Part 1: CREATE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES This section addresses the following performance criteria:  Identify potential formal and informal learning opportunities  Identify learning needs of individuals in relation to the needs of the team and/or enterprise and available learning opportunities  Develop and implement learning plans as an integral part of individual and team performance plans  Develop strategies to ensure that learning plans reflect the diversity of needs  Ensure organisational procedures maximise individual and team access to, and participation in, learning opportunities  Ensure effective liaison occurs with training and development specialists and contributes to learning opportunities which enhance individual, team and organisational performanceIdentify potential formal and informal learning opportunities Changes or additions to our thinking which are anchored in behaviours that demonstrate particular learning or knowledge. Learning is, to put it simply and concisely, behavioural change. Theories of cognitive development assert that thinking depends on how a person sees the world, and learning determines the ways in which we manipulate or act upon this internal representation. Whenever people interpret evidence or information from any source, then according to Bruner (1975:110) people think. The type and amount of learning and life experience we are subjected to affects the way in which we see and react to things around us. Learning, therefore, can be described as a change in the way we think, or the things we think about, which can be retained, and is not simply ascribable to the process of growth. As we learn more about the world around us our thoughts, perceptions and ideas change. A baby, for instance, sees a coin as a toy, or something to put in its mouth, an adult’s experience ensures that they see it quite differently. Experience and changes in our thought processes allow us to break away from limited mental models. Simil arly, learning organisations seek to widen their experience, learn to view situations from several different angles, assess a wide range of options, and then make decisions that will achieve the greatest benefit. Consider the concept of the baby and the coin. What are your current perceptions regarding a coin, that is, what would you use it for? Why, and more importantly, how, have your perceptions changed or been changed? There are numerous theories of learning and the mechanisms through which learning occurs, with regard to conditioning, life-span, evolution, and stages. Psychologists, behaviourists and cognitive theorists, however, define learning, as previously stated, as behavioural change (Thompson, 1975, Peterson, 1989, Berger, 1988, Maslow, 1968). Behavioural change refers to both the internal (psychological or cognitive) and external (physical or behaviourally anchored) manifestations of learning. That is, both changes in thought processes, patterns or internalised knowledge, and in the actions which are externally visible, constitute behavioural change. For example, when the child learns that the coin is not a toy, but an object to be exchanged for other goods, the child’s perception changes. This constitutes learning or behavioural change, whereby the response or behavioural reaction to the stimulus, the coin – is transformed. Thus learning involves changes in our stimulus-response patterns. When we learn we add new information, change information or attach extra information to our current knowledge; developing new insights, reinforcing previous knowledge, or redirecting our thought patterns inresponse to stimuli provided by the learning situation. In so doing we are, through what are called cognitive processes, changing our behaviour. Much of our learning takes the form of transforming either new or stored information/ knowledge/ facts/ theories into procedures, developing competencies; the things we are able to do. Competencies are seen in everything we do; we might be good at cooking, we can read and write, wash the floors or tidy the lounge room. We might be able to drive a car, fix a car, play tennis or golf, program the video, play chess, design a garden, build a cupboard, operate a computer etc. These are some of the competencies we demonstrate in our everyday lives. They are all learned skills and can be observed in our behaviours. Learning organisations Arie de Geus (1998), head of planning for Shell in the 1990s is quoted as saying ‘the ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable advantage.’ What he meant was that an organisation’s capacity to learn in order to keep up with t he ever increasing rate of technology, global competition, information and change is critical to business survival. The ability for an organisation to learn brings a quick and decisive ability to adapt and evolve, to embrace rather than fear change and to respond rather than react. The concept of learning as a sustainable advantage remains as true today as it was in the 1990s. Many organisations undertake learning and development but they are not learning organisations. A learning organisation is one in which purposeful, systematic and ongoing learning is an integral part of a continuous improvement system and a major contributor to a sustainable competitive advantage.Learning, in this context, applies primarily to the pragmatic learning which takes place in a business or organisational application, learning how to complete specific tasks or roles in the workplace. It focuses on increasing business-enhancing options and revolves around the notion of competence. To this effect learning organisations engage in performance linked learning. That is, they do not engage in learning for the sake of learning but specifically seek to increase or enhance business performance. Acco rding to work performance experts Harold Sacher and MerrylSacher (2004), ‘A performance linked learning system is a system which analyses organisational goals and then develops integrated, planned and prioritised training solutions aimed at providing the skill requirements necessary to achieve those goals.’ The benefits of a performance linked learning system include: 1. It contributes to the organisation’s continuous improvement system. 2. It ensures learning and development is directed at increasing the overall performance of the business, as well as satisfying individual training needs. 3. It ensures that learning opportunities are matched to who needs which competencies, and in what order, for the business to achieve its targets. 4. It ensures that learning/ training activities provide a planned, integrated and prioritised solution to a performance problem that has already been systematically analysed within the context of overall organisational goals. 5. It contributes to a sustainable competitive advantage by ensuring the right competencies are in the right place at the right time. 6. It ensures that training is focused on contributing to profits, savings and financial benefits.Learning opportunities Learning can be undertaken in a wide variety of ways and forms. There is no correct way to learn, rather there is a multitude of different opportunities that can be taken advantage of. Typically, what people first think of when asked to consider organisational learning opportunities are the formal training programs that are designed to impart specific skills or knowledge in a structured way. These are certainly important but M. A. Loewenstein, J. R. Spletzer (1999) calculate that informal learning accounts for over 70% of the learning taking place in organisations. Learning opportunities can be considered using 2 dimensions: 1. Formal – informal. 2. Intentional – accidental. Formal  Training programs  Online learning  On-job structured learning  Meetings  Seeking feedback  Internet surfing  Work experience  Work shadowing Informal  Reading with intent  Mentoring  Coaching  Self-reflection  Discovery/ exploration  Playing  Informal discussion/ chatting  Observation  Reading for pleasure  Through experience Intentional Unexpected Formal learning includes the hierarchically structured school system that runs from primary school through to university and organised school-like programs created in business for technical and professional training. Informal learning describes a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment, from family and neighbours, from work and play, from the library and the mass media. Intentional learning is the process whereby an individual aims to learn something and goes about achieving that objective. Accidental learning happens when in everyday activities an individual learns something that they had not intended or expected.Learning initiators Whilst we have discussed the fact that learning organisations seek to build learning into everyday activities, there are some events that provide natural opportunities for learning. These events can include, but are not limited to:  an organisational restructure  a new product/ service launch  expansion or downsizing  a change in strategy or direction  a change in job role  a new competitor entering the market  a competitor changing strategy Learning organisations and learning opportunities Learning organisations pay a high degree of attention to informal learning and actively seek ways to share corporate knowledge across the business. Instead of simply acknowledging that informal learning occurs, such organisations strategically build learning into every activity and regard it as a responsibility not an option. Learning organisations actively seek ways to support employees to share experiences and to examine performance to see how they can learn and improve. In their book ‘Learning to Fly – Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations’ Chris Collinson and Geoff Parcell describe how their organisation, BP, uses some specific techniques to manage knowledge across its diverse operations and harness informal learning opportunities. In particular, they describe three techniques: 1. Peer assist. 2. After Action Reviews (AAR). 3. Retrospect. Peer assist A peer assist is used to learn before and during a particular activity. It is simply a meeting or workshop where other people (employees or external parties) are invited to share their insights, expertise or experience with a team who have requested assistance on a particular matter. A peer assist is about connecting people and structuring conversations that might otherwise be less valuable. It takes the casual conversation around a water cooler to a meeting where specific ideas can be shared and explored in the context of a specific need. After Action Reviews (AAR) First developed by the US army, BP uses AARs as an opportunity to learn in the midst of the action. AARs provide a quick, structured way to answer 4 simple questions:1. What was supposed to happen? 2. What actually happened? 3. Why were there differences? 4. What can be learned from that? Although these questions sound as though they should be asked at the end of a project or work activity, the true learning is to be found if they are asked during it. By conducting AARs (1 or more depending on the complexity of the tasks) whilst things are in progress, it provides a reality check on progress and facilitates responsive thinking and continual improvement. Retrospect BP uses the process called a ‘retrospect’ as a tool for learning after doing. It is an in-depth meeting called at the conclusion of a major activity or project to capture the lessons learned. A retrospect:  assists with participants sense of project closure  allows the team to truly understand what happened and why  captures the knowledge before the team disbands  facilitates transfer of the lessons learned to other situations and environments Identify learning needs of individuals in relation to the needs of the team and/or enterprise and available learning opportunities At the core of the definition of a learning organisation is the fact that they engage in performance linked learning – they specifically seek to increase or enhance business performance. They have a clear and systematic process for ensuring that the learning and development that each individual undertakes direc tly contributes to the output of the team that they are a part of and thus to the goals of the enterprise as a whole. Organisational skills audit A skills audit is a systematic process intended to determine the developmental requirements of an organisation and the people who work in it. It might be used to identify problems and develop improvement strategies, particularly in the case where actual performance does not match expected performance. Skills audits assess the current skills levels (team/ section/ divisional/ and individual) of management and employees against those required to achieve organisational goals.Before conducting a skills audit it is necessary to clarify the organisation’s objectives and to establish future directions, goals, objectives and strategies. In determining the competencies required to fully realise these goals and objectives, you are asking: What skills are required to achieve our goals and do we currently have these skills? Ask: 1. Are our goals realistic and achievable? 2. Do KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and KRAs (Key Results Areas) match the goals? 3. Do processes need improvement? 4. Does current variation fit within the accepted parameters? 5. Are process designs in need of improvement? 6. Are current systems adequate? 7. Does quality need to increase? 8. Can productivity be increased? 9. Can waste be minimised? 10. Is resource use being maximised? 11. What innovations can or should be introduced? 12. What are our internal and external relationships like? 13. Are the individuals, teams and the organisation continuously developing their skills and knowledge? 14. Do we reward and recognise new learning? The skills audit is the tool used to determine what new competencies should be incorpora ted into the organisation’s collective skills bank. From the audit it might be determined that:  the criteria used to set KPIs and to assess performance require updating  specific learning opportunities or training programs should be considered, with regard to need for technical skills  recruitment and selection of new employees should be based on identification of applicants who are able to demonstrate the identified competencies, or are at least willing to learn these skill setsTraining Needs Analysis (TNA) A TNA identifies the skills individual employees need in order to be productive, relative to the organisation’s quality control, continuous improvement strategies and ability to operate at optimum efficiency. The processes involved in a TNA include: 1. Conducting a job analysis (a description of the role and KPIs). 2. Breaking roles/ jobs down into their component parts. 3. Determining the specific competencies required to perform the analysed tasks. 4. Assessing the current competency levels of employees against the task components (performance criteria) and required standards. Once completed a TNA might indicate that the organisation’s recruitment, selection, induction and training procedures need to be adjusted, that internal communication is inadequate, that conflict and grievance procedures are not working, that the organisation’s culture needs readjustment, or that organisational goals and vision have not been effectively communicated etc. The TNA can be used, therefore, to determine who needs or would benefit from training and development activities, the levels of training required and the type of training which would provide the greatest benefit. Once an organisation has developed its TNA tools, those same tools can be used at the completion of form al training programs – to evaluate the immediate success of the program; and again, some months later – to determine the ongoing effects of learning. There are a number of models that can be used to conduct an analysis. We will look at 2 such models: 1. The DACUM model. 