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Conduct a Lightening Fast Needs Assessment

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Conduct a Lightening Fast Needs Assessment

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Book - "Analyzing Performance Problems or You Really Oughta Wanna" by Robert Major and Peter Pike 

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Book - "Analyzing Performance Problems or You Really Oughta Wanna" by Robert Major and Peter Pike 

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Cathy Moore Action Mapping - Is Training Really the Answer?

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Cathy Moore Action Mapping - Is Training Really the Answer?

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Here's a flowchart that will help you identify the best solution to a performance problem, whether it's a job aid, a workflow improvement, training, or something else. It's based on action mapping, my streamlined approach to instructional design.

First, download the flowchart. It's available as a PDF in pretty and plain versions.
Pretty A4
Pretty US letter
Plain version (the one shown in the video)

Then consider watching the following 8-minute video, which walks you through a short discussion with a client, showing you how some quick questions can save you days of unnecessary training development.

Blurry? Click the little gear and choose HD. Not allowed to watch YouTube? Here's the video on Vimeo.
What happens after the video?
So far, thanks to our questions, the client has identified ways to:

Make important reference information always up to date and available at the point of need

Make the rules for flagging easy to scan and apply at the point of need

These are permanent workflow improvements that avoid the need for training. At this point, the only training we're going to develop is a very compact activity on identifying last names. It could probably be posted on the intranet with a link sent to everyone through email.

If we hadn't used the flowchart and had simply obeyed our client's request for training, we'd spend a lot more time developing something a lot less useful. We'd probably create an online course that starts with "Welcome to the course on completing TPS records." We'd list objectives like, "At the completion of this course, you will be able to enter the correct XR code..." We'd probably "motivate" the learners by talking about the importance of completing the record properly and describing the costs of having our records rejected.

Then we'd tell people what they already know - that they have to log in to the annoying server to see the XR codes. We'd probably walk them through it "to make sure everyone knows how" and lecture them on the importance of using the updated sheet.

To "teach" the rules for flagging records, we'd probably display a chart of rules, give some examples, and then quiz the learners on whether they can remember the information that they saw five seconds ago and which they will forget by tomorrow if not later today. Finally, we'd include a little activity to help them practice identifying last names.

Within a month, we'd discover that people are still printing out the XR code sheet and failing to flag records properly.

Instead, just by asking some questions, we've helped the client identify permanent improvements, and we've freed up enough time to do a good job on the little name activity. The time that we don't spend on creating unnecessary training becomes time we can invest on designing much higher quality activities.

What do you think? What did I miss?

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Training design: First make sure training is the best solution!

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Is training really the best solution to a problem? Often, no. Here's a flowchart that will help you identify what will really work, whether it's a job aid, a workflow improvement, training, or something else. It's a streamlined, non-geeky approach to needs analysis.

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Content in Padlet

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Short article from eLearning Industry.

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According to the 70:20:10 model for Learning and Development, we learn:

70% from on the job experiences (experiential learning).

20% from interactions with others (social learning).

10% from formal (structured learning).

As we note from this model, organizations need to focus more on the informal and social learning aspects to effectively achieve their learning mandates.

Let's first understand what exactly Performance Support Tools (PSTs) are and why you should invest on them.

What Are Performance Support Tools (PSTs) And How Can They Be Used?

Performance Support Tools or PSTs are learning aids meant to help employees with on-the-job support at the precise moment of their need. They are designed to support and guide employees when at work.

They are easily available and usually embedded directly into the learners' workflow helping organizations provide the required task support and up the productivity quotient of their employees.

Specifically:

They are a great fit for informal learning.

They can be also be used to support formal training to improve the stickiness of learning and its eventual application on the job.

PSTs accelerate learning as they are part of the learner's work-flow and are available precisely at the time of their need. They are designed to be easy to assimilate and easy to apply.

You can integrate microlearning-based strategies to create them and see the application levels zoom.

Couple them with platforms for social learning and you will see the impact of your training multiply.

Why Does It Make Business Sense For Organizations To Invest On Performance Support Tools?

If I were to ask you what you had for breakfast today, your reply would be an instantaneous one. It isn't quite going to be the case if I ask what you had for dinner a month ago. We're creatures who keep forgetting things!

As a matter of fact, we forget 80% of what we learned in 30 days as shown in this diagram featuring the "Forgetting Curve" by Herman Ebbinghaus, a German Psychologist.

