= ____________

SIMPLIFY YOUR EMPLOYEE

TRAINING PROGRAM

AN EBOOK

Brought to you by:

A COMMON NOTION

If it were easy everyone would do it . . . . How many times have we said or thought that about

complicated or compelling achievements? When we think about our organizations, this same

adage comes into play in a number of contexts.

We struggle to find ways to effectively train and educate our employees, and we’ve been

looking for better, more effective and more cost effective methods for decades. Why? Because it’s not easy.

Organizations must confront a work and business environment that is more complex today than

ever before. The pace of change continues to accelerate. Demographics change. Technology

changes so fast that the new systems of last year feel like they are obsolete even before we

have time to master their use.

All of these factors contribute to a sense that training our employees is like a never ending

game of “whack-a-mole.” Every time we think we’ve figured out a solution, a new factor

emerges that we didn’t see coming, and the whole landscape changes. Complexity and

ambiguity are the new normal. In such a world, it’s harder than ever to make sense of where to

get started and how to get a handle on exactly how to fix an employee training and development program that’s no longer meeting the needs of either our organization or our

employees. Can we simplify things? Can we find a unifying model to help find some sense of

order in the chaos and confusion?

We believe the answer is, “Yes.”

If you were one of the millions of people who were enthralled by Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of

President Lincoln in last year’s movie, “Lincoln,” you might remember an interesting reference to

Euclid. In the film, the character was using the reference to Euclid to help simplify a complex

social and political concept for his aides.

Euclid was a Greek mathematician who lived over 2,000 years ago and is sometimes referred to

as “The Father of Geometry.” Like nearly all early mathematicians, his work reflects an effort to

explain the apparent chaos of the natural world in clear, certain mathematical terms. In

“Lincoln,” the lead character talked about teaching himself geometry and referred to “Euclid’s

First Common Notion,” which states that if two things are equal to the same thing, then those

two things are equal to each other.

Although many of the results in

Elements originated with earlier

mathematicians, one of Euclid's

accomplishments was to present

them in a single, logically

coherent framework, making it

easy to use and easy to reference,

including a system of rigorous

mathematical proofs that remains

the basis of mathematics 23

centuries later.

Euclid’s Elements, Wikipedia

BIZLIBRARY.COM

This “Common Notion” is an accepted foundational law of mathematics. It helps explain and

simplify many things in the chaos of the world around us. One of the reasons effective and

lasting employee training is so difficult for many organizations, is that employee training,

learning, and development exist in such a complex, chaotic environment. There are multiple

stakeholders and many moving parts that make finding a “common notion” to simplify the

entire process seem nearly impossible. But we have to look for a way to brush aside the chaotic clutter and find clarity among all of the competing priorities, influences, pressures and problems.

We have to look for a simple solution to determine the fundamental way to design and analyze

employee learning and development programs. The place to start is at the end – the business

results.

Complexity IS the enemy. And the key to keeping everything simple is to maintain a relentless

focus on basic business results. Break your employee training and development challenges

down into simple, easy to digest chunks so the design and implementation of the program flows

naturally from the business results and business challenges you are addressing.

Here is a basic formula that you can apply to any training program. This formula will provide a guide for analyzing the steps and the information you will need to design and implement an

employee training program that will meet the needs of both your organization and employees.

The formula is based upon Euclid’s First Common Notions which says that if two things are equal

to the same thing, then those two things are equal to each other. With this “common notion” in

mind, the core formula for building an employee training program reads as follows:

In a world of learning and

development where complexity is

the enemy, BizLibrary has

developed a simple and nimble

approach to delivering high

quality learning, anywhere,

anytime.

Michael Rochelle

Chief Strategy Officer

Brandon-Hall Group

BIZLIBRARY.COM

Business Benefits Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas

That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals

Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas

That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals Improved Manager Skills

Employee Development in

Targeted Competencies

=

= +

COMPLEXITY IS THE ENEMY

COMPLEXITY IS THE ENEMY

So, let’s apply Euclid’s First Common Notion to these statements, and think of each element in

these statements as variables in this equation. Organizations will realize business benefits when

there is improved employee performance in key areas (competencies and skills) that support or

drive those business goals. And improved employee performance in these areas is equal to

improved manager skills PLUS employee development in targeted competencies. Therefore,

business benefits are equal to improved manager skills plus employee development in targeted competencies.