2. The competency rating model. The DACUM model The chart depicts a task chart for an architectural technician, who assists the architectural design professional in the production of documents, throughout design and construction of the built en vironment. This chart is based on what is called the DACUM model. DACUM stands for Developing A Curriculum. It is a development process that has been found to be effective, quick and valid for analysing occupations in terms of duties, tasks, knowledge, skills, traits and attitudes. Any job can be effectively and sufficiently described in terms of the tasks that successful workers in that occupation perform. All tasks have direct implications for the knowledge and attitudes that workers must demonstrate. The DACUM model (and other, similar models) canbe used to build a competency model of an occupation (job), which concentrates on showing the real and practical skills needed for work. It focuses attention on evaluation, goal setting, and planning for learning. The charted competencies are rated according to their critical value and workers are assessed according to the required standard for each performance criteria. Thus, performance gaps can be identifie d and overcome through learning opportunities and training programs. The charted competency lists can also be used by employees to assess their own performance ability and to begin to take self-directed action to improve their skills. These processes will be most effective if they are conducted in consultation with employees who are given feedback on their ideas and contributions, and who participate in the decision-making processes. In this way, employees are more likely to be involved, motivated, and supportive of new programs, which can closely match their own perceived needs. They are more likely to demonstrate ownership, and less likely to resist learning new skills. Even more importantly, expert workers are better able to describe or define their occupation than anyone else.Task breakdown key: Knowledge and skills Drawing Scales Listening History/ Theory of Architecture History/ Theory of Art Problem Solving Design Conversions and Units Environmental Control SystemsVerbal Communication Written Communication Technical Communication Computer Literacy Construction Professional Practice Options Time Management Manual Graphics CAD Graphics (Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Architectural) Legal Issues Mathematics Algebra Geometry Trigonometry The competency rating model In this model, a job is broken down into its component, interactive parts. Current, demonstrated skills can then be assessed and mapped against the required skills. Assessment levels are determined by the organisation’s defined standards, expected outcomes and the organisation’s vision.This schedule can also be utilised, by personnel, for self-assessment purposes. Once a competency assessment has been completed, comparisons between self-assessment and the independent assessment can be used in formal performance evaluation processes. Good results will offer opportunities for management to recognise the employee’s work and contribution to the organisation, and to initiate advanced personal or professional development opportunities. Poor performance might indicate that training/ coaching or mentoring activities should be initiated. Whereas the DACUM model results in broad areas of knowledge, skill or attitude that a particular employee is required to have, the competency model describes them in highly specific actions. The following example details the competency standards required to driv e a bus. Position: Company bus driver Task Competencies to be demonstrated and assessed Expected outcomes and C Underpinning knowledge C Demonstrated practical skills/ C Demonstrated attitudes Cgoals requirements competencies Drive a bus accurately along designated routes, according to legislative and safety requirements (road rules). (Previously identified and communicated.) Knowledge of correct driving principles. Drives a bus using gears, brakes and other specified instrumentation correctly. Demonstrates ability and willingness to learn. Knowledge of currently used bus routes. Accurately follows bus routes. Assimilates new information (bus routes) quickly and accurately. Demonstrates ability to learn new bus routes. Learns and accurately follows new bus routes as required. Visibly supports organisational goals and standards. Knowledge of road rules and their intended application. Applies and adheres to general and specific road rules (specified). Safety conscious. Competent—C Not Yet Competent—NYC Position: Company bus driver Task Competencies to be demonstrated and assessed Expected outcomes and goals C Underpinning knowledge requirements C Demonstrated practical skills/ competencies C Demonstrated attitudes C Supply a service level that complies with organisational standards and expectations. (Previously identified and communicated.) Knowledge of specific service standards applicable to bus driving. Incurs infrequent traffic infringements (according to organisational requirements/ standards). Courteous.Knowledge of the organisation’s operational and service standard requirements. Demonstrates good customer service and interpersonal skills. Customer focused. Willing to provide extra service as or when appropriate. Reliable. Competent—C Not Yet Competent—NYC Develop and implement learning plans as an integral part of individual and team performance plans In a learning organisation every manager is a training and development manager. That is to say, that every leader in the business takes an active role in supporting their team members to learn, grow and achieve the very best possible results. Whilst there is a clear role for a dedicated training manager in creating an organisation wide learning and development strategy, providing expertise, providing resources and supporting all other managers, the sole responsibility for learning cannot rest with one person and they are not necessarily the most appropriate person to lead the front line of change. Team leaders, frontline supervisors and other managers are in a unique position to ensure that learning and development initiatives are tailored to the individual’s and organisation’s needs because they:  know their people well  know the tasks that have to be performed very well  understand what the real problems are  are usually able to forecast changes and future challenges accurately  can model desired performance in the actual workplace Managers responsible for leading teams of people are often required to performance manage those staff. However, many managers take a negative view of performance management – at best, that it is just another human resources requirement that serves no real purpose and at worst, that it is about looking at past performance and seeing what could have been done better.However, done well, performance management is about creating a dialogue between a manager and an employee that fosters a future-focused commitment to continual improvement. It builds in, as an integral part, an agreed and personalised learning and development plan that meets the needs of the individual, team and organisation. As an illustration of how wanting to be interested enough to help someone develop and take notice of th eir preferred learning styles that can result in wonderful outcomes, consider the following story. The piano story A mother wished to encourage her small girl’s interest in the piano and so took her to a local concert featuring an excellent pianist. In the entrance foyer the mother met an old friend and the two stopped to talk. The little girl was keen to see inside the hall and so wandered off, unnoticed by her mother. The girl’s mother became concerned when she entered the hall and could see no sign of her daughter. Staff were notified and an announcement was made asking the audience to look out for the little lost girl. With the concert due to start, the little girl had still not been found. In preparation for the pianist’s entrance, the curtains drew aside, to reveal the little girl sitting at the great piano, focused in concentration, quietly picking out the notes of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. The audience’s amusement turned to curiosity when the pianist entered the stage, walked up to the little gir l, and said ‘Keep playing’. The pianist sat down beside her, listened for a few seconds, and whispered some more words of encouragement. He then began quietly to play a bass accompaniment, and then a few bars later reached around the little girl to add more accompaniment. At the end of the impromptu performance the audience applauded loudly as the pianist took the little girl back to her seat to be reunited with her mother. The experience was inspirational for everyone, not least the small girl. It takes just a few moments to make somebody’s day, to help someone with their own personal aims and dreams—especially someone who looks up to you for encouragement and support. (Adapted from www.businessballs.com) Managing performance While this section of this manual is not designed to be a comprehensive guide to effective performance management, the fundamental principles will be looked at in order to fully examine how learning plans can be integrated. Open and honestWhen about to embark on a performance management exercise, remember that your staff are likely to be anxious. They might not know what to expect, they might have had bad previous experiences and might not understand the process. Create an atmosphere of trust, openness and positiveness by fully expl aining what will happen and why it is important to manage performance. Some companies use systems such as the 360 0 feedback process in an attempt to create a more equal power balance as employees have the opportunity to provide feedback to their employees as well as vice versa, but if performance management is done properly a genuine dialogue should have this same result. As a golden rule, treat your staff with the same respect and courtesy that you would expect from your manager. Establish the right mind-set For performance reviews to be a success, it is imperative that you go into the process well prepared and with a positive frame of mind. To do this, you need to take a step back and see the process for what it really is; an opportunity for you to spend time with your team so that you can uncover ways to improve their performance and satisfaction. The performance review process is your opportunity to learn more about your team; specifically what motivates them, what new challenges they are looking for and how your needs (ie a stable, productive team) and theirs (ie personal development and career path) can align. Why is this important? If your team members are happy, they are more likely to perform better and less likely to leave your organisation. With happy, committed and more productive staff, life as a manager can only get easier. Create positive dialogue As mentioned earlier, managers have typically viewed employee performance reviews as an opportunity to point out all the things an employee could have done better over the previous 12 months. This approach is unproductive as it is likely to decrease morale and lead to worsening performance. Performance appraisals should be a gentle questioning and exploration rather than a long list of the manager’s concerns. Asking probing questions such as ‘What did you enjoy working on and why?’, ‘What skills that you can use at work are you interested in developing further?’ or ‘Have you thought about…?’ provide opportunities for the staff member to self-assess their performance and frame continual improvement in a positive fashion. A small caution for all managers when hearing feedback about your own performance: sit back and listen to the team member’s comments – take it all on board. Do not jump down their throat in your defence as this will defeat the purpose. Instead, try to ask probing questions, ‘Can you give me an example of that so I can better understand?’ or ‘How do you think I/ we could handle that better in the future?’ Acknowledge their comments, ‘I appreciate your comments on that’ or ‘I’m sorry you feel that way.’ Prepare for the dialogue Anecdotal evidence suggests that a large percentage of managers only spend 10 minutes on average preparing for an employee performance review. Often this is done 5 or 10 minutes before their next review meeting.In order to get maximum value out of the review process you need to make time to prepare. Block out at least 1 hour for every team member and if possible leave the office to do it; you need time to think abou t each team member without the normal day-to-day interruptions. Talk with other people before the review to source other opinions. Performance reviews have traditionally been very insular. That is, they have been based on the opinions of 2 people – the manager and the employee. Try talking with some other people such as your fellow managers, the employee’s peers and even their subordinates. When feedback is obtained from multiple sources employees are more likely to accept the feedback as accurate and managers tend to feel more comfortable discussing the perceptions of many. This strategy is most effective if it is done at various stages throughout the year so that a holistic picture can be created and that it does not look like a last minute effort. Prepare and circulate an agenda and communicate A good performance management meeting is one that is guided but not dominated by a structure. An agenda provides a framework that ensures that you cover all the aspects that you need to, for example, key points from the new organisational strategic plan. Having an agenda will also convey to your team that you are treating the performance review process seriously and that there will be some structure to the conversation. It is particularly useful to let employees know that you would like to use an agenda and ask them to give you items that they would like to discuss. Once you have gathered all ideas give each person a copy of their agenda several days before their review, to help them prepare. One or more initial meetings It is unlikely that you will be able to complete a performance appraisal and the subsequent learning and development plan in a single meeting. More typically the initial meeting is the dialogue regarding past performance and the raising of suggestions for ways to grow and develop. At this stage you, as the manager, might pose questions to your team member that encourages them to think in a new direction or consider aspects of their future performance that they might not have previously thought about. For example, share with the employee new strategies that the company is about to introduce and explain what changes it will bring to the team. Point out opportunities for new challenges, roles and responsibilities. At a subsequent meeting you and the employee can further refine these ideas and start to consider how the learning can be achieved. At this point it is advisable to use a pro forma to record what learning and development activities will be undertaken, when, who needs to be involved and the resour ces that are required. Giving each individual the task of developing their own learning plans, with your support of course, encourages them to take ownership of them. A further meeting provides you with an opportunity to check the alignment of the employee ’s personal goals with those of the team and organisation and to ensure that you are able to resource the plan. Develop learning strategiesDetermine the best methods for addressing learning needs – training, coaching, mentoring, formal or informal training; program levels and content; on or off-the-job formats. Each of your employees will have a preferred way of learning and where possible this should be accommodated. You must also consider the timeliness of any proposed strategies as well as your ability to resource them. Consider also:  the change management procedures that should be associated with new learning  the methods that will be used to implement the new learning and make it relevant to work Many training incentives in organisations fail because these 2 vital steps are overlooked. New learning necessarily implies change. Change processes will succeed if they are initiated and managed so that all personnel are involved and committed. There is no point in training employees if they are not allowed to utilise their new knowledge and to contribute their new learning to improvement processes in the workplace. The desired outcomes – benefits – of the training plus the motivations of, and incentives for, potential learners must