ASTD 2011 Conference Daily - Issue 3 - (Page 1)

ASTD Hosts Student Day 2011 More than 30 students gathered for Student Day, the culminating event in a special series of activities geared toward students who have a chapter student membership or are enrolled in at least 12 hour in an accredited college or university HRD program. The student activities gave students the opportunity to network with other students, learn about ASTD, and join more than 8,000 industry profession- Students introduced themals at ASTD’s largest conference of the selves during ASTD's info sesyear. About 140 students were registered sion. for the conference. “The purpose is to get incoming professionals early in their career acquainted and engaged with ASTD, so that they can learn how ASTD can be of benefit to their career,” said Cami Best-Jones, ASTD Academic Services. Activities for Student Day included a special networking breakfast, attending the general session together, and receiving a tour of the Expo. During the networking breakfast, career coach Alan De Back gave students some career tips in his talk, “Career Builder Resources: Your Top Ten.” Later in the day, Tuesday keynote speaker and leadership development expert Mette Norgaard gave a special presentation to the students during the networking luncheon. The day also included a special session that provided an overview of ASTD for students. The student activities are a part of a larger ASTD effort and partnership with higher education . On Monday, ASTD hosted approximately 40 university faculty members. Norgaard also gave them a special presentation and encouraged them to urge their students to base their leadership judgments and decisions on evidence and data. She also discussed her book, The Ugly Duckling Goes to Work, which is based on her translation of fables written by Hans Christian Andersen. Reporter’s Notebook: Tuesday Sessions Every day is spring-loaded with possibilities for touchpoints, according to Doug Conant, president and CEO of The Campbell Soup Company, and Mette Norgaard of Strategic Leadership & Learning. The dynamic duo delivered an inspirational presentation at Tuesday’s General Session, encouraging ASTD 2011 attendees to seize the touchpoint moments that surround them each day. These moments, found in the intersection of the leader, the other person, and the issue, can be expressed in a mere twoword declarative statement and speak simplistically and powerfully to the heart of the matter. Said Norgaard, you must have the head [inquiry], the heart [reflection], and the hands [practice] to master the touch. Leadership: The Action Is in the Interaction Doug Conant (above) touches the keynote audience. Mette Norgaard (left) teaches mastering the touch. reach that coveted destination. Conference attendees posed questions to panelists Teresa Roche of Agilent, Rebecca Phillips of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Kevin Oakes of i4cp, and Deb Wheelock of Mercer in the session, “Uniting the Silos: Continued on page 2 Many learning professionals have embarked on a journey toward integrated talent management…and few have yet to In Search of Talent Harmony John Foley: Trust Rises to the Occasion In Wednesday’s final keynote of the Conference, John Foley will discuss his work in the Blue Angels and lessons in trust and ultimate performance. You’ve spoken about the trust element in teams. How does this single principal help drive things like accountability and dedication? Trust is the key to not only accountability and dedication but also execution. If you increase trust, execution will follow. The problem is that trust means different things to different people. We are going to go behind the scenes with the Blue Angels and see how we used verbal and nonverbal contracts to create high levels of trust that drove even higher levels of performance. These trust contracts were made both internally with team members and externally between the organization and the customers. On the Blue Angels, the foundation of trust was more than life or death. It was a deep commitment between ourselves our teammates and our mission that drove the pursuit for continuous improvement. This commitment leads to a feeling of not wanting to let yourself or your teammates down—a deep sense of personal responsibility. Dedication and accountability become givens when you can instill this sense of personal responsibility. We are going to unpack how to build trust that will lead to unique contracts on accountability, dedication, and performance. Given all we know from the literature, why do you think so many businesses still struggle with performance gaps? There is always a challenge from taking knowledge and turning it into action. Complex changes need to be broken down into actual steps and processes. The steps and processes aren’t usually that hard to figure out. It is the commitment and buy in to that change that matters most. I will take the audience on a journey through the High Performance Zone that is simply the gap between where you are and where you want to go. We spend a lot of time developing metrics and measuring where we are and even more time developing goals and a vision on where the organization wants go. These are important but the key is HOW do you close these gaps and close them quickly. I will introduce a process that closes performance gaps faster than anything I’ve seen before. I call it the Diamond Performance Framework. I reverse engineered this from my Blue Angel experience; it applies in the personal and professional lives of individual, teams, and organizations. In today’s organizations, do rewards and incentives still have the power to get people to perform at a higher level? Yes, they still are important but the key is connecting and aligning the individual’s sense of purpose with the team, or with the purpose of the organization. I’ve never met a high performance organization that doesn’t have a purpose, which is larger than self. In the Blue Angels we called ourselves ambassadors of goodwill. We had metrics of recruiting and retention. However, it was this connection to the purpose of being an ambassador that created the passion and the energy we needed to continually excel. Continued on page 4  http://www.astdconference.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASTD 2011 Conference Daily - Issue 3

ASTD 2011 Conference Daily - Issue 3

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