2009 Best Practices in Workplace Learning and Performance Executive Panel

Central Iowa Chapter of ASTD celebrated their annual 2009 Workplace Learning and Performance Awards Ceremony and the Executive Panel Discussion on Friday, January 15, 2010 at Nationwide. The afternoon began with an Executive Panel answering questions posed to them by the chapter’s Past-President Paul Smith who is a Senior Training Analyst at Principal Financial Group.

The order of the Executive Panel from left to right is:

• Debbie Ladehoff, Human Resources Coordinator from Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company
• Erin Barfels, Chief Human Resources Officer from ARAG
• Judy Bohrofen, Vice President from NCMIC Group, Inc.
• Marci Chickering, Senior Vice President of Human Resources from Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

You will find some of the questions asked of the panelists in the comments section.

Announcing the 2009 WLP Winners!

Congratulations to the following 2009 Workplace Learning and Performance Award Winners!

Coaching and Mentoring Programs

Farmers Mutual Hail

Training as a Business Strategy

ARAG

Technology

Nationwide Insurance: Nationwide Learning Solutions

Most Innovative Training Solution

CDS Global: The CDS Global Training Team

You are invited to join in the event that celebrates these best practices, and provides you with the information and tools to help you integrate these best practices into your own organization as the winners will provide a breakout session with information, dialogue, tools and techniques, and time for your questions:

The 2009 WLP Awards and Executive Panel

Friday, January 15, 2010

Location: Allied Insurance, 1100 Locust Street, Downtown Des Moines

Time: 1:00-4:30pm

Agenda

1:00-1:10: Welcome and Opening Remarks

1:15-2:15 Panel Discussion: Working Collaboratively as Leaders in the Industry

Guest Panelists Include the Following:

Judy Bohrofen, NCMIC

Erin Barfels, ARAG

Debbie Ladehoff, Farmers Mutual Hail

Marci Chickering, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

2:25-3:15 Breakout Session 1 (select one):

Coaching and Mentoring Programs, presented by Debbie Ladehoff and Rowena Crosbie

and

Training as a Business Strategy, presented by Jen Goemann and Erin Barfels

3:25-4:15 Breakout Session 2 (select one):

Technology, presented by Rick Howard

and

Most Innovative Training Solution, presented by Ruth Anderson and the Global Training Team

4:20-4:30: Close and Thank You

Cost to attend is only $45 for members, and $65 for nonmembers. Registration can be found at www.astdiowa.org

Sign up today to guarantee your seat at this event you won't want to miss!

WLP Deadline Extension - Due to Today!

Due to the historic winter storm last week, the deadline for WLP Nominations was extended to 5pm on December 14th.

Whether it's a sign to you to get a nomination in after all, or simply a relief from a stressful week, this is your chance to be recognized. You can find the application at www.astdiowa.org.

Good luck!

Nominations are Open for the 2009 WLP Awards!

You work hard. Your team works hard.

You deserve to be recognized.

That's why the ASTD Central Iowa Workplace Learning & Performance (WLP) Awards were created--to give back to those who give so much toward the training and development industry.

Nominations are now open for the Second Annual WLP Awards. Visit www.astdiowa.org to download an application and to register to be there for the big ceremony. Visit the beginning of this blog for photos and commentary on the 2008 event.

Categories for awards are:
Training as a Business Strategy
Measurement
Technology
Coaching and Mentoring Programs
Most Innovative Training Solution
President’s Award (New this year!)

Winners are provided with a beautiful award anyone would want to display, and will be providing a 50 minute Best Practices presentation for the audience on their winning submission. Two complimentary tickets to the event are provided for winners.

Also, be sure to register your team and others from your organization now! Registration ends January 11th and seats are limited. Cost to attend is only $45 for ASTD or SHRM members.

Slides from Project Mgmt Workshop

Dan Topf promised a copy of his slides for you at the Project Management workshop.