also be considered. People will not willingly learn new skills if they cannot see that there are any benefits to be gained. They do want to know ‘what’s in it for me’. Example personal learning plan The following pro forma is an example of a plan that clearly shows the link between organisational, team and personal goals while also creating a plan for learning and development. XYZ company Personal development plan pro forma Employee Name: Employee ID: Position: Department/ Section: Supervisor Name: Date review conducted: Goals (as agreed by employee and supervisor) Organisational goals Team goals Personal goals To be a leader in the provision of stockbroking advice. To provide a range of wealth creation strategies tailored to suit our client’s needs. To provide accurate information in a friendly and warm manner that build long lasting client relationships. Personal goal Strategy to achieve goal: (How do I intend to pursue and achieve this goal?) Performance outcome: (How can achievement be measured or confirmed?) Timeline: (Short-term, long-term or ongoing? Include estimatedcompletion dates if possible.) Resources: (What resources are needed to accomplish the goal?) Comments: Signatures __________________ ____________________ Employee Signature Supervisor Signature Date:_____________ Date:_______________ Make the plan a living document The plans that are created from the initial performance management meetings should not fade into insignificance only to be found and printed out in time for next year’s review. Rather, they should be regularly referred to and provide an ongoing guide to goal achievement. If goals are achieved quicker than expected learning can be accelerated or, if obstacles prevent the goals from being achieved as pl anned, regular review can ensure that issues are addressed swiftly. Case study: Dale Dale, the newly appointed manager of the Overseas Business Unit was failing miserably in his role. Rather than disciplining him as he had expected, Dale’s boss Noel sat him down to talk about what he thought was going wrong and why. Together, they worked out that Dale just did not have a plan of action, so they developed one with assistance from the HR director. They first looked at Dale’s natural strengths. He had always been good at identifying and promoting business opportunities for Victoria in Asia but now he had a much broader brief. He had tried the same strategies without success in America and Europe. He had not listened to advice from people who had been working in these markets for some time. So Dale’s performance improvement plan identified a number of challenging goals that he was to achieve over the coming year. He needed to improve his knowledge of other markets, become more open to other viewpoints, be more adaptable to changing circumstances and establish new business networks in America and Europe. Noel asked Dale how he thought he could best learn these new skills and using his suggestions, plus some of his own, they created a learning and development plan that gave Dale a clear plan of what he had to do, when he had to do it and what resources he had to help him. Noel and Dale agreed on how his performance in these areas would be measured and on the workplace support he would receive. Dale worked hard during the year to improve his performance. He met regularly with Noel to discuss his progress and get further tips and advice from him.Dale succeeded beyond everyone’s wildest dreams. All he had needed was a little direction and this had been provided through a well-planned, positively focused and measurable plan and his manager’s support and encouragement. (Adapted from http://www.ssa.vic.gov.au) Develop strategies to ensure that learning plans reflect the diversity of needs In today’s diverse business environment there is no single, quick fix solution to learning. Instead leaders must ensure that, to the best of their ability, they accommodate a range of needs in order to achieve the maximum possible outcome. In his Choice Theory (1998), William Glasser makes the point that all humans are all born genetically programmed to have 5 basic needs. However, we do not all have each particular need to the same degree as another person. Our personal mix of these 5 needs will tell us a lot about our personal motivations and what lies behind the choices we make in life. The 5 needs are: 1. Survival: basic needs which are of little interest unless they are threatened. 2. Love and belonging: acceptance by our peers. 3. Power or recognition: our ability to achieve our goals. 4. Freedom: this is the ability to do what we want, to have free choice. It is connected with procedural justice where we seek fair play. 5. Fun: when all else is satisfied, we just want to have fun. Glasser makes suggestions to help you figure out the strengths of these various needs in your own life:  if you have found that you are less willing to take risks than most people, you have a high need for survival  the key to assessing the strength of your need for love and belonging is how much you are willing to give  to assess the strength of your need for power, ask yourself if you always want to have your own way, to have the last word, to own people, and to be seen as right in most of what you do or say  if you cannot stand the idea of following rules, conforming, or even staying in one place or with one group of people for very long, you have a high need for freedom  if you enjoy learning and laugh a lot when you do, you have a high need for fun Specific and general needs Needs can also be categorised into specific needs and general needs.Specific needs relate to:  skills we must learn in order to survive  work and work task related skills  knowledge which enables us to interact in cultural and other social affiliations  competencies and expertise related to promotion and earning more money  skills through which we attract social or personal esteem  skills we can apply to sport, hobbies and general activities, which either make us feel good or improve our living conditions General needs which learning might fulfil are:  the need for fun and enjoyment  the need to feel that we are maturing and progressing toward self-actualisation (achievement)  curiosity  satisfaction  the need to increase our options/ choices  valuing learning for learning’s sake  the need to experience change and challenge etc  a perception that learning provides status and power  the belief that the more skills or knowledge we accumulate, the greater our self-esteem In a business environment the needs of the organisation and the team tend mostly to be specific; that is, the skills and knowledge that are needed to perform the functions of the business. However, with the adoption of learning organisation’s cultures there are growing instances of general needs being overtly recognised and promoted. Blending and accommodating general and specific needs in all 5 of Glasser’s categories is not impossible, but it does require a collaborative and consultative approach. Where a learning activity is imposed on individuals or teams it is less likely to meet their particular needs and conversely when an individual creates their own learning with no guidance or understanding of the organisation’s needs, they are unlikely to meet.Individual’s needs can be influenced by a range of factors including: Physical ability In this day and age there are few tasks that people with disabilities cannot perform as long as they are modified to suit the particular individual–learning activities are no exception. Take for example a person with limited vision; the provision of a large computer screen might enable them to complete online learning just as easily as a person with 20-20 sight. Alternatively, a wheelchair user could attend a practical training session in a workshop if ramps were provided to position them in the right height to use machines. Mental ability Employees with an intellectual disability are often dedicated professionals who execute their work to a consistently high standard and take great pride in their achievements. They deserve the same training and development opportunities as other employees. When working with employees with an intellectual disability, managers must understand the limitations of each person–even if they are not able to articulate this for themselves. Sometimes seeking advice from carers, health professionals and learning and de velopment experts can be useful in creating an appropriate learning plan. Whilst we cannot stereotype this category of learner, some general guidelines that might be appropriate include:  break learning activities down into simple steps  provide lots of opportunity for repetition  allow additional time to complete learning activities  provide simple, clear instructions  give one-on-one instruction and follow-up support English as a second language For workers with a first language other than English some learning methodologies will be more suitable than others and will therefore meet their needs more appropriately. Strategies for this category of learner can include:  peer learning  observations  practical exercises/ workshops  checklists using pictures  work shadowing  Family and social commitments  All workers have differing family and social commitments that might impact on the best way to address their learning needs. For example, a single parent might have difficulty attending a conference inanother city; a person who also plays A grade level sport might not be able to participate in weekend training activities.  A good example of how organisational needs and an individual’s family needs can both be met by using current learning methodologies is Aker Solutions’ induction program. Aker Solutions is an international engineering and construction firm. It requires all of its employees to undertake a common induction program that orients them to the organisation. When conducted in a traditional workshop setting it takes 6 hours to cover the induction objectives; however, Aker Solutions also provides the induction online.  A contract engineer in Adelaide who has family commitments each Thursday afternoon was able to complete the induction from home whilst his baby daughter was sleeping. As there were no interruptions, and he had worked for Aker Solutions some years before, he was able to complete the induction in only 4 hours. By being flexible the organisational needs were achieved efficiently and without compromise but they also allowed personal, non-work needs to be met. Preferred learning style Learning style preferences are another factor that must be considered when addressing how needs can be met. Just as people have personality preferences, they also have learning style preferences for visual, auditory or tactile learning mediums. Some people might prefer to be ‘dropped in it’ to take their chances or they might prefer careful instruction prior to putting new skills to the test. People have individual learning needs; we all perceive our needs differently and have preferred learning styles. Just as there are preferences in personality type, there are differences between learners. The implications for management/ leadership are that awareness, understanding and accommodation of difference and diversity enables the organisation to utilise a wide range of competencies, ideas and information in order to develop and maintain a competitive edge. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles) there have be en over 80 models of learning styles proposed, each containing a minimum of 2 styles. For the purposes of this learning guide 3 learning styles will be referred to: Visual (seeing and reading) learning style involves the use of seen or observed things, including pictures, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, handouts, films, flip-charts, etc. Auditory (listening and speaking) learning style involves the transfer of information through listening: to the spoken word, of self or others, of sounds and noises. Kinaesthetic (touching and doing) learning involves physical experience – touching, feeling, holding, doing, practical hands-on experiences. The word ‘kinaesthetic’ describes the sense of using muscular movement – physical sense – the stimulation of nerves in the body’s muscles, joints and tendons. As a very simple example, a child who could not easily learn words and letters by reading (visually) might for instance learn more easily by tracing letter shapes with their finger (kinaesthetic).Visual seeing and reading Auditory listening and speaking Kinaesthetic touching and doing No preferential style is better or more important than another. Preferences simply point to the styles people find most comfortable. Although people can learn in all situations, they will learn more effectively if the learning situation accommodates their preferred style, and/or a combination of styles. Preferences are indicators of difference. These differences are important and valuable in social and organisational contexts. A wide range of personalities within an organisation means that the organisation has access to divergent working, learning and problem-solving styles – all of which contribute to organisational learning and increase options for successful business interaction. Managers who find themselves acting as educators/ facilitators/ coaches/ mentors, or whose task it is to coordinate training programs, should be able to tailor learning to accommodate the needs of individual learners, through delivery and presentation methods designed to cater to diversity. Preferred learning styles relate to the tools learners best use to integrate/ internalise learning. Managers can help people learn to learn by teaching them to use those tools efficiently and to take advantage of other learning situations. Ensure organisational procedures maximise individual and team access to, and participation in, learning opportunities Organisational procedures are the agreed methods of performing work in any given business. They are prescriptions of what to do, in what order and how it is to be done. Procedures are codified knowledge; that is, they are official and are often edited to ensure that they are clear and concise. Codified knowledge is particularly important for learning organisations as it facilitates sharing and dissemination and thus becomes an organisational asset. Procedures are often called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as a means of indicating that the detail that they contain is the normal way to conduct business. Procedures are necessary to ensure: 1. Quality of outcome. 2. Consistency of outcome.3. That health and safety is adhered to. 4. That legislative compliance is met 5. Timeframes are met. 6. Governance is provided. 