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Archive for February, 2010

New Frontiers of Learning

February 23rd, 2010 by Steve Barry

In our previous post, Elizabeth Griep, Forum’s Advanced Workplace Learning Practice Leader, addressed webinar questions on the “Virtual Classroom.”  In this post, she is back to share her insights on more questions.  The theme this time is “Learning beyond the Classroom.”

Though Elizabeth covers many facets of learning beyond the classroom, this topic is huge and extends beyond these questions.  We’d like to hear about your experiences as well.  To share your thoughts, experiences, and questions:

Do you include informal learning in your curriculums?

“Informal learning” is a term that’s gaining currency in the L&D world.  It’s used in several ways.  Because “informal” can sometimes imply “accidental,” we prefer the term “integrated learning.”  Integrated learning is one of the three contexts for learning:  event-based, sustained, and integrated – and takes place in the midst of the work.   The trick is to make learning informal in the sense that people seize opportunities to learn as they arise in everyday situations, but intentional in the sense that the learning isn’t left to chance.

Since the early ’90s, we’ve built integrated learning opportunities into many of our curricula.  Today we’re experimenting with other types of integrated-learning methods, including:

  • Facilitators helping to run business meetings or “clinics” in which skills and strategies are intentionally applied to business problems
  • Arranging yearlong organizationwide conversations on a topic or strategy, using webinars and social-media tools
  • Setting up peer-to-peer coaching systems
  • Equipping leaders to be true coaches and cultivators of learning on the job

What are you doing in your organization to “formalize” informal learning?

How often did participants check in and report on their progress (in the networked learning approach)?  What was the pace, timing, and duration of this part of the solution?

Participants were not “required” to follow any interaction schedule, since learning in this way entails some desire on the part of the learner to pull information.  We did provide them with some general guidelines and advice for scheduling their time, so that they would not find themselves rushing to complete weekly assignments and applications at the last minute.

Participants must receive quick responses to their discussion posts early in the learning.  We set a guideline for the facilitator:  Respond to posts daily by 8 P.M. (in the facilitator’s local time zone).  We were able to tell how participants were progressing by monitoring the pace of the discussion.  When some appeared to fall behind, we picked up the telephone or sent a private e-mail to check on their progress.

Is participation in the networking site (for example, blogging) a mandatory element of the networked learning program?

Yes.  We do help people to get comfortable with participating in the networking site by making easy blogging/discussion assignments at the beginning of the learning stream and by providing tips and techniques for effectively using the tools.

How do companies reward business-related virtual learning at home?

This is a multifaceted question.  Answers may be influenced by local labor laws or union regulations.  Employees need to be given time to participate in virtual learning just as they are given time to participate in traditional classroom learning.  Virtual learning time is significantly less, because the employee is not re-locating to a different city or even a training room across campus.  Managers play an important role in rewarding learning, regardless of the environment, by building learning into performance-management processes, recognizing accomplishments, and supporting employees in taking time for learning.

A key for successful workplace learning is supervisor involvement.  This often is a problem.  What proven measures did you take in order to ensure supervisors’ active support?

Virtual classrooms provide unique opportunities to involve supervisors.  Requiring them to serve as guest speakers or participate in key business discussions at key points in the learning is an effective technique.  In the CWT example that Barb shared, the primary audience is managers and supervisors.  We involved senior managers and directors in a steering committee in the design phase.  The senior managers also led kickoff events for their teams, and many of them participated in the first session of each learning stream.  As with all learning, manager support is critical; therefore, the supervisor’s manager must also support his or her engagement by tying it to key performance metrics.

I often wish that technology could provide a magic solution for this systemic problem.  It continues to come back to “you get what you measure.”  There is no better way to measure learning than to integrate it with performance management.

What percentage of the employees participated in the blog or discussion area?  What is the breakout for each generational group?

One hundred percent of the employees participated in the blog/discussion, since it was designed into the approach as an assignment.  We have not looked specifically at generational participation in blogs to this point, but you raise a very good question.  The research on learning-approach preference indicates that, once people know how to connect (for example via chat, blog, or discussion thread), you can get them to engage if you provide enough value for them.  My observation in the last year has been that it tends to depend more on participants’ general type (introvert/extrovert) and their comfort with technology than it does on generation.  We will be doing more extensive research into this in the next 4 months, so keep checking back for new insights.

How much more time are facilitators spending on leading learning beyond the classroom than on leading traditional classroom training?  Is it sustainable?

In the networked classroom (one that uses social media and virtual classroom tools) we have found that scheduling time is critical for both the facilitator and the participant.  It helps to establish a rhythm, set expectations for response timing, and generally make sure that people don’t get overwhelmed by the interactivity.

In the course of a 4-week networked learning session (the equivalent of 2 days—or 16 hours—of traditional classroom session) we found that facilitators spent an average of 18 hours engaged with participants. Factor in travel time and overall facilitator time investment in learning beyond the classroom usually decreases.

The question of sustainability is interesting.    Many universities offer distance learning with quite a lot of interaction between participants and educators, so I do believe ours is a sustainable model.

What metrics did you use to measure progress/success?

