The Winning Teams Blog

Consumer Protection Act

The Consumer Protection Act (Act 68 of 2008) becomes fully operational in South Africa in October 2010. The Act has far reaching implications for suppliers and retailers, as it now makes South African consumers some of the best protected in the world. It requires businesses to ensure that all their dealings with their customers are fair, reasonable and honest. 

Achieving compliance with the Act is not simply a matter of changing a few policies or agreements here and there. Every single employee’s interaction with customers potentially puts the business at risk. Whilst business will have to change their operating procedures, their staff will have to know how the Act affects them, and they will have to change their behaviour. Achieving this across the organization will be no mean feat. After all, how do you get your employees to know and understand a 94 page piece of complex legislation? And the fines for non-compliance are steep: fines of up to 10% of annual turnover or R1 million, whichever is the greater! 

To this end, we at Winning Teams are busy developing a self-study course for employees to understand the Consumer Protection Act. We are simplifying, structuring, and de-mystifying the Act. We will develop a handbook for coaches as well as a ‘cheat sheet’ for managers and supervisors. We are packaging this product together with our tried and tested system, and we will be offering it to our clients around August 2010. If you are interested in a preview, send me an email at [info] at [wteams.com].

What are we up to?

I have been a bit scarce on this blog, because we have been really busy. What are we up to? Here’s a short summary on some current and future projects that we are working on:

World of Work Programme

This is a programme that we are running in secondary schools in South Africa. This year, we rolled out this programme to 2,800 schools, reaching nearly one million learners. The programme is sponsored by Standard Bank, and is aimed at improving the level of personal financial education in secondary schools, and providing learners with life skills and confidence that they need to enter the world of work.

This year saw a massive rollout to all nine provinces. We held training sessions with more than 10,800 educators in all nine provinces. This work took place from March until now. We are almost finished, and will start monitoring the results as they flood in.

Project Enterprise

This is a new programme that we are developing. We envisage a post-school programme – ‘Project Enterprise’ - that helps school-leavers to develop enterprising skills and attitudes, and empowers them to become economically active, whether in their own businesses, or those of others.

We are ideally placed to develop, and operate such a Programme because of the successes already achieved in secondary education, because we are active in the rural areas, and because of the deep relationships which we have developed with the educational authorities.

We are currently developing a detailed specification, and are preparing a concept proposal. We are canvassing support for the ‘Project Enterprise’ Programme, and we are actively seeking public and private sector sponsorships and funding to get the Programme off the ground. This programme shows real promise, and we believe it has an international reach.

Achiever Programme

The Achiever programme is in its first stage of development. In stage 1, we will gather contact information on all of the secondary schools in South Africa. In stage 2, we will identify those learners about to enter the workplace, that demonstrate an aptitude and desire to enter the financial services industry. In stage 3, we will assist these entrants to obtain the necessary skills needed to work in the sector, and in stage 4, we will work with the financial services sector to place these entrants into appropriate positions in industry. We are focuing on financial services at present, but we may seek to expand into other industries in due course.

In stage 1, this year, we have developed a comprehensive database containing information on all 3,000 of the secondary schools that we have worked with. This database contains comprehensive contact information for all secondary schools. We believe that we have the most comprehensive and up-to-date contact data available. We use the information contained in this database to communicate effectively with the schools via sms, bulk fax, and email. It allows us to reach our target base very quickly and efficiently.

In stage 2, which kicks off in September, we will be identifying suitable candidates, and building a learner contact database. We envisage that we will have a database of 1,000’s of aspiring young school-leavers eager to join the financial services industry in 2011.

If you have an interest in any of these projects. Let me know.

