Uncategorized Archives - Page 5 of 6 - high performance culture

Amidst all of the focus on virtual delivery since the emergence of Covid 19, we run the risk of losing sight of the most important question we need to ask as Learning Professionals – Why are we doing what we are doing and what is it in service of?

Those of us who work in learning and development have been conscious of how the issue of delivery has been driving the agenda in our profession for some time. Add in a global pandemic, characterised by the necessity for social distancing and a related boom in digital-based platforms, and it is easy to see why technology is such a focus right now.

There is a huge danger, I believe, that in concentrating on this aspect of learning and development, we are missing the point. We risk distorting the discussion that we need to have as learning professionals and obfuscating the question that we need to ask ourselves and our stakeholders.

This question is not “what do you need?” or even “how should we deliver it?” but “why do you need to do this?”

It is only by answering this critical question that L&D can truly impact the organisation. Ignoring that crucial question and focussing on issues of lesser importance does an enormous disservice to those we serve.

Thinking about this lately brought a childhood memory to mind. While I have been working in Learning and Development for more than 20 years, my first awareness of corporate training was 36 years ago. My Dad worked for the State Training Agency, AnCO, and was sent off to Bristol for a five-day course on Time Management.

As an impressionable 10-year old, I was curious to understand why adults would be sent back to school and what my Dad would learn. He returned with a new diary, lots of phrases about eating elephants and excitement about the difference that it would make to his working life. It transpired that every manager in Anco was being sent on the same programme as the organisation believed that these skills were critical to effective working.

While fashions have changed over the years, this belief that there is a certain body of knowledge that when absorbed, will magically transform individuals and organisations, has endured.

It has consistently played out in conversations about leadership as advocates for transformational leadership take aim at supporters of Authentic Leadership who take a different view to those in favour of Inclusive Leadership. In the middle of this, our leaders remain perplexed as to how they should lead.

In the past ten years, this narrow focus on content and leadership ideology has been slowly picked apart by scholars such as Jeffrey Pfeffer and Herminia Ibarra. Even more recently, psychologist and activist John Amaechi has suggested that this perspective of development is based on a belief that there is “one true way or school of thought” and as a result, has contributed to the culture of endemic racism that is engulfing the western world.

Alongside this focus on content, in the last 20 years, we have witnessed an unprecedented focus on how we do what we do. Delivery methodology, powered by advances in technology, has been front and centre of the agenda. The conversation has shifted from Computer Based Training to eLearning, from Learning Management Systems to Learning Experience Platforms and encompasses micro-learning, VR, AI and content curation.

This focus on content is reflected in Donald H Taylor’s annual global sentiment survey of Learning professionals. From 2014 – 2019, the biggest issue of focus for respondents each year could be categorised as learning “delivery”. In 2020, this shifted to focus on Learning Analytics. We will need to wait until next year’s survey to see if this marks a permanent departure.

This focus on both the what and the how largely misses the point. The question we should be asking ourselves as learning professionals is, why we are doing this.

In his seminal 2015 book, Black Box Thinking, Matthew Syed examines how we learn by contrasting the aviation sector with medicine. A must read for anybody serious about learning, at no point in the discussion does he identify either learning content or the delivery methodology as the key differences between the relative performance of both sectors. What he does discuss is the culture of performance, accountability and continuous learning that has transformed safety across the aviation industry.

In his latest book, Improving Performance Through Learning, Robert Brinkerhoff argues that learning professionals have inverted the natural process of learning. In focusing on learning outcomes and delivery methodology, we have lost sight of the business rationale that drives the learning in the first place. Brinkerhoff argues that in order to truly drive performance, we must consider the following, in this order:

Business Rationale – why is this learning important to the business and what issue are we trying to address;
Performance Outcomes – what metrics do we wish to change as a result of this learning;
Moments that Matter – In order to meet our performance outcomes, who must do what and how will that be measured?’
Learning Outcomes – In order to behave in a specific way, what must I know/be able to do.

At the heart of this approach is a deceptively simple idea but one that has been lost in all the noise about delivery methodology. In order for me to behave in a specific way, I must not only know something, but I must be able to perform in a particular way, given a specific set of circumstances.

For clarity, I am confining my comments in this article to instances where we genuinely wish people to do something different. If the sole purpose of the learning is simply to satisfy a regulator, in-house compliance function or mandatory CPD requirement, then it is entirely appropriate to an efficient delivery methodology.

However, if we are in the business of change, whether that is mindset or behaviour, we need to focus on performance.

Understanding what people need to do and under what conditions is critical to any conversation about learning. Consider the simple act of changing a tyre. Do I need to do extensive training to change a tyre under normal urban conditions? Clearly not. But, what if I am part of a Formula 1 team?

