APS Blog

The Future of Learning - Round up

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 12:00:00 Z

There are several factors that make The Corporate Research Forum’s (CRF) latest research significant. With recession looming, organisations will inevitably review budgets yet, learning can make a significant contribution if it has the right approach and focus. Understanding the organisation and the strategy allows L&D to focus on outcomes.

What is keeping business leaders awake at night?

Certainly not what leadership programmes are being offered! 87% of executives report skills gaps in their organisations! Knowing their issues and helping solve real business problems gets people’s attention and adds measurable value. Seeking out data and being able to consider the measurement of the intervention allows for the alignment of resources and a focus on the skills or behaviours required to drive improvement.

How would L&D reduce error rates that lead to customer dissatisfaction for example?

Measuring the real cost of not fixing the problem versus an intervention can generate support and ensure that where skills are developed, people can see the relevance of building and developing them. A recent McKinsey survey found that only 25% of respondents believe that training measurably improved performance.

This isn’t to say that L&D departments need to be removed, rather about shifting to how the function adds value and clearly talking to the organisation in those terms.

What is the story about how investment is measured and how the activity and energy in development will make the organisation stronger or more able to keep up with the demands of the market or customers?

Getting outside the function and being curious about the organisation and how it works and provides products or services is essential. What experiences can L&D provide to develop skills? At APS we have been focused on skills development rather than knowledge for a long time. We developed SkillsPilot for this reason.

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How can we develop our talent for critical roles in a VUCA world?

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 12:00:00 Z

How can we develop our talent for critical roles in a VUCA world?

In Alec Levinson's recent LinkedIn article he raises the point that the research on developing talent for new opportunities is clear: the bigger the change from what the person currently is doing, the harder it is to predict success in new roles. This means the traditional talent management 9-box tool that maps out performance versus potential is founded on shaky ground: we may think we know someone’s potential, but the only way to know for sure is to have them step into the role and do it. And it often turns out those predictions are wrong. The classic solution is through realistic job previews: give the person an opportunity to experience what it means to do the work before getting the promotion. Yet that is rarely practical in most situations.

At APS we would agree. Practicing skills in a safe environment where you can get feedback is crucial. Having the knowledge doesn’t mean the skills are being effectively utilised. Our approach? SkillsPilot. Online and facilitator-led, with interactive sessions for both one-to-one and group skills practice. Accelerate development through targeted practice.

Interested to find out more? Contact us today and arrange a demo. https://skillspilot.co.uk/

Team development days – Time well spent or a waste of time?

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 12:00:00 Z

I hear so many managers and leaders talk about this point. There is a desire to invest in development, however, in the Covid 19 era with budgets under pressure this sort of activity is often under the microscope and it is easy to see why. There is a key question for me. What are the expected outcomes? Too often there is a lack of focus on what a good outcome looks like and how it may be measured in terms of team and individual progress. There needs to be a clear purpose. What is the team there to deliver and what does the intervention need to achieve?

The most effective results occur when people can create a clear answer to the ‘so what?’ question!

Getting team members to understand their strengths and how they may develop them further, how those strengths contribute to team performance and where the gaps are both individually and collectively is key.

Assessment can form an integral part of these development sessions as they can identify the culture of the team. Using an effective assessment tool such as the Hogan team report, for example, will identify the team culture based on the individual team members results and indicating what it is going to be like to work in that environment, how well the team may bond and the influences on their decision making. This is particularly important when there are adjustments to the strategy and organisational goals requiring an adjustment in focus and behaviour. Because values operate subconsciously, awareness can be limited. The degree to which values align can impact productivity.

Creating clarity about the team’s behaviours, particularly under pressure and what can happen will help. Who goes quiet, who comes up with eccentric ideas, who remains steady and who becomes overconfident and overestimates the team capability and ability to deliver? These are often overplayed strengths, however, if not addressed, they will impede the teams' progress and success.

As you can see, this is not about typical ‘team-building’, rather, a focused approach to understanding values, behaviours and what the team's derailers may be as well as their implications. By starting with the team’s purpose, it can generate focus on what needs to be achieved. A strong, clear purpose can then be overlaid with identifying gaps, discussing solutions and moving forward collectively. Actions to deliver! When thinking about team sessions, think about the challenges the team face. Difficult objectives, demanding stakeholders, short timescales, customer issues or new projects to implement.

What can emerge? Too many things to mention but two quick examples.