You should be able to access them through this link. Enjoy!


http://pandclearnandperform.fugent.com/vpvm/?ID=AC000E4B-9E96-4081-8271-DE0101B61592

Project Management Recap

Friday’s quarterly program “Project Management for Instructional Designers and Human Resources Development” was an exciting learning experience as to how learning and development professionals can add basic project management skills to enhance programs they are responsible for overseeing.

Dan Topf began this highly interactive program with the basic project management skills that we can use to develop programs while comparing them to other instructional design and project management designs that are commonly used today. We actually developed a complete program using project management skills.

The afternoon was filled with seven different sessions that people could attend in order to get their questions answered and learn more about a project that they are currently responsible for completing. These seven sessions included Stakeholders Are Committed, Business Benefits Are Realized, Work and Schedule are Predictable, Project Team Is High Performing, Scope is Realistic and Managed, Risks Are Mitigated, and Instructional Design Special Issues. Each session was given four times, with each round lasting 20 minutes. Participants could select up to four different topics to attend. Coaching was also available for people to talk about issues they have with their current projects.

This all could not have happened as smoothly as it did without the help of the presenters and volunteers with project management experience from ASTD and Project Management Institute – Central Iowa Chapter.

Keep Change at Bay

An interesting topic came up during the October 9, ASTD Chapter meeting on Marketing Your Training. It was the topic of change and how we can keep our projects on track. Anytime we, in the learning and development field, are working on a new project we run across changes that sometimes are never ending. Change is something that may not be completely eliminated, but it can be controlled. Part of project management teaches us to “nip it in the bud” before it occurs. One technique I have used is to create a plan of action that is approved by those closely involved with the project (stakeholders.) It helps to create this plan of action with input by the decision-making stakeholders directly involved with the project.

You can learn more about how to manage change while working on a project during the Central Iowa Chapter ASTD quarterly event "Project Management for Training Designers and Human Resource Development" held on November 6, 2009.

See www.astdiowa.org for details on the workshop.

In the mean time, here are some questions we'd like to discuss with your comments posted below:
· What are some of the techniques you use to help keep your projects on track?
· What makes these techniques successful or why are these techniques not successful?

Please feel free to add your comments about this topic.

Be Excited! Project Mgmt Workshop on Nov. 6th!

These are the learning objectives of the half-day workshop from 8am-Noon on November 6th. Be sure to sign up and stay for the afternoon session, 12:30-4:30pm. It includes hands-on application, one-on-one coaching by a project management expert, and breakout sessions to further develop on the skills from the morning session.

(Please note! Location has been changed to Tero International., 1840 NW 118th Street, Clive, IA 50325).

You are invited to leave your comments on this posting and share with us the objective you're most excited to learn and why.

1. Define your training and development project using commonly used project management terms, concepts, and principles

2. Reconcile popular models of project management, instructional systems design, product development, and human performance technology to inform you on your unique training and development project life cycle

3. Plan your training and development project using a robust project planning procedure

4. Select and apply proven project management tools to your training and development projects based on your projects unique needs

5. Assess your training and development projects’ health using the Seven Keys to Success

6. Draft an action plan for your training and development project

Step It Up! The Extras from September 25th Workshop

Included in this posting:

1. Favorite Quotes
2. Other Session Notes
3. Career Factbook from Bersin

Favorite Quotes

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. (1 vote) Eleanor Roosevelt

You cannot know a person until you crawl into their skin and walk in their shoes. Author Unknown

What is insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. (6 votes) Albert Einstein

Respect one another. Don’t expect from one another. Author Unknown

A problem is an opportunity in work clothes. Henry J Kaiser

Miracles occur in the unforeseen moments that even your imagination misses sometimes. Author Unknown

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (2 votes) Jesus (Matthew 7 vs 12 and Luke 6 vs 31), Wolfgang Mieder, echoed numerous times through history

A leader without followers is only taking a walk. (1 vote) Stever Williams

Help is not help until it is given, so turn your intentions to help into acts of help. We judge ourselves by our intentions, but others judge us by our actions. Lee J. Colan
(6 votes)

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away. (2 votes) Hilary Cooper and George Carlin

