Chief Learning Officer - December 2007 - (Page 26) tactics A performance consultant looks beyond readiness to learn about other factors in the environment in which employees operate, which could be unrelated to development programs. • Identifing gaps between existing and desired performance, as well as specific strategies for systemically creating improvement. • Drawing upon the Lean Six Sigma methodology and other such systems, processes and related performance techniques to isolate and resolve problem areas. • Engaging in constructive modeling, coaching, reinforcement and measurement of performance with business unit or line management “customers” and their respective work groups. • Working collaboratively with people at all levels to gain in-depth understanding of their strategic targets, how they are expected to execute on strategies within their respective roles, how they need to apply skills and knowledge to drive expected performance, how the culture inside the organization and within the market space operates, and how to best equip people with the capabilities that most effectively influence performance. Consider the example of an insurance company with a number of business units. Corporate leaders wanted to establish a fresh brand for the enterprise as a whole, so that any customer working with a specific business area might see the value of working with another unit as well, plus be recognizable as an existing customer and have a consistent branded experience throughout. This represented a significant change in the company’s operating model. Instead of a high degree of autonomy for each business unit, the organization is now looking at consistency of the customer’s experience across all businesses, while each unit is actively addressing the real needs of the client. Meanwhile, there was a realization that the company’s reputation for excellence in underwriting needed to be bolstered with new, consultative business development skills. The company decided to move beyond the temptation to quickly “sell on spreadsheets” to more deeply understanding and directly supporting the real needs of customers. This became the genesis of a significant cultural transformation for a company that was already financially secure and enjoyed a favorable reputation. Part of the implementation strategy addressed the fact that such a widely dispersed organization would not be able to easily and uniformly undertake the application of these new skills and the new operating model, plus deliver on the new brand, without some help. The organization decided to deploy a group of performance consultants to reside in the field and provide direct assistance to the dispersed regions. They carefully selected a group of people, most of whom came from within the company’s ranks and could operate as internal performance consultants to guide the process. These individuals required strengths in classroom training, but also had to be able to address organizational development issues, understand business context and ascertain cultural environment issues. This group is geographically dispersed to provide embedded services directly to the various regions and the sales managers and leaders who reside there. They have the depth of knowledge to apply and teach the necessary skills, while serving as day-to-day observers of employees’ progress. The company has been working the process for nearly a year. Employees now have learned to examine and understand clients’ business issues and can then determine the extent to which the organization’s expertise would apply. Shifting employees to a more consultative role has helped support the new brand and the intended customer experience and is contributing to business growth across the organization. Final Thoughts It’s worth noting that moving to performance consulting involves a different deliverable for the organization than traditional training. A performance consultant looks beyond readiness to learn about other factors in the environment in which employees operate, which could be unrelated to development programs. They attend to anything connected to the capability to drive performance and results. By focusing an organization’s employees on common objectives and giving them the essential tools of learning and empowerment, it’s possible to achieve results beyond most expectations. CLOs who can effectively deploy skilled performance consultants will quickly earn a reputation for improving business performance — a feat that establishes them as effective and valuable strategic partners on the executive team. December 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 26 Linda Moran and Joyce Thompsen are executive consultants for international training and consulting firm AchieveGlobal. They can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. Because the company’s associates needed to learn a more consultative approach, this required the addition of new sales skills and the development of new organizational habits and practices — the learning that lies at the heart of performance consulting. http://www.clomedia.com
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