First Things Fast E-Book

Allison Rossett

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 364

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

An Essential Knowledge Resource THE WORLD OF LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE has changed significantly since the first edition of First Things Fast was published more than a decade ago. This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the best-selling classic recognizes a world chock-full of technology, economic strains, and opportunities. How do learning and performance professionals plan in this shifting context? How do they take advantage of new human and Internet-based resources? How do they bring their recommendations forward and add more value, no matter where they work? These questions are addressed throughout this new edition. This important resource is a practical guide that is filled with job aids, design templates, and examples offering step-by-step guidance to the basics of performance analysis. This new edition includes: * New questions and templates that reflect the shift of learning and support from the classroom to the workplace, and the blends that provide learning and support in both environments * Fresh approaches for using wikis, blogs, and online surveys to gather information * Innovative ideas for tapping into the power of social networking and the possibilities presented for analysts * Information on the critical link between analysis and evaluation and new guidelines for both activities * A wealth of new illustrative case examples * Insightful commentaries from successful leaders in the field who explain how they use analysis to advance individual and organizational strategy "Allison Rossett combines thought leadership for the profession with practical guidance. This book, the second edition of a classic in the field, is filled with proven practices and ready-to-use tools making this a resource you'll use frequently." DANA GAINES ROBINSON, COAUTHOR, PERFORMANCE CONSULTING AND STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNER "What I appreciate about this book is that it is a straightforward, practical guide to planning, and it embraces new technology and the convergence of learning and work." NANCY J. LEWIS, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER, ITT CORPORATION

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

About Pfeiffer

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

PREFACE

Acknowledgements

THE AUTHOR

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Is This Book for You?

Performance Analysis and Needs Assessment?

How Does the Book Work?

Chapter 2 - What Can We Do First and Fast?

Speedy Performance Analysis

Performance Analysis in Context

Defining Performance Analysis

So Many Analyses, So Little Time

Chapter 3 - Performance Analysis Basics

Principles of Performance Analysis

Kinds of Information

Chapter 4 - Opportunities for Performance Analysis

Focusing on Opportunities

How Opportunities Structure Performance Analysis

Gearing Performance Analysis to the Opportunity

Chapter 5 - Putting the Speed in Performance Analysis

Analysis-Paralysis

Shaving Time Off the Front End

Professional Hesitations About Quick-and-Dirty Analyses

Chapter 6 - Communicating to Gather Information and Support

Methods for Gathering Information and Support

Effective Communications

Chapter 7 - What Technology Contributes

Using Technology to Collect Data

Opportunities

Chapter 8 - Finding Meaning, Communicating Results

Making Meaning with Data

Guidelines for Effective Reporting

Chapter 9 - Tales from the Trenches

Training Is Not the Only Solution—Charlotte Donaldson’s Banking Vignettes

Who Wouldn’t Want Computers in Their Classroom? Kendra Sheldon’s Story

Fish Things First: Terry Bickham’s Story

Search and Rescue: Chris Hall’s story

Shirley Gresham Tackles Failure Investigation Through Performance Analysis

Susan Madeira Looks at Orientation

Habla Espanol: Laura Handrick’s Story

Chapter 10 - Into the Future

Converging Learning and Work

Converging Analysis and Evaluation

Relationship Management

All Things 2.0

Dueling Views of Cognition

AFTERWORD

RESOURCES FOR PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

INDEX

Praise for the Second Edition ofFirst Things Fast

“Allison Rossett combines thought leadership for the profession with practical guidance. This book, the second edition of a classic in the field, is filled with proven practices and ready-to-use tools that make this a resource you’ll use frequently.”

—Dana Gaines Robinson, coauthor, Performance Consulting and Strategic Business Partner

“Any book Allison Rossett publishes is a must-read. First Things Fast is a staple in any learning professional’s library and this new edition takes all that was covered in the first book to a whole new level.”

—Bob Mosher, global learning and strategy evangelist, LearningGuide Solutions USA

“What I appreciate about this book is that it is a straightforward, practical guide to planning, and it embraces new technology and the convergence of learning and work.”

—Nancy J. Lewis, vice president and chief learning officer, ITT Corporation

“Allison has done it again! The first edition of First Things Fast guided us as we evolved from Training to Learning, and ultimately to Performance. Now she has provided us with a new, easy-to-read, and compelling handbook on how to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the early 21st century.”

