Strategic Partners Inc.

Defining Measurable Behavior: A Closer Look at the Entrepreneurship Competency

SPI Team — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:50:53 +0000

To Measure Learning Impact for Competencies, First Define Specific Desired Behaviors

Previously, I covered the importance of identifying the set of observable behaviors that would indicate successful application of a leadership development learning program. I also pointed out that these behaviors typically fall squarely between the traditional concerns of the Learning and Development organization (which focuses on the accomplishment of appropriate learning objectives) and the realm of Performance Management, which looks at sets of behaviors (often referred to as competencies). I concluded by saying that, unless specific desired behaviors resulting from participation in leadership development programs are clearly defined it is virtually impossible to measure the behavior and impact of these high visibility and typically expensive programs!

To address this common deficiency I suggested that Learning and Development professionals should initiate discussions with Performance Management and senior organizational leaders to identify and define these behaviors as a component of each leadership development course or program.

To illustrate this concept, I will explain this process of identifying and measuring some specific, intermediary, observable (Level 3) behaviors using an example from the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) used by the U.S. government. (For more on the ECQs visit http://www.opm.gov/ses/recruitment/ecq.asp)

Example: The Entrepreneurship Competency in the U.S. Government ECQs

The ECQs consist of five essential qualifications that the U. S. Office of Personnel Management has defined, based on current research of effective leaders in successful organizations. The five ECQs are 1) Leading Change; 2) Leading People; 3) Results Driven; 4) Business Acumen; and 5) Building Coalitions. Each of the ECQs in turn consists of a set of competencies. Unfortunately for those seeking to measure the impact of learning programs, these competencies are typically complex and intertwined behavior sets, and they can be difficult to observe and measure changes over a short period of time. To arrive at the clearly observable individual behaviors we wish to measure, we have to go further.

To illustrate this process of defining specific observable behaviors in order to measure the impact of learning programs, let’s look at the competency called “Entepreneurship,” which is included in ECQ #3, “Results Driven,” as quoted from the web site above:

ECQ #3: Results Driven
Definition: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.

ECQ #3 Competencies
1) Accountability; 2) Customer Service; 3) Decisiveness; 4) Entrepreneurship; 5) Problem Solving; 6) Technical Credibility

Entrepreneurship Definition:
Positions the organization for future success by identifying new opportunities; builds the organization by developing or improving products or services. Takes calculated risks to accomplish organizational objectives.

This definition of the entrepreneurship competency includes behaviors that may be difficult for an organization to observe and measure for each of its leaders. In response to this challenge, we suggest that an organization that wishes to use learning programs to develop the “entrepreneurship” competency within its leadership group should begin by defining specific observable behaviors that demonstrate the application of learning to the entrepreneurship competency. Unfortunately, in our experience working with clients in federal agencies, this is the critical step that is often omitted.

And herein lies the problem: If both the Learning and Development organization and the Performance Management organization fail to connect the dots between learning and performance, it’s very likely that the learners will as well!

Defining Measurable Behaviors to Demonstrate Application of Learning in Entrepreneurship

The challenge then is for the organization to clearly define the connection between the learning program and specific on-the-job behaviors that can be monitored and measured during the appropriate follow-up period for the learning program. For this example, I’ll use two common learning objectives for entrepreneurship programs: 1) openness to new ideas (an attitude); and 2) conceptual problem solving (a skill).

A Leader who accomplishes both objectives should be able to 1) readily embrace new ideas suggested by customers and colleagues and 2) develop conceptual solutions to problems that are not constrained by existing processes, technologies or paradigms. But these valuable, intuitive behavioral outcomes would be difficult to monitor and measure in most organizations. For our example, let’s assume that these behaviors are not typically monitored or measured.

In this case, it becomes necessary to define specific follow-up activities that are introduced in the learning program and utilized to formally monitor and support the implementation of new skills. Here is an example:

Learning Objective #1 (attitude): “Openness to New Ideas”
Tie in to Entrepreneurship Competency: “Positions the organization for future success by identifying new opportunities”
Observable Behavior: Following the program, the participant actively solicits new ideas and maintains a list of “Innovative Ideas.”
Monitoring/Measurement: The participant discusses the list with one or more of the following: a supervisor; staff; learning partner(s); or coach.