We also need to consider how others experience the behaviour. Take for example the classic management skill of feedback. If we focus on the model of feedback alone (the learning outcome), we may miss the critical issue of the manager’s motivation to give effective feedback at appropriate times and their confidence to do so (the moment that matters).

We may also miss something deeper that is at the heart of the issue. This is the performance outcome that we are seeking to impact e.g. engagement scores

We have written extensively in the past about habits and behavioural change. Suffice to say that behavioural change takes a significant amount of time and deliberate practice.

At HPC, our approach is to “nudge” managers in the direction that best supports the organisation’s strategy. This builds both competence and confidence and a commitment to change. That commitment to change is based on understanding the why. Why is this learning important and what metric will change as a result of it?

Once we establish the answer to that question, we can then effectively discuss the appropriate content and delivery methodology.

As we emerge from lockdown, we run the risk of getting caught in a dogmatic war about delivery methodology that is driven by technology vendors. The use of digital tools has been critical for our Irish clients for the past few months. It has been just as critical for our international clients for the past few years.

Delivery is an important consideration but it is not the key question. At HPC, we focus on delivering a dynamic blend of solutions that is unique to each client, based on their specific circumstances and their needs. Building on our expertise in driving behavioural change, we combine tools such as virtual classrooms, webinars, curated content, psychometrics, coaching and facilitator-led learning with our learning transfer platform to build a dynamic, client-led solution. To create that dynamic blend that shifts behaviour, we must start with the business rationale.

But as Simon Sinek said in another context, great organisations start with why and in a post-Covid world, perhaps all of us as Learning professionals need to take this approach. The what and the how can flow from there.

Kevin Hannigan is Head of Talent Consulting at HPC. He is a highly skilled consultant and facilitator with a wealth of experience in designing the systems and processes that support effective learning, measurement and talent development.

Much has been written in the last number of years of how 10,000 hours of practice can confer expertise. If this is true, then any of us should be able to become an expert at anything with enough practice. But is this really true?

Is there a causal relationship between the figure of 10,000 hours of practice and expert performance? What are the implications for L&D practitioners?

Let’s look at the evidence.

How Long Does it Take for New Habits to Form?

Part I

How long does it take for our brain to show actual changes based on the practice of new behaviours?

We have some clues from a number of recently published studies on the practice of mindfulness meditation by Holzel and Tang. It appears that practicing a new behaviour for between 4 to 8 weeks begins to affect physiological changes in our brain (“plasticity”), as seen in the following examples:

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program created significant changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress compared to a control group.
Practicing mindfulness meditation for 4-weeks demonstrated significantly higher white matter neuroplasticity in short-term meditation.

However, whether we can translate these changes into enhanced performance and effectiveness was not possible to discern with these studies.

How Long Does it Take for New Habits to Form?

Part II

Research by Phillippa Lally in the UK suggest that new behaviours can become automatic, on average, between 18 to 254 days. However this timing depends on the complexity of the new behaviour you are trying to put into place and your personality.

The research studied volunteers who chose to change an eating, drinking or exercise behaviour and tracked them for success.

Analysis of all of these behaviours indicated that it took 66 days, on average, for this new behaviour to become automatic and a new “habit” that seemed pretty natural. However, the mean number of days varied by the complexity of the habit, as follows:

Drinking / 59 days

Eating / 65 days

Exercise / 91 days

Although there are a lot of limitations in this study, it does suggest that it can take a large number of repetitions for new behaviours to become a habit. Therefore, creating new habits requires tremendous self-control to be maintained for a significant period of time before they become more “automatic” and performed without any real self-control. For most people, it takes about 3 months of constant practice before a more complicated new behaviour gets “set” in our neural pathways as something we are comfortable with and seemingly automatic.

The nature of practice

So if we accept that it takes 3 months of constant practice to set a new behaviour in our neural pathways, can the type of practice improve the performance of this behaviour?

In “The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance“, co-edited by Anders Ericsson, the authors conclude that great performance comes mostly from two things:

Regularly obtaining concrete and constructive feedback
Deliberate difficult practice

Part of the research analysed diaries of 24 elite figure skaters to determine what might explain some of their performance success. They found that the best performing skaters spent 68% of their practice doing more challenging jumps and routines compared with those who were less successful, who spent only 48% of their time on the identical more challenging movements.

In April 2010, Dan McLaughlin, a 30-year old commercial photographer from Portland, Oregon quit his job with the ambition of becoming a professional golfer. Strangely, Dan had never completed 18 holes of golf prior to quitting his job.