—Matthew T. Peters, chief, office of learning and career development, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency

“When someone walks into my office and says ‘I need training . . .’ the first resource I grab is First Things Fast (FTF)! Speed is our priority. FTF provides the tools necessary to analyze and evaluate performance gaps quickly and efficiently.”

—Brett James Powell, senior manager of training and development, California region, Comcast

“The second edition of First Things Fast is sure to address the realities of our workplace, as only Allison can—practical, timely, and relevant.”

—Heather A. Morawa, general manager, org effectiveness and talent strategy, Delta Air Lines, Inc.

“This new edition of First Things Fast is a must-read for anyone who wants cutting-edge knowledge of the field. Allison makes things understandable, practical, and easy to do!”

—Felipe Jara, director of learning technologies, Center for Innovation in Human Capital, Fundación Chile

“At Procter & Gamble we believe our understanding and use of the ‘drivers of performance’ described by Allison Rossett in First Things Fast enables us to save time and money by creating better, more holistic solutions faster when the phone rings and we are asked to provide only ‘training’ to solve a business problem. We are looking forward to adding this new edition to our foundation of learning and development work processes.”

—Rob Wilson, senior training manager, North America sales capability development, Procter & Gamble

“Rossett offers more than abstract advice. Grounded well in theory, her recommendations reflect years of experience with organizations around the globe. That’s why her book translates so well into practice, and that’s why the first edition has been on my desk for the past ten years.”

—Christian Voelkl, head of consulting, E&E Information Consultants AG Germany

“In First Things Fast 1.0, Allison focused on making analysis expedient and palatable to managers and business leaders. In FTF 2.0, Allison puts her foot on the accelerator and provides a road map for analysis at the speed of business.”

—David C. Hartt, commander, U.S. Coast Guard; and board of directors, International Society for Performance Improvement

“The need for integrating learning into work is increasingly important. First Things Fast provides innovative and practical learning approaches that can easily be implemented in any organization, industry, or sector. A must-read for all learning professionals.”

—Tamar Elkeles, vice president, learning and development, Qualcomm

“Allison is one of the foremost thinkers of our industry and has succeeded in capturing the most important trends in performance analysis.”

—Bjorn Billhardt, CEO, Enspire Learning

About Pfeiffer

Pfeiffer serves the professional development and hands-on resource needs of training and human resource practitioners and gives them products to do their jobs better. We deliver proven ideas and solutions from experts in HR development and HR management, and we offer effective and customizable tools to improve workplace performance. From novice to seasoned professional, Pfeiffer is the source you can trust to make yourself and your organization more successful.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rossett, Allison.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-47813-4

1. Performance standards. 2. Task analysis. 3. Employees—Training of. 4. Training needs. I. Title.

HF5549.5.P35R67 2009

658.4’013—dc21

Acquiring Editor: Matthew Davis

Director of Development: Kathleen Dolan Davies

Marketing Manager: Brian Grimm

2009012605

Manufacturing Supervisor: Becky Morgan

Editorial Assistants: Lindsay Morton and

Michael Gilbart

FOREWORD

HAVING WRITTEN six books on instructional design and development, I have never been tempted to write a book on performance analysis. Why? First Things Fast is such a readable and practical resource that to write another book on needs assessment would be redundant. My time is better invested in other projects. But why should “first things,” aka performance assessment, be part of your skill portfolio? Read what a recent graduate of my instructional design certification program had to say:

Needs assessment has never been formally applied or executed with our organization. The approach to training has been focused on fixing a specific issue, but exploring in depth the root cause for training has never been pursued or encouraged. Training has been approached as a stop-gap measure to provide a quick fix for perceived problems. By conducting a needs assessment for my product line, I have been able to uncover significant organizational issues such as lack of capturing solution-based metrics to measure successful product installations and lack of funding to correct inherent software problems initially identified as a training issue.

Her reflections are not unique. Ask yourself, What proportion of my recent training investment has resulted in bottom-line organizational payoff? You are unusual if you can answer this question. Unless someone has surveyed the performance landscape surrounding a training request, any bottom-line lasting achievements will occur by chance alone. And today we need not wait for a training request! Performance technologists (and all of us in the “training” business are performance technologists) are increasingly taking a proactive role in business improvement. As part of a profession that collectively invests close to $60 billion yearly in training in the United States alone, we cannot afford to waste resources on an expensive solution that won’t have a positive impact on organizational performance. At the same time, most organizational problems and initiatives are so short fused that there is rarely time to do a “comprehensive” needs analysis. Here’s where First Things Fast comes in!