Learning Objective #2 (skill): “Conceptual Problem Solving”
Tie in to Entrepreneurship Competency: “Positions the organization for future success by identifying new opportunities”
Observable Behavior: The participant identifies a significant problem within his/her agency and, without regard to the practicality of implementation, describes 2-3 possible solutions that address the problem in innovative ways and lists the potential benefits of each.
Monitoring/Measurement: The participant discusses the innovative ideas with one or more of the following: a supervisor; staff; learning partner(s); or coach.

Measuring Outcomes

Of course, the more the organization formalizes and values these activities, and the more they are integrated into actual work, the more valuable they become. Ideally, the best of these ideas would be selected for implementation and championed as examples of entrepreneurship. These successes can, in turn, be attributed directly to the learning program as business results.

Most importantly, by engaging in this process with organizational leadership and the performance management team, the learning and development team ensures that they are aligned to strategic objectives and that they are measuring and evaluating the success of the programs themselves in a robust and credible manner.

Register for our FREE WEBINAR to learn how you can “Put Hard Numbers on Soft Skills”

About the author:
William Kasper is the Practice Manager for Dashboards and Analytics for PTG International. At PTG he brings to bear a unique blend of knowledge and experience in Learning and Development team management, training evaluation, and in the design and implementation of business performance management solutions. Prior to joining PTG, Mr. Kasper worked for The Advisory Board Company, where he helped some of the country’s most prestigious hospitals and health systems create business performance dashboards and data analytics. His experience as a government contractor includes management of technical training for numerous clients, including Los Angeles County Human Resources, Raytheon, California Department of Transportation and a number of Federal agencies.

Mr. Kasper holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, and has completed additional educational programs at M.I.T. and the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

About PTG:
PTG International provides clients with a range of services and technologies to help them design and implement robust, multi-level training evaluation solutions that are sustainable and cost-effective. Whether providing guidance for a single, mission-critical training program or implementation and management support for an enterprise-wide system coordinating multiple technology platforms (LMS, Performance Management, etc.), PTG strives to help government agencies and private companies accurately measure, monitor and value their investments in learning and development

Putting Hard Numbers on Soft Skills

SPI Team — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:23:15 +0000

Leadership Development Risks and Rewards

In this era of rapid and disruptive change, (technological, economic, generational, etc.), human resource and training organizations stake the future success of their organizations on their ability to develop leaders with a broad range of competencies and skills who can meet the challenges of the times and steer their organizations effectively. In response to this need, the leadership development universe has exploded with varied and complex learning approaches that address strategic alignment, transformational leadership, innovation, emotional intelligence, globalization, etc.

And yet, amidst this explosion of new content and approaches to developing leaders, most organizations possess precious little data to inform them which programs produce results for them and which do not. Without this information, it’s simply impossible to weigh the potential risks and rewards of any program, resulting in decisions based not on evidence, but on faith in a particular management ideology, celebrity leader, or popular book.

The potential rewards of “getting it right” with a program that genuinely responds to the pressing needs of managers, and supports them in addressing the strategic challenges of the day, are compelling. This hope and optimism often rules the day. After all, most trainers are essentially optimists, believing in the in the potential for change, growth, improvement, etc.

But, as optimists, many of us gloss over the real risks involved in making a decision that cannot be verified by data. The risks of wasting time and money are bad enough, but the additional risk of distracting your managerial and leadership team with a program that does not lead to positive, measurable outcomes looms even larger. Worst of all is the risk that many organizations experience: they don’t even know whether their leadership development programs are effective or not!

Measurement and Evaluation of Leadership Programs

According to industry research, the majority of organizations are not able to measure and report on the effectiveness and impact of their leadership development programs. As a result, the utility of these high-visibility, expensive programs naturally gets called into question, especially when resources are relatively scarce, as they are in many sectors of the economy at this time.

The number one reason L&D staff give when for not measuring impact for these programs is simple.

“It’s difficult to know what to measure or how to measure it.”

In many cases, this confusion masks the larger issue, which is that the real desired outcomes of the program have not been identified to begin with!