Formal learning, as you may be aware, takes place for a few days in a year. Now view this from the prism of the Forgetting Curve and you're bound to have second thoughts about your investments on using only formal training to make the kind of impact you'd like on your learner performance.

So What's The Way Forward?

A great way to address this challenge is to have a blend of both formal and informal training and offer a solution that treats "Learning as a continuum".

Here's what you can do:

Ascertain the portions from your formal training program that you want your learners to remember, check, refer or apply, and use Performance Support Tools (PSTs) to reinforce those messages.

Design your PST nuggets to be stand-alone assets aligned to specific learning outcomes.

Weave your training nuggets into a "learning path" and keep the knowledge thread relevant and in appropriate order over the course of your identified training period.

Combine the power of reinforcement with new assets for higher recall, retention, and application of the knowledge gained on-the-job.

The result? You'll be able to see a dip in your formal training costs and an increase in learner productivity and performance.

How Do Performance Support Tools Help Learners?

Performance Support Tools (PSTs) are informal in nature and much to the learners' liking, they help them learn and work simultaneously. Performance Support Tools (PSTs) are a learners' delight as they:

Help them perform their tasks without having to seek external help.

Cut down on time that would otherwise have been wasted by experienced employees helping the lesser experienced employees.

Help new employees complete their tasks in quick time and with the desired quality, especially when formal training is not available.

Can be used to help new employees understand complex tasks and processes in a simplified way.

Are a great way to learn about new systems, upgrades, or when something is being introduced afresh in the workflow/process.

What Are The Possible Ways To Offer Performance Support Tools?

There is no dearth of options when it comes to offering Performance Support Solutions. At EI Design, we offer Performance Support Tools in various formats, including:

1. Mobile Apps.

Mobile Apps and just-in-time information go hand in hand. They are an ideal way to offer Performance Support at the time of learners' need - anytime, anywhere.

2. Videos And Interactive Videos.

If you had to unpack and start operating your brand new camera and you're not sure how to go about it, what would you choose - leafing through the manual or a three-minute YouTube video? Most modern day learners opt for the latter. All the more reason for you to leverage on videos and interactive videos to offer Performance Support when your learners are stuck and need help!

3. Decision Making Scenarios.

Learners keep encountering complex situations at work. You can make their life easier through short branching scenarios helping them practice their way out of tough situations and take decisions in a risk-free environment to bring about application of learning on-the-job.

4. Whiteboard Animations.

Animations and illustrations help you say things you would otherwise find difficult to convey. Their innate ability to incite the lighter side in your learners goes a long way in conveying important messages and long-term retention of that information.

5. Kinetic Text/Animations.

True, a picture speaks more than a thousand words. But you don't need a thousand words every time to say what you want to say. Sometimes, just a few words do the job - especially when they're set in motion and animated. If text is all you've got and the concept you want to convey is not that easy to visualize, Kinetic Text/Animation is what you should be looking at. You can club it with background music or a voice over and the impact will be there for you to see.

6. Interactive PDFs.

Got information locked in lengthy documents? You can convert them into interactive PDFs, provide a user-friendly navigation, and add some visual appeal to please the eye. They're a great format to help learners go through factual and knowledge-based information quickly and easily. Using this format, you can offer your learners tips, fact sheets, checklists, practical forms, participant guides, processes, and procedure documents.

7. eBooks.

You can convert your documents into HTML5 compatible eBooks and make them multi-device compatible. They can also be converted as SCORM packages. You can package key information in your eBooks in the form of key takeaways from a training program, participant guides, processes, and procedure documents.

8. Expert Videos, Webinars/Recorded Webinars.

Experts carry that aura around them, don't they? Irrespective of whether it's a classroom tutor, eLearning guide, or workplace mentor, learners treat them with respect and value their insights. You can offer Performance Support to your learners in the form of expert videos and videos of webinar recordings. You can also track your learners' performance through assessments with SCORM packaging.

9. Webcast/Podcasts.

These are short episodes of audio or video that learners can download on their device and watch/listen to when traveling, waiting for an appointment, or any other occasion to kill time. They find a lot of takers as they are brief and entertaining. You can use these formats to offer Performance Support at the time of learners' need as they can be watched/listened to on-the-go.