In order to achieve his ambition, Dan is using the latest research on improving skill, motor performance and memory in how he practices. He uses a training approach called interleaving which is “mixing up” the things you do instead of deliberately doing the same thing over and over. Instead he mixes up his clubs, targets and difficulty of his challenges.

Interleaving causes performance in the short term to decrease but enhances overall success over time. Therefore, practicing tasks in an interleaved (random) order generally results in inferior practice performance but induces superior retention compared with practicing in a repetitive order.

New research from a group of UCLA researchers, using brain imaging called functional MRI discovered that connectivity of specific regions of the brain were strengthened using interleaved practice versus a repetitive conditions. Interleaved practice enhances skill learning and the functional connectivity of fronto-parietal networks.

These results strongly hint that if you want to develop better skills, memory and psychomotor performance it is really better to spice up your deliberate practice with variety. Expect your practice sessions to be bad but over time, your performance will actually significantly improve.

So what are the lessons for L&D professionals from this research?

Firstly, developing complex new habits, physical or behavioural, takes an average of 60 to 90 days. Therefore, our focus cannot be solely on a training event and must encompass all aspects of the learning transfer system and in particular how new habits are supported and reinforced over that period of time.

Secondly, great performance is not just a function of the quality and frequency of practice but also the quality of the feedback. Constructive, supportive feedback will enhance performance over time.

Finally, the quality and difficulty of the practice impacts performance and skill retention positively. So whether we are seeking to develop role plays for a training event, scenarios for a development centre or identify new assignments or projects for HiPo’s, incorporating task difficulty and randomness into our development efforts will enhance performance.

So 10,000 hours of practice on its own will not develop expertise. If we are truly serious about performance, we need to create the time to support new habits, ensure that constructive feedback is provided and ensure that the quality of practice is sufficiently diverse and challenging.

The challenge continues…..

Kevin Hannigan is Head of Talent Consulting at HPC and shares insights for this article with Dr. Ken Nowack, licensed psychologist and President, Co-Founder & Chief Research Officer of Envisia Learning.

What is the best way for OD professionals to plan when it’s so difficult to anticipate the future right now?

Planning and implementing change programmes is one of the pillars of organisational development. Planning such programmes is a significant challenge right now.
Most organisations operate a one-year planning cycle. Performance management and professional development are typically aligned with it. Some also have more strategic planning horizons of up to five years. No one can tell you with certainty that they know what their business will look like in five years.

The new reality is shorter performance windows. In a time of crisis, a 12-month performance window is too long. The finish line is too distant. It’s difficult to gauge if things are getting better or are coming back under control. We have shifted to shorter performance windows because they work. We identify what to achieve in the next 30, 60, or 90 days. We expect that external factors are likely to change, and that we’ll have to adapt our focus accordingly.

We’re now firmly in the era of flexible performance. We still need annual planning and longer-range strategic planning. We just need to be humbler about our ability to predict the future. We need to be more willing to adapt our plans when we can see that we were wrong. This means viewing the goals we begin with as not set in stone. Flexible performance welcomes the opportunity to course correct often. Ultimately, we want people doing the right work at any given moment.

It’s not just goals that need to be flexible. Targets also benefit from more flexibility. The targets we begin a year with may no longer be entirely possible when circumstances change. Flexing targets to acknowledge that reality makes more sense.

Employee development, especially short-term learning needs, also benefits from a flexible approach. Long-term development planning still makes sense for future roles. It doesn’t help people in the team who need to know how to use Microsoft Teams right now. Identifying short-term learning needs and addressing them right now makes sense. These needs will change over the course of a year too.

Planning is vital, but inflexible planning is harmful. Sticking rigidly to the plan when all around is in flux creates panic in a team. Applying a flexible mindset to each of your plans makes sense. Pay attention to your assumptions. Keep your eyes and ears open so that you are not blindsided by changing circumstances. Engage your team and use their insights to inform your plans. Let them know why plans are changing and exactly what you need from them. Be humble. Be flexible. Be inclusive. Stay positive.

Justin Kinnear is Head of Research at HPC

Justin is a highly experienced facilitator and coach who advises HPC’s clients on their most pressing development issues. As well as his extensive research and facilitation experience, he was formerly Head of L&D at IBM and Britvic.

Justin features as part of the IITD’s Ask The Expert panel and specialises in organisation development. You can read more questions answered by Justin in the IITD’s Developing Your Organisation Archive.

In truth, we had no idea at first exactly how our clients would be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, no more than many of them knew themselves. In these unchartered waters, one thing was clear, however. We would all need to embrace change.