“First Things” means that before you invest time and resources in a training program, you define the operational goals and the various drivers and barriers associated with those operational goals. After all, if you don’t know where you are going, it’s hard to know when you have arrived. “Fast” means you must be responsive to organizational initiatives. Needs assessments that take months will find that your business partners have lost interest and the original need has disappeared or is no longer relevant. Our challenge: to find efficient and effective ways to define operational goals, identify the processes and people linked to those goals, and determine whether those goals will be best realized through working aids, wikis, and other forms of knowledge management; process changes; upgraded tools; training; or some combination thereof. And when training is a part of the solution, your assessment must uncover specific knowledge and skills linked to bottom-line payoff.

If you are new to the training profession, welcome to a much broader role than you may have realized! You may have thought your job was to produce materials or facilitate—to turn out workbooks, develop e-learning, or debrief role-plays. Not so. Your real job is to make your organization more efficient or more effective. You will collaborate with internal stakeholders—your partners—to define their organizational goals and metrics, identify business processes and teams that support those goals, and ensure that the drivers needed for success are available. Sound challenging? Yes, but also it’s much more engaging and rewarding than turning out yet another training program that looks good—that’s fun, that uses the latest technologies—but in the end costs a great deal to construct and deliver yet gives no bottom-line return on investment. In fact, by giving the illusion of solving a business problem, a training program can go beyond being a waste of resources. It can leave the organization in worse condition by preempting the genuine improvement that could accrue from a solution system that addresses root causes.

If you are a seasoned performance specialist or a “graduate” of the first edition of First Things Fast, what’s new in the second edition? Previously I mentioned that we are evolving from professionals who react to a training request to proactive business partners. As an instructional professional you have probably already made use of resources available in the Web 2.0. While Web 1.0 supported one-way communication, the new social web with blogs, wikis, and twitters offers you opportunities for data mining that were not available when the first edition was written. Consider this: You need not wait for that training request to start your needs assessment. If you are following blogs or discussion boards within your organization or among your customers, you can develop and maintain an ongoing proactive perspective on needs as they emerge. If you are “linked in” to your business partners, you can get a pulse on their concerns and initiatives as they evolve. Way before the customer service department contacts you asking for a “refresher on telephone help desk techniques,” you may have gathered a portfolio of customer complaints and perspectives on your organization’s help desk support. You can provide this data to your business partners before customer dissatisfaction turns into reduced sales or wasted resources. And you might be able to derail an unproductive training program before it is requested by suggesting alternative solutions—solutions you harvested from your ongoing Internet or Intranet research.

In summary—ten years after the first edition—first things are still first. And the resources for fast are more available than before. So whether you are an experienced performance improvement professional or just starting your performance journey, an investment of your time in reading and applying First Things Fast will yield high returns—for yourself, your business partners, and your organization.

Cortez, Colorado Ruth Clark

February 2009

PREFACE

WELCOME TO the second edition of First Things Fast. Much has changed in learning and performance since I wrote the first edition. That is the reason for this second edition. It reflects a world with more technology in just about every aspect of learning and performance. It acknowledges the economic shocks of 2008 and 2009. This new edition addresses the challenges professionals confront today.

Is the new edition really new? Yes it is.

You will find

• New questions and templates that reflect the shift of learning and support into the workplace.

• New approaches that take advantage of wikis, blogs, and online surveys to gather information.

• Recognition of the shift to social networking and the possibilities presented for analysts.

• New cases presented in Chapter Nine, including Search and Rescue for the U.S. Coast Guard; failure investigation for a high-tech device; new hires skill development for The Maids Home Services; and an analysis devoted to finding support and the right blend for a telecommunications company.

• In most chapters, at least one sidebar commentary from a successful leader in our field who explains how he or she uses analysis to advance individual and organizational strategy. Two chapters have two commentaries. Hear from Susan Guest at Ingersoll Rand. Meet veteran consultant Jeanne Strayer. Listen to Mike Taylor; he’s had a dozen years of experience in the nuclear industry. And then there’s Vanguard University’s Catherine Lombardozzi. There are more. Get to know them by digging into the chapters.

• A brand new foreword by Ruth Clark—and an updated afterword by Marc J. Rosenberg.

I’ve reviewed each paragraph in the book and asked: Is this useful? Does it add value?