In the CWT case we described, we used post-session reviews to collect Level 1 (satisfaction) and Level II (knowledge) data.  Level III (application) data was collected in debriefs of application assignments.  We have not collected Level IV (ROI) results so far.

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The Virtual Classroom

February 19th, 2010 by Steve Barry

Wow, people are interested in the new frontiers of workplace learning.  Really, really interested.  As luck would have it, those new frontiers are where Forum is going!  So, let’s go.

As we like to do, we’ll use this blog space to answer questions from our recent webinar on advanced workplace learning.    The questions fell into one of  two categories: those on virtual classroom (this blog post), and those on learning beyond the classroom (next post).  Special thanks to which Elizabeth Griep, Forum’s Practice Leader of Advanced Workplace Learning, for her insightful answers to these questions.

We also want to hear from you on these topics.  Please add your own comments, and come to our LinkedIn page to discuss the questions that seem to be at the root of all of the other questions:

  • What are the most effective ways to increase people’s intent to learn?
  • How are soft skills best learned in virtual classrooms?

Question#1: How do you use virtual classrooms for skill building?  In an effort to keep learning costs down, how do you recommend teaching salespeople skills in a virtual classroom, when part of the learning includes body language that salespeople would encounter?

Ideally, we include some in-person practice and feedback sessions in a virtual solution.  For example, a subset of virtual classroom group members who are co-located with a coach or manager might do some “real” practice and get feedback.  We might also use standard conferencing technologies, as many sales conversations take place over the phone.

In the cases in which fewer than three people are co-located, we have had some success using webcam technology either via Adobe Connect (our preferred platform) or Skype.  With Adobe Connect we put people in breakouts that leverage real-time webcam video.  They then practice and give feedback.  .  What tools and techniques are you using in your organizations to effectively develop “soft skills” in a virtual environment?

Question #2: Do you offer virtual classroom training for sales reps?

We do.  Most of our traditional classroom offerings can be delivered using a virtual classroom approach.

Question #3: Can you give an example of how breakout rooms work in virtual classrooms?

We use breakout rooms in a virtual environment very much as we use them with a traditional classroom—for small-group work and practice.  It has been interesting to observe the similarity of behaviors in virtual and traditional breakout rooms:  Participants arrive, chat a bit to get to know one another, play a bit with tools, then get down to the work.  The facilitator can “visit” the virtual breakout rooms to check in on progress and can make announcements to all rooms, providing time checks and additional instructions using a broadcast feature.  At the end of a breakout, small groups return to the “main room,” where the facilitator runs a debrief—taking the large group into each breakout room in turn to view the work of the small groups.

Question #4: What type of technology platforms are you using for these webinars/virtual classrooms—especially with the video component?

We currently use Adobe Connect, whose Flash-based platform increases the reliability of video, screen sharing, and functionality on a global basis.  In our virtual classrooms we conduct breakouts, run multiple web cameras for participants and the facilitator, share documents, and show Flash-based video.  We have also found that it’s important to be flexible with technology platforms, as some organizations have their own platforms or preferred technologies (LMSs, web-conferencing systems, and so on).  And new technologies are rolling out almost monthly.  The key is knowing what functionality is required for the learning to be effective and then engaging facilitators who can work effectively in this environment.

Question #5: You said that engagement is increased by 80 percent when you put participants (in addition to presenters) on video.  How have you managed this in large groups?

We have not used video in groups larger than 15.  Not everyone may be on webcam in every session, but when people can be seen by others (even if they are seen in only a very small screen area!) they tend to do less multi-tasking and become more engaged in conversations.  When participant webcams have been unavailable, we have put up photos to encourage personal connection between participants.  Using video is not the only way to increase engagement; what creative things have you done to ensure that participants stay engaged?

Question #6: Did people join virtual classrooms from their desks, or were they required to be away from their normal work environments?

Participants joined from various locations including home offices, airports, office cubicles, and conference rooms.  Many who joined from an open-floor-plan environment (for example customer-service employees) found it less distracting to move to a conference room or private office instead.

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Strategic Speed: Behind the Scenes

February 3rd, 2010 by Steve Barry

We’ve discovered the keys to speed of strategy execution, and they’re not what you might think:

  • Clarity: Shared, clear understanding of your situation and direction
  • Unity: Wholehearted agreement on the merits of that direction and the need to work together to move ahead
  • Agility: Willingness to turn and adapt quickly while keeping strategic goals in mind

These three concepts form the core model of strategic speed.   Business leaders have responded favorably to the model’s simplicity and accuracy.  But it didn’t come that easily to us.

We originally talked about “celerity” as a key to strategic speed.  For those of you born after 1896, celerity means “rapidity of motion or action.”  We eventually decided against including celerity in the model for a few reasons:

  1. It sounded like celery.  Good for soup, not for business.
  2. No one knew what the heck it meant.
  3. If we used such old-fashioned language, we feared we might have to grow handlebar mustaches, use subtitles, and walk around really fast like people in old-time movies.

All valid reasons.  But the final straw surfaced when we analyzed our case studies deeply and realized that tactics like urgency and tight timelines create “rapidity of motion,” but do not necessarily increase value over time.  Since celerity doesn’t do both (reduce time to value and increase value over time), it is not a key to strategic speed.  And that, friends, is a look at how close we came to bringing celerity back.

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