As a starting point, we were sure we’d need to learn a new way of working as a team so we could continue to do our best for our clients. Here’s what the experience has taught us so far:

Practice Bounded Optimism

There was no point being fatalistic about the weeks and months ahead. This paralyses effort and drains energy. We needed positivity to keep our spirits up and to help the team to continue to make progress. Conversely, unchecked optimism can be risky too, so we engaged in what is often called “Bounded optimism”, namely confidence combined with realism. We encouraged clients to practice the same.

Personal Adaptability

At a time like this, nobody has the luxury of doing only the work they enjoy. Each team member needs to step forward and take on fresh responsibilities. It requires courage to try something new, especially when your team is counting on everyone to step up and do their share. New responsibilities can be uncomfortable or dull, but when there’s a hole in the boat, everyone must bail out water. Trust in one another grows when everyone is willing to do what’s asked of them.

Client Focus

We exist to serve our clients and our focus had to remain on our clients. In a crisis, what we can’t do is often more obvious than what we can. Many clients approached us seeking advice, guidance, or reassurance. We worked hard to help them to identify their best options so that they could keep making progress during constrained times. Some clients wanted to act right away, while others needed time to process what was happening. We were ready to assist, to talk about their unique situations and challenges, when the time was right for each client.

Strengthen Team Spirit

When regular scheduled work stopped, we needed to find a way to remain active and connected to one another. Regular video team gatherings were important at the start to check in on one another and make sure nobody was disconnected or feeling abandoned. Over time, these gatherings were used to explore ideas, uncover hidden individual capabilities, and to plot new ways in which we could be of service to our clients. Covid-19 has made us grow closer as a team.

Learn New and Learn Fast

When the old way doesn’t work anymore, you need to find a new way and you need to start straight away. For example, clients were using diverse technologies and needed reassurance that we could work with their systems. We were happy to provide that reassurance. Some clients had systems that could do everything online, but most did not. Identifying ways to reshape learning and bring it to participants across all these differing environments, while maintaining our highly-engaging approach, became our key focus. We combined the resources that each client had with our own ideas and resources, creating impactful and engaging learning that clients were excited to offer to their employees.

Lockdown altered many familiar routines. In our team, it inspired us to become more flexible, more imaginative, and more selective. Crisis can be an obstacle or a catalyst, depending on how you choose to frame it. We chose the latter and as a result, it catalysed new sources of energy and ideas that we harnessed for both our clients and our own team’s development.

Justin Kinnear is Head of Research at HPC

Will “management” mean something different after the pandemic?

It’s already different.

According to numerous reports, managerial practices have already evolved throughout this pandemic. Managers have adapted their behaviour in ways that have increased trust in their teams. Employees are reporting managers demonstrating more empathy than before. Managers are engaged in more regular communication with their teams, with an increased focus on the personal challenges employees are facing. Managers have shifted in many cases from micromanaging their employees’ time to managing outcomes instead. There’s almost no part of the manager’s responsibilities that has escaped the need to adapt.

Crisis fuels change
Previously when a crisis happened the timeframe was usually short. Managers needed to react, to rally their team, to weigh the options and take decisive action. This usually ended in the manager issuing directive instructions to get the team through the crisis so they could get back to normal. This crisis is so much longer and can’t be addressed in the usual way. Instead, Managers have had to become far more inclusive, drawing ideas and energy from their teams and preparing for a long period of upheaval. This has produced a more lasting change and has involved teams in ways that many have never experienced. We’re not likely to return to how things were before so the involvement and engagement of the team are crucially important. This also means the changes that have been adopted and implemented have a better chance of being sustained in the future.

Managers have had to reset goals for their employees to suit the short-term and unknowable time horizon for performance during the Pandemic, the setting of more short-term, more fluid goals is something they can expect to continue doing from here.

Clarifying expectations has proved to be critically important during this crisis, even though we have already known for some time that employees are generally not clear what’s expected of them. In conversations with employees, usually over video calls, managers have explored not just if their employees are clear about the work to be done, but also whether their working at home environment will allow them to do the work. Reviewing performance has also improved and managers are now engaging in regular formal and informal discussions about performance.

Managers have improved their supporting behaviours too with many employees noticing improved listening on calls, with many managers making good use of their coaching skills. Recognising the effort of employees is much more difficult in these conditions so managers have had to work extra hard to understand who’s doing what and who’s going above and beyond what’s expected. The manager can’t do this alone and this has helped managers to develop a more complete picture of performance by involving the team in talking about each other’s work and outputs.

Switching to team meetings via video chat is not as simple as it sounds, and many managers found that keeping the team together and engaged took a lot of work. Some employees are inclined to become detached and distant when working remotely, so managers have had to become adept at noticing which employees are showing signs of disengagement or reduced motivation.