Enjoy the journey, not the destination. (2 votes) Joel Osteen

A person’s a person, no matter how small. (4 votes) Theodor Seuss Geisel– Horton Hears a Who

There are only two ways of living your life. One as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. (2 votes ) Albert Einstein

The unexamined life is not worth living. (1 vote) Socrates

We don’t change as much as become more of who we already are. (8 votes) Marcus Buckingham

Life is the process of exchanging time for memories. Author Unknown

If you pit a good performer against a bad system, the system will win almost every time. Geary Rummler and Alan Brache

Great quotes from great leaders – 3 minute inspirational movie with music! http://www.greatquotesmovie.com/


Other session notes

Shared Ideas to Work More Strategically Despite the Challenges Present

· Look into a project management system to allocate resources
· Tie what we’re doing to the overall business strategy and view the business plan to align our activities
· Networking with other groups to build relationships and communicate why you’re there
· Have a leader in the performance function who is strategic and will “take the hits” that come with asking questions
· Finding the early wins
· Find out what business results are causing them pain

Team Ideas to Increase Business Acumen

· Subscribe to industry email update
· Network – use the casual environment
· Use the Harvard Review Case studies to sharpen strategic thinking skills
· Inviting guests to your meetings to help interpret the business data
· Leverage an opportunity to work together
· Job shadowing
· Industry certification (outside of Learning, HR) for the industry/field you support


Career Factbook from Bersin

Bersin research continues to contribute to the knowledge base of the field. This recently published Career Factbook is particularly helpful for plotting your course and learning about emerging trends.

See the document: http://www.bersin.com/uploadedFiles/Bersin/Website_(Pages)/Resources/Linda/062909_FB_CareerFactbook_JB_Final.pdf

Most notable to the workshop on Friday:

· Business Acumen is continuing to be development need for us and is essential to assist us in developing credibility

· Groundbreaking projects and the desire to work them shows as a key goal for managers, directors and senior executives, though notably senior execs have as top 3 goal to reduce their hours

· “Business in” projects are a path toward credibility. The “Learning and HR Out” projects even with a good plan tend to marginalize the department.



Please let me know where your internal client relationship triumphs and challenges are and what questions you have – it’s my favorite topic!

Still to come are electronic copies of slides and the tools/forms shared in the workshop.

Nancy Q. Smith

Step It Up! Program Preview, September 25th

Step It Up!

Moving from Solution Provider to Performance Consultant and Strategic Partner

Imagine, you’re calling key consulting client. Her assistant answers the phone.

“Could you hold please? She may have left for her next meeting.”

The assistant places the call on hold and walks to your client’s office. “Do you want to take a call from Ken, with people development?” Your client shakes her head, “Tell Ken to check in with me next year. I’ll call sooner if I need help with anything.”

“Hello. I’m back. I was able to catch her on her way out the door. She asked me to have you check in with her in mid-2010. She said she’d contact you sooner if she had a project for you.”

What do responses like this indicate? Of course, your client could be busy. She also could be facing budget issues. But the lack of interest in getting together indicates something bigger.

Primarily, what this indicates is a lack of value placed by the client in the relationship. Why? There are two likely drivers:
1) Lack of Access, Credibility and Trust with the client
2) Client perception of the consultant as a tactical order taker or solution provider rather than a performance consultant and strategic partner; therefore the conversation you were planning to have was not business relevant to that client

Planning and managing client relationships is an essential practice of internal and external consultants. Successful client partnerships require that consultants establish Access, Credibility and Trust.
· Access: Your ability to gain “face time” with true clients
· Credibility: Your clients confidence in your capability to deliver results
· Trust: Your clients confidence in your reliability and integrity to achieve results
The ACT model, developed by Jim and Dana Robinson, represents the success practices of “star” performance consultants and strategic business partners.

Access is where relationships begin. Yet, one area that presents challenges to consultants in working to establish stronger client partnerships is gaining access to the “true” clients for an initiative. Often, we discover upon reflection that the types of people we have been working with don’t meet the client test. In this case, they are contacts, not clients.