7. Organisational strategy is followed. An organisation that has no or few formalised procedures is likely to be a very organic business. That is, staff within it will approach each task in their own way and the same person might complete the same task in different ways on different occasions. In highly creative industries a lower level of structure might be desirable, however, even in such businesses there are aspects that require the structure provided by a formalised procedure, for example, invoicing clients, paying tax and ensuring that employee’s statutory rights are met. Barriers Whilst we have discussed so far the importance of procedures and the benefits that procedures provide to an organisation, managers must also recognise that in some instances these same procedures can become a barrier to growth and learning. There can be many reasons why individuals, teams or organisations as a whole do not embrace learning. These can include:  a reluctance to change  inconclusive deliberations  urgency of tasks  avoidance of reflective observation  unclear concepts  uncertainness of outcomes  fear of failure  defensive routines  complexity of systems  rigidness of procedures  inadequate outcome feedback  misperceptions of the feedback Using procedures positively Procedures can be used to teach workers desired behaviour and reinforce that behaviour so that it becomes second nature. In order to do this the amendment of old procedures or the introduction of new ones should be accompanied by a change management approach. That is, the people who will be responsible for following the procedure must understand why it is being changed/ introduced, what benefits it will bring to them, their team and the organisation as a whole and they must also understand the implications of not following the procedure. Generally, most people, once they can see why something is being asked of them, will adopt itwithout issue, but where the new arrangements mean additional work or accountability it might have to be ‘sold’ to them by specifically highlighting the benefits to them. There are many instances where organisations instigate formal training programs for employees. Yet when the employees finish their training and try to implement new ideas and new skills they are prevented from doing so. This negates the value of training and actually makes it a waste of money and tim e, in terms of organisational goal achievement. Training must relate directly to needs–individual, team and organisational–but it requires support from all management levels and commitment from management that employees will be empowered to utilise their new skills. New skills which cannot be used are wasted skills–they are, therefore, wasted organisational resources. Waste contributes to inefficiency and impacts negatively on the organisation’s bottom line. In this context, waste also contributes to employee discontent. Involving the people who will be required to follow the procedures in developing them is a powerful strategy for encouraging ownership and compliance. Whilst it is not always possible to let employees have full architecture of the procedure, there is usually at least some component that they can have input into. For example, if your team recently attended a customer service training course you might like to consider holding a supplementary workshop where, as a team, they examine the current procedures to identify where they could be improved in the light of their new knowledge and skills. Ensure effective liaison occurs with training and development specialists and contributes to learning opportunities which enhance individual, team and organisational performance Human resource expertise can be used to direct attention to suitable training programs and general information/ communication processes which will effectively inform and educate organisational members. Senior management, frontline managers and supervisors can also fulfil this function. However, the design, development and delivery of formal training programs generally require the expertise of specialist training personnel. In large organisations you are likely to have a dedicated training and development manager whose role is to work with other members of leadership to effect quality learning solutions throughout the organisation. Sometimes this person will also be responsible for designing and delivering in-house programs, although more typically they will have a small team of their own to do this, or they will use external consultants. In-house specialist training personnel will have:1. Experience in translating organisational needs into learning objectives. 2. Experience in selecting third party training provider vendors. 3. Experience in designing and sourcing appropriate training materials. 4. Experience in tailoring learning to organisational needs. 5. A good understanding of adult learning requirements (delivery, methodologies and technique s which enhance learning). 6. An ability to promote and encourage learning. 7. A suitable depth of industry expertise. Smaller organisations are likely to include the provision of specialist training advice under the umbrella of the HR manager. In this instance the depth of experience and ability to take on some of the training functions themselves will be dictated by the focus of their previous roles. For example, a HR manager who has predominantly worked in industrial relations can be expected to have a working knowledge of contemporary training issues but not necessarily the skills to action them. In some instances it is advisable to use an independent third party training consultant. Reasons for this include:  they can provide expertise not available in-house  they can accomplish tasks that internal staff do not have the time to take on  they can provide a viewpoint not encumbered by internal politics  they are able to break through entrenched cultures or ways of thinking  they have extensive, demonstrated competence with regard to the tasks required  where the consultant is responsible for delivering the training they will have demonstrated competence in the skill being trained When selecting a training consultant use your learning objectives and the point to which you have been able to create a learning plan as a starting point for determining who might be appropriate. For example, do you know exactly what you want and how you want it or do you need someone to help you identify the best way to achieve your goals? If you know that you need to put 1000 staff through a product knowledge update program you might engage an instructional designer to create the program and then train exemplary staff members to train the remainder of the employees. Alternatively, if you would like your team to have a stronger customer service focus, you might employ a training strategist to assist you to identify the most appropriate way to make this cultural change. Training consultants can be found through word of mouth, websites or other forms of advertising. When selecting a consultant ensure that you check their credibility. Ask them:  for their qualifications what their experience entails  to give examples of similar work that they have performed successfully. Consider: 1. Whether you have a rapport with this person. 2. Whether they are really listening to your needs. 3. Whether they can tailor a solution to meet your needs or whether they are only interested in selling a standard product. 4. Whether they display a way of working that fits with your organisation’s culture. Part 2: FACILITATE AND PROMOTE LEARNING This section addresses the following performance criteria:  Develop strategies to ensure that workplace learning opportunities are used and that team members are encouraged to share their skills and knowledge to encourage a learning culture within the team  Implement organisational procedures to ensure workplace learning opportunities contribute to the development of appropriate workplace knowledge, skills and attitudes  Implement policies and procedures to encourage team members to assess their own competencies and to identify their own learning and development needs  Share the benefits of learning with others in the team and organisation  Recognise workplace achievement by timely and appropriate recognition, feedback and rewardsDevelop strategies to ensure that workplace learning opportunities are used and that team members are encouraged to share their skills and knowledge to encourage a learning culture within the team In order to meet the team and organisation’s needs, learning must be applied in a person’s work role. This might be the application of a specific skill, for example, driving a forklift, or it might be a paradigm shift in thinking, for example, going from a confrontational style of management to a collaborative one. Regardless, learning opportunities must be taken up, the learning adopted and practised, and then shared with others across the organisation. Workplace learning opportunities can include, but are not limited to: Method Description Demonstrations: 1. Demonstrated performance of tasks, with explanation and instruction from trainer. 2. Useful for visual learners and enables learners to see end-product. 3. Disadvantages: time and equipment (consumables) required.Role-plays, games, simulations: Useful for learner directed exploration of attitudes, values and interpersonal skills. Can be fun and encourage group support and interaction. Useful for developing language skills. Disadvantages: real purpose might be lost, time requirements, materials and equipment needed, participants might be reluctant to participate. Discussions, presentations, brainstorming: Useful for encouraging input from all group members, promoting active and peer learning, applying prior knowledge and skills, sharing experience. Disadvantages: domination by individuals, time-consuming, might appear to be a waste of time to some participants. Case studies, problem solving/ analysis activities: Useful for promoting interpretation, problem solving, critical analysis, checking understanding and demonstrating real situations. Disadvantages: some participants might experience dissatisfaction with lack of detail and opportunity to question. Interactions might be influenced by language and literacy demands. Field trips: Useful for seeing and discussing skills and knowledge applied in workplaces. Disadvantages: requires time, planning and management. Requires debriefing and follow -up. Assignments, project and reports: Includes essays, projects, reports that require learners to conduct research and find out information for themselves. Useful for enabling learners to explore required knowledge and skills, developing research, communication, problem solving and analytical skills. Disadvantages: language and literacy demands might be an obstacle. Work-based learning—on the floor: Useful for practising skills, linking theory with practice, developing problem solving and holistic learning, experimenting with new techniques, learning from other workers. Disadvantages: time, productivity decrease while learning takes place. Fostering learning As a manager you are in a position to support your team members and foster their workplace learning. Effective managers actively seek ways to build learning experiences into daily work and they are enthusiastic about tackling new challenges and looking at problems in new ways. Regardless of the competency of their team members they are positive, supportive and a positive role model.Specifically, managers can foster workplace learning by:  asking participants what interests them, what they want to learn, and whether they feel they are learning it  welcome new ideas  provide opportunities for learning utilising as many workplace learning methodologies as possible  breaking up learning into small, digestible chunks  providing workplace context  providing time to reflect on learning  undertaking periodic checks to ensure understanding, and summarising formation at appropriate times  changing the pace and training activity levels as often as is reasonable  ensuring that learners feel safe and are not afraid to express themselves  always using inclusive, non-discriminatory language and insisting that learners do the same  valuing and make allowances for diversity and cultural difference  encourage commitment by recognising effort  foster a sense of accomplishment by recognising achievement  support personal as well as job role growth Overcoming barriers to learning In modern organisations facilitation of learning and development is the responsibility of each and every manager. The role of learning facilitator concerns diagnosis, planning, assessing group and individual needs, and then creating situations which encourage the achievement of learning objectives. Part of the planning function involves determining ways to overcome barriers to learning. Trainers/ managers/ leaders often encounter barriers in creating or developing learning opportunities, and in encouraging staff to recognise and take up new opportunities. Barriers to learning might be categorised under the headings of: 1. Psychological. 2. Situational. 3. Organisational barriers. Psychological barriers (generally applicable to individuals) These are largely personal, relating to past learning experiences, or personal perceptions of ability. Staff in these situations might:  suffer from low self-esteem and subsequently disparage their own ability  fear failure or ridicule  be overwhelmed or intimidated by other people’s expectations or experience be unable to prioritise objectives, goals or activities  have memories of unsatisfactory experiences with mainstream schooling which prevent them from participating in new learning  have inadequate understanding of the needs and benefits of learning  be ‘out of practice’, therefore uncertain about their own abilities  believe they are too old to learn  come from family or cultural backgrounds where learning is not supported  lack sufficient motivation  be uncomfortable with associated people in the learning situation  dislike their trainers, peers or bosses  feel guilty – time spent training could be spent doing other less selfish things  suffer from stress or pressure to do everything right Disabilities which might be categorised as either situational or psychological include:  hearing, sight, coordination etc  cognitive disabilities  learning dysfunction (eg dyslexia etc)  behavioural dysfunction Many of these barriers can be overcome through supportive structures, proper guidance, i nformation dissemination and suitable learning opportunity development and delivery methods. Consultation with experts in the specific learning fields might be valuable. Situational barriers These barriers arise out of the learner’s individual situations and might include:  lack of time  lack of finances  lack of family support (child care needs etc)  lack of transport  health issues/ illness, stress etc  cultural differences  poor study environment at home Organisational barriers Organisational barriers are those that arise through factors or elements resulting from structures, systems or the culture of the organisation within which people work. Some of these have already been mentioned, and include:  lack of information/ communication about learning opportunities  lack of information/ communication concerning organisational position or policy on support for learning or inadequate or inflexible policies on support for training/ learning  inadequate /resources/14702/ unsuitable learning environments (noise, distractions, temperature etc) lack of expertise within the organisation  inability to access suitable expertise  lack of management support in allocating time, allowing employees to be available for learning etc  lack of recognition of learning successes or the benefits of learning to individuals and the organisation  learning/ training viewed by the organisation as a cost rather than an investment  non-awareness on the part of managers/ organisational leaders regarding the benefits of learning  fear by senior management that employee learning will destabilise their positions  lack of support for employees/ concern for employee satisfaction  no understanding, on the part of management, of learning processes and procedure s  poor research into availability of opportunities Team learning In true learning organisations leaders/ managers and their employees build a culture in which information is freely shared. Individuals teach each other. If, for instance, a person handles a project well, they make sure that others know how they did it – the strategies and procedures they used. They tell others about the things that worked well and the things that did not work, so that mistakes are not repeated. It makes no sense for others to waste their time and the organisation’s resources making the same mistakes. Team learning is one of the 5 core disciplines that Peter Senge attributes to learning organisations in his book The Fifth Discipline. He describes team learning as ‘the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire’ (Senge, 1990). Team learning builds on the other core disciplines of personal mastery and shared vision but expands upon them to include the notion that people need to be able to act together in a shared learning and operational experience. Senge suggests that when teams learn together not only is there a good result for the organisation but that each individual will grow more rapidly than could have occurred otherwise. The discipline of team learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine thinking together. It is distinct from team building, as it requires a fully functioning team for the dialogue to be genuine. Dialogue for a team belonging to a learning organisation encompasses sharing tacit and explicit knowledge at 3 points: 1. Whilst planning. 2. Whilst doing. 