Winning Teams January/February 09 research roundup

In the popular press, it is all doom and gloom for the global economy. Yet recessions and depressions have come and gone before. This month we focus on those research articles and news items that instruct us how to manage L& through the downturn, and emerge as an leaner, more efficient organisation in the next upturn. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Rise to the challenge - rethinking your L&D strategy for the economic downturn

Nigel Paine, former head of training and development at the BBC, offers his New Year advice to L&D. He says that “This is a time to look hard at what skills and attitudes will get everyone through the next year or so”. Here are some snippets of advice:

• Don’t panic! - this is a time to align, plan and look closely at what delivers real value back to the organisation.
• Know when the game is up - There are times when the learning function will not get a look in.
• Innovate – Everyone is looking for creative and innovative solutions.
• Get faster! – This is a time to accelerate.
• Go online – Cut the time of learning

The key message is realign and re-position, use the opportunity wisely and you will help your workplace re-emerge stronger, leaner and fitter.

Coaching outlook for 2009: under pressure - coaching will evolve and will become a way of helping organisations cope with turbulence

Is coaching likely to withstand the current economic downturn, or will coaching programmes get the budget chop? Professor of coaching and mentoring at Sheffield Hallam University Bob Garvey believes that “Coaching will evolve, and will become a way of helping organisations cope with turbulence”. Coaching in its current form will change, and overall the use of coaching will probably expand, since coaching is strongly linked to organisational change.

Is talent the silver lining for companies fighting recession - CIPD) has found that, despite the downturn, fighting to keep their top talent remains a priority for most organisations

A new report from the CIPD shows that contrary to popular thought, organisations have not changed their practices towards talent management in the downturn. Only 26% reported a change, and the vast majority continue to see talent management as a key survival strategy to differentiate themselves from competitors, and more importantly to benefit from the eventual upturn.

Some interesting stats are that “Many organisations are also responding to the downturn by adopting positive talent management practices: 55% are developing more in-house talent, 45% are focusing on essential development, 43% are continuing to recruit key talent and 35% are increasing their focus on employee retention.”

CIPD Guide - How to manage your workforce in a recession

The CIPD together with Acas have published a guidance note entitled “How to manage your workforce in a recession”. It is aimed at employers, and employees. The guidance note is very concise, and focuses on the following themes:

• Think long term - Think creatively about how to reduce employment costs, such as new ways of working and work reorganisation.
• Maintain employee engagement - Think about creative ways of motivating employees such as recognition schemes, team-building days and employee awards.
• Strengthen line management capability - Recognise the vital role that line managers play in every aspect of the employment relationship.
• Support employees’ health and well-being  - Recognise the psychological burden and impact that can arise in a recession.
• Minimise redundancies - Think about ways to minimise redundancies if workforce reductions are inevitable.
• Consult - With your workforce and employee representatives.
• Establish fair and objective selection criteria - That will help you to retain key people.
• Help -Redundant employees to find other work.
• Plan for the future – Implement change management and training programmes to support remaining employees.

Economic Survival Guide – ASTD

The ASTD has published an Action Plan entitled “Finding Efficiency and Effectiveness With Slimmer Resources”. Aimed at L&D professionals, this guide offers some practical advice for managing L&D efforts in difficult times. The guide offers advice under the following headings:

• Communicate — up and down — and mobilize employees to create a learning culture within your organsation.
• Review budgets for efficiencies – working creatively with your budget.
• Use technology-based learning applications
• Maximize the talent in your learning department
• Ensure that all learning programs have strategic links to business goals

Winning Teams September/October 08 research roundup

It has been a quiet couple of months, with research focused more on the global financial meltdown, but this post contains a summary of research into learning and development, and performance improvement in September and October 2008. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Generation Y 'need management training

A study from Talent Q reveals that people born after 1980 - Generation Y – may struggle with organisation in the workplace, and may need support from their employers to gain any career development. Areas they have problems with include decision-making, leadership and time management.

However, in contrast, the study found that Generation Y’rs have good social skills and a sharp attention to details.

The article first appeared here on Training Zone.

Increasing employee engagement with their development

Staff development is an uphill struggle if they are reluctant learners. Jan Hills outlines some techniques to encourage employees' receptiveness to their own development. Specifically, she suggests that you can use six tactics for improving the receptiveness of your employees: social proof as an example of success; encourage scarcity; employ reciprocity; use authority; use ‘likeness’; and foster commitment and consistency.

The article appears here.

Cutting It

Cuts seem common these days. Mike Morrison suggests how training professionals can make sure that they are not victims of the economic downturn, by conducting targeted training and development that delivers the skills employers need.