Between Competencies and Learning Objectives Lies Behavior

Many organizations describe the performance expectations of their leaders as high-level competencies, such as “displays emotional intelligence,” and many leadership learning programs echo the same high level competencies in the their Knowledge/Skills/Attitude –based learning objectives. However, in order to effectively measure the outcomes of such learning programs it’s necessary first to clearly identify the set of observable behaviors that would indicate successful application of the learning program by participants.

Because the desired leadership behaviors are typically not observable in the training context, training professionals can be tempted to dismiss them as belonging to the performance realm, instead of to the learning realm. However, these behaviors are truly located in the middle of the intersection between learning and performance, and in order to accurately evaluate the impact of leadership development programs, the responsibility for these behaviors must be shared by the training organization, performance management and the leaders themselves.

Clearly defining the desired behavioral outcomes of the learning program and establishing the methods for monitoring and measuring them aligns the goals of the training organization with those of learners and supervisors. Moreover it also becomes possible to accurately measure and evaluate the success of the programs themselves in a robust and credible manner.

About the author:

William Kasper is the Practice Manager for Dashboards and Analytics for PTG International. At PTG he brings to bear a unique blend of knowledge and experience in training team management, training evaluation, and in the design and implementation of business performance management solutions. Prior to joining PTG, Mr. Kasper worked for The Advisory Board Company, where he helped some of the country’s most prestigious hospitals and health systems create business performance dashboards and data analytics. His experience as a government contractor includes management of technical training for numerous clients, including Los Angeles County Human Resources, Raytheon, California Department of Transportation and a number of Federal agencies.

Mr. Kasper holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, and has completed additional educational programs at M.I.T. and the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

About PTG:

PTG International provides clients with a range of services and technologies to help them design and implement robust, multi-level training evaluation solutions that are sustainable and cost-effective. Whether providing guidance for a single, mission-critical training program or implementation and management support for an enterprise-wide system coordinating multiple technology platforms (LMS, Performance Management, etc.), PTG strives to help government agencies and private companies accurately measure, monitor and value their investments in learning and development

Reflections on the Diversity Conference

SPI Team — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:06:04 +0000

Embracing a diverse workforce is one of the most pressing organizational development challenges facing industry today. Many people are interested and invested in the Federal Government enhancing organization’s individual capacity to appropriately manage the multicultural workforce. The good news for those invested in this critical issue came a few weeks ago when President Obama signed Executive Order 13171. With this Executive Order comes the expectation that organizations are going to develop Strategic Plans to address diversity. It also provides diversity professionals an opportunity to engage in dialogue about how to take meaningful steps to deal with important issues related to diversity.

Much of the meaningful conversation I had at the conference centered on the challenges people are facing in implementing successful diversity programs, including:

Significant budget challenges
Other organizational priorities that oftentimes occupy the attention of senior executives

Given that landscape, some of the themes for the conference include:

Many different perspectives of diversity in today’s workplace: My assessment is that what’s really important is for us to understand our own biases and appreciate diversity in the largest sense of the word. There is now an opportunity for all the intricate elements of diversity initiatives to come together and leverage our collective perspectives and our collective strengths. We no longer need to continue working without any coordination or working across purposes.
Need to Innovate: Using the same tools, the same resources, or delivering training in the same way and expecting the same results is not likely to produce the changes that are needed. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing but expecting different results. Now is the time to break out of old habits, traditions, and resources and embrace innovation as the key to change.
As I discussed in my breakout session on creating senior leader champions and creating organizational buzz regarding diversity, we need to speak the language of numbers in influencing senior executives; Why? It’s in their interest to support diversity initiatives. It’s critical to measure the effectiveness of diversity initiatives and be able to report its impact. It is essential that we understand the needs of managers and know how to present diversity initiatives in a way that can directly correlate to the organizations priorities.

With this in mind, I have a few questions:

What innovative approaches are you taking to address diversity initiatives?
What are some reasons that you have found senior executives to support diversity initiatives?
What are you doing with your diversity plans that sets priorities, clear objectives, and develops partnerships to provide value added resources in addressing diversity issues?