3. Afterwards. Managers have a clear role to play in encouraging dialogue amongst their teams in order to facilitate team learning. They must actively work to create a climate of openness and trust in which members feel comfortable in sharing ideas, opinions, frustrations and difficulties, as well as process knowledge and successful methods and outcomes.Dialogue can be fostered at the planning stage by asking team members what they want to achieve, providing time for them to spend with colleagues who have undertaken similar learning experiences and by supporting them in a period of exploration and investigation. During the ‘doing’ stage, managers can provide avenues for the employees to share progress reports and updates. This could be using electronic medium or traditionally at venues such as team or staff meetings. This sharing of learning whilst it is in progress supports the notions of continual learning, action learning and transferability of learning. Finally, it is essential that managers support their staff in the debrief of learning – this might be facilitating a review session, providing time for team members to reflect on their journey or finding opportunities to share the growth with others in the organisation. Dialogue at the conclusion of learning provides closure to one cycle of continuous improvement whilst germinating other cycles in other parts of the organisation. Implement organisational procedures to ensure workplace learning opportunities contribute to the development of appropriate workplace knowledge, skills and attitudes What are procedures? Procedures are:  a manner of proceeding; a way of performing or affecting something—standard procedure  a series of steps taken to accomplish an end—a manufacturing procedure; evacuation procedures  a set of established forms or methods for conducting the affairs of an organised body such as a business, club, or government All businesses operate with procedures. They provide structure and guidance on how the leaders of an organisation want tasks carried out. They serve to create consistency and certainty in processes that are subject to quality, legislative or governance controls. Procedures contribute to learning Procedures, because they stipulate what is to be done and how it is to be done, are instrumental in providing guidance on the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are needed in order to accomplish certain tasks. For example, a procedure on manual lifting might state that a forklift is needed to lift any item of more than 20 kg over shoulder height. Thus, the organisation would need to ensure it has operators who have completed the training necessary to drive a forklift. When organisational procedures are changed the correct actions, equipment, and processes all need to be reinforced. In this instance learning might be as simple as alerting workers to a change in the procedure or it might require an investment in formal training. Ensuring learningCompetency-based training or adult education makes a paradigm shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. It has been developed in consultation with industry and using a range of typical procedures. Competency-based training is outcome focused, aimed at skills improvement and is best accomplished using adult learning principles. In an adult learning situation the teaching is not the important outcome; what the trainee learns is. Adult learners are neither passive recipients of information nor are they bu ndles of stimulus-response connections. They select and transform information and must, therefore, be regarded as active participants in the knowledge getting process. Adult learners have no wish to return to a schoolroom situation. Many training programs fail because adult learners are treated like school children. They quickly come to resent this and resist any learning that is offered in such situations. Learning should be activated by using a variety of stimuli, which provide input for the learning process. The acquisition of knowledge and learning of performance skills, whether they involve pattern recognition, concept attainment, problem solving or the development of scientific theory etc, are active processes. Facilitators, therefore, unlike teachers, relinquish control of the learning process to the learners. The facilitator provides the learning environment, information and guidance and acts as a resource for learners. Participants direct and influence the learning so it becomes meaningful to them and achieves their aims and objectives. Facilitators and participants should evolve a cooperative relationship, through reciprocal dialogue with respect to both the discovery and transmission of knowledge. Encourage learners to work things out for themselves, and to go beyond the boundaries of their current stored knowledge–to apply current knowledge and skills to transformational situations and problem-solving activities. Trainees might have different ideas from the trainer/ facilitator; they are valid for the trainee and should be respected and openly discussed. Trainees should be encouraged to express their views and share their experience. A central tenet in learning is making maximum use of the acquired skills and experience of the learner, so that learning becomes a collaborative process. All learning activities need to take account of where the learners are now (how much they already know, their readiness to learn etc), where they need to be (the outcomes or objectives of the learning), how they are going to get there (the methods of instruction/ learning) and how we and they will know when they have got there (assessment and/or evaluation).Implement policies and procedures to encourage team members to assess their own competencies and to identify their own learning and development needs In the strive towards continuous improvement each worker must take responsibility for their outputs and the impact that they have on the performance of the team to which they belong and the organisation as a whole. Ultimately they can only do this if they have full awareness of the competency standards that are expected. Competencies Competencies are the standards of knowledge, behaviour or skills that must be applied in a particular task. They define what must be done and how well it should be done. Competencies can be determined using a range of sources, including: Organisationally defined standards—standards that are prescribed by an organisation for their own internal use. They are often used to create a point of difference from competitors and to maintain internal quality standards. For example, each patient will receive a follow-up phone call not more than 4 days after their operation, all cup cakes will be iced to within 5 mm of their edge, customers are to sign receipt of warranty information on Form A. Organisationally defined standards are often prescribed in policies and procedures. Australian industry competency standards—as part of a national reform to the way training is carried out, in the 1980s all industry groups were provided with federal funding to record the tasks that workers typically completed and the competencies that they required to complete those tasks. These com petencies were expressed in training packages. A training package is a set of nationally endorsed industry/ enterprise specific standards and qualifications, which describe the skills and knowledge needed to perform effectively in the workplace. A training package contains nationally endorsed qualifications, competency standards and assessment guidelines that provide for:  nationally-recognised qualifications  national consistency in training outcomes  transportability of qualifications  career pathways Training packages are developed by industry to meet industry training needs and continue to be overseen by 10 National Industry Skills Councils. Each training package is regularly reviewed with extensive consultation to ensure it meets industry’s changing needs. Effective workplace performance requires not only isolated technical skills, but the knowledge and attitudes to apply those skills in routine and non-routine situations. People are considered to be competent when they are able to apply their knowledge and skills to successfully complete work activities in a range of situations and environments.Competencies as defined in a training package must be demonstrated by each individual in 5 dimensions. These dimensions are: 1.Task skills Undertaking the specific task/s required to complete a work activity to the required standard. This means being able to perform the individual actions as well as the whole task. 2. Task management skills Managing a number of different tasks to complete a whole work activity. This means working efficiently to meet deadlines, handle a sequence of interrelated tasks, and progress smoothly between tasks. 3. Contingency management skills Responding to problems and irregularities when undertaking a work activity, such as: breakdowns, changes in routine, unexpected or atypical results or outcomes, difficult or dissatisfied clients. 4. Job/ role environment skills Dealing with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment when undertaking a work activity, such as: working with others, interacting with clients and suppliers, complying with standard operating procedures, observing enterprise policy and procedures. 5. Transfer skills Transfer skills is a fifth dimension that is encouraged but not mandated. It means having the capacity to transfer skills and knowledge to other contexts. Australian technical standards Technical standards provide Australia-wide guidance on what is acceptable. They typically relate to a technical aspect of a production process or a finished product where there is an outcome that can be measured. In many instances technical standards exist to protect consumers from sub-standard goods/ services. For example, an optical technician must be aware of the Australian Standards that apply to the manufacture of prescription sunglasses, as, if they are not adhered to, they could result in impaired vision for the customer. Many Australian Standards are mandatory but some are voluntary. International technical standards In some instances there are international technical standards that apply to workmanship. Australian Standards are aligned to international standards but there might be points of difference. International standards are of particular importance to organisations competing in a global marketplace. Competency assessmentCompetency assessment enables judgment of whether learning has occurred and the stated or required objectives have been met. It is important to know whether the learning activities are individual, group- based, formal or informal. Assessing the level of competence of a worker or team of workers: 1. Indicates how well the learning has been internalised. 2. Lets learners know that they have achieved the required skills level. 3. Lets trainers, supervisors and managers know that learners have achieved the required skills level. 4. Provides opportunities for giving and receiving feedback and correcting erroneous learning. 5. Reinforces correct learning. 6. Gives measurable and confirmed statements of success which contributes to increased self-esteem and confidence of learners. 7. Gives learners a record of achievement or formal accreditation – acknowledgment of their skills/ knowledge (which can be used when seeking employment or promotion and can also be used as an entry to further learning opportunities). 8. Provides a record of competence for the organisation (which can be stored and utilised in future skills audits or to determine which employees are best suited to specific tasks or projects, or for promotion purposes). Assessment techniques Assessment techniques are typically categorised as the following: External assessment External assessment Where the assessment is carried out by a third party. This might be the trainer, a specialised assessor or a workplace expert. External assessment has traditionally been viewed as more valid than self or peer assessment, as it is carried out by an independent person who is in possession of the required expert knowledge or skills. It is therefore perceived to be fairer. However, external assessment can be meaningless if:  the assessor lacks credibility  the assessor’s skills and knowledge are not current  the assessment methodologies do not accurately match the workplace situation where they must be performed  the assessment task is not valid, fair and reliable External assessments can also serve to make the person whose competency is being judged powerless and, if the result is poor, can alienate them from the learning process. Self-assessment Self-assessment Is a process where people are involved in and are responsible for assessing their own work. It encourages them to take ownership of their learning and can increase their motivation. Self-assessment can be used tohelp develop in workers the ability to examine and think critically about their learning. It can also help employees to determine what criteria should be used in judging their work and to apply these objectively to their own work in order to facilitate their continued learning. Peer assessment Peer assessment Is where workers are involved in the assessment of the work of other workers. When assessing their colleagues each individual must have a clear understanding of what they are to look for in their peers’ work. Peer assessment can be used to develop in workers the ability to work cooperatively, to be critical of others’ work and receive critical appraisals of, and feedback on, their own work. Benefits of peer and self-assessment Peer and self-assessment are desirable in an employment-based setting, as workers who see clear models of work that meet the standards, and understand why the work meets the standards, will begin to make comparisons between their performance and the competency examples that are presented. As tasks be come more complex and open-ended, it is essential that more than one model be provided to assure that workers understand different strategies to meet the standards. Employees also gain a greater understanding of the process of getting to the standard. This includes a depth of understanding about where they have been, where they are now, and where they need to be at the end of the task. Describing progressive levels of performance becomes a guide for the journey, rather than a blind walk through an assessment maze. Employees become more involved in the monitoring of learning and adopt some of the responsibility for documenting and justifying learning. Research has demonstrated that high-performing learners do the following: 1. Self-monitor. 2. Self-correct. 