Archives for December 2023

The past year

26 December 2023 by Clark 2 Comments

I note that this is my last post for the year, so I thought I’d summarize a few things. For one, so you can look for anything you’re interested in. Also, so I can recall what I’ve been up to! So here’s a brief summary of the past year.

Quinnovation

So I’ve been Quinnovation for the past couple of decades, give or take a year. Which has been my vehicle for consulting. I’ve continued to service clients, on a limited basis (owing to some other commitments, see below); I’ve had several ongoing engagements, some that were new this year, at least one which has continued on from previous years.

I don’t mention the organizations and what I’m doing for them, specifically, because that would violate confidentiality (something I care deeply about; my academic background continues to influence my thoughts on integrity). Yet, the topics that emerge can end up fueling blog posts, webinars, conference presentations, and more. While the solutions I provide are specific to their situations, the reflections and revelations are shareable (suitably anonymized).

For the record, I also had a variety of interviews for podcasts and webinars. They’re scattered hither and yon, and also talking about a variety of topics. I can’t even remember them all (mea culpa), but they all seemed to be of interest to the host and audience. More such coming in the new year.

Upside Learning

In the year before this one, I joined up with Upside Learning to serve as their Chief Learning Strategist. This has been a great opportunity to practice what I preach. I’m working with them internally to improve the learning science in their approach, and externally to evangelize and work with clients ready to take it to the next level. Their CEO, Amit Garg, is great to work with, as it’s clear he really cares about learning.

That evangelizing also requires me to be part of the marketing (hi, Isha!). The upside (heh) is getting to talk about important issues, while the downside is occasionally having to use terms like ‘microlearning‘ (though I reserve the right to be subversive about them). I also am appearing at some events on their behalf. If you’re curious, there are a fair number of articles, ebooks, white papers, videos, and more to be found on their site that I’ve had a hand in. More to come. Check it out!

Learning Development Accelerator

Matt Richter and Will Thalheimer started the Accelerator after their Covid-catalyzed conference was successful. It’s a membership society about the evidence-base for Learning & Development. I came in when Will took a job and couldn’t meet the demands. While Matt keeps the place running (even more so with the help of Esther), I get to have a hand in the topics we address. It’s small, so far, but the quality is very high (that is, the membership and the speakers for events ;).

The first year I had a series I called You Oughta Know, introducing people with models I thought members should know. This past year it’s been debates on topics (to unpack the underlying thinking). All of the past content is available to members, a growing library. I’ve also been part of the blog, with posts on informal learning (should I choose a new topic for this year?). You can access some of the events even if you’re not a member (typically for a fee), but the blog’s behind the firewall. There are some articles outside the paywall, however. This coming year, we’ll likely keep the debates, and continue to have events. We’ve (read: Matt) also resurrected the podcast, which is free to air. There’ll be more announcements, too.

I’m planning two new series for the coming year. One is YOK: Practitioners. This time it’s people you oughta know because of what they’re doing (people I admire, though I won’t be able to get them all)! Another that I’m excited about is Think Like A…! This is a series about the related fields we draw upon. As a field, we’re (rightfully) quite acquisitive: we took agile from software engineering, design thinking from UX, etc. We really should be understanding what it means to think like a practitioner in certain fields, to see what we can and should adopt. I’ve already got some people for these endeavors lined up (bwaahaha!). Consider joining if this sounds like something you’d be interested in.

Elevator 9

A last formal role (I have some informal ones too) is as the science advisor to Elevator 9. This is a company founded on the idea of spacing learning out (a worthwhile endeavor). The founder took my learning science class and then asked me to assist. They’re still getting going, though already with clients, but have made some new moves to kick in next year.

In addition to advising them on design behind the scenes, I’ve scripted, and the CEO David Grad has recorded, a series of short videos about learning. While I’ve suggested that they host them on the Elevator 9 site, that hasn’t happened yet (running on the smell of the proverbial oily rag). I think the best way to find them is to search LinkedIn for “Liftology” and then look at all the ‘post’ results. Hopefully, we’ll make that easier early next year (hint hint, nudge nudge).

And that’s more than enough, I reckon. That’s some of what I’ve been up to in the past year. What’s coming? Well, I’ve given away some of it. There’ll be more from all of the above, of course. Stay tuned! I hope you’ve had a great year, and that the next is your best yet. Happy Holidays!

Achieving alignment

19 December 2023 by Clark Leave a Comment

I’ve seen, up close and personal, some organizations that demonstrably were lacking alignment. This manifested in various ways. The question then becomes, what do you do to remedy? What leads to achieving alignment?