Eight Key Dimensions to Sustainable Innovation

SPI Team — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:29:01 +0000

Our initial article mentioned taking a systems perspective when it comes to innovation, recognizing that a set of interdependent dimensions comprises one’s innovation capability. The eight dimensions critical to innovation include:

History and Results
Strategy and Leadership
Culture, Communication and Incentives
Infrastructure, Skills, and Resources
Ideation Process
New Product / Service Commercialization
Technology
Program Evaluation and Improvement

Some of these dimensions will seem obvious – Strategy and Leadership, for example – and others not so apparent. To assess your organization’s innovation capability against these eight dimensions, and receive a customizable report comparing your responses to others, click here.

It’s no coincidence that the eight dimensions start with results, the outcome of your innovation efforts. Similar to the old catchphrase, “The past is the best predictor of future performance”, your ability to innovate is enhanced by having an innovation history – both ancient and recent – and by leveraging those successes going forward.

The most critical determinant of innovation success is leadership. And because innovation nearly always challenges the status quo, the need for active leadership is constant. On a formal basis, leaders must develop a strategy for innovation, complete with definition, scope, goals, objectives, and metrics.

Few organizations have the luxury of a culture that encourages risk-taking and views failures as learning opportunities; rather, those who innovate often work “against the grain.” But, culture can be shaped through interventions such as communication and incentives aimed at emphasizing and rewarding the desired behaviors.

Even organizations that make innovation “everyone’s business” must invest in a team to focus the effort, manage the innovation pipeline, and select projects to invest in. Often these teams will serve as an innovation incubator, which requires a range of skills, as well as the resources to conduct research, execute projects, and conduct market experiments.

Much has been made of the idea development process, which attracts attention due to its glitz and glamour. But beyond the brainstorming are a host of other ideation approaches to adopt: trend watching, market needs research, TRIZ, crowd-sourcing, etc.

If you’ve ever witnessed a new product or service that you “thought of ten years ago”, you know that idea conception is not the end of the innovation journey. Some firms excel at generating good ideas, but fall down in the hand-off to commercialization functions such as supply chain management, product management, marketing, operations, and customer service. Innovations need to be tracked through these hand-offs to ensure continuity and follow-through.

Another attention-grabber in the innovation press has been technology, where idea management systems providers have made more noise than contribution. While technology can enable innovation processes, and engage audiences outside the organization’s borders, it cannot thrive without strength in the other dimensions.

More important than perfect first-time execution of each dimension is a healthy approach to evaluating what’s working, what’s missing, and what needs to be improved. Starting small and constantly improving yields a program that can be nurtured, sustained and enhanced over time.

Subsequent articles will zero in on these dimensions, providing specific tips and examples to help you implement an innovation capability in your organization. Hey, if you’re going to write about innovation, shouldn’t you take some risks and be a little creative?

Free eBook: The Art of Influence

SPI Team — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:59:22 +0000

What do all of these people have in common?

Albert Einstein
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Bill Gates
Micheal Jackson
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Oprah Winfrey

Influence.

The ability to affect others—seen only in its effect—without exertion of force or formal authority.

Each one of these individuals knew how to harness the strength of influence and channel it to make a difference. You can do the same. Effective influence has the potential to catapult you to the next level in every area of your life. Kelly Fairbairn, former HR Director, shares industry secrets on how to turn your observations into action and how understanding the four major interaction styles can increase your “influence-ability.” In this complimentary 12 page eBook Kelly Fairbairn presents “The Art of Influence” including:

The power of recognizing your interaction style
How each interaction style desires to be influenced
The dos and don’ts of successful interactions
And Much More…

Influence: Overcoming the Complexities

SPI Team — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:52 +0000

In our recent webcast “Influence-Ability: Turing Observation into Action” we discussed some of the most common frustrations we face when trying to compel others to action. The value of influence is in overcoming these challenges:The two elements to overcoming these challenges and becoming more influential are analysis and adaptation.

Analysis// What is it that I need? Who are the major players involved? How am I going to interact with them?