“Effective training and people development is an investment not a cost. We know this, but now is time for us to make sure our employers know this too."

The article appears here.

Surviving the Budget Cuts

There may be stormy times ahead making it more important than ever for learning leaders to get close to the business. Nigel Paine explains how to keep L&D relevant to the organisation in difficult economic times.

In essence, he suggests that L&D needs to align itself even more closely with the needs of the business: “At this time, a learning leader has to move fast into a new kind of role if he or she is not already there. Make that work in tough times, and you will be well positioned for the upturn and beyond."

The article appears here.

Coaching Tips for Managers

Phil Deer has developed a simple coaching checklist to help managers improve their coaching. The list is fairly straightforward, but may be useful if you need to give managers a quick refresher. The list is here.

Winning Teams August 08 research roundup

This post contains a summary of research into learning and development, and performance improvement in August 2008. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Is mentoring the poor relation to coaching?

In this article, the author argues that mentoring has become a poor cousin of coaching primarily due to the popularity of the coaching profession. “Mentoring is worthy but dull, coaching is sexy and professional. I don’t think that’s true or a good thing but I do think the emphasis on coaching has been to the detriment of mentoring."

The article goes on to list the essential difference between coaching and mentoring, pointing out that mentoring generally involves a longer relationship, and focuses on career and personal development, whereas coaching is normally of a shorter time period, and focuses on specific developmental issues. The author concludes that coaching isn't necessarily the right thing to use, and there are times when mentoring would be far more beneficial.

This article was published on TrainingZone here.

Can managers become coaches?

On a similar note to “Everybody wants to be a coach”, this article indicates that there are three key factors that make it difficult for managers to become successful coaches:

1. Managers are time bound. Results have to be achieved to a certain standard within a certain time. Coaching takes time.

2. Managers are performance oriented. They have been charged with getting results. Often the employee's potential problem to be addressed through coaching may not seem to relate to improved results.

3. Managers often have a personal style that is more directive than consultative. It is thus hard to switch gears from telling and selling to listening and supporting.

This article appears here.

Training is not enough

In this article Donald H. Taylor argues introduces the AMO (Ability, Motivation and Opportunity) model, and concludes that that a person's motivation and opportunity to participate may be as important as their skills. He follows a similar approach to an article from earlier this year, where Andrew Mayo asked for less leadership training, and more decent management.

Controversially, he argues “… the (AMO) model also suggests something else. There is another way that the L&D department can help with building both employee motivation and opportunity: sometimes it should refuse to carry out training”.

This article was published on HRZone here.

Ask the expert: What elearning methods are best?

In this article, Clive Shepherd, chair of the elearning network, gives some general advice on the best way to deliver a blended elearning course. The article is very short and to the point, and gives an overview of the process to follow, so don’t expect a silver bullet.

This article appears here.

Legal action against multiple choice could affect all elearning

A dyslexic medical student is taking legal action against the Medical Council, claiming that multiple choice tests discriminate against those with learning difficulties. “Customers or employees don't come with four-option multiple choice questions pinned to their chests and using this method as a means of judging competence is flawed.” The student argues that multiple choice quizzes can't possibly reflect her true competence as a doctor.

Although an English legal matter, this case may have very significant consequences since vendors of learning management systems and rapid elearning authoring tools have always stressed the benefits of being able to use online tests – usually involving multiple choice questions. The implications for the whole of the elearning industry are potentially enormous, especially in areas which have seen significant growth - such as legislative compliance and meeting the requirements placed on businesses by various regulators.

This article appears here.

Winning Teams June/July 08 research roundup

This post contains a summary of research into learning and development, and performance improvement in June/July 2008. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices

A new report from the US commissioned by the American Management Association looks at the impact of coaching on organisations. Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices revealed that an overwhelming number of the 1,030 executives surveyed worldwide believe coaching is associated with improving individual performance and developing high-potential employees/leaders.

