to give feedback. Managers need to ensure that their feedback is authentic, specific, candid, and judgment-free. They need to be empathetic and compassionate.

A good tip to give managers is to have them ask the employee if they can give feedback before they do it. There’s no reason to share feedback if it’s a bad time. Help managers see that the goal is to help others learn and grow.

Employees want the negative feedback managers hate to give. Yep! That’s right! Think about it. On his Harvard Business Review blog, Jack Zenger says that Zenger | Folkman collected data from 899 individuals, 49 percent from the U.S. and the remainder from abroad, and found that people want corrective feedback more than praise if it’s provided in a constructive manner. By a three-to-one margin, they believe that negative feedback does more than positive feedback to improve their performance.

Helping the part-time trainer

The trends in training lead to a need for more trainers. If you’re good at what you do, you may be rewarded with the opportunity to show others how to do what you do so well. What do you do? Select the sections in this book that you think will be most beneficial to you. Then go out there and try it!

As a part-time trainer, one of the biggest problems you may have is managing both your training responsibilities and your “real” job. These tips will help you:

• Accept training projects that are consistent with the objectives of your position.
• When you know you will be training, keep a resource file on that topic handy. Save articles and other relevant information in this resource file to ensure that all your resources will be in one spot.

• Keep a list of points you want to make, things you want to do, or stories you want to tell. Keep the list handy so that when you think of things, you can capture them and keep all your ideas together.

  If you’re conducting a virtual training, be sure to connect with the producer beforehand. Technology changes daily.

• Keep a training bag ready. Have markers, pens, masking tape, your notes, and whatever else you use stored in an old briefcase to save time; when it’s time to train, you can just grab your bag.
• Keep all your training manuals, handouts, notes, and visuals in one spot so that you don’t have to assemble everything at the last minute. Discipline yourself to replenish supplies when you complete training.
• If you’ve just completed a program and know that you’ll be doing it again, write a summary of what went well and what you’d do differently. Do this while the material is fresh in your mind to save you time.
• Investment pays off. If you spend adequate time preparing for your training the first time, you will benefit every time you train.

Enhancing team learning

You probably work in a team; most employees do. Organizations find value in the learning that occurs when employees work together and rely on them to achieve strategies.

Team learning is the second of Peter Senge’s disciplines outlined in The Fifth Discipline. Team learning focuses on transmitting tacit and explicit knowledge throughout a group as well as creating an environment in which innovation can flourish. Some people feel that team learning is one of Senge’s most complex areas, but it may also be one of the most important.

Team learning is viewed as the best way to transfer learning from individuals into organizational learning, even though how that happens is still not well understood. Although teams learn from the team members, team members also learn from the team. Organizations benefit when ideas are shared, but valuable ideas also come when outsiders are introduced to the team. Because learning involves uncertainty, false starts, and at times failure, organizations must accept the uncertainty that comes with learning. This is the ultimate example of the often-heard expression “Fail faster.”

As individuals rise to higher positions in organizations, they may forget about the excitement that comes with learning. They may want to retreat to their comfort zones, reluctant to make mistakes or try something new for fear of looking dumb. A part of people’s inability to learn may be the messages they give themselves. TD professionals can help teams and their members (and ultimately our organizations) get better at what they do by trying, learning, failing, reflecting, and trying again. Organizations that don’t engage in this process stagnate.

How do people learn in teams? TD professionals can help teams understand what they need to learn. The list may seem like any team’s ground rules; however, ensure that every team knows the importance of daily practice of all these aspects of learning:

• Value all ideas and input
• Make it safe to be heard
• Create shared goals that all team members agree upon
• Develop a culture of trust
• Work in an atmosphere of collaboration
• Respect conflicting perspectives
• Encourage risks
• Communicate willingly
• Listen for understanding
• Share leadership
• Learn from mistakes
• Allow time to reflect

Team learning is required to move to organizational learning. Senge defines three dimensions of team learning:

• The ability to think insightfully about complex issues
• The ability to take innovative, coordinated action
• The ability to create a network that allows other teams to take action, too

Senge gives no formula for these three, so you’ll need to figure out what works for your organization. Here are a few starting ideas for the first dimension, thinking deeply and insightfully about complex issues:

• Teams need time to hone their skills in a noncritical situation. In fact, they need time. Organizations need to allow teams time to think and reflect.
• Teams need to practice some creative thinking skills. For example, you might pose scenarios like these: “If this problem was at the beginning of the process instead of at the end, what would be different?” or “If I were a carpenter, how would I solve this problem?”
• Teams need incentives to discuss the issues and how to take action. I worked with a manager who held a Friday Sundae meeting every week. A question was posed at the beginning of the week. The entrance “fee” for the free sundae meeting was a suggestion relating to the week’s question.
• At another organization, team members started every staff meeting with recommendations for how they could resolve an issue the department had. Note that the recommendation wasn’t for what everyone else could do, but what the individual would do based on the skills and knowledge they had.
• You could establish a virtual think tank in which everyone records ideas about one issue at a time. It could be electronic or in the form of notes on a whiteboard.

As a TD professional, work with your senior leaders to determine what would work in your organization for all three dimensions of team learning. Sometimes the place to start is to help the team develop itself.

