Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2017 - 26

choices. These three steps will exhume
the unique opportunity, and a solution
can start to be crafted. Typical solutions
crafted after initial diagnosis often include:
executive coaching for team members,
recommendations to reorganize assets

TEAM LEADERS
SHOULD AVOID
PROGRAMMATIC
SOLUTIONS WHEN
DESIGNING HIGHIMPACT TRAINING.
on the team to align to strengths,
communication enhancement methods,
a team in-person off-site with a specific
development agenda, or additional
psychometric assessment.

CHANGE LEADERSHIP
After the interviews, power/interest grids
and assessment results, a clear issue that
is the origin of the team dysfunction
will begin to emerge. Crafting a change
management plan and leading the
team through the change will be key to
delivering high-impact development
and training. As the solution is being

crafted, a change management plan helps
guide communications of the effort to
stakeholders (identified on the power/
interest grid) and operationalize the
effort. A common change model used in
organizational change is Kotter's 8-Step
Model, a key component in successfully
managing change and making sure that
change sticks. This model ensures the
team feels that the change is being made
with them, rather than to them.

The top assessments used in identifying
team performance challenges:
*The EQ-i 2.0, EQ-360, and EQ-i Group Reports
*The HPI, HDS, and Hogan MVPI LEAD Series
*The Pearman Personality Integrator

MYOPIA

ONE SIZE FITS ONE

Nearsightedness is necessary when
designing high-impact training for
the team and team leader. Every team
challenge is unique and every team is
distinct. The goal of the diagnosis cannot
be to create a future program that solves
every team challenge that resembles a
similar symptom for the entire company.
The acceleration of the team must be the
lone priority and remain in near sight to
ensure specific diagnosis.

Once a set of best practices becomes
programmatic, it becomes "one size fits
all," and impact is minimized. The elements
of team acceleration and designing
high-impact training and development
includes full diagnosis, a custom change
management plan, and a promise to see
only what is near.

Best practices and lessons learned can
obviously be retained for future efforts,
but each opportunity needs to be viewed
with nearsightedness to ensure that all
efforts are aimed at correcting the training
or development issue at hand. Looking
toward the distant future will dilute the
effectiveness of the team acceleration
plan that has been created.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Team leaders should avoid programmatic solutions when designing high-impact training. Instead,
they should use a discovery methodology that addresses the uniqueness of each dysfunction and
quantifies the opportunity clearly. The methodology should include the following elements:
DIAGNOSIS

CHANGE LEADERSHIP

MYOPIA

Conduct structured
interviews, develop
a stakeholder power/
interest grid and proper
psychometric assessment
selection.

Follow a proven
methodology such as
John Kotter's eight-step
process for leading change.

This is the idea that one
size fits one, and the
challenges that the team
faces are unique and not
widely applicable to other
teams, so the development
of the training program
should not be repeated
without a similar diagnosis.

| 26

PERFORMANCE TOOLS

To maximize impact, organizations
need training development efforts to
be unique and distinct, rather than
programmatic and repeatable. Emphasis
should be on impact over replication,
uniqueness over reiteration. The talent
development practitioner should have
a consultant mindset, as opposed to
a program manager mentality. Ideally
possessing soft skills such as emotional
intelligence and interviewing techniques,
an ability to manage and lead change,
and an analytical ability to decipher
assessment results and translate them
into actionable insights.
High impact comes from an ability to
solve unique and previously unsolvable
challenges. Approaching team acceleration
efforts with the idea of unique diagnosis
ensures that the talent development
consultant starts with impact in mind,
rather than fitting the symptoms into a predefined programmatic outcome.
Dr. Dan Green is an I/O psychologist who
uses organizational behavior analysis
and emotional intelligence assessments
to develop leaders, maximize team
performance, and lead change for
companies all over the world. He is a
professor of change management and has
written a best-selling book on organizational
behavior. Email Dan.

http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-leading-change/ http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-leading-change/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2017