Here are some of the more important findings:

1. Coaching is used by only about half of today’s companies.
2. Coaching continues to gain in popularity.
3. Coaching is associated with higher organisational performance.
4. Coaching is primarily aimed at boosting individual performance.
5. Evaluating coaching’s performance may help boost success rates.
6. Peer coaching needs to become more effective.
7. Coaching’s international future looks bright.

This comprehensive 87 page report can be found here.

Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce - IBM’s Global Human Capital Study 2008

IBM’s Global Human Capital Study 2008, begins with the premise that winning in competitive and quickly shifting markets requires responsive organisations, and more importantly adaptable workforces. The report is based on interviews with over 400 HR execs in 40 countries.

The key finding that emerges from this report, is that very few organisations believe that their workforces are very capable of adapting to change. The report goes on to identify key capabilities that influence the workforce’s ability to change.

The report can be downloaded here after an annoying registration process.

Crisis, what crisis? The future of elearning

Writing on TrainingZone, Linda Loader, the Managing Director of Infinity Learning, gives her views on the findings of the CIPD’s Annual Learning Survey with respect to elearning.

She concludes as follows: “We will need an increasing focus on tailor-made solutions to meet defined business needs, with the appropriate use of technology as part of a dynamic learning mix”.

The article appears here.

What makes a team really perform?

Writing on TrainingZone, John Frost argues that it is the emotional strength of the team that enables them to perform. Factors like trust, emotional resilience, communication and leadership are all critical success factors in teams that consistently deliver results.

The article appears here.

Keep your nerve in face of economic turmoil, says CIPD chief

Jackie Orme, the chief executive of the CIPD, writing in a new report called “Futures: Leading Through Uncertain Times”, argues that “organisations willing to seize the opportunities to recruit, reward, retain, train and develop talent - despite tougher times - are the ones likely to benefit from a competitive edge when the economy picks up again”.

The report appears here.

Keeping staff happy is the bottom line

Writing in the Times, Sue Leonard, argues that “smart bosses who make career development a top priority can help stop a brain drain of top performing employees and save their organisations substantial sums of money into the bargain”.

According to research by the CIPD lack of career development accounts for 39% of departures from firms. But turnover rates drop dramatically in companies that have high levels of employee engagement. Average turnover for the top 10 of mid and small firms, and the top two big companies, is 15% compared to 17% for other listed organisations and 19% for those entering the competition but not making it to the lists.

The article appears here.

Modern myths of learning: You only remember 10% of what you read

You remember 10% of what you read
You remember 20% of what you hear
You remember 30% of what you see
You remember 90% of what you do

It's easily remembered. It's widely repeated. It's completely wrong.

Donald Taylor examines this, and other learning and development myths, and contentiously concludes that: “We do not have a (learning and development) profession. A real profession would have more concern about what was acceptable data rather than adopting things uncritically because they look pretty.”

The article appears here.

The future is bright - and blended

A new European training study shows that the UK is leading the way in making training practices more effective. The report shows that in the UK, the biggest growth area is without doubt blended learning – combining face-to-face learning, elearning and on the job, line manager training.

The article appears here.

Winning Teams May 08 research roundup

This post contains a summary of research into learning and development, and performance improvement in May 2008. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Commentary on the 2008 CIPD Learning and Development Survey

Four leading commentators reflect on different aspects of the findings of the 2008 CIPD Learning and Development Survey, to identify the main implications for practitioners and for the organisations they work for.

Roger Opie, explores how to prepare young people for the workforce of the future in the context of the future skills needs of the UK.

Martyn Sloman, explores how learning and development is evolving, and suggests what the future holds in store. The article’s title offers a clue: “Learning and development – from top-down to support and challenge”.

Donald H. Taylor, explores the contradictory findings of the Survey with regards to e-learning, and argues that e-learning has come of age and is now simply regarded as part of the learning mix.

Martin Howe, in “Coaching at the crossroads – is it enough to position coaching activities with line managers?”, argues that a strategic choice is emerging between leaving coaching positioned with line managers, or using internal coaches and peer coaches.

The commentary is available here from the CIPD’s website.

Wacky training: Do unconventional methods really work?