This element of influence is self-reflection and situation awareness. It is important to understand personal blind spots and areas of weakness. It is also important to understand your own communication style and how you are going to communicate with others around you. If you are unable to access your self or identify your own blind spots it may be necessary to ask your confidants. You must understand yourself as the basis of influence. If is also important to understand the message that you are attempting to communicate and the people to whom you are speaking.

Adaptation// What do I do know? How can I get them to understand? How can I get them to hear me differently?

If you are able to analyze each situation and yourself accurately the challenge that may arise is adapting your communication and interaction style accordingly. In order to effectively influence those around you, it is necessary to master interpersonal acumen. Interpersonal acumen is defined as the degree to which an individual is able to alter his/her behavior to the needs and preferences of others.

The merging of these two elements is the foundation of effective influence. The question that remains is: How will your analysis help you adapt?

Influence: One Size Does Not Fit All

SPI Team — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:00:11 +0000

Stuck in traffic on the way home, Chris started talking to herself. “Ok, what happened this afternoon? Is this good news or bad news? I mean, in the last nine months, it seems that we all have been required to do more with less: More assignments with quick turnaround time. More duties with fewer direct reports. More tasks with less information.

“And now, I’ve been ‘informally’ promoted. If I bring in the Axis project in on time and under budget, I’ll be named manager of this ad hoc team. How can I possibly succeed, given the project timeline, the budget, and this particular group of people?! And how in this world will they want to work for a person who has less seniority and less experience than any of them, someone whose success is linked to their buy-in and cooperation, and a person who talks to herself in the car?!?”

Before the first sip of her first cup of tea the next morning, problems with her new team began.

Dwight barged into her office with a list of questions, most of which they had discussed and resolved two weeks ago. Why can’t he ‘stay told’ once the decision has been made?
Elaine e-mailed asking for a one-on-one afternoon meeting. She attached an agenda which covered everything from suggestions about the design of a team t-shirt, to revamping the critical path of project plan, to detailing the lack of initiative of all the other team members.
Bob popped in with a draft of the first team communication. Chris scanned it and wondered why her idea of results and Bob’s understanding of results seemed worlds apart?

Chris closed her office door, put her head on her desk, and mumbled under breath, “Oh, this definitely is NOT good news!”

This is a prime opportunity for Chris to use her influence with her team. Influence has been defined as the ability to affect others—seen only in its effect—without exertion of force or formal authority. Keys to being influential with others are the skills of attentiveness and flexibility.

Let’s rewind the day to determine how Chris could increase her chances of influencing her team.

Dwight is the accounting supervisor, charged with oversight of the project budget. In her quest for influence with Dwight, Chris may

Set a formal appointment with him to discuss his concerns
Review his questions with a view to giving Dwight the detail of information he needs to be comfortable with the budget expenditures
Prepare documentation—spreadsheets or graphs—to show the project plan visually
Draw on her latest experience with Dwight to remind him of her attention to detail and her trustworthiness

Elaine is HR’s representative on the team. To enhance her ability to be influential with Elaine, Chris may

Take Elaine to lunch
Ask Elaine about her son’s soccer team and her flower arranging class
Acknowledge her creativity in suggesting a team t-shirt and her out-of-the-box thinking about the critical path of the project
Ask for Elaine’s patience as she (Chris) sets and manages the expectations for the team and for each team member.

Bob is the longest-tenured team member and Chris’ chief competitor for team lead. Two years from retirement, Bob sees his chief role as Devil’s Advocate on the team and in the company. To enhance her chances of influencing Bob, Chris may

Ask Bob to come in to have a quick, immediate chat about his e-mail
Acknowledge Bob’s perspective of the project without wholesale acceptance of his ideas
Give a high level overview of Chris’ expectations for project results
Clearly communicate her expectation that Bob will support her and thereby support the success of the team

Each team member should be treated individually with respect and as a group with integrity. As outlined in the scenarios above, the approach which will work for one probably will not work for all team members. Clearly, the work of being influential takes focus, attention, and intentional flexibility. Using effective tools to identify team members’ interaction styles can facilitate that attention and flexibility which can develop influence-ability.

To learn more about interaction style’s and how you can increase your influence-ability, please join us for a complimentary webinar on April 18th, from 1:00-2:00pm EDT.

