RealTime Leadership

Leadership development has long been considered a discretionary expense.  During economic downturns it is often one of the first budget line-items to be cut.  However, there was a different feeling this time around.  As we entered the recession in 2008 and 2009  there was hope, and some evidence, that  companies had learned from past downturns.  Eliminating leadership development only left them further behind when the economy did start picking up again, as it inevitably does.

In the Wall Street Journal last week, an article reports that training budgets over the past two years have been down 11%, but now there is signs that it is coming back.  It appears that the companies that did scale back training are now scrambling to catch up:

Already, some companies say they are finding they don’t have the managers to spearhead new projects or step in for departing executives, a problem as companies try to shift into growth mode.

The article goes on to report that companies like Amway and Rockwell Collins are re-launching leadership programs that were cancelled during the downturn.  The goal is to accelerate the development of internal talent while they hire experienced managers from the outside to meet the increased demand to fill vacancies.

Unfortunately the article does not contrast the experience of Amway and Rockwell with one or two companies that continued to invest in leadership development at a steady or increasing pace over the past two years.  Companies like O’Neal Steel remained committed to training and entered 2010 with a strong talent pipeline and engaged employees.  These organizations are better suited to take advantage of the opportunities for growth in 2010 and 2011.

As for the other companies, well, hopefully they learned their lesson; cutting spending on leadership development is more expensive in the long-term.

Has the recession forced organizations to more closely align learning objectives to business goals? A new study by CLO Magazine surveying over 1,500 senior learning and development executives found:

“90 percent of CLOs believe their learning will be more aligned with organizational business objectives this year. That’s music to some executives’ ears.”

Jim Gillece, AlliedBarton’s senior vice president and chief people officer, talks in the article about the importance of well-defined leadership competencies, at every level of the organization, as key to bridging the gap.  I think this is a good and necessary step, but it doesn’t go far enough.   All learning can eventually be reduced to individual learning.  Thus, each individual must understand how the new skills and behaviors obtained through training or on-the-job learning link to the personal business goals of the learner.   We call this “line of sight” for the learner and it is a critical piece that is missing from much of the training I see today in the corporate world. 

“Line of Sight” for a learner is really the alignment of individual learning goals with business goals.  The tool we recommend for establishing Line of Sight is a Success Map.  The Success Map clearly defines the learning goals for a training event or activity, then links those goals to on-the-job applications, and finally links the application to measurable business outcomes.  If you can achieve this with every learner in your training, you will be well on your way to establishing true Alignment in your learning organization.

The current global economy is forcing people and organizations to find ways to do business more efficiently and more effectively. Companies are revisiting strategy, markets, R&D, size of workforce, and their entire cost structure. There is an intense focus on business results with an added emphasis on trimming anything that doesn’t directly contribute to the success of the organization.  These same forces are affecting training and development departments at corporations across the globe.

It is within this environment, where training departments are being asked to cut back on resources while increasing their value, that my colleague Dr. Stephen Gill and I set out to use our research and experience to help organizations make their learning interventions more effective. Specifically, we want to provide training professionals and frontline managers with a simple framework and strategy to get more from their investment in learning. Our new e-book, “Getting More from Your Investment in Training: The 5As Framework,” is for training professionals and business managers who are grappling with this new environment and the heightened expectations for results.

This book is not about how to be a stand-up trainer, or how to design e-learning, or even how to get more buns on seats. It is about what your organization needs to do to ensure that people learn and use that learning to achieve business goals.  We identify the organizational factors that have the greatest overall impact on how learning contributes to business success.  And then we offer tools and strategies for increasing the impact of learning at each step in the learning process.  We call these organizational factors the 5As, and they are;

1. Alignment – Align learning with strategic goals by helping learners understand how the skills and knowledge they acquire through training can be applied to deliver business results.

2. Anticipation – Research clearly shows that if learners anticipate success before training they are much more likely to experience success.  Help your learners anticipate success.
3. Alliance – Create a learning alliance between learner and boss.  Learners need feedback and coaching, especially as they attempt to apply new skills and behaviors on the job.
4. Application – Apply learning immediately after training, not six months later or even never, as so often happens.  Create opportunities for learners to apply new skills on the job, and receive relevant and timely feedback.
5. Accountability – Hold learner and organization accountable for business results from training.  Establish the expectation from the beginning that training is critical for organizational success and all participants will be held accountable to apply what they’ve learned to meet business goals.

This is the time, more than ever, to re-examine your training function and make all of your learning interventions (classes, simulations, e-learning, coaching, internships, etc.) more efficient and effective.  By applying the 5As framework to your organization, you can immediately identify areas for improvement that will help you achieve your business goals.  Download the first two chapters free.