Remember – complexity is the enemy. We want to deliver bottom-line business results. Ideally,

we want a reasonably straight line from an employee training and development program to

business results. There is it. Now, let’s work on each element (variable)

– one-at-a-time.

According to the International

Data Corporation (IDC),

knowledge workers spend

approximately 10 hours a week

searching for data to bridge

knowledge and skill gaps.

In an organization with 300

employees making an average of

$60,000, the lost productivity could

exceed $2 million – or the

equivalent of 33 full-time

employees’ productivity!

BIZLIBRARY.COM

Business Benefits

Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas

That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals

Improved Manager Skills

Employee Development in Targeted

Competencies

When we are trying to solve logic problems or work our way through a complex puzzle, it’s frequently easiest to start with the end. This is certainly the case with employee training. We can

illustrate the value of this approach by showing how starting with the employee perspective

looks.

Let’s use a practical example:

Our organization sets a strategic goal of increasing per employee productivity by 5% in 12

months. From this organizational goal, we must understand the answers to the following

questions:

EXACTLY what activity (focus like a laser on performance), department by department, must

improve to see such an increase?

For each activity identified, what is the CAUSE of the difference in the current level of

performance and the desired level of performance?

If the cause in the difference in performance is related to skills, knowledge and/or

competencies, then our employee development efforts have a good chance of making an impact and delivering a true business result. For these identified areas of improvement, this

same level of analysis carries down through departments, teams and right down to individuals.

At the individual level, performance improvement plans are built around the delivery of training

and development. Educational resources are provided to each employee based upon the

actual needs of each employee. Now what we have is a focused program. There is little to no

wasted time, energy or effort, and we can deliver high impact business benefits.

The single most critical element of this variable of our equation is the verification that the desired

business benefit can be influenced or delivered through improved employee performance.

Otherwise, you are not looking at a challenge that a training solution will solve.

According to Bersin by Deloitte,

organizations with strong learning

cultures outperform their peers in

key areas including:

INNOVATION: 46% more likely to

be first to market

PRODUCTIVITY: 37% greater

employee productivity

TIME TO MARKET: 34% better

response to customer needs

QUALITY: 26% greater ability to

deliver quality products

SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE: 58%

more prepared

PROFITABILITY: 17% more likely

to be market share leaders

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Business Benefits

Once we’ve established that the business benefit we are seeking can be delivered by improved employee performance, the next important variable we have to identify to balance

the first part of our equation is to state clearly the broad or strategic areas of employee

performance we need to improve. On the surface of it, this sounds easy. It can be, once you

start asking the right questions.

The key is to focus your questions on performance. We can find countless ways and places we

could improve or increase the skills, competencies or knowledge of our employees. These are

all valuable objectives, too. But the ultimate key to unlocking the puzzle is to find the places

where improved performance will deliver improved business benefits.

Let’s work with a specific example. Most organizations believe that it’s more efficient to retain

current customers than to go out and win new ones. So let’s assume that our senior leadership team established a strategic goal for the next year of improving our client retention rate by 5%

by the end of next year.

The critical aspect of this element of your analysis is to keep asking “why” the performance is

not meeting the goals you’ve established. You keep asking “why,” until you cannot ask any

longer.

For most root cause analysis efforts, it takes five to seven levels of inquiry to get to the root cause

of a performance issue or challenge. When you reach that answer, you have likely arrived at

the ROOT CAUSE of the performance issue you have to solve. This will provide you an amazing

degree of focus for your training and development efforts, because you will be eliminating the

guess work about whether or not your training program and the content you plan to deliver are

targeted to improving the performance you need to deliver results.

Everyone performs better when

we play to our strengths. There are

no exceptions.

Think of great athletes in this

context. Would a great basketball

star achieve the same level of

greatness if he or she attempted

baseball? Do you remember

Michael Jordan’s failed attempt

to play professional baseball?

That’s because his strengths were

on the basketball court.

Our employees are no different.

They will excel when they play to

their strengths.

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Improved Employee Performance

ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Here’s how you might see a root cause analysis flow as you investigate the source of a performance challenge in a client serv ice team

when working to improve client retention by 5%.