It has not been possible for many teams to conjure extra resources at a time like this, so managers and teams have worked to uncover previously hidden talent and capability in the team. Discovering someone in the team knows how to get the best out of Zoom, or someone knows how to create an automated process using Microsoft Office 365 – the discovery of hidden expertise has proved to be very valuable indeed during the constraints of a pandemic.

Finally, managers have realised the dramatic and vital importance of communication between them and their team members. Previously a manager could assume that silence means no problems. Now silence may mean something entirely different, so managers have been working hard to stay alert to potential problems and issues. The team wants to know how things are going and what’s coming next, so the manager’s ability to communicate effectively and empathically has grown in importance and impact.

Is this the future?
In the first few weeks of March as the impact of COVID-19 was becoming evident, many managers wisely resisted the temptation to speculate about the future, what would happen, or even how long this upheaval would last. As we contemplate when we might progress to the next stage of this experience, nobody can be sure what will happen or when things will change again, so all we can do is step into the future, one week at a time. In the meantime, try to remain agile in your ways of working. Regularly assess with your team what’s working well and what’s not working. Be open to changing things quickly to lock in learning and improvements. Recognise that the changes you have already adapted to as a team have taught you important lessons you should lean on when the next change arrives.

Justin Kinnear is Head of Research at HPC

This global disaster is bringing out something different in each of us.

While business leaders expedite crisis management, working parents channel their inner pedagogue. Elsewhere, productivity ninjas attain insurmountable results while health practitioners save lives against all odds.

The rest of us are still in pyjamas.

Wherever you land on the personal effectiveness scale today, note – it is transient. Now is not your forever home.

Classic work-from-home scriptures pre-date Covid-19. They are no longer your proverbial passport to success, and indeed as immaterial as any other passport in the current travel impasse.

In the past month, we have spoken with 100+ leaders from different organisations around the world. These leaders say there is one almighty galumphing elephant in the non-virtual room – reality. Children, chores, vulnerable loved ones, lonely and anxious thoughts, harrowing headline news – the list of gargantuan distractions is overwhelming.

In this pandemic, the importance of attention management supersedes time management. The more you become aware of what is stealing your attention, the easier it is to take control.

Here’s what these leaders are doing to redirect their attention.

Build a Bunker

Sir Winston Churchill did not direct the Second World War from his kitchen table. No-one pestered him to walk the dog or play ball. His underground shelter protected not only his life but also his supreme and single focus – to win the war.

To focus productively on your work, your brain needs a metaphorical bunker. If your home office is the poster child of ergonomic and aesthetic wonder, that’s fantastic. If not, the feral imperative to mark out your territory is crucial.

Start with the ideal, then adapt. Commandeer a room far away from human traffic and any distractions calling for your attention.

Failing this, establish your makeshift HQ with explicit visual cues that you discuss and design with the rest of your household. Get creative.

For example, let everyone you live with know not to disturb you when you:

– wear a physical ‘thinking cap’ or your headset

– sit in your designated corner-facing ‘work’ chair

– take your laptop and phone into the car, garage or laundry room

– put up a door sign that indicates the time of your next break

When you are not in your bunker, don’t work, no matter how tempting or convenient this may seem. A distinct boundary between work and everything else in your world will help you unplug and shift your focus 100% to something or someone outside of work.

Honour the Unique You

To figure out a better way of managing your time at home, first take stock of your unique needs and circumstances.

Are you a night owl, morning lark or, like almost half of us, somewhere in-between?

What are the needs and patterns of your household?

To do your best work, do you:

Drive for results?

Connect and align with other people?

Crave peace and quiet to think and plan?

Discuss your ideas about possibilities?

How is your physical and mental health? (55% of people in a recent UK survey say it is harder to stay positive day-to-day since the outbreak of Covid-19.)

Listen to your answers. Then ask, “What can I do to make this experience better?”

Your responses will guide you to a schedule and plan to meet your unique needs in a more meaningful way.

Will you seek out an accountability buddy over video or do your most important work before everyone else wakes up? Who will you talk to about your anxious thoughts? Will you go for a walk? Here at HPC, I really look forward to our Thursday morning team coffee and chat. It helps to keep me connected and motivated.

As Albert Einstein famously wrote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” What will you do differently to get a better outcome?

Give Your Expectations a Reality Check

Relentless social media posts from people who have learned to play the ukulele or write a book within a month just make us feel inadequate and guilty for not achieving more. Oh look, a man in quarantine has just run a marathon around his tiny balcony.