Dawn Smith, writing for TrainingZone explores how offbeat and experiential training methods add to the L&D mix. In the article, she quotes Victoria Winkler, CIPD advisor, who says that: "In previous years there was more emphasis on formal training, but now organisations are thinking more deeply about their approach. There is a whole myriad of things going on, and they are not just gimmicks. They are a way to get people engaged".

The article appears here.

A third of the UK workforce is de-motivated

Trainingzone reports that 30% of UK employees are de-motivated in their current role, according to research published by Investors in People UK. The research suggests that a significant number of employees are de-motivated, and many valuable employees are planning to leave their employer.

The article reports that many employees feel the need to leave because of a lack of a employee development: “employers focus their efforts on the initial induction stage but then, as employees settle in, let employee development fall down the list of priorities”.

The article appears here.

A second-class citizen? Is training the poor relation of HR?

Annie Hayes writing on TrainingZone enters the debate over whether training deserves its image as second best to HR. She explores practitioners views as to the relative importance of training to organisations, and concludes that value of training, learning and development varies from sector to sector and organisation to organisation. “What L&D is doing well is cutting out expensive and often ineffective training courses and this can only help raise its profile”.

One quote which is particularly incisive is that from Gary Saunders, change management and HR specialist, who comments: “So if senior management make the assumption that training has lots of positive benefits, but that contribution to performance isn’t necessarily one of them, then it’s hardly surprising that it’s a target for cuts when the economic climate turns chilly".

The article appears here.

Evaluation as a tool to improve performance

The CIPD reports that most L&D practitioners expect that in the next five years there will be greater emphasis on monitoring, measurement, and evaluation of learning and development effectiveness (see The Future of Learning and Development ). Although there is still debate about the most suitable way to measure and evaluate L&D effectiveness, its importance is now widely recognised, even if it not currently widely practised.

Dr Stephen J. Gill points out (The Performance Improvement Blog - Getting Results From Employee Training: All You Have To Do Is Ask) that the evaluation process “isn’t tangential; it is central to the training and learning process”. I agree with him, since as he points out, that without it: you don’t know what your staff do and don’t know; you don’t know how to improve performance; and you don’t know the value of the intervention.

This is sound advice, but many performance improvement consultants are reluctant to agree to include a formal evaluation process as part of their performance intervention, since they believe that the success of the intervention lies largely outside of their hands – with the performers, and with their managers. They also may believe that many of the benefits are not easily and immediately quantifiable.

Whilst both of these arguments can be countered, I think that there is another way of looking at this. In her book ‘Beyond Transfer of Training – Engaging Systems to Improve Performance’, Mary Broad advances the argument that the evaluation process itself is not only a tool to measure performance (which we know is essential), but is actually a tool that can be used to support and improve performance. To quote her: “The old saying holds true: ‘You don’t get what you expect, you get what you inspect.”

By placing emphasis on a formal evaluation process, you are sending signals to staff and managers that you are expecting a certain set of behaviours and actions as a result of the intervention, and that you expect to get the desired results. That is a very powerful message, and is a very different one to asking if they enjoyed the learning experience.

If you don’t insist on a formal evaluation system, you are over-looking a very valuable weapon in the performance improvement arsenal.

The Future of Learning and Development

The CIPD’s 2008 Learning and Development Survey – now in its 10th year - provides data on current and emerging trends and issues in learning and development. In this post, I’ll review some of the findings on current and future learning and development practices.

Changes in L&D over the last two years

When asked what the most important changes were in L&D over the last two years, 72% of the respondents indicated that it had been the ‘introduction of new programmes to develop the role of line managers’. This was a clear winner by a 10% margin. This reflects the increasing responsibility for learning and development now placed on line managers, and reinforces earlier findings. (This should be compared to an almost static position on instructor-led training, with 49% saying that it has stayed the same.)

Later on in the report, we find that the majority of line managers are now involved in determining learning and development needs (86%), and half of the respondents (49%) predicted that line managers will have even greater responsibility for learning and development over the next five years.

The second change that respondents listed was that organisations are now placing a greater emphasis on developing a learning and development culture (62%). This reflects a growing understanding that continuous learning is critical to building and sustaining a competitive workforce.

