Chief Learning Officer- September 2008

Learning or Performance Enhancement: Which Is It? BY MARK BRENNER To create a high-performance organization, learning leaders must focus on behavioral and interpersonal strategies. Although the speciﬁcs vary from company to company, this always is accomplished one individual at a time. emember that trite zinger, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” (Of course, it always was spoken to other folks — never to us!) However, if that sarcastic barb instead is aimed at the leaders of struggling companies, it takes on surprisingly profound accuracy. Indeed, why isn’t the company doing well? It’s a fair question, and it gets at the very heart of why many companies are frustrated in their attempts to build high-performing organizations. Much of the source of this frustrated effort is the misplaced and widely held belief that the way to advance an organization’s (or an individual’s) performance is by making it smarter. To that end, companies around the world have been frantically transforming themselves into quasi-universities, converting ofﬁce space into classrooms, forcing senior executives into teacher’s robes, crafting cutting-edge curricula, all with the misplaced hope that with enough junior-executive and managerial butts in enough high-concept seminars for enough hours, company X’s high potentials will ﬁnally blossom into full-ﬂedged leaders. But here’s the rub: Learning about leadership and teamwork isn’t the same as being able to demonstrate those skills effectively. Need proof? Ask a person who’s read any one of the thousands of books on the subject whether the absorption of informational content resulted in that miraculous transformation. Further complicating matters is the confusion many companies have regarding what their fundamental objectives are and how to achieve them. If, for example, a company’s goal is to create a learning-oriented culture — which many organizations apparently desire — the “corporate university” model is a logical choice. Classrooms are very good at churning out people with minds full of information. Unfortunately, there’s no R demonstrable connection between intellectual power and business success. On the other hand, if a corporation desires a performance-centric culture replete with measurable results, putting intelligent people into classrooms to make them smarter won’t do the trick. Let’s face it: Lack of IQ has never been a problem in most U.S. companies. American business is smart. What’s required, instead, is a change in work-related behavioral and performance strategies at the individual and group levels. Unfortunately, the model for achieving that goal does not originate from teaching and learning. Rather, the model needs to be reverse-engineered to deliver what it promises — namely, enhanced performance and execution. Deﬁning the Value of the Learning Culture There is, of course, nothing intrinsically wrong with training or teaching in an organization. They are indispensable tools, particularly when it comes to keeping people current on the technical side of their work and advancing speciﬁc, job-related skill levels. But for increasing individual and organizational performance, an entirely different set of tools is necessary. Rather, focus needs to be brought to bear on one’s emotional intelligence (EQ), not the person’s (or group’s) IQ. Instead of being classroom-based and theoretical, this model operates in the workplace where people actually live, breath and conduct the day-to-day business of the enterprise — a realm dominated by the rhythms of human emotions and interpersonal dynamics. A meaningful shift in management style and culture that doesn’t address these profoundly human realities has scant chance for success. Just consider what’s required of a company’s leaders in order to successfully 52 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • September 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer- September 2008

Chief Learning Officer Editor’s Letter Contents Connections Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five Lifestyle Learning: Improve the Bottom Line With Behavioral Education Tracom’s Social Style Model CLO Profile IOL: Determining the Impact of Learning Communicating With the Boss About Impact Mission Accomplished? Measuring Success of Corporate Universities Borrowing Measurement Practices From Investors Value Creation With Human Capital Investment Business Impact Analysis at Chrysler Learning or Performance Enhancement: Which Is It? Best Practices in Global Project Management Training Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

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