You can also take a look at this video on the different formats that you can use to offer Performance Support:

What More Is Possible?

As we saw, the organizational learning strategy needs to focus on ways and means to enhance on-the-job learning. Performance Support Tools (PSTs) help you achieve this mandate.

PSTs can be aligned easily to your other key learning strategies like:

1. mLearning or mobile learning (by making PSTs in mobile-friendly formats).

2. Designing learning for the millennial generation (innovative formats of PSTs can be aligned to the way Millennials learn).

3. Gamification.

4. Micro portals.

I hope this article provides you with the required insights on Performance Support Tools (PSTs) and why you should use them. Do contact me if you need any specific support to integrate Performance Support in your learning strategy.

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What Is Performance Support And Why Should You Use Performance Support Tools? - eLearning Industry

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According to the 70:20:10 model for Learning and Development, we learn: 70% from on the job experiences (experiential learning). 20% from interactions with others (social learning). 10% from formal (structured learning). As we note from this model, organizations need to focus more on the informal and social learning aspects to effectively achieve their learning mandates.

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The Performance Support Series:  Articles on the Topic

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The Performance Support Series:  Articles on the Topic

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In 1972, the American legend Yogi Berra was driving his family to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Somehow he became lost, and while his wife, Carmen, was giving him a hard time about it he responded, "We're lost, but we're making good time."

ASTD recently published the results of a study involving 826 business and learning professionals from high-performing organizations that suggests that this might also be the case with organizational learning and development. The report reveals that "less than half of the organizations they surveyed have learning functions that excel at accomplishing the very things they exist to do." Only 38 percent declared their learning function as highly effective at achieving organizational goals.

In our experience, ASTD's report is optimistic. Together we have more than 50 years of experience working with many hundreds of organizations across industries and governments. In every case we have met remarkable people genuinely devoted to their training profession. They work long and hard in their efforts to help people in their organizations develop and maintain the skills needed to do the work of the organization - to perform successfully on the job. Unfortunately, we've seen this deep devotion continually challenged by leaders in organizations because those leaders aren't convinced that their training investment is delivering strategic value. Instead they view training and its other support siblings as overhead expenses that are acceptable as long as profit margins remain healthy enough to bear the burden of those costs. But whenever the economic waters become the least bit rocky, the first thrown overboard are those viewed as overhead. This has included too many wonderful people from our profession.

Going from learning to performance: it's a process, not an event

Our frustration is that this should never happen. Like you, we know how important our work is to an organization. But here's the problem: we seem to be unable to shake the formal-learning-event paradigm from our collective mindset. That is, we continue to focus our attention and resources on building great event-based learning solutions delivered through instructors, eLearning, and/or mobile. At the same time, we fail to adequately design, build, and put in place the support infrastructure learners need to attain and maintain successful on-the-job performance.

Our core mission is, and must be, broader than just developing and delivering learning events that we attempt to continuously keep aligned with ever-changing organizational needs. Instead, our work is to ensure people perform effectively at every changing moment of their work.

The three phases: is your plan short-sighted?

The following figure shows the three phases of our work. The point we are making here is if you are primarily focusing your efforts in the first phase rather than all three phases shown in Figure 1, then your approach is short-sighted and most-likely failing.

Figure 1: Learning to competency
The red part of the graphic represents the formal side of learning. This shows the reality that whatever a learner begins to master during a learning event (whether instructor-led or eLearning) begins a rapid death spiral once the event ends. This presents a remarkable challenge to learners as they move from the formal learning environment into the phase called learning transfer. As the influence of their learning experience rapidly diminishes, somehow learners must find their way to on-the-job competence.

How are you supporting transfer?

Here are some questions for you to consider: How are you supporting learners during this vital transfer stage? Are they on their own? Or, do you have in place a performance support infrastructure that mediates the loss of learning and systematically supports the journey to competence? If you do, how efficient is it? How much time is it taking to navigate the transfer phase? From beginning to end, how much time does it take to get to competency in your organization?

Our experience, as seen in Figure 2, is that we can often cut the time to competency in half with the development and implementation of an instructionally sound embedded performance support solution (EPSS). An EPSS provides immediate, intuitive, tailored aid to a person at his or her moment of need, to ensure the most effective performance.