Cut out the noise. Their journey is not yours and that is OK. As Kristin Neff, a leading researcher in self-compassion, discusses in her Ted Talk, berating ourselves is pervasive and toxic. Her evidence-based approach to soothing such thought patterns is powerful.

Once your brain has made the mental shift to these new crisis conditions, your creative and resourceful self will be waiting for you. To help get there, prioritise the building blocks of well-being, one at a time: sleep, exercise, food and social connection. There will be good days and bad days. This is normal.

Expect to be less productive than you were pre-pandemic. Your brain is silently running its own uphill marathon while it processes painful emotions and distractions. Carve out small chunks of time for different types of work and activities. Start off with 15-minute chunks. Breaking down projects into small steps makes them seem less overwhelming. Identify just one important task per day. If there is another adult at home, work in shifts to share childcare. If you are the only caregiver, show yourself the same compassion you would show someone else in your situation.

Expect to feel more tired than usual. Proper breaks to restore your energy are critical. Every athlete knows the benefits of allowing time to recover after a workout. What will most nourish your mind and body in this moment? Power walk or power nap? Go for it.

Remember the people around you are not mind readers. Brené Brown puts it simply, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” Be as transparent as possible with your loved ones and colleagues about your work patterns, needs, limitations and struggles.

The Survivalist’s Handbook for Our Times Is Just Getting Started

Of course, one day you will amble back into your office and favourite coffee shop. You will hug and be hugged. Economies will convalesce.

Until then, build your bunker, honour the unique you and give your expectations a reality check.

For a decade at PayPal, HPC’s Jenny McConnell helped to fuel its growth from startup to a multi-billion dollar company. She did this by building cohesive remote teams that collaborated and innovated across multiple locations. As a sought-after virtual coach and facilitator, Jenny attracts ambitious clients globally. She is known for her interactive, high-impact style that engages people from the get go.

A message from David Storrs

As we all start to get over the shock of recent weeks and start to look forward, I thought it would help to share where we are in HPC and the direction we are moving.

Our highest priority is to support our colleagues as they seek ways to support their family and friends who are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and the impact of isolation. And our thoughts and support are with all of you, our clients and partners, as you deal with the same practical and emotional challenges.

Along with this we are taking every step possible to help the national effort to minimise the spread of the virus. We are strictly applying the guidance from government on recommended protocols.

Our headquarters in Belfast is working with reduced staff with everybody else working remotely. Our facilitators, coaches and client team are available to you, so please contact them in the same way that you normally would.

We are a resilient bunch at HPC and we have a fantastic team of committed professionals with the skill-set that is required in times of need to support and guide our clients. That time is now.

Many of you will know us for the high-quality blended learning experiences we provide. We were pioneers in blended learning and we have been using virtual delivery in many of our bespoke programmes for several years now. So, we are very comfortable and confident in our ability to switch to “full virtual” delivery.

This week several clients have instructed us to move to “full virtual” delivery for forthcoming programmes. Over the next few weeks, it is highly likely we will be switching to virtual delivery for all of our workshops.

We will also be supporting our clients with tools to manage remotely, manage virtual meetings effectively and develop greater resilience. If you wish to speak with either me or Kevin about enabling your programmes virtually, please contact us.*

All our 1:1 Coaching Sessions have been switched to on-line. We can provide immediate coaching support to Leaders to help them rise to the immediate and impending challenges they face.

HPC has been built by a community of passionate people – our team and our clients – and it’s so important to remember that a community is a social unit and not a gathering. We remain unified with you even in our distance and we are available to work with you through this unprecedented challenge.

We are also part of a wider community and we will continue to follow government guidelines and do everything we can to extend care, consideration and kindness, so all can remain as safe and healthy as possible.

Remember that we are all only an email, phone call or video call away from each other. We know we will get through this and we are committed to supporting you get through it too. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

David

‘Purpose is an ever-evolving process that touches everyone’, HPC’s John Hill explores the meaning of purpose, and how having purpose challenges and empowers people and teams within organisations.

In our work with leaders, organisations and teams, generally speaking, we are not long into the conversation or the work before the theme of purpose raises its head. If it is a coaching engagement with a team or an individual, we aim to discover and unlock the purpose of the coaching so that we have an agreed outcome to strive towards. If it’s a programme of leadership development, it helps to focus the work if we know what outcome the work is there to serve.

This is the ‘Why’, that Simon Sinek alludes to in his theory of the Golden Circle’, that sets organisations apart from those who know just what they do and how they do it. It presents a challenge and a calling to every decision, every strategy, every behaviour and every practice within the organisation and impels the organisation and its people to reflect on and question their rationale for each strategy and initiative.

