Chief Learning Officer- September 2008

Common sense dictates that since an organization’s people drive its performance, the process of enhancing that performance must be focused entirely on people, by reﬁning their behavior in a strategic way. But it’s at this point that many companies begin to lose the way. Adult Behavior-Change Theory While the process of enhancing an individual’s EQ repertoire is partially informed by adult learning theory, its main focus is on reﬁning behavioral and performance strategies, rather than learning. Given that important distinction, it is better referred to as “adult behavior change theory.” In short, the theory puts forth that success is optimized when: 1. The WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me?”) is crystal clear to each individual. 2. The change agenda feels self-initiated rather than imposed by the organization (“This is what I want for myself, and this is where I want to go.”). 3. The development experience is perceived as being self-directed (“This is my action plan, and these are the tactics that will move me from here to there.”). 4. Adequate time is allowed for real-world practice and experimentation on the job (e.g., action learning). 5. Individuals are allowed to cope with the various “get out of the comfort zone” challenges in their own unique fashion. 6. An individual’s gap proﬁle is made crystal clear — the “gap” being the distance between how one is performing today versus one’s ideal performance level at some speciﬁc future time. The Gap Proﬁle: Essential to Changing Behavior The purpose behind the development and use of a gap proﬁle — a process notably absent in the classic adult learning model — is to create a committed, relevant and visceral sense of urgency for change on the part of the individual and an entire organization. The vast majority of enterprise-wide management devel54 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • September 2008 • www.clomedia.com opment initiatives lack this essential and compelling element. Constructing a gap proﬁle lends a palpable shape, depth and texture to the burning platform that ultimately serves to shift an organization and its individuals out of their comfort zones. A wide assortment of assessment tools and methodologies is available for identifying and describing organization-wide gaps and using these provocative ﬁndings to move an organization and its people dramatically beyond the gap and toward the next level of performance. Of necessity, the assessment phase of this process must unfold systematically. However, the bulk of an organization’s transformational heavy lifting takes place in the realm of everyday corporate life, where people conduct the day-to-day business of the enterprise. It’s a sometimes nonrational, ﬂuid milieu of human relationships, loyalties, motivations and emotions, where team and individual dynamics interact and continually evolve. Experience shows repeatedly that the only place where authentic human development can occur is where people actually live (that is, on the job). And make no mistake, it’s a daunting task, one that can make rocket science seem like a Sunday stroll. Cascading Strategy Into People Development If an organization can be thought of as having a soul, now is the time to search it. Words and constructs such as success, results, growth and performance should be characterized and examined in light of where the organization is today and where it wants to go. In that spirit, here is a general sequence of steps that form the critical moving parts required by an organization as it builds a performance-centric culture, one where productivity and talent can ﬂourish. Each organization should: 1. Conduct an eyes-wide-open exercise of self-study. Guiding the process are questions such as: What do the above terms mean to our institution? To our organizational family? What will they look like on the ground? The purpose of this difﬁcult, creative and thoughtful work is to lead an organization to a relatively straightforward portrayal of its vision for its stakeholders. 2. Identify and describe the organization’s gap proﬁle. The goal here is to reveal the true mission, vision and core values of the enterprise and where it falls short of them. Unless the endeavor resonates with depth and authenticity and challenges people with a breathtaking goal, it will not create a burning platform sufﬁciently capable of grabbing and holding the attention of the senior management team. 3. Map out a strategy. This is accomplished by harnessing the intense energy that comes from standing on a burning platform and relying on the navigational 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

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.