Q1: Why are we not retaining clients at our target of 90%? We are only at 85%.

A1: Because we do not talk to our clients often enough – maybe once every 60-90 days.

Q2: Why is that a problem?

A2: Because we’ve learned that when we talk to clients at least once every 30 days, they renew their contracts at a rate of over 92%.

Q3: Why do the client service professionals not reach out to their clients every 30 days? A3: Because they have too many clients, and even for those that have a manageable numbers of clients they do not always have

relationships with the key decision makers at the client company. Most reps have 80 or more clients. The optimum number is 50.

Q4: Why is having a relationship with the key decision maker important? Does this have any bearing or impact on client retention?

A4: Yes. We’ve learned that it’s not just the frequency of contact that matters. When we have a good relationship with the decision

maker, the renewal rate is 92%. When we communicate every 30 days AND have a relationship with the decision maker, the renewal rate is 96%.

Q5: Why do the reps have too many clients?

A5: Not all of them do. We’ve had recent turnover, and we expect to add one new rep in 30 days. In 60 days the book of business

should be balanced and manageable for the whole team.

Q6: Why do we not have good relationships with the decision maker at each and every client?

A6: Because the reps as a group are not adept at relationship building and establishing strategic partnerships.

That’s it – we can’t ask “why” any more. We’ve gotten to the root cause of the problem.

So – what did we learn in this exercise? There are two root causes of the problem: too many clients AND a performance gap in building and maintaining strategic partnerships with clients. The first cause of lower than desired performance in this area is NOT a training

problem, and it is being addressed with a staff addition and work load management. But – the second root cause IS a performance

challenge that we can address with employee development by teaching these employees how to build and maintain lasting, strategic

relationships with clients.

Had we just thrown customer service training at this group of employees, do you think the performance of these employees would improve IN THE AREA that would impact this specific client retention challenge? Probably not, even though the customer service skills of

these employees may have improved in other ways. The GOAL is NOT just to feel better by improving skills or competencies of

employees. The point is to improve performance is areas that will drive improved business results.

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So let’s quickly recap where we are in the development of our formula:

Business results – we’ve identified clear business results we are targeting, and we’ve developed a clear

understanding of the activity within the business that drives each specific result.

Improved employee performance – we’ve next analyzed the performance gaps we must fill with

employee develop initiatives to improve the overall organization performance in the activities we know

are linked to delivering the business results we are targeting.

Now we are ready for the next step in building out the analytical model that we can use to either start an

effective and targeted employee training program ,or analyze a current employee development

program.

Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals

Improved Manager Skills Employee Development in Targeted Competencies = +

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Business Benefits Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas

That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals =

MAKING SURE YOU’RE STILL WITH US… THE

FORMULA

This next piece is to understand the managerial skills we need to improve that will support improved employee performance. While we begin to evaluate the competencies needed for

your organization’s managers, bear the following in mind:

Core Competencies – high level competencies everyone in your organization must possess to

one degree or another. These might be industry related or rooted in your organizational culture.

Job-Family Competencies – each business discipline carries its own set of critical competencies.

For instance, HR professionals might be guided by the competency model suggested by SHRM.

That would very likely be the same for your programmers, graphics artists, engineers, etc.

Job-Role Competencies – these are the competencies where your employees must possess the

requisite level of mastery to perform their jobs at the level needed to meet the definition of success set out by the organization for that specific job role.

It is impossible to effectively train and develop your current managers in all three areas. Your

succession planning program and leadership preparation program are the appropriate places,

times and venues for development or increasing mastery of core and job-family competencies.

The challenge at hand now – improving the performance of your employees – falls squarely into the job role competencies of your front line managers and supervisors.

No other relationship in your organization is as important to improve performance as the

relationship between employees and their manager. This single relationship, repeated many

times, is the single most influential factor in each of these vitally important areas that all yield

verifiable business benefits:

• Employee Engagement

• Retention

• Productivity

Managers have unique opportunities

in their daily interactions with

employees to empower them to

discover and develop their strengths.

They also have the ability to position

employees in roles where they can do

what they do best every day.