Influencing informal learning on the job

Everyone learns on the job. Whether you help yourself, receive assignments from your supervisor, learn from experiences, tap into the Internet, ask a colleague, or join a professional association, every experience that you have — and every experience that you encourage your learners to have — benefits both the individual and the organization.

As a TD professional, you can be influential, make suggestions, and help to create an environment that is supportive and conducive to informal learning. These four thought starters may provoke a few ideas for you:

• Help yourself: Self-directed learning appeals to most of us because we like to learn on our own. The flexibility allows us to learn when and where we want, supporting most of our natural learning desires. From a learning perspective, how can you reward employees who learn on their own?
• Support informal learning: The unofficial, impromptu, unscheduled way in which most people learn to do their jobs is responsible for 70 or 80 percent of all learning. How can you create an organizational culture that supports informal learning?
• Learn from experiences: Designing experiential learning activities to fit into classroom activities ensures that learners practice skills. Bringing the real world into the classroom gives learners skills that are required to solve today’s problems. Can you also find ways to take the entire learning group to the site? How can you encourage individual learners and their supervisors to learn from experience?
• Encourage on-the-job assignments: Supervisors have many tools at their disposal: rotational assignments, project-based assignments, and others I’ve mentioned elsewhere in the book. Supervisors decide which developmental assignments will be most beneficial for each employee. As a TD professional, you may need to help supervisors define this important role. How can you coach supervisors to stay in touch with assignments that encourage their employees’ development?

Secret 1: Clearly define the expectations you have for the SME

You need to inform the SMEs of your expectations. At the very least, you should

• Clarify the course objectives and share what learners should be able to do (not just “know”) at the end of the session
• Define the specifics of what the SME needs to contribute
• Identify the timeline in detail and whether there is any flexibility

Clearly communicating your expectations avoids disappointment later.

Secret 2: Use criteria to select SMEs

In his book, SMEs From the Ground Up, Chuck Hodell recommends that SME selection should include an interview based on content and personal characteristics. During your discussions and interviews, clarify SMEs’ professional perspectives. Discuss and review what motivates them, concerns they have about the task, how they feel about the added responsibilities, and any issues they may have with their department.

You should identify criteria that will be helpful in selecting SMEs, such as:

• How recent and thorough the SME’s experience is to the content
• Their personal characteristics, such as their communication, confidence, enthusiasm, and patience

Secret 3: Ease new SMEs into their roles

Your training program is a new job for SMEs. Consider what you would do if you were training new hires for any job. You could offer a train-the-trainer program or ask them to observe someone. Use some of the following ideas to ease them into their new roles.

Secret 4: Tap into the SME’s expertise

You can be helpful before a training event by creating and providing the SME with guidance. Experts and leaders can be trained to be better teachers and coaches. You can begin by providing tools, training, and support, which could take the form of a short handout or booklet of tips. You will be helpful if you

• Help them remember what it was like when they first learned the subject.
• Review the material to ensure that they aren’t trying to squeeze too much content into too short of a time.
• Provide ideas about how to be an effective trainer, such as to arrive early, establish rapport, use activities instead of lecture, and tell stories.

Don’t assume that the SME will enjoy icebreakers, games, or other tools you use as a trainer. They may consider them a waste of time or find them uncomfortable — even humiliating.

Build a useful tool kit for your SMEs, including things such as a list of acronym meanings, a simple ADDIE flowchart, a list of active learning methods, a room-setup diagram, and a list of additional resources.

Secret 5: Adapt your style

Face it: You need SMEs more than they need you. They already have a successful job doing what they love. Why should they put themselves on the line to be evaluated by you and employees? A positive SME relationship reduces stress, saves time, and increases productivity. These lead to pride in work for both of you. Build the relationship before you need it. Be respectful of their expertise and dedication to their goals. If you show an interest in their area of expertise, they are more likely to respect yours. One of the most important things you can do is to respect their time. Develop a solid relationship with your SMEs. Adapt to your SMEs’ preferences by

• Eliminating all jargon
• Choosing their communication method preference
• Communicating when they prefer to communicate
• Working with their due dates and deadlines

Secret 6: Provide timely feedback and appreciation

Do you get too many “thank yous”? Too many “atta boys”? Too many words of gratitude? I didn’t think so. Find ways to make your SMEs a part of your team with a clear guidance at the start, support throughout, and feedback or thank you at the end. Remember to show appreciation. Here are some ways to provide feedback and appreciation:

• Identify concerns that may have been observed during the training event.
• Tap into the SME’s expertise to create next steps.
• Celebrate with a personal note from you to the SME’s supervisor.
• Include SMEs in all team celebrations, especially a final celebration.
• Create a feedback form that includes criteria about facilitation and knowledge skills.

Organizations and employees share the responsibility for creating a supportive learning environment. Talent development functions can take the lead and act as ambassadors to drive shared responsibility between employees and the organization. In many instances, you will need to deliver learning through others, especially subject matter experts. You can ensure that SMEs are successful and that employees learn. It’s a big job, but TD professionals can do it. Part of that role is to help everyone understand that the world of work has changed, and we all have new roles for development. As Will Rogers said, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.”