Click Here To Register

Engage. Inspire. Empower.

SPI Team — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:29:47 +0000

Lead for Impact: What Is Important Now?

Join Ryan Estis and Don MacPherson for a FREE WEBINAR exploring the latest research on employee engagement levels in the US workforce and the key implications related to workforce productivity and business performance.

Thursday, April 12, 2012 11:00 – 12:00PM CST

We are navigating an unprecedented time of challenge and change inside many of our organizations. This webinar will help you identify opportunities to elevate employee engagement and accelerate a competitive advantage through people strategy.

Executives, HR Professionals and Business Leaders will benefit from expert insights and understanding into the importance of clear and authentic organizational values, as well as how to communicate them and how belief in the future of the organization impacts your employees’ effectiveness.

Register TODAY for this FREE Webinar Thursday, April 12, 2012 11:00 – 12:00PM CST
Click below to register:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/585421270

Strategic Partners, Inc.

www.spisolutions.com

kboxer@spisolutions.com

Influence-Ability: Being The Leader People Want to Follow

SPI Team — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:06 +0000

Shawn, HR Manager, recently was chosen to lead a special project to streamline all HR processes. Members of the project team include fellow managers throughout the company, including two managers in remote locations.

“This project is a nightmare,” Shawn complained. “My team members ignore my e-mails. They ‘forget’ team meetings, or, worse still, they come unprepared. They seem more interested in their favorite sports team results than they do in getting this work done. I can’t make them do anything I ask! Something’s got to give, or we won’t meet our report deadline. And my yearly bonus is riding on our success!”

Perhaps you can identify with Shawn. Teams are formed and given a list of deliverables. Team members must complete their regular job duties while juggling the project tasks. And the person who is given the responsibility of the project often has little authority to complete the assignment. Effective use of personal influence is essential to success.

Here are two steps Shawn—and you—can take to be influential with co-workers:

Analyze

First, think about each individual co-worker. Identify his/her style of interaction.

What clues can you gather from body language? Does the person gesture broadly while talking? Is he fidgety? Does she bite her nails? Does he sit with hands and legs crossed? From such clues comes an awareness of that person’s comfort level with working as a part of a group.
What about speech patterns? Does he speak softly or in a loud, booming voice?
How does she begin meetings? Does she dive right into the business at hand, or does he take time for small talk, sports, family, etc.?
Does he want details, charts and graphs, or is she satisfied with broad outlines, outcomes and results?

Adapt

Once you have gathered information about other team members, you now have a choice. You can continue to struggle by giving information in the format and manner you are comfortable with. You can continue to interact in your regular manner. And, you can continue to experience the frustration and lack of progress that you currently are coping with.

Or, you may adapt your style to that of other team members. You can offer information with a greater degree or a lesser degree of detail. You can ask indirect or pointed questions, based on the preferences of your co-workers. You can stop to ask about family, hobbies, sports before beginning a business discussion; or you can skip the small talk altogether to address the issue at hand—all depending on the inclinations of team members.

Most people find that paying the upfront price of analysis of others’ styles and adaptation of their own style to that of the others pays off in the long run. Productivity soars. Working relationships are built or mended. Job satisfaction is appreciably improved. With intentional focus and modification of interaction style, chances of success can be certain.

Creating Senior Executive Champions for Diversity

SPI Team — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:21:31 +0000

Introduction Exercising Influence: Changing the Government’s Use of Diversity

In August of 2011, President Obama issued an executive order requiring all government agencies to have a plan for diversity and inclusion within 120 days. All agencies should now be in the early stages of implementation. This session will provide specific tools that help senior diversity practitioners influence senior executives to become champions for diversity initiatives.

Join Ken Boxer at the Diversity Conference:

Wed April 25, 2012

8 am- 4:30 pm

NIH Natcher Conf Center – National Institutes of Health

Bethesda, MD

Objectives This session will provide tools to help participants engage in a dialogue with senior executives to help understand how to:

• Connect diversity initiatives to key organizational priorities

• Understand objections of senior executives

• Share lessons from corporate CEOs who do get it and have served as champions of diversity initiatives

• Leave with an action plan with how to apply lessons learned back in the job