It is important to point out here that there are almost always, multiple purposes at work within organisations and teams. For some it is the performance of their department against an agreed KPI, for others it is may be preparing for a major political shift, and for others it may be that there are compelling purposes both inside and outside the organisation. In a recent piece of work we did with a senior leadership team, it was a case of helping them find resonance between two strongly compelling and equally valid purposes – that of providing exceptional charitable services to their clients and that of helping the organisation to meet commercial goals, both of which, at times, in terms of values, seemed at odds with each other.

It is helpful for leaders and people in organisations to think of their purpose as a living, breathing, evolving thing which is always present and which constantly has to be responded to and interacted with. Katzenbach and Smith, in their seminal book ‘The Wisdom of Teams’, posit that ‘better teams often treat purpose like an offspring in constant need of their care and attention.

This makes perfect sense in a world, to quote Thomas Freidman, that is ‘changing at warp speed and directly or indirectly touching a lot more people on the planet at once”. Our purposes will have to evolve to meet the demands and needs of that world. These are demands, needs and desires that are becoming different and distinct from those of ten, twenty, thirty or forty years ago. For example, we find that millennials and Gen Z’ers are looking for different things out of life and work than their predecessors. Tellingly, a recent survey by Deloitte revealed that 63% of millennial workers believed that improving lives was more important than generating profit – a quantum shift indeed.

It is no longer enough to encapsulate a purpose in a well worded catch phrase, frame it and mount in on the wall behind reception – it may be out of date before the paint has had time to fade around it. Instead, purpose needs to be made real. There is a danger of empty rhetoric and lofty principles that bear no relationship to the culture and everyday experience of those who live in the organisation. There is also a risk that, in framing purpose as a fixed idea, a constitutional principle, it loses relevance to the dynamics of a rapidly changing global environment.

One very helpful model which I have used both with leaders and teams to help them consider their purpose, is that of the Purpose Diamond, devised by Ed Rowland of The Whole Partnership. In it he considers the ‘founding purpose’, which first brought the team or the organisation into being. A founding purpose of the organisation that may have been legitimate at the outset might not be appropriate now. Then there is what he calls the ‘espoused purpose’ – what everyone says the purpose is, or what they are supposed to say the purpose is. This can become merely a mantra and bear no real relationship to the ‘at work’ purpose – what the team or the organisation are really focused on in this present moment. Then there is the true purpose, towards which the focus of the team and the leadership have to consistently direct their attention. “Why are we really here? To do what? And in service of whom?’ That answer should both resonate with those in the team and organisation and those who are the beneficiaries of its activities.

We might have heard the oft quoted mantra that 65% of the jobs our kids will be doing are not even in existence today! Whether or not this is true, and it may not be, one thing we can be sure of is that the world of 10 years’ time, will be significantly different and affected by trends that we may not even be aware of today. Taking into account the environmental challenges facing our planet, the social upheavals we are living through and the technological innovations being ushered in by the 4^th Industrial Revolution, the central purposes of our lives, teams and organisations will not serve us well if they remain like proverbial insects trapped in ideological amber.

As leaders in organisations and for those of us who work with leaders and organisations, the question is, how do we create and craft working environments where, in the words of Barry Oshry, ‘the system is responsible for its own fate. This is a huge step away from (leaders) being responsible for the system’s fate”. Or to quote Peter Hawkins, Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School, ‘What does our world need right now that we, as a team or an organisation can uniquely step up to?” The aforementioned Edward Rowland addresses this when he addresses the issue of authenticity. He observes that, in order to be real, purpose needs to be inherent rather than constructed and needs to be discovered rather than invented through ideas and words. It can be discovered both within us, between us, in our connections and relationships and around us in the world we inhabit.

In our work with leaders and teams as facilitators, we will often bring an empty chair into the room and ask those present to imagine it occupied by one of their key stakeholders or even to sit in it and speak from the perspective of one their key stakeholders (even more effective!). it could be a customer, a board member, someone who reports to them, an investor, or even perhaps a grandchild. It is important to hear loud and clear what that stakeholder asking us to step up, to engage with, to be courageous about, both today and in the future? That is one way in which to connect with our purpose.

So, it’s not just the question of why we are doing what we are doing, but why are we doing it now and what is it serving? The challenge remains to keep our purpose alive, evolving, responsive and always meaningful. It Is not a one-off exercise, but a constantly evolving process that engages and touches not only everyone in the organisation but also those who are affected by the organisation.

John Hill is a Facilitator and Executive Coach at HPC.

In a world of technological advances, Justin Kinnear explores how AI might impact L&D.