A team that needed to step up and lead more effectively. We chose the Hogan Team report in this case and it allowed the group to see that they were relationship-focused. Something they already sensed. The net result? Don’t damage the relationships, but in reality, they were saying yes to the demands of all the stakeholders and not challenging each other in the right ways. Due to their collective diligence, they were working hard and becoming overwhelmed. The outcome, among other things, was granting ‘permission’ to each other to challenge more and working on sharpening their feedback skills so they could do so more promptly and effectively. With stakeholders, they identified the need for better questioning skills and the benefit of supporting each other in saying no when required. This increased the trust the team members had in each other.

A second example was a senior leadership group that wanted to see how they compared to other senior teams. We typically use the High Performing Team Assessment in cases like this. It allowed the team to benchmark and compare. They quickly identified several strengths and focus areas that formed the backbone of the session, driving more challenging conversations and allowing them to align on what was most important and how they were going to tackle the situation.

Done with the right investment in time and resources can ensure that bringing teams together to develop can provide great results and certainly be time…and money well spent.

Case Study - The case of the team that went nowhere.

When work suddenly becomes remote, what happens to learning?

Wed, 20 May 2020 12:00:00 Z

The last 6 weeks have seen some pretty seismic shifts in the world of work.

Large parts of the workforce have been uprooted from office environments and are now suddenly forced to adapt to working from home, sometimes in less than ideal conditions.

How has L&D responded? What opportunities are there to continue and to adapt to this new world? I have heard multiple times that this is the moment for leaders to lead and make their mark. But how? What support are they being offered? What exists to help engage them and rapidly develop the skills they may use to not just cope but the thrive?

Elizabeth Howlett has published a couple of recent articles in People Management on how to manage remotely. Interesting reading. Underperforming employees and Learning and Development are two areas of focus.

My question is how much focus is there presently on supporting managers and leaders during this highly important time? How will their behaviour, focus and engagement of others help to increase productivity, keep those around them motivated and maximise the impact this can have for the organisation. Most organisations have a limited capability to deliver effective online development. Of course, we all use Zoom, WebEx and other tools to communicate, but how much is learning-focused? And of that, how much is skills-focused rather than knowledge itself? There is some excellent content out there, however, much is passive and knowledge-based as opposed to having to apply a skill in real-time with real people. Effective leaders must make good decisions quickly, often based on limited information. They must serve as a rallying force that keeps employees on track and be able to have the conversations necessary to engage those around them. Organisations with the strongest leaders are the ones that will survive and thrive.

Harvard Business Review suggests that leaders need to receive feedback, engage in self-observation and practice self-management as part of the development process. Knowing what feedback is needed is critical. Who is observing is also massively important and how and when to practice needs thought and consideration.

Imagine a world where individuals could have a specific development programme that was designed for them. Coaching, individual activities and exercises designed to develop and practice specific skills, feedback and the chance to watch back. What about a small cluster of managers, four or five perhaps, but not enough to make up the normal size of a cohort that would warrant a programme? Maybe even a larger number of managers but with a specific issue and skill to practice in order to consistently execute a particular approach. Challenging…Yes. Impossible…No. Already available.

The ability to effectively blend all these approaches is the key to getting the maximum value from any learning intervention. Of course, there will always be areas that we would prefer to do face to face and perhaps should do face to face. With planning and consideration, most can be adapted to still be engaging and supportive.

With travel retracted and organisations seeing how well many have adapted, the question is likely to be ‘do we need to travel?’ and of course with the economic impact organisations will be looking for cost savings.

We have had some interesting conversations with clients and already piloting programmes with live, virtual skills learning with both groups and individuals focused on a series of short 30-45 minute exercises, aimed at developing specific skills to enhance manager effectiveness.

What support is there to ensure manager and leader success at this critical moment? Virtual development isn’t the future, it is now and with 2020 looking like a pretty tough economic year virtual needs to finds its place and make its mark.

Coaching and Mentoring…Getting the returns you need!

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:00:00 Z

In organisations today, change is constant, rapid and relentless. Learning needs to follow this, but helping individuals and teams in this context is always challenging.

Coaching and mentoring have a key role to play in learning and development. Though the terms are often used interchangeably, they describe very different practices. Mentoring refers to learning from a more experienced person who shares their experience, which coaching is about being guided and supported to question and consider changes.

Solid mentoring relationships can create opportunities that otherwise would not exist. The sharing of knowledge, experience and advice that is inherent to the mentoring relationship is helpful as it can accelerate the learning process. However, there is also a risk that mentoring can perpetuate the use of already tried and tested approaches and create a feeling of obligation for the mentee to follow the advice of their more senior and experienced mentor.