3. Use feedback from peers to guide their learning process. For example, a group of bakers could be told by management that they have to bake 98% of their bread rolls to a certain degree of brownness, a certain size and a prescribed shape. They might then have a l ine supervisor who checks the production and assesses the quality of the product. When results are given back to the bakers they might identify ways to improve or they might simply say that imperfections are a natural part of baking. On the other hand, if the same group of bakers are asked to work together to list the criteria of what makes a perfect roll and then select examples from the line, they are involved in the determining of the standards in the first place and have a greater understanding of what this means for production. If assisted to work collaboratively to assess production and rate themselves against their own criteria they take ownership for thequality of the rolls. In this way, the peer pressure is changed from being likely to preserve the status quo to pressure to perform at the highest level. Challenges to peer and self-assessment Peer and self-assessment can be resisted by some employees for a range of reasons, including:  attitudes, eg marking is your job, not mine; in this case the manager can emphasise that peer and self-assessment are useful procedures for the employees’ own development  peer pressure on workers not to mark down their colleagues – anonymous assessment is one strategy to counteract this, or actively work to create a culture of honest feedback sharing  employees do not understand criteria – workshops can be held to explain the process better  lack of confidence in the process – if this is the case, only practice and experience will show that the process does work Assessment tools Assessment tools, regardless of the methodology used, might include:  observation of skills demonstrated  written testing – tests, projects or assignments  verbal testing – questioning  practical testing simulations in a training situation or practical tests at work  other testing procedures agreed between trainers and learners Regardless of the methodology and tools to be used, workers should always know what the assessment will involve, what performance criteria must be met and when assessment will be conducted. This enables them to prepare for assessment and to determine their own readiness for assessment. Identify learning and development needs Peer and self-assessment methodologies are more likely to result in employees identifying their own learning and development needs as opposed to having them imposed upon them. This is due to a combination of greater awareness, a stronger commitment to the quality process and a deeper understanding of the task and what is required than any external person could provide. If we consider the example of the bakers again, group self-assessment might indicate that there is a lack of communication between one shift and another about the oven performance and thus the first fe w batches of rolls from each shift are under- or over-cooked. If an external assessor was providing feedback they might attribute the variances in colour to incorrect operation of the oven and recommend training on the oven settings be provided. The bakers themselves are more likely to correctly identify the problem and prescribe appropriate learning and development activities, such as a 5 minute shift changeover debrief.Share the benefits of learning with others in the team and organisation The true power of a learning organisation is not that many individuals within it are continually improving the ways that they do things, rather it is the sharing of experiences, journeys and outcomes that creates the learning culture. Any organisation is like a village – people move in and out of it, they might stay for a long time or only a short while. The people involved might be galvanised by a single compelling purpose or they might be quite disparate in their activities. The learning organisation actively seeks to be the village that retains the knowledge and skills of each resident even once they have left. They share the information, internalise it in different ways and then seek to apply it. The benefits of actively supporting organisational sharing of knowledge include: 1. Learning is provided within the organisational context. 2. Knowledge is offered in a practical application as opposed to pure theory. 3. It facilitates quicker uptake. 4. Fewer mistakes made in subsequent applications of the knowledge. 5. Knowledge can be built upon. 6. Small pockets of learning can combine to create a substantial body of knowledge 7. A realistic sharing of the negative aspects as well as the positive. 8. Ongoing support for the implementation of the learning is retained in-house. 9. Those employees sharing their learning gain an enhanced sense of achievement and accomplishment. 10. Teaching others ensures a very high degree of comprehension of the subject matter/ skills. 11. Investment is retained within the organisation. 12. Investment has multiple pay-off points. Classification of networks There are various different ways to classify the groups that people form in order to share their learning. In ‘Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier’, Etienne Wenger and William Snyder (2000) explore the concept of communities of practice, as opposed to a community of interest. This is later built upon by Senge and Kofman (1993) in ‘Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations’. In essence, the 3 classifications of organisational learning networks are: 1. Communities of interest Groups of people who come together to share an interest in a common topic. The topic can be work -related but is more often not. Examples of communities of interest include social groups, sporting clubs and charity networks. 2. Communities of practiceOrganisationally-based groups of people who hold the explicit knowledge of how to perform tasks. They assist one another to achieve excellence by sharing information, giving advice and providing feedback. Examples of communities of practice include operational teams and professional associations. 3. Communities of commitment Groups that have a clear organisational goal and are accountable for delivery of specific outcomes. They can comprise multiple communities of practice and facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas in order to achieve the primary purpose. Communities of commitment typically have a lifespan that mirrors the lifespan of the goal; that is, once the goal has been achieved the community is no longer required. BP, in their journey to become a learning organisation, actively sought to foster communities of practice (or enabling networks as they called them) and communities of commitment (renamed by BP to delivery networks). At BP the enabling groups have a low level of formality and a less tangible outpu t, whilst delivery groups are more formal and have a highly measurable value to add to the organisation. In their book ‘Learning to Fly – Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations’, Collinson and Parcell (2004), provide the following descriptions of BP’s networks that support sharing of learning. 3D Mod network The 3D Mod group is an example of an enabling network. It is a network of practitioners across a variety of disciplines who have a common goal of using 3-dimensional reservoir modelling to understand how sub terrain oil reservoirs might behave. The 3D Mod group operate electronically, initially they shared their thoughts, experience and learning via a discussion group and then graduated to a website hosting validated con tent. Membership of the group is approximately 100 worldwide and it fluctuates. New people join as they become involved in a 3D modelling project in their own locality and then drop out again when the network has fulfilled its usefulness. Green Operations network The Green Operations network is an example of a delivering network or a community of commitment. It exists to identify, create and implement new ideas about how to make the operations of BP more environmentally friendly. It is an electronic discussion list supported by an intranet site. The group has approximately 600 members and is managed by a full-time moderator whose responsibility it is to ensure that questions are answered and key concepts captured. The network facilitates discussion across the company and takes germ ideas and cultivates them into viable proposals. Knowledge transfer is supported by specialist teams, workshops, newsletters, videos, web casts and links with external third parties.Other methodologies to share learning Whilst the concept of networks implies an ongoing, sophisticated level of sharing across time and a number of workers, the benefits of learning can just as easily be shared using simple methods. These can include: 1.Reports, eg providing a report from a conference attended–written or verbal. 2. Presentations, eg giving a presentation or demonstration on a skill acquired. 3. Buddy systems, eg an experienced worker is buddied with a less experienced worker. 4. Mentoring, eg a senior executive mentors a junior executive. 5. Coaching, eg a person from a site that has already commissioned a new piece of equipment is seconded to act as a coach to the team installing the same equipment at their plant. 6. Meetings, eg a meeting is called to discuss a new approach gained from attending a professional development workshop. Recognise workplace achievement by timely and appropriate recognition, feedback and rewards What motivates employees? Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the w ill to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). In today’s modern business world we can define motivation as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organisational goals. At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and services. Praise and rewards were deemed unnecessary, as workers should be grateful for their pay check at the end of each week. What perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973). This study found that employees are not motivated solely by money and employee behaviour is linked to their attitudes. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within t he context of the roles they perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen &Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, as employees’ income increases, money might become less of a motivator and as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator. The way employees feel about their job and their workplace determines how motivated they are. There is a clear link between job satisfaction and productivity.Job satisfaction depends partly on tangible rewards, for example, how much a person is paid and what benefits they receive. However, job satisfaction also depends on the culture of an organisation. This mean s the things that makes a business distinctive and makes the people who work there proud to do so. You can motivate people with:  varied and interesting work, eg providing the opportunity to travel  high-quality training and development, eg encouragement to study for professional qualifications  an open door culture in which managers are approachable  respect for a good work/ life balance, eg offering the opportunity for flexible working  fairness at work, including equal opportunities  proactive and regular communication  regular appraisal and positive feedback, eg restating business objectives and recognising your staff’s contribution  requests for feedback, either in person or via staff surveys, on how employees feel about their roles, the support they get, and improvements to the business  the chance to socialise with colleagues at organised events  recognition and reward for ideas or competitive intelligence Some of the long-lasting and tangible benefits of recognising employee performance include: 1. Reduced staff turnover. 2. Happy work relationships. 3. Enhanced company/ team loyalty. 4. High morale. 5. A culture of ‘can do’ rather than ‘cannot do’ or ‘won’t do’. Twenty ways to motivate employees: 1. Use appropriate methods of reinforcement. 2. Eliminate unnecessary threats and punishments. 3. Adequately recognise accomplishments. 4. Allow employees both flexibility and choice. 5. Increase employee responsibility through delegation. 6. Institute a program of goal setting. 7. Clarify your expectations making sure that employees understand them. 8. Design tasks and environments to be consistent with employee needs. 9. Individualise your supervision. 10. Provide immediate and relevant feedback that will help improve employee performance. 11. Show that you have confidence in your employees. 12. Show interest in each individual under your supervision. 13. Allow individuals to participate in making decisions that affect them. 14. Establish a climate of trust and open communication. 15. Minimise the use of formal regulations and rules. 16. Listen to and deal effectively with employee complaints.17. Point out improvements in performance, no matter how small. 18. Criticisebehaviour, not people. 19. Encourage employees to engage in novel and challenging activities. 20. A certain level of stress is basic to motivation, so do not eliminate it completely. Recognising and rewarding The golden rule is to recognisebehaviour and reward results. Positive recognition of people encourages and reinforces desired behaviour. It can take the form of praise, encouragement, a certificate, a gift or incentive such as a restaurant voucher. Provided that an employee’s basic needs are met, for example, a decent base pay, positive recognition systems are as important as financial rewards. Recognising the behaviour of employees can be very cost-effective – how much does a word of thanks cost? Yet it is highly effective. The power of recognition is based in the fact that someone took the time to notice an achievement, sought out the employee responsible and personally commented on it. Recognition is affirmation that the behaviour of the person is helpful and important to the organisation. A rewards system on the other hand, is based on financial remuneration. To be effective a rewards system must be transparent, upfront and clearly linked to a predetermined set of measurable targets that are possible to achieve but stretch the employee to achieve new heights. Recognisingbehaviour Giving feedback One of the simplest, most effective and most cost-effective ways to reward employees is to give them feedback. Giving feedback entails providing responses, comments or advice. It is the information that you give during communication. It is based on verifiable and observable facts, not on hearsay, opinion or on assessment of personality. Feedback is a reciprocal process – in the feedback process staff should be encouraged to ask questions, evaluate their own progress and provide their own feedback. A good manager does not only give feedback when there are problems; they also give feedback when things are working well and when somebody has done something exceptional. This is called reinforcement. We all need to know that we are doing the right thing and that someone has noticed. Reinforcement will encourage and motivate the people you are talking with to continue responding. It also lets them know that they are appreciated.Feedback is most effective if given as soon as possible after the event to which it relates. A word of thanks to an employee for a report completed on time because they stayed back late to finish it, is far more powerful when it is handed in, rather than a week later. Good feedback is specific; just to say ‘Great’ or ‘Well done’, might make someone feel good, but does not point to exactly what was done well. When giving feedback to someone who has made a pre sentation you might say, ‘You did that well. Your voice was very clear and you answered the questions accurately’. Feedback given genuinely and with enthusiasm will be more credible than comments made with little warmth or empathy. Smile with your eyes, sound positive and inject some real energy into your feedback in order to make people feel special. Constructive or positive feedback will always produce better results than negative feedback. Managers should always seek ways to phrase feedback responses so that they are supportive of improvement. This does not mean that you should not tell people if they are doing something wrong. You should. It means that you should tell them in ways that incorporate improvement strategies, suggestions and agreement on improvement needs. When giving feedback use positive, non-discriminatory language and make instructions supportive, not critical, sarcastic or denigrating. If you do have to deliver feedback regarding improvement of performance consider the notion of the feedback hamburger. Feedback can start with something positive (however minor) and end with something positive/ constructive. Acknowledge the things that have been done correctly. Go on to explain the corrections that need to be made, so that they are sandwiched in the middle. This will not downplay the validity or import ance of the need to adjust performance, but will assist in generating a positive and encouraging approach. Finish by reinforcing the correct behaviours, or a particular aspect of those behaviours. Rewarding results The keys to developing a reward program are: 1. Identification of company or team goals that the reward program will support. 2. Identification of the desired employee performance that will reinforce the company’s goals. 3. Determination of key measurements of the performance or behaviour, based on the individual or team’s previous achievements. 4. Determination of appropriate rewards. 