Technology as a negative force

Humans have a long history of suspicion toward new technologies. When Henry Ford introduced his new moving assembly line concept in 1913, reducing the time taken to build a car from 12 hours to 2 hours and 30 minutes, many were unsure what this new way of working might mean. While Ford’s innovation in production did mean cheaper cars for more people, it changed the nature of work at Ford and other factories forever after.

Technological advances may bring benefits for millions, but there is almost always a latent fear about the unintended consequences of what’s new. Today, organisations are already looking for ways to use AI to advance our work and lives. Amazon’s robots run its warehouses, Japanese insurance claims are handled by IBM’s Watson AI solution, and Stanford University Hospital’s “pill-picking robots” dispense medicines 10 times faster than a human can. So, where might AI make a positive impact in the field of learning and development?

Learning is more than consuming

The inevitable assumption is that AI will somehow replace the traditional instructor. Previously promising technology solutions in the classroom have often offered little more than news ways of delivering information, or news ways to access and consume that information. AI can help to tailor what is presented, where it is presented and how it can be accessed, but that won’t radically change the learning experience. Beyond information delivery, great learning should provide relevance for learners, and a deeper human connection through stories and lived experiences. The human contribution to learning may be enhanced by AI but unique human capabilities of relating, finding meaning and relevance, and bringing learning to life through stories, mean human input is likely to remain critically important.

A mountain of sensory data – but what does it mean?

L&D has tried to get to the heart of what makes an effective learning experience using various evaluation approaches. What if AI could discern when we learn and when we don’t learn, and thus guide us to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t? AI coupled with 5G technology will capture and aggregate data on a scale never seen before. Just imagine what we could do with data on what happens when a learner returns to their workplace, who they spend their time with, what they spend their time on, which order they tackled activities etc. However, the current state of AI is closer to machine learning than true AI where a system can think and interpret as we humans can. The capacity for systems to self-teach, to interpret and to derive meaning within a context – these are all capabilities that remain theoretical goals at this time.

We never saw the potential, but it was there all along

As L&D professionals, we should consider the possibilities that technology may create in our industry. New technologies are rarely perfect at the start, but as they evolve and we gradually get used to them, we eventually see the value in the technology as it reveals new possibilities and makes us more capable than we ever imagined. Patience coupled with the imagination to utilise technology in new and interesting ways will be essential for us to make progress.

“There is an inevitable assumption that AI’s role will be to replace the role of the instructor, but as we have seen with e-learning and more recently MOOCs, technology can’t entirely replace the value generated by a skilled and knowledgeable instructor.

AI’s greatest impact on learning may be in the evaluation and transfer of learning.”

Justin Kinnear is Head of Research at HPC

If Learning and Development is to deliver on the agenda of the C-Suite, it needs to ensure that it is supporting the development of new behaviours and new capabilities. But 20 years on from the coining of the phrase eLearning, do digital tools have a role to play in this?

HPC’s Kevin Hannigan and Fergal O’Connor explore the part digital tools can play in a participant’s learning journey, ahead of their IITD breakfast event “Using Digital Tools as Enablers of Learning”

Through partnering with Irish, UK and Global clients, hpc have been leveraging digital tools to enhance the development experience for learners and deliver real impact for their organisations.

As an HPC facilitator, Fergal has witnessed the power of integrating digital tools into client learning journeys and has observed that “digital has shifted from being a distribution or curation tool to becoming a pivotal part of the learning experience. Used correctly, it can enhance knowledge transfer and behavioural change because of the multiple touchpoints it provides.”

“Through the appropriate use of digital tools, everything that happens in the learning journey – pre, during or post the face to face sessions – is aligned to ensure that the solution results in demonstrable and sustainable performance improvement”, he adds.

From a design and evaluation perspective, Kevin Hannigan says:

“At HPC, we start with the results that the client is looking to achieve. We begin by understanding the business rationale for any solution and work from there to identify the key behaviours that will deliver on our clients’ goals. We have always worked this way, but it is complex to deliver a truly integrated and blended solution in an analogue world. Using digital tools enables us to provide a seamless experience for learners and to provide meaningful data to our clients. Along with our distinct approach to evaluation, it provides clients with a clear view on how participants are shifting their behaviour and delivering results in their day to day work.”

Fergal recognises that “there is a human factor attached to the way we introduce digital into our solutions; it fosters a real sense of engagement among the participants. As well as giving them personal ownership of activity and learning; the sharing, networking and challenging aspect of using a digital platform is real and inspiring.”

Through the use of digital tools, HPC’s clients have experienced the major role they have in enabling the learning journey; and welcome how digital can address the learning transfer challenges that they regularly face as L&D professionals.

Kevin Hannigan is Head of Talent Consulting and Fergal O’Connor is a Facilitator and Executive Coach at HPC.