When managers succeed in these

endeavors, their teams become more

engaged. Employees who feel

engaged at work and who are able

to use their strengths in their jobs are

more productive and profitable and

have higher quality work.

SOURCE: Gallup Study, 2013 State of

the American Workplace

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Improved Manager Skills

You should be selective and focus on the critical skills and competencies that will truly deliver improved employee performance results. We believe the following four critical competencies

will form an excellent foundation for your managers.

1. Emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and

evaluate emotions. It’s not intelligence per se, EI is a complex competency that involves our

ability to understand and monitor not only our own feelings and emotions, but also the feelings

and emotions of those around us. Then EI allows us to use this information to guide our actions

and thinking.

For a much more complete explanation of the concept, refer to a scholarly article by Peter

Salovey and John D. called "Emotional Intelligence” written in 1990. In the Book “Working with

Emotional Intelligence,” leading authority Daniel Goldman wrote, “Emotional Intelligence is the largest single predictor of success in the workplace.” Goldman describes Emotional Intelligence

as “managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively enabling

people to work together smoothly towards their common goals.”

2. Coaching. A study conducted by Bersin by Deloitte showed that organizations with senior leaders who coach effectively and frequently, improve their business results by 21% as

compared to those who never coach. Some specific examples of coaching behaviors are:

• Taking an “Ask vs. Tell” approach. Coaches ask their employees questions and help

employees solve problems. They don’t tell employees what to do.

• There is a focus on the employee and not on tasks. So the focus is on the development of

employees.

• There is a structure for accountability, action and outcomes. The manager and employee

stay tightly focused on achieving goals using this structure.

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Improved Manager Skills

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This course is part of a series on

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Communication - Monitor and

improve your nonverbal

communication actions.

Good communication is the

foundation of any relationship,

including our professional

relationships.

For a free trial of these courses and

more, click here.

3. Communications. This key competency flows very naturally from coaching. However, communication in today’s complex workplace also requires the application of EI (emotional

intelligence) so the communication message AND method are appropriate to the situation and

desired results.

Another critical aspect of communication skills and competencies many organizations tend to

overlook in their managerial employees is virtual communication skills. Many organizations now

have remote employees or multiple locations. We are more reliant than ever before on

technology tools to effectively communicate. In many instances we are forced to rely upon

these tools to supervise and manage these remote employees and locations.

Even if organizations do not have remote employees, how well prepared are managers to

communicate using current technology tools? The communication challenges for managers with remote employees are radically different. For instance, how do managers provide:

• Feedback

• Coaching

• Keep employees connected

• Maintain relationships

All of these things are possible, but these require a new and emerging set of communications

skills that require a high degree of comfort with technology.

4. Delegation. One of the hardest transitions for new mangers to make is to learn to delegate

tasks as opposed to simply doing them. For many managers, there is a feeling that they are

“dumping work” on their employees when they ask employees to do things. This mindset must

be shifted, and managers must master the competency of delegating to their teams.

Employees actually NEED to feel connected to their work, and they NEED their managers to

demonstrate confidence in them. So rather than “dumping” on employees, delegating to them

is not only appropriate, it’s necessary. The trick is in delegating the right tasks to the right people.

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Improved Manager Skills

For a free trial of these courses and

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The final step in the development of our formula is employee development in targeted job role competencies. When we combine this variable with improved managerial skills, we will realize a

true improvement in employee performance in those areas that we have identified as

improving business results.

The process of building effective employee development in these targeted job role

competencies follows the following steps:

Performance Analysis: If you’ve followed the formula so far, you have already done this

important work for the organization and generally for employees. Now you have to get specific,

and once again remember – complexity is the enemy. Ask yourself one simple question: What

does success look like for THIS employee? Once you can answer that question, you’ll know

exactly what you need the employee to DO. You can clearly identify the performance improvements you need, and you can move to the next steps with a logical framework and

focus to guide your efforts.

Establish Critical Job-Role Competencies: This is another step you can simplify by looking to the

things your current top performers do well. If you don’t know, find out. The odds are very good

that your top performers focus their activity on no more than three or four objectives, and they apply no more than three or four key competencies to deliver high performance results. It’s

those same activities you want to encourage, and those same TARGETED competencies you

want to develop.