5. Communication of program to employees.In order to reap benefits such as increased productivity, the manager designing a reward program must identify company or team goals to be reached and the performance that will contribute to this. While this might seem obvious, organisations often make the mistake of rewarding achievements that either fail to further business goals or actually sabotage them. If teamwork is a business goal, a bonus system rewarding individuals who improve their productivity by themselves or at the expense of another does not make sense. Likewise, if quality is an important issue for an organisation, the reward system should not emphasise rewarding the quantity of work accomplished by an individual. Properly measuring performance ensures the program pays off in terms of business goals. Since rewards have a real cost in terms of time or money, managers need to confirm that performance has actually improved before rewarding it. Once again, the measures need to relate to the defined goals. When developing a rewards program, a manager should consider matching rewards to the end result for the organisation. Perfect attendance might merit a different reward than saving the company $10,000 through improved contract negotiation. It is also important to consider rewarding both individual and group accomplishments in order to promote both individual initiative and group cooperation and performance. Lastly, in order for a rewards program to be successful, the specifics need to be clearly spelled out for every employee. Motivation depends on the individual’s ability to understand what is being asked of them. Once this has been done, reinforce the original communication with regular meetings or memos promoting the program. Keep your communications simple but frequent to ensure staff are kept abreast of changes to the system. There are a number of different types of reward programs aimed at both individual and team performan ce. These include: 1. Variable pay. 2. Bonuses. 3. Profit sharing. 4. Stock options. 5. Group-based reward systems. Variable pay Variable pay or pay-for-performance is a compensation program in which a portion of a person’s pay is considered ‘at risk’. Variable pay can be tied to the performance of the company, the results of a business unit, an individual’s accomplishments, or any combination of these. It can take many forms, including bonus programs, stock options, and one-time awards for significant accomplishments. Some companies choose to pay their employees less than competitors but attempt to motivate and reward employees using a variable pay program instead. BonusesBonus programs have been used for some time. They usually reward individual accomplishment and are frequently used in sales organisations to encourage salespersons to generate additional business or higher profits. They can also be used, however, to recognise group accomplishments. Indeed, increasing numbers of businesses have switched from individual bonus programs to one which reward contributions to organisational performance at team, departmental, or company-wide levels. However, bonuses are generally short-term motivators. By rewarding an employee’s performance for the previous year, say critics, they encourage a short-term perspective rather than future-oriented accomplishments. In addition, these programs need to be carefully structured to ensure they are rewarding accomplishments above and beyond an individual or group’s basic functions. Otherwise, they run the risk of being perceived as entitlements, rather than a reward for outstanding work. Profit sharing Profit sharing refers to the strategy of creating a pool of monies to be disbursed to employees by taking a stated percentage of a company’s profits. The amount given to an employee is usually equal to a percentage of the employee’s salary and is disbursed after a business closes its books for the year. A benefit for a company offering this type of reward is that it can keep fixed costs low. The idea behind profit sharing is to reward employees for their contributions to a company’s achieved profit goal. It encourages employees to stay with the organisation because it encourages a sense of ownership and loyalty to the enterprise. Unfortunately, since it is awarded to all employees, profit sharing tends to dilute individual contributions. Stock options Previously the territory of upper management and large companies, stock options have become an increasingly popular method in recent years of rewarding middle management and other employees in both mature companies and start-ups. Employee stock option programs give employees the right to buy a specified number of a company’s shares at a fixed price for a specified period of time. Like profit sharing plans, stock options usually reward employees for organisational loyalty, thus serving as a long-term motivator. Group-based reward systems As more small businesses use team structures to reach their goals, many managers look for ways to reward cooperation between departments and individuals. Bonuses, profit sharing, and stock options can all be used to reward team and group accomplishments. A manager can choose to reward individual or group contributions or a combination of the two. Group-based reward systems are based on a measurement of team performance, with individual rewards received on the basis of this performance. While these systems encourage individual efforts toward common business goals, they also tend to reward underperforming employees along with average and above-average employees. A reward program which recognises individual achievements in addition to team performance can provide extra incentive for employees.Part 3: MONITOR AND IMPROVE LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS This section addresses the following performance criteria:  Use strategies to ensure that team and individual learning performance is monitored to determine the type and extent of any additional work based support required and any Work Health and Safety (WHS) issues  Use feedback from individuals and teams to identify and introduce improvements in future learning arrangements  Make adjustments, negotiated with training and development specialists, for improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of learning  Use processes to ensure that records and reports of competency are documented and maintained within the organisation’s systems and procedures to inform future planningUse strategies to ensure that team and individual learning performance is monitored to determine the type and extent of any additional work based support required and any Work Health and Safety (WHS) issues Measures of success on both individual and organisational levels are an essential element of training/ learning. Monitoring the delivery, workplace application and outcomes of training assists in identifying what worked well, what could be done better and whether any additional support is required in order to ensure that the training achieves its objectives, the learning outcomes are met and the expected benefits are achieved. Measuring training success As with all other organisational processes, monitoring of learning enables progress to be measured, resources to be allocated and changes/ improvements to be made in a timely manner. Assessment of the program at completion is insufficient. Determining after completion that a program did not meet the objectives of participants is too late. There are many reasons why a training program or learning activity might need to be revised or modified. Each training group will be different. Personalities, experiences, skill levels and the dynamics of the group will vary. Activities and presentations used successfully for one group might not work for another. Learning objectives could be unrealistic, irrelevant or unable to be achieved in a specificworkplace. Monitoring and evaluation, with feedback from participants and other involved personnel, throughout the program makes allowance for adjustment and change of direction when and where necessary. It provides feedback information that allows trainers and organisations to fine tune or adjust learning programs. Post-training evaluation enables organisations to measure learning success, to determine future training needs and methods and to design and develop learning strategies that will benefit the organisatio n. It also enables decisions to be made about the type of training that is most effective and what work -based supports are needed to encourage learners to utilise their new skills at work. Managers, due to their position and expertise might be expected to contribute to the monitoring and evaluation process. The following simple flow chart summarises the processes to be undertaken when assessing needs, designing, developing and monitoring organisational training and shows where the evaluation function fits. Organisational trainingDonald Kirkpatrick (1998) is considered the father of systematic training evaluation. Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation model was originally developed in 1959 and has been revised over the years but is still one of the simplest and best around. The 4 levels of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model measure: 1 Reaction of the participants – what they thought and felt about the training. 2 Learning – the resulting increase in knowledge or capability. 3 Behaviour – extent of behaviour and capability improvement and implementation/ application.4 Results – the effects on the business or environment resulting from the learner’s performance. > 4 of 4 < Whether you choose to use the Kirkpatrick model or another, there is general agreement that evaluations should be:  analytical – based on recognised research techniques  systematic – carefully planned and using chosen techniques consistently  objective – where the evaluator is as neutral as possible and avoids bias, values and/or prejudice  valid – internally valid because the causal link between the intervention and the observed effects is certain; and externally valid because the conclusions about the intervention can be gener alised and applied to other people, settings and times  reliable – able to have findings that are reproducible by a different evaluator with access to same (or similar) context and using the same or similar methods of data analysis  issue-oriented – address important issues relating to the program, including its relevance, efficiency and effectiveness  user-driven – the design and implementation of the evaluation should provide useful information to decision-makers Evaluating training Evaluation is the process of determining the appropriateness and effectiveness of:  the training objectives  the content of the session  the learning of participants  the trainer’s skills It asks the questions: 1. Was the learning successful? 2. How was it successful? 3. What does this mean for: a. the organisation? b. the individuals involved? A sound evaluation process will consider the following: 1. The realism of the projected goals. 2. The clarity of learning outcomes, information presented and the assessment procedures. 3. Whether trainer and trainee expectations were identified, expressed and met. 4. Was the material presented at a suitable level, and was it challenging yet manageable? 5. What effect has or will it have on productivity/ productivity measure? 6. What attitudinal changes can be expected as a result of the training? 7. Was it cost-effective? 8. Were the facilities, resources, consumables and environment conducive to effective training?9. Did the trainer/s demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the subject matter? 10. Was the training content interesting, stimulating and relevant? 11. Were the methodologies and techniques used suited to the adult learning situation? 12. Were individual needs and preferences catered for and were all relevant variables considered? 13. Was communication and training delivery clear and understandable? 14. Were materials and tools used well and suited to the training and to the trainee needs? 15. Were participants given appropriate opportunities to contribute to the training, to be involved and to practice new skills? 16. Were the participants satisfied with the training/ learning? 17. Will the new learning provide participants with transferable skills? 18. Were feedback methods, reinforcement of learning and the assessment methods used suited to the subject matter and to participant and organisational needs? 19. Will training contribute to changes/ improvements in profit ratios, efficiency ratings, customer/ client techniques, increases in sales etc? 20. Did the program fit with future developmental needs and organisational goals? 21. Was the training format the most useful method for employees to develop new skills? 22. Are the trainees able to successfully demonstrate new learning and new skills? 23. Did training comply with all health and safety factors? 24. Were both facilitators and participants comfortable with the process? 25. Does our organisation provide incentives for training and reward and recognition for learning achievement? Evaluation The organisation has an obvious interest in knowing what level of knowledge transfer has occurred in formal training programs, or in any coaching, mentoring or other continuous learning activities. It should be looking to measure changes in the knowledge, skills and attitudes of staff members, and the application of those changes in the workplace. The principle objectives of learning activities in an organisation are:  personal growth  development and behaviour (performance) change for the individual  organisational growth and improvement through the application and sharing of individual growth Yet there must be some means of measuring whether these objectives have been achieved. Individual and team performance measures (measurement of actual performance against KPIs) will indicate how well the new learning has been internalised. Financial assessments, measures of organisational performance/ productivity and customer/ client/ stakeholder satisfaction levels will offer indications of program success. In most cases, the latter will not be immediately obvious. It takes time for changes to be implemented and for improvementsto produce observable results. Evaluation on completion of training will, however, show any immediate results and will indicate trainee satisfaction and their assessment of the learning gained. Evaluation information The information needed to evaluate a training program can be gathered from the following. Participants are able to personally evaluate the effectiveness of training/ learning as they are the ones involved in the training. They can provide feedback regarding the trainer, the content and structure of the program, and any improvements they perceive with regard to their own performance. Trainers, coaches, mentors, are able to offer valuable information regarding many aspects of a learning or training program. As these people are facilitating the learning, their own reflections on how well the material was presented, and the content of the learning are important. Facilitators can also offer information on how well they thought participants learned new information, how well they are progressing as a result of the learning, and on-the-job results if they are in the workplace. However, it is generally supervisors and managers who see on-the-job results more than the trainer. Supervisors, managers and assessors will not be able to evaluate the trainer or the content of a training program unless they are involved and can observe these areas. However, they are able to evaluate the application of new skills in the workplace and any increases or improvements in productivity as a resul t of learning/ training. Customers – internal and external – and other stakeholders are able to give feedback on improvements or changes in service level, product or attitude of employees. It can also be valuable to debrief with other trainers to compare notes with or ask for feedback from other trainers, industry consultants or to participate in formal training review processes. Evaluation must be: 1. Valid. 2. Reliable. 3. Brief. 