What’s do I mean by the client test? Well, true clients:
· Own/are accountable for achieving the business results supported by the project
· Have authority to obtain resources and make decisions
· Are within the chain of command of the employee group(s) whose performance is to be impacted

Ultimately, we must gain access to the true client(s) for an initiative if we’re to achieve business results. The good news is that there are proven techniques to gain access to the true clients in ways that work with existing contact relationships.

Credibility is comprised of your knowledge of the organization and industry as well as your knowledge of HR, Learning and OD. These two knowledge areas should be in balance. There are proven ways to develop in these areas. However, as Jim and Dana have reminded us in their book, Performance Consulting, what really matters is not what you know; What really matters is what you do with what you know. That’s how you develop credibility. And you need a plan to do so. Proven techniques include delivering on your commitments, presenting business cases with solutions you offer, and showing shared accountability for business results.

Credibility and Trust are inter-related. Trust is confidence in how you achieve results. And yes, it is possible to be credible without being trustworthy. Trust is both a measure of integrity as well as accountability for delivering the right results in the right way to benefit the business. Key trust building activities include keeping client confidentiality, showing joint accountability and ownership, as well as operating with the utmost integrity consistent with organization values. One simple way you can build trust is to ask for permission prior to forwarding an email. This demonstrates to your client that you value the relationship and seek to protect their reputation.

Whether you are a performance consultant or a strategic partner, building Access Credibility and Trust is vital to your career success. ACT is one component of the fully developed model for strategic partnering and performance consulting that Jim and Dana pioneered now offered through Exemplary Performance.

Note: This content is adapted by Nancy Q. Smith of Exemplary Performance from work © 1995 and 2009 by Jim and Dana Gaines Robinson and their Firm Partners In Change. Exemplary Performance purchased the intellectual property of Jim and Dana in 2008 and gratefully acknowledges their contributions to HR, Learning and OD. Exemplary Performance is the exclusive provider of the workshops and services based on Jim and Dana’s work. Nancy Q. Smith is Director, Strategic Partnering, for Exemplary Performance.

Want ROI Certification?

Don't miss this rare opportunity to get your ROI Institute Certification right here in Des Moines, IA! Click on the links for more information about the ROI Institute Certification Workshop that will be located at Nationwide Insurance in downtown Des Moines.

ROI Institute certification program information http://www.roiinstitute.net/learning-opportunities/certification/

ROI Institute event details and registration link http://www.roiinstitute.net/learning-opportunities/certification/5-day-course/2009/08/17/roi-certification-nationwide/

Des Moines session flyer and certification overview documents http://drop.io/ROIcertificationDSM#

Recap on Collaborative Program

The feedback was positive from this intense program. The morning kicked off with Succession Planning, presented by Dan Schneider from EDGE/Schneider Consulting Group. He kept the audience engaged with stories of personal experience, models that made sense of complicated ideas, and personal application at each table.

The group of Central Iowa ASTD and Central Iowa SHRM members then broke for an hour lunch, mingling, sharing their succession planning stories, and looking forward to the afternoon session.

Ray Weinberg carried out the afternoon session on Metrics and ROI. He walked among the participants and set the stage for why this topic is so important, and then challenged us with the tools, equations, and models to help make us more effective in this skill set.

ASTD and SHRM are both hard at work determining the topic and speaker(s) for next year's collaborative program. If you're interested in helping to coordinate this event, please contact Jennifer Chittenden at programming@astdiowa.org.

Photos from the Succession Planning and ROI/Measurement Workshop

Dan Schneider on Succession Planning.

Gadgets, Games and Gizmos Recap

What a great program it was! We all had some takeaways from the day, some interesting and maybe even surprising statistics and facts, and a new lens from which to view generations and learning. You're encouraged to post a comment about your experience at this program if you attended, as well as post questions for others if you were unable to make it.

Some photos from the day. Enjoy!

Here is the audience for the Workshop

Eveyone having a good time!