Figure 2: Faster time to competency through embedded performance support
Transforming formal learning

When an effective EPSS is in place, the nature of formal learning can transform into a rich learning experience that accommodates the full range of mastery requirements. (Figure 3)
Figure 3: Skill consolidation has a spectrum
Mastery obviously includes complete internalization of an independent skill. With this highest level of mastery a performer has the ability to complete a task automatically. This capacity is securely encoded into long-term memory and can be executed without conscious thought - it just happens when it needs to happen. Generally, only skills where the critical impact of failure is significant (number 5 on the scale in Figure 3) to catastrophic (number 7 on the scale in Figure 3) merit this level of investment. On the other end of the mastery spectrum is the ability to efficiently complete a task using the EPSS without any direct specific skill training; learning can occur at the moment of apply. This reference-based learning is made possible by a generalizable understanding of how to use the EPSS. Too often organizations treat skills at this end of the scale in the same way they do those where the impact of failure is catastrophic. This approach is costly and unreasonably extends time to competency.

Competency embraces this full spectrum of mastery. But competence is only fully achieved when performers have integrated what they have mastered into actionable skill sets within the context of their personal workflow. This generally requires integration with other existing skill sets within the performer, and also with other people via collaboration.

These integrated skill sets must be internalized at the appropriate level so they can be successfully executed as needed with a justifiable amount of effort. What is more, competency always carries with it sufficient conceptual understanding to facilitate proper judgment and the capacity to adapt, on the fly, to the unique challenges that occur in the workflow.

So here's the point: with an EPSS, event-based learning can focus on those skills where the critical impact of failure merits the investment of rich instructional methodology. But the rest of learning can be reference-based. That is, learners can turn to the EPSS at the moment of apply and safely accomplish their work. They learn while they are performing on the job, guided and helped by an EPSS.

Is that all there is?

Now, you may have been wondering about the third phase of Figure 1, labeled "Sustain." This is where the real work lies, along with the greatest opportunities. Once a learner achieves competency, that achievement is often short-lived. Change happens, and with change comes the challenge of unlearning and relearning. This is one of the primary reasons why "reference" learning, coupled with an EPSS, is so vital.

Any EPSS authoring software worth its salt will have strong knowledge management capability. Every learning and performance support strategy must include content maintenance. As long as your EPSS remains trustworthy, learners will rely on the EPSS to remain competent in an ever-changing environment. In the Sustain phase, they can rely on the EPSS to help them apply, solve, adapt to change, and learn more, whenever needed. In addition, because there is an EPSS supporting learners through all three phases, performers can redirect wasted learning effort spent in:

mastering skills during formal learning that can be safely performed on the job solely with the help of an EPSS;

battling through the transfer phase without EPSS assistance; and

maintaining competency with information scattered beyond the reach of "two clicks and 10 seconds."

What are the benefits?

By collapsing the time to competency and optimizing the sustain phase, learners can devote this reclaimed energy to making a meaningful contribution to the work of the organization, including innovation.

An organization is competent to the degree it performs effectively at every changing moment. This can't happen unless organizational knowledge is current, staff skills are up to date, and required resources are readily available to support optimal performance. The question is, how can organizational competency be achieved in today's turbulent business environment? How can you make good time and reach your intended destination without getting lost along the way? The answer lies in your addressing all three phases of the journey of gaining and maintaining on the job competency. This requires you to put in place a performance support infrastructure that enables you to do this and deliver measurable strategic value to your organization. Stay tuned for our second article in this five-part series, where we'll address what a performance support infrastructure looks like and how it can help you align and measure the impact of what you do with the strategic needs of your organization.

Reference

Developing Results, Aligning Learning's Goals and Outcomes with Business Performance Measures, Volume 3 No. 5, ASTD Research.

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"We're Lost, But We're Making Good Time": Performance Support to the Rescue

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In 1972, the American legend Yogi Berra was driving his family to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Somehow he became lost, and while his wife, Carmen, was giving him a hard time about it he responded, "We're lost, but we're making good time."

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Check out this book on Amazon

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Innovative Performance Support: Strategies and Practices for Learning in the Workflow

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Real Learning Happens as You Work! Implement performance support to increase and accelerate employee performance. "It is a book that will become dog-eared from use as it is both a narrative and a reference. Valuable now, and over time; it is worth every cent of the $30 cover price.

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Long and short recordings from the authors on the topic. Includes how to conduct a critical task analysis.