So, many years ago I spent a summer working on a large engineering floor. The group I was assigned to finally told me to slow down, that I was making them look bad! In another firm we were acquired by, they weren’t happy with sales and fired the team, but then hired the leaders responsible for the broken practice to create a new process. My own previous ISP had a great app, and not only broke their implied promise but lied to me. My current ISP is more human when you can get through to them (and their app is horrid).

What’s common is a lack of alignment across the organization. I’ve eventually come to expect pockets of inefficiency in most organizations (I wonder how any of them make money!). Now, it can be bad management on the part of a particular leader, or miscommunication between units. The main point I see here is the lack of effective communication. It can be just within a team, or upwards to a business unit or community of practice, or between business units.

Look, there are lots of ways to go wrong. Lack of measurement, insufficient resources, culture hiccups, and more. One clear barrier, however, that can solve some of the others, is communication. Even before collaboration, which is better, is communication. We need to be social in appropriate ways.When we have trust and safety, we can towards transparency. When we know what others are doing, we can can work in coordination. We can show our work, we can cooperate, and even collaborate.

Achieving alignment is a useful tool for businesses, but it isn’t automatic. You need to work at it. One of the ways is to work to creating an environment where people are sharing. When you do, the benefits emerge. At least, that’s how I see it. How about you?

BTW, our final LDA debate this year will be tomorrow, December 20, at 1PM ET (10 AM PT), on lying, which is directly tied to transparency! Come for the fun, stay for the learning.

Valuing Diversity

12 December 2023 by Clark Leave a Comment

My lass has us engaging us in an activity. Being in it has sparked a recognition that’s not new, but continues to be important, particularly in the global context! I frequently talk about how diversity is important in getting the best ideas. Moreover, it’s not just ‘tolerating’ it, but valuing diversity. Why?

So the activity is choosing music that matches a theme. Everyone (in this case m’lady, and two offspring), submits four songs to a theme, and then when all are in, you vote. Not on yours, of course! For us, it’s not about who ‘wins’ so much as it’s about exposure to different music.

When we’re evaluating them is when I get a particular reaction. I typically realize “Oh, that reminds me of this other song, and I wish I’d thought of it as a candidate.” What’s happening is that being exposed to other ideas expands my own thinking. Which is, after all, one of the things that helps us find solutions. Finding more solutions is a step on the path to finding good solutions!

Globally, I’ve heard of a country that is cracking down on diversity, trying to get everyone to adhere to the same world view. This includes diverse languages. Now, to be a country, I agree that there have to be some shared values. However, for the best opportunity for a country to succeed, tapping into the diversity of thoughts provides a greater likelihood of finding the best approaches. You risk stifling innovation to achieve stability, and that’s not a necessary tradeoff.

Diversity can be challenging. It means being able to accept other views, making it safe, and negotiating a shared understanding. On the flip side, that negotiated understanding is likely to be richer than what existed before. In the long term, that challenge leads to better outcomes. Further, we can work together, when we follow what’s known.

So, if you want to get the best from your unit, whether business, organization, or society, you want to find ways to build diversity. And, then, find ways to use it, productively. We need more than acceptance, or tolerance. We need to be valuing diversity, and when we do, we do better.

One may not be enough

5 December 2023 by Clark Leave a Comment

A recent intersection of talks leads to an interesting issue for L&D. First, we recently talked to Guy Wallace about his recent book, The L&D Pivot Point. Then, we talked to Julie Dirksen about her new book, Talk to the Elephant. The interesting thing is that there’s some overlap between the two ideas that isn’t immediately obvious, but really important. The realization is that when we’re talking about barriers to success, thinking of one may not be enough.

So, Guy’s book is about taking a step above just thinking of course. He’s a proponent of performance improvement consulting, where you analyze the problem before you decree a course as a solution. The important recognition is that there can be multiple barriers to performance, including a lack of skills indicating a course. However, other reasons might be the wrong incentives, a lack of resources, etc. Sometimes a job aid can do better, some times neither that or a course will suffice.

Julie’s book, on the other hand, is a complement to her first book, Design for How People Learn. She recognized that even good design (what her first book did, eloquently) might not help learning stick, and looked at other barriers, such as managers extinguishing the learning. She was more focused on making the learning design succeed.

What she did, however, is provide a rich suite of potential barriers, along with solutions, and suggest that you may need to address more than one. That goes along with, and complements, Guy’s focus.

Just as you design programs that include messaging, training, support, rewards, and more, you should also ensure that you’ve analyzed all the barriers to performance. You might address learning, provide job aids, ensure incentives are aligned, prepare supervisors, and more. Addressing only a particular situation may not be sufficient. You may have several barriers, When it comes to solutions, one may not be enough. This argues (again) for rigorous analysis and a success focus, not just doing what you are comfortable with. In the long term, I reckon this is where we need to go as we move from learning to performance (and development). your thoughts?