Great coaching is designed to free one’s thinking, to stimulate much deeper reflection on motivations, and to increase self-awareness. Coaching allows time and space in which an individual can reflect on what energises and what drains him or her, in conjunction with values and beliefs. Coaching encourages individuals to identify their personal goals, create a vision for their future, and determine how they will move into that future space. The power of coaching comes from coachees themselves driving the agenda and making choices that they want to commit to.

Clarity of understanding and awareness are precursors to making impactful decisions. They assist with what to focus on and how, while supporting meaningful performance improvement. Developing awareness leads to building new skills and modifying behaviours. Using quality assessment techniques (those that are objective, pay attention to context, and are rooted in social science) can accelerate this process. Raising self-awareness and seeing clearly the enablers of and barriers to success are critical to performance improvement and/or to creating action and change.

In Hogan assessment terminology, knowing what can derail you is an advantage and a driver in creating the desire for change. Assessments are not about judging people; they are about surfacing an individual’s strengths, challenges and behavioural tendencies as quickly as possible so that the coaching time can really explore them. In simple terms, knowing what you are like at your best and knowing what happens to you under pressure is the first step in developing strategies to modify and limit the effect and impact of us at our worst!

Increasingly organisations are under pressure to deliver for their customers and the time for development is often heavily circumscribed. Developing talent is critical to business success so effective coaching can add real value. Performance, motivation and engagement go hand in hand.

How can organisations use coaching to add value?

Start by developing your managers’ and leaders’ coaching skills. If they are effective coaches themselves, they will better appreciate the benefits this style can bring. It will impact the culture of the organisation. It will drive engagement, ultimately adding to the bottom line through improved performance and discretionary effort.
Consider using external coaches. External coaches bring neutrality that can offer further benefits and can challenge coachees in ways that internal coaches may find difficult. This neutral element can also ensure that the coaching and the assessment remain non-judgemental.
Define the objectives of coaching and mentoring. Discuss these with the individual. Ensure that the coach, coachee and the organisation have alignment around what success looks like, what the current challenges are and the objectives of the intervention (a good coach should do this anyway!).

The context within which organisations operate is changing fast due to external factors, requiring new leadership qualities. Coaching and mentoring both have a place in developing these qualities. They can both be positive. But they are different and the difference matters.

Know the difference. Do both!

Why organisations have an executive coaching programme?

Because Leaders need to:

develop innovative strategies to evolve their business
progressively transform and align people with ever-changing market demands
adapt themselves quickly to changing role expectations and within 100 days!
demonstrate confidence and resolve in times of pressure and stress and lead from the front
be able to quickly build relationships with global stakeholders across cultural borders
increase productivity, efficiency and evolve innovative service
believe and assume the lead
effectively engage others
avoid derailment!

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Leadership and Humility

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 00:00:00 Z

Leadership... A pretty vast topic.

The debates around effective leadership always evoke some pretty heated debate and numerous perspectives. We all have our stories of the successful and inspirational leaders we have worked for and with, the qualities they possess and how they have engaged those around them.

In leadership it can be easy to become caught up in status, power and control, however, for leaders, focus on those around them and within their teams is crucial to success. Cheryl Williamson wrote in Forbes ‘You cannot be an effective leader if you feel you are better than your subordinates’. Teams with these types of leaders tend to have higher turnover and experience lower productivity.

So for me, the question is – How engaged are your employees and teams? Would your business benefit from higher engagement?

With organisations constantly changing, the support for leaders can often be about developing the skills to remain agile, deal with change and remain effective. Research is indicating that humble leaders are more effective. They give credit to the team, share success and are more coachable. A Catalyst survey in 2014 showed that humility is one of four critical leadership factors for creating an environment where employees feel included. It found that when employees observed altruistic or selfless behaviour in their managers — a style characterised by 1) acts of humility, such as learning from criticism and admitting mistakes; 2) empowering followers to learn and develop; 3) acts of courage, such as taking personal risks for the greater good; and 4) holding employees responsible for results — they were more likely to report feeling included. This was true for both women and men.

There is also a connection, and evidence, demonstrating that employees who perceive altruistic behaviour from their managers are more innovative, suggesting new products or ways of working. They were also more likely to be more engaged.

So what's the issue? Finding the humble! In an age of self-promotion, humble people will be hidden among the many. They aren’t charming their way to the front, regaling tales of their achievements to anyone who will listen. Humble leaders may get overlooked. They are more likely giving credit to the team for a job well done, sharing the success and being a good organisational citizen.

With all the upside, they are worth finding and investing in. Whether internal promotion or external hiring, it is possible to measure altruism and humility. Curious? You should be. It could add real value.