Establish Job Role Standards: For example, we might expect a higher level of ability in the area

of communication from a senior leader than from an entry-level employee. Is this employee an

individual contributor, manager, or executive? What level of mastery of each critical

competency is required for current success? Once again, the key is to simplify the training

objectives and create focus.

Every organization will need to

evaluate the unique requirements

for their employees. For instance,

managers in certain industries may

require a unique set of

competencies such as regulatory

requirements in healthcare,

financial services, or transportation

organizations.

Regardless of the industry,

organizations will likely have some

unique requirements based upon

culture and specific organizational

goals or objectives.

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Employee Development in Targeted Competencies

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Employee Development in Targeted Competencies

Identify Skill Gaps: The difference between the desired and actual mastery levels is the Skill Gap. It’s the part we are going to work on in our training program, and this is exactly what we

are trying to impact. It’s where we can really help employees improve performance and deliver

better results.

Individual Development Plans: The identified gaps will help you develop an Individual

Development Plan (IDP) for each employee. These IDPs will help us focus each individual on

the specific development activities that will help them close the gap between their current

level and the desired level of competence in a specific performance area.

Assess, Measure and Adjust: The final step for improving employee development is to assess

their progress, measure results and help them make continual adjustments towards the

achievement of the performance goals you’ve helped them establish. Of the three elements in this final phase, the continual adjustment element is the most important. Make sure employees

and managers understand that the process of continually managing our own performance

based upon objective, verifiable goals is the best way to ensure that performance targets are

met, and we can see the impact on the business of our employee development efforts.

NETWORKING

Building trust

Emotional intelligence

Conversation skills

COLLABORATION

Organization and team

dynamics

Communication

Innovation

PRESENTATION SKILLS

Developing presentations

Verbal communication

Information design

DIGITAL LITERACY

Learning technology

Social technology

Content mastery

LEADERSHIP SKILLS

People development

Communicating vision

Motivating and engaging

KEY COMPETENCIES FOR LEARNING

PROFESSIONALS

A side note on how to balance the need for speed with the need for competence…

BALANCING THE NEED FOR SPEED WITH COMPETENCIES

• Have employees own their learning and development

• Provide information that employees can use in their

own way

• Hold them accountable

Complexity is the enemy. In this world where ambiguity and complexity surround us in virtually

every aspect of our business environment, we can deliver the optimum value to our

organization and employees when we can find ways to simply solutions to complex problems,

such as employee training and development. Mark Twain’s wonderful quote about the

difference in effort to write a short or long letter is a great comparison to our employee training

challenge. It’s much more challenging to take complicated processes and problems and bring

them to our employees in short easier to digest forms. Employee training is no different. It’s easy

to throw a big piece of technology into the mix, lots of classroom sessions, and mix in some e-

Learning courses. What’s challenging is to really dig into the “why” your organization needs

employees to perform at higher levels.

When we step up and decide to answer that “why” question, another series of even more

interesting and fun questions confront us about how to actually improve performance in areas

that mean something to both the organization and our employees. Complex training solutions

may make a few people feel good about having a program and delivering lots of content. But

in the end, it’s the delivery of an unfulfilled promise.

We here at BizLibrary simply refuse to accept such a result for our clients. Complexity is the

enemy, and we are dedicated to working with organizations who, like us, value the impact fully

engaged and educated employees can make. We value what that type of work environment

looks and feels like. Trust us – it’s wonderful. And the best part is that it’s achievable for each

and every organization willing to take complexity on as a true adversary. Euclid’s First Common Notion inspired us to develop the following statement or formula as a guide to simplifying the

development of an employee training program that can deliver business results.

Whatever training your employees

need, you’ll find it with BizLibrary.

Content and technology all in one

place. BizLibrary provides its clients

with the industry’s largest and

fastest growing collection of high-

quality training videos and

eLearning courses, covering 25+

topic areas.

Additionally, the cloud-hosted

LMS, Performance Management

and Social Learning applications

help smaller organizations

streamline and simplify important

talent management processes.

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Business Benefits Improved Employee Performance In Key Areas

That Support Or Drive Those Business Goals

Improved Manager Skills Employee Development in

Targeted Competencies

= =

+

TRY US OUT!

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