1. Pedaling Towards Performance Hal Christensen Christensen/Roberts Solutions ISPI Conference – Vancouver, BC April 14, 2005

2. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Moving Towards Performance ISPI From Performance and Instruction To Performance Improvement

3. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Moving Towards Performance Instruction is NOT the goal. Performance is.

4. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Goal Which is the more important goal for your organization? oHaving highly trained employees? oHaving employees who perform with a high level of competence and productivity?

5. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Dilemma Today’s employees have access to a much greater number of well-managed training courses than ever before BUT There is little evidence that this has had significant impact on their competence, performance or productivity. WHY?

6. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Dilemma Today’s organizations have squeezed as much cost as they can from their training budgets BUT There has been little corresponding decrease, if any, in the cost of bringing workers up to competent performance. WHY?

7. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost With little or no training or support, the cost of incompetence is unacceptably high. Incompetence Costs Trial & Error Searching Asking Fixing Mistakes

8. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost With training courses, the cost of incompetence is reduced but not eliminated. Incompetence Costs

9. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost With training courses, however, the cost of lost productivity time spent in training is significant. Incompetence Costs Time spent in training

10. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost In the face of a growing information overload, how effective can the training course model be? Incompetence Costs Time spent in training

11. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost As our customers increasingly demand self-service access to our resources, how effective can the training course model be? Incompetence Costs Time spent in training

12. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Cost of Competent Performance Business Cost Training Cost The goal is to drive the costs of incompetence and lost productivity towards zero. Incompetence Training Time

13. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Doing It Right We need to find approaches that will maximize ROI by driving down the Cost of Competent Performance: oThe cost of incompetence + oThe cost of employees’ non-productive learning time

14. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Solution

15. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Training Wheels How do they work? oLock the training wheels onto the bike oPut the child on the bike oShow her how to pedal and steer oLet her ride oShe learns as she rides, letting the training wheels keep her balanced oRemove the wheels when she is ready—and steady

16. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Training Wheels oCreate a work environment/interface that will prevent or greatly reduce the chance for error. oAllow learning to occur in the act of doing rather than prior to doing. oAllow learning to occur implicitly rather than through explicit training.

17. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Demonstration IRS 1099r – Step-by-Step Guide http://www.crsol.com/dotproject/launch_activeguide.htm

18. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Training Wheels In the demonstration: o Where does the learning take place? o When does the learning take place? o When does the learning start? o How does the learning happen? o Is there more or less learning? o Are there more or fewer errors? o When is competence achieved? o Where are the cost savings?

19. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Training Wheels How can we apply the Training Wheels concept to other situations?

20. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Demonstrations Real Estate Application Training Toolkit

21. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Next Step Can we motorize the training wheels in order to focus even more clearly on performance?

22. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem In a race, the goal is to get from here:

23. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem To there:

24. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem And the performance can be measured: Men’s 100-meter dash: 9.78 seconds

25. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem Who will achieve the goal more quickly and with fewer errors? This sprinter?

26. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem Or this hurdler?

27. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem What is the impact of the hurdles? Women’s 100-meter dash: 10:49 seconds Women’s 100-meter hurdle: 12.61 seconds

28. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Solving the Business Problem What is the business solution? oGive the hurdler more training oReduce the hurdles

29. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Performance Hurdles Webster: A hurdle is an artificial barrier over which racers must leap.

30. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Performance Hurdles For Human Performance Technologists: A hurdle is an artificial barrier that stands between workers and the job they want to do, an obstacle they must learn to overcome in order to do that job.

31. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Performance Hurdles Because of these hurdles, Workers in most American factories spend just 20 percent of their time making things. Supervisors spend no more than 20 percent of their time doing things that appear in their job descriptions. Knowledge workers spend just 20 percent of their time adding core value… Jay Cross and Tony O’Driscoll “Workflow Learning Gets Real,” Training Magazine

32. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Performance Hurdles And training courses themselves are part of the hurdle. oHow much of your organization’s L&D efforts and budget are devoted to creating “hurdle training”? oHow much of your organization’s operations budget is spent in non- productive training time?

33. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions An Analogy: Frogger

34. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions An Analogy: Frogger How can we best meet the goal of getting the frogs to the other side of the road? oDeliver an extensive frogger training curriculum to teach the frogs how to navigate the obstacles? oBuild a bridge across the road?

35. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Demonstration IRS 1099r – E-Z Path http://www.crsol.com/dotproject/launch_activeguide.htm

36. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Training Wheels In the demonstration: o Did learning take place? o Was learning necessary? o Was competent performance achieved? o Where are the cost savings?

37. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Power of Training Wheels Training wheels can maximize performance efficiency by oEmbedding learning opportunities into the work activity,

38. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Power of Training Wheels Training wheels can maximize performance efficiency by oEmbedding learning opportunities into the work activity, oMaking learning a by-product of carrying out the work activity,

39. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions The Power of Training Wheels Training wheels can maximize performance efficiency by oEmbedding learning resources into the work activity, oMaking learning a by-product of carrying out the work activity, oWhere possible, making learning irrelevant to completing the work activity.

40. © Christensen/Roberts Solutions Summary Which represents a better investment for your organization: oCreating as much training as possible for the least amount of training investment? oChanging the work environment to enable employees to perform competently in as little training time as possible?

41. Pedaling Towards Performance Hal Christensen Christensen/Roberts Solutions Hchristensen@crsol.com 718-793-8935