4. Benchmarked. Valid Evaluation questions must be designed to elicit information that is relevant to what you want to measure. You must also be prepared to ask questions that give room for negative answers.Reliable Is the information gathered through evaluations consistent? If the same questionnaire was administered to the same participant 2 days later, the results should be the same, providing there has not been any new training. Brief Keep the extent of the evaluation – the number of questions, and amount of information requested – to a manageable level. If there is too much for participants to wade through they might lose concentration or become frustrated. This can result in inconsistent, inaccurate and incomplete results. Benchmarked As with any form of evaluation there must be standards against which you measure the success of training. These might be work-based standards; however, it is advisable to benchmark the training—content, satisfaction levels, materials and outcomes—against training offered by other trainers or other organisations. Both formal and informal evaluations are important. Methods of collecting evaluation information include:  questionnaires  feedback/ evaluation sheets  open forum discussions  small group discussions  one-to-one feedback sessions  continuous review sessions  post-training surveys Both formal and informal assessments are important and can be conducted via:  carefully constructed questionnaires/ feedback sheets which pinpoint specific competency achievement and satisfaction levels  open forum discussions  small group or individual discussions (one-to-one feedback sessions) structured or unstructured  surveys  written responses from involved personnel  continuous review sessions Evaluation data Evaluations will elicit quantitative and qualitative data. Responses to an evaluation will generally be collated and converted into a report format.Qualitative Qualitative data comes from the opinions, ideas, suggestions, feelings and attitudes of the people from whom you gather information. Qualitative data is difficult to measure but is necessary in order to giv e a complete picture of what you are evaluating. In an evaluation format open-ended questions can be used to gather qualitative data, which, when converted to report form, should be quoted as it is, or grouped into similar responses. For example, ‘3 trainees felt that the information in the training manuals was not sufficiently detailed’. Do not place your own interpretation over the responses. They should be reported as they are stated by respondents so that people reading the report have the opportunity to draw their own conclusions. Quantitative Quantitative data is data related to numbers, for example, outputs, costs, number of participants, number of people who achieved competency, time taken to develop specific skills. It is measurable data and can often be put into graphical or tabular formats to make it easy to read. Where possible, use a range of evaluation methods, for example, interview plus questionnaire; evaluation at the conclusion of a training session and again 6 months later; open forum discussion plus one-on-one interviews etc. By using a range of methods you will be able to gather more reliable information and cross-check responses for consistency. From learning to workplace application Once a participant leaves a training program, managers, HR staff or other appropriately authorised personnel should provide a means of follow-up, to ensure that new learning becomes an integral part of task performance. This can result in a significant loss of effectiveness of the program, and a generall y perceived lack of the success of training initiatives. Thus monitoring and evaluation of behaviours and work performance, using performance evaluations or key performance indicators is essential. There are many reasons why learning does not readily transfer into improved workplace performance, including:  participants who want to change their behaviours can find themselves slipping back into old patterns once the formalised training has ended  time pressures build up and people do not have the time to practice their new skills/ behaviours – especially if they are skills/ behaviours that they currently do not have to perform at work  once back in the workplace instructions are forgotten  enthusiasm to try to implement new approaches wanes  the culture of the workplace reasserts itself and old skills/ techniques and behaviours are reinforcedA learning implementation plan is one technique that can be used to ensure that new learning is utilised. Each participant writes an informal agreement near the end of the program. In the agreement they state which aspects of the program they believe will have the most beneficial effect on work performance. They make an agreement to apply these and then team up with another participant, supervisor or workmate, who checks their progress against the stated criteria every few weeks. Other strategies to facilitate the transfer of learning to a workplace setting involve providing regular mentoring, coaching and additional technical support. It might also be that simply providing t he person with more time or giving them extra resources, such as a specific piece of software, allows them to practice the competencies. Implementing learning and health and safety Whenever a person changes what they do at work and/or how they do it, the normal safeguards that they previously automatically put in place can be jeopardised. For example, a person concentrating on driving a forklift might forget about putting their hard hat on. Employees in this situation need special care to ensure that they and the others around them remain safe. Safety procedures should be reinforced before they return to the workplace, any additional safety equipment specific to the newly acquired task must be provided and an experienced worker should ‘keep an eye out for them’ for a period once they recommence work. Use feedback from individuals and teams to identify and introduce improvements in future learning arrangements Feedback is the information provided by stakeholders either during or at the conclusion of any particular learning activity or once the skills and knowledge are being implemented in the workplace. It can be provided by individuals and/or by teams of people and can be given verbally or in writing. Feedback can be gained from:  learning activity designers  learning activity facilitators  learning activity participants  participant’s workplace supervisor/ manager  customers/ clients Although subjective, feedback is a highly valuable source of evaluation data. It captures the tacit knowledge of the people that are closest to the competency requirements and who are thus in a good position to comment on whether the learning activity achieved the goals, whether there is any additional support required or whether there are any improvements needed. When collecting feedback it is advisable to collect information from multiple sources. For example, the facilitator of a team workshop might be able to provide a different perspective to that of the participants, and a supervisor might have a different comment to make about an employee’s workplace performance after attending training that the trainer gave at the end of the classroom session. Feedback can be gathered with the identity of the person/s providing the information known orhidden. Confidentiality might encourage feedback providers to be more honest, particularly in instances where negative feedback needs to be given and/or the feedback is about a colleague. Verbal feedback Advantages Collecting feedback verbally is a legitimate way to do so and has several advantages over written feedback, including:  it is quick  people can be more open and will elaborate more  structured questioning can result in the areas of interest being fully explored  open questioning can explore particular areas in more depth  when conducted in groups it can encourage expansive reflection      Written feedback A questionnaire or evaluation sheet is the most common way to gather written feedback on training. Such a form comprises a set of carefully worded questions that are answered in writing by stakeholders. The main advantage of using these sheets is that they can be completed by training participants at the conclusion of a workshop or training session, so that the feedback is immediate. They save time and are economical to administer. Alternately, they can be posted or emailed back by participants or entered directly into a website. When designing evaluative questionnaires: prepare the questionnaire carefully, giving consideration to the type of information required  ensure that questions are written clearly and unambiguously  provide all the information that participants need in order to respond validly to the questionnaire and to return it promptly  avoid lengthy questionnaires  avoid questions requiring complex answers  where possible provide check boxes or Yes/No answers as well as opportunity for comments to be madeMake adjustments, negotiated with training and development specialists, for improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of learning Despite thorough planning and execution there will always be room for improvement when a learning program is implemented. This is due to two factors: 1.The very act of designing, constructing and implementing learning activities is a development activity in itself, and 2.The world in which we operate is constantly changing, so what is appropriate at one point in time will not necessarily be appropriate at another point in time.In previous sections we examined how to evaluate a learning and development program in order to determine whether it met all of the required objectives. Once this evaluation has been conducted managers are in a position to be able to act upon this information. The ultimate goal is to refine the learning activities so that efficiency and effectiveness is increased. With any training program there will be the outcomes that are desired and actively sought, that is, t hey are expected and then there will be outcomes that are unexpected. Unexpected outcomes can be positive or they can be negative. For example, an unexpected positive benefit of sending a person to external training might be that they are able to get an outside perspective and solutions to a troubling business process. Alternatively, an unexpected negative outcome might be that although the employee could perform the tasks in the training centre, once back at their workstation the slight variation in software versions caused them problems. Refine and repeat desirable outcomes Once evaluation data has been gathered the goal is to identify what worked well and then refine and repeat the desirable outcomes, whilst at the same time eliminating undesirable outcomes. Adjustments might be required to the:  learning methodology  balance of learning activities  accommodation of learning styles  facilitator/ trainer  time of day/ day of week etc  length of sessions  resources provided  size of group  venue Adapt to new challenges If the learning experience is not to be repeated immediately it is essential to consider any changes to the environment that might impact on the learning goals and the strategies used to execute them. For example, if a ‘Young Leaders’ program were run in an organisation in June of last year and was highly successful, it makes sense to offer it again this year. It might be tempting to run exactly the same program with some minor changes, however, it would be wise to consider the actual content to ensure that it is still current, topical and will stretch those young managers willing to invest their time to attend so that they are indeed groomed for leadership, as is the goal of the program. In an extreme example consider if a ‘Young Leaders’ program had been run in the 1950s and was still running today with no change to content, would it be relevant?When considering adjustments to content, consider changes to: 1. Technology. 2. Latest theories and/or practices. 3. Legislation and standards. 4. Competitor’s activities. 5. Business practice, eg changes to strategic plan, new product launches. 6. Business environment – local, state, national and international. 7. Consumer trends. Working with learning and development specialists A learning and development specialist, whether in-house or external to your organisation, will have expertise in evaluating learning activities and then modifying them in order to maximise their efficiency and effectiveness. Harness this expertise and combine it with your own subject matter knowledge in order to provide a complete picture of improvement. Use processes to ensure that records and reports of competency are documented and maintained within the organisation’s systems and procedures to inform future planning Accurate recording of results and reporting enable organisations to ‘trap’ organisationa l learning. In a learning organisation this is vital. Records pertaining to learning needs, learning opportunities (training programs etc), assessed learning outcomes and the attitudes of management and employees, with regard to training and development will be used for continuous improvement, that is, to continuously improve organisational processes and to continuously improve the learning strategies and outcomes that are integrated into organisational goals and objectives. Recording training results The results of formal training programs should be recorded. Records provide details that people might need to refer to in the future. For example:  participants want to check on their results  a manager, supervisor or trainer wants to find out how many participants have completed training in a certain skill  the finance department needs to quote or assess figures related to training costs  the training manager needs to include in a report the number of people enrolling in a programIf training has been competed within the accredited training framework it is possible for individuals to complete units as stand-alone courses until such time as they wish to link them together to gain a qualification. In this instance it is essential that records have been kept to prove that the individual did gain competency in those units and therefore does not have to repeat them. The organisation’s training records will be used to make recommendations, allocate resources, identify and implement further training and development pathways for individuals and the organisation. Records should be kept in each individual’s HR file as well as in a central repository. This allows for cross - referencing and facilitates the access of such information for both organisational and personal applications. For example, in considering a promotion for an individual, the learning and development that they have undertaken is likely to be considered and this is most easily accessed in the perso n’s employee file, but in the instance of a manager needing to demonstrate compliance with a legislative requirement to train all works in a specific competency, this information is best accessed from a training register. Depending on the size of the organisation and the complexity of the training being conducted, training records can be housed in a special purpose database kept in hard copy or in a simple Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. There is a variety of dedicated training software available in the marketplace. This is often bought as an offthe-shelf product which is then tailored to meet the specific requirements of the user. Typically these systems are able to track the training of a large number of employees, track the achievement of competence from a wide range of activities and assign them to individuals. They help to automate the processes of sending out reminders, enrolments and results and make reporting quick and easy. However, such systems come at a cost. Not only is there the initial purchase or license fee that must be paid but someone has to be trained how to use it and must invest their time in setting up and then operating it. For many smaller organisations or for those with relatively simple training records to keep a simple Excel spreadsheet or access database is quite sufficient. Such methods require no or little additional training by a user, can be changed or updated when needed and provide a basic level of reporting. Reporting on training effectiveness A training report provides information on the background, methodology and outcomes of learning opportunities to supervisors/ managers/ senior management, planners and strategic development personnel. Typically the focus is on reporting actual outcomes against the training and therefore organisational goals. It becomes part of the information base on which the organisation’s plans and development needs will be analysed.