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Expanding your Horizon! (Part 1 of 2)
Posted on
02 Aug 2013
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In this 2 part series, we explore why employees ought to expand their
perspectives and how learning can cease if they do not do so. Part 1 covers the
business aspect of expanding your knowledge while Part 2 focuses on people
management and relations.
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who was sounding rather despondent over
the phone. He shared, “I’m not seeing much growth in the organization nowadays.” That
got me a bit perplexed. The person was part of a high growth business unit of a large, well
established and well respected multinational organization in the healthcare industry.
[He’d get direct visibility from the Country Managing Director during marketing
events, recognition from customers in front of his boss, respect from peers, access
to global projects where his inputs would impact strategic decisions for the business
related to marketing, positioning and the like.
Then why the feeling of “not much growth?” Well, he said, there’s just more of the
same now happening for me after three years of being in the organization.
I was completely lost now. Three years is a good time to know the ropes and start
to get noticed by people who matter in a multi billion-dollar organization. Despite
spending a good amount of time to be in an organization, I would argue that growth,
for such a person couldn’t stop or plateau. ]
I probed further, curious to know what was beyond the obvious. He gave examples that
equated growth with learning. So apart from the growth in salary, the recognition and the
role, his learning was not continuing; he was not learning new things.
Imagine the Company’s horror if they were to know such thoughts came from a high
performer! Much has been written by experts on ways and means in which to engage and
motivate employees.
But how can we ensure employees continue to learn something new? How do we define
what ‘new’ means and how often should we be learning something ‘new’? How can we
realize the possibilities of doing something better, even if it is already going well? For
example, how do you make a high performing sales executive reach a higher target, when he
is already overachieving his previous targets?
Part of the solution, to realize an improvement or to learn something new, can lie in active
discussions with various stakeholders across departments to get an understanding that
covers the length and breadth of the organization.
Another can be to understand perspectives of colleagues about you as a person, as well as
to their roles in the company. Eg For a sales executive, achieving and over achieving sales
targets are clear goals. But what impact can over achieving targets have on supply chain?
Does it merit an understanding of the goals and challenges of people in procurement or
customer service, as well ?
Oftentimes, people operate (and hence learn) in silos. Its possible to be a high performer,
yet only operate in close proximity to my supervisor. If you have a team, then possibly
you can include them, but rarely does this collaboration extend beyond your function or
department.
How else do you justify a 3 year old stating he is not learning something new in a 122-yearold company?
It’s time we broaden or expand our Horizon.
9 Steps to Effectively Link Learning with Business
We all have attended multiple training programs, seminars and conferences. At
some point, we would have come across an eLearning program as well. How many
connections or links can we draw between these programs or courses, and our
goals? Did they help us achieve the goals or overcome a major obstacle that would
have prevented us from reaching this goal?
At best, we would have anecdotal answers and at worst, no clue! Ron Ashkenas, in
his Harvard Business Review blog, Translate Training into Results, mentions that
starting with the end in mind ensures you have a clear implementation plan of how
to apply your learning once you get back to work.
Yes, that does effectively define the starting point of what training is required and
how it will help. To insist that participants execute the implementation plans is also
helpful but does that translate into execution?
Typically, any business-originated training program should have at least a 3-month
timeline, if not more. We can also argue that besides a start, why is an end date
required? Learning should be perceived as a continuous process and not a startstop or start-apply-stop event. For three months (and counting), to execute an
implementation plan would also require an alignment with the supervisor – his or
her sponsorship and continuous feedback , else he or she may pull the participant
away from the plan and towards some other business exigency.
Secondly, it’s important for the participant to immediately articulate how he or she
applied his/her learning on the job. Doing so repeatedly does two things:
It re-establishes the importance of what the participant learnt and aids in
reapplication (not just retention)
It also forces the participant to think about the linkage of this application with the
outcome
If I’m in Customer Service, then I must display empathy – internally and to the end
customer. If I consciously capture my application of empathy – such as listening and
paraphrasing what the customer said – I would also understand its impact on the
customer, eventually if not immediately.
Learning something new and application of learning are two sides of the same coin,
yet they are extremely fleeting instances. A single statement in a conversation with
a stakeholder can be highly influential so my ability to capture that statement will
help me to understand its impact and re-apply in some other context as well.
For an executive in Customer Service to capture such contextual application
repeatedly will help him or her draw multiple links between learning and business
impact. 1 or 2 links may be anecdotal and hence subject to individual interpretation.
But multiple links not only suggest patterns, they increase the probability of
someone actually endorsing the link based on observation.
Hence, we believe to deliver Business Results & Improve Learning Outcomes,
participants must
ß start with the end in mind
ß state clearly what learning they intend to improve and what is the required
business impact
ß not limit the timeline post a training program since application of learning can
broaden their perspective
ß align with the supervisor to ensure continued support
ß capture every instance of application
ß actively engage the supervisor to share perspectives on their application – what
is going well, what can be better
ß get the supervisor (and others) to endorse the application and improvement of
learning
ß link each application of learning with an action plan
ß describe how the application enabled the progress (and completion) of the
action plan
Sounds like a lot! It is if the implementation plans are not business specific. If they
are, then its “Business As Usual…but with Extraordinary Results!”
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