Other changes to learning and development practices over the last two years included: the introduction/extension of coaching programmes; the extension of e-learning; and new approaches to monitoring learning and development effectiveness.

Effectiveness of Learning and Development Practices

When asked to identify the most effective learning and development practices, the top three were:

• in-house development programmes (55%),
• coaching by line-managers (53%), and
• on-the-job training (43%).

Only a fifth of respondents (20%) believed that instructor-led training was effective. This reflects a general shift away from the more formal instructor-led approach as a result of learner preferences, and organisational requirements. Today’s learning and development practices are more tailored to the individual; there is a greater emphasis on learning through projects; and there is increased value seen in learning with and from peers.

The least effective practices were the use of training videos – only 1% found these to be useful - and very surprisingly, only 7% believed that e-learning was effective. (Yet 57% of organisations now use e-learning in some form or another.)

Expected changes in L&D over the next five years

The main changes anticipated in L&D over the next five years include:

• a closer integration of learning and development activity and business strategy (68%), and
• more emphasis on monitoring, measurement, and evaluation of training effectiveness (56%).

Another recent CIPD research project (The value of learning: a new model of value and evaluation) has shown that these two activities are closely linked. ROI measures are of limited interest to senior decision makers, and attention is shifting to ROI to return on expectation measures, which make use of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ information to assess the effectiveness of L&D.

Winning Teams April 08 research roundup

This post contains a summary of research into learning and development, and performance improvement in April 2008. All work is that of the authors, and I have provided links to the original articles.

Learning to lead with a touch of creativity

In this article, the authors discuss the changing nature of leadership. “Traditionally, leaders were valued for their competence, but increasingly they need to be intellectual leaders too, providing the organisation with creativity and analytical strengths,” says the new Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development's (CIPD) chief executive Jackie Orme.

This article appears here on the People Management website.

E-learning stuck in the slow

The CIPD's 2008 learning and development survey revealed that when asked to list the top three most effective training practices, only 7% of 729 learning and development (L&D) managers included e-learning. E-learning is here to stay, but the findings show it still isn't fully appreciated by learners or training managers.

The authors argue further that in order to be effective, e-learning needs to be embedded in wider learning strategies.

The author of the article is Sue Weekes, and the article appears here on Personnel Today.

CIPD - Coaching in organisations

The CIPD have published their initial findings of research into coaching in the UK. The research was launched in April 2007 and will conclude in spring 2008 with the publication of the final research report. This initial report includes: the background to the research; the initial findings; some case studies; and some early conclusions about good practice.

The initial report can be found here.

Coaching: One size doesn’t fit all, new report confirms

Some commentary on the above report appears on Training Zone. The authors conclude that despite the majority of UK employers using coaching within their organisations, coaching to support business goals is still in the early stages, with wide variations in practice. As a result, learning and development practitioners can find it challenging to make judgements about how best to implement coaching within their organisations.

The commentary can be found here.

Where Will All the Talent Come From?

William D. Green, the chairman and CEO of Accenture, and Peter Cheese, the managing director responsible for the Accenture Talent & Organization Performance service line, argue that the war for talent has gone global. “New technologies are transforming the nature of work, the skills demanded, the manner in which work is sourced globally and the ways in which people collaborate to perform processes and innovate. All these trends are making talent an ever-more critical and complex issue.”

They point out that there are several key enterprise learning trends that are important to companies looking to develop and retain their people including:

• Integrating learning with knowledge management
• Using greater variety in learning delivery
• Aligning learning with the business

The article appears here on Accenture’s website.

Education is Vital to Competitiveness

William D. Green, writes in his blog that education is vital to global competitiveness. “The foundation of a competitive company is a competitive workforce … and education is the key enabler of a competitive workforce.”

He suggests that there are three principles underlying competitiveness in education:

• Access: - Providing access to educational opportunities
• Affordability: - Making education a reality by reducing financial barriers
• Accountability: Ensuring that what we are teaching is relevant and delivers good value for money.

Bill Green is the Chairman and CEO of Accenture. The article can be found here.