Analysis was critical when I published the first edition in 1999. It is even more so today. Why more so? The answer is technology. Today, in harsh economic times, there is pressure to reduce costs while enabling people, sometimes fewer people, to practice with more skills and knowledge. Technology is favored over registrations in hotels and hours in classrooms.

In the good old days, an instructional designer could develop a class, and an instructor would then deliver it to a group in a room, all together, same time and place. When the ideas, examples, or exercises veered off mark, the instructor would fix it, on the fly.

Not so with technology-based delivery. Not yet. There’s nobody there to help Marvin or Maria or Minjuan when they avoid, ignore, or dislike their programs. The programs were created before, earlier, in hopes that they would meet the needs of today, now.

Marvin is at home, watching the kids, and taking an e-learning module to introduce him to a new product. Maria now works for a multinational, and is reintroducing herself to her home country, Panama, after three years of work and graduate school in the United States. She uses webinars, podcasts, and online communities to stay up to date and to feel connected. With technology today, the programs are baked in advance. She goes to them, hoping that something of value will appear. Minjuan is a retirement specialist for a large company. She is doing her certification training via a program that blends classes and online experiences. She’s been to the face-to-face classes, but now finds herself under some pressure to complete the entire program independently, so she can begin working with a new group of clients.

What do Marvin, Maria, and Minjuan have in common? Choice. They have choices. If a module fails to meet a perceived need, they can do something else—or even nothing at all. If the archived virtual presentation or the podcast doesn’t compel, they can skip them. If the examples or practices are not challenging or are too much so, they will have trouble finding time. The programs must fit the work, worker, and workplace.

Analysis is how we find that fit. When we target programs through analysis, we use data to capture and hold attention, and then to contribute to individual performance and organizational accomplishments.

Analysis is obviously important, but it does not always happen. Even though books, articles, and speeches on the topic are plentiful, it is not a stretch to describe analysis as continuing to attract more heat than light. Why is that?

• Leaders often prefer a quick fix. Most executives want what they want when they want it, not after a study of the matter.

• Analysis is even less interesting to leaders in organizations than training. Few executives want to talk about training, and fewer still are intrigued with the planning associated with it. Their eyes glaze over.

• There is little history in the organization of analyses that have made noticeable dents in what matters. Even the telling results of fine analysis studies are often lost in the excitement of rolling out reengineered processes, a new recognition program, and just the right training. Too often, the data gathering and involvement of sources are lost. And that’s when such excellent studies even exist. It’s not hard to find professionals who can’t point to a single result of their planning efforts aside from the frustration of the impatient customer.

• Your customers believe they know what they need. Accustomed to leading, many customers refrain from posing a problem or challenge and instead leap to habitual solutions, often those that are single interventions, such as training or documentation.

• While there is pressure to measure, only a small percentage of measurement efforts (single digits in recent studies) are defined by the eventual impact on strategic goals or even the subsequent delight of the customers they serve. When measurements are taken, most are still fixed on those variables that are easy to discern, such as people in attendance or the number of meetings that are facilitated.

• People don’t know what analysis is. There is little agreement about what constitutes effective planning, whether you call it analysis, scoping, diagnostics, auditing, needs analysis, needs assessment, or performance analysis.

• Analysis is not easy to do. It involves many challenges, from figuring out how to plan, to convincing sources to participate, to collecting data, to figuring out what the data mean, to making the findings matter in the organization. Political, interpersonal, and cognitive skills are tapped during analysis.

• Analysis takes time, and time is in short supply. Little explanation is necessary here. We all know the number one reason for avoiding analysis—there’s no time for it.

• The number two reason is leadership. Leaders are not yet convinced. Now is the time to convince them, by conducting lean, actionable analyses.

This book attempts to address each of these barriers. It is meant to be a practical guide to handling every one of them through examples, explanations, tools, and templates. If you’re new to the field, this handbook will help you anticipate resistance and deal with it. If you’re a veteran, I hope you’ll appreciate my efforts to bring clarity and concreteness to an often murky topic. Borrow some of these examples. Use them to help make a case for study prior to action.

I try to make a case for performance analysis by telling stories and offering dialogues about our business. Some are true. Some are imaginary. All are familiar and plausible.

I’ve always enjoyed Greek mythology, thanks to Edith Hamilton (1993). I’ve taken that appreciation into my current work, continuing to savor themes that put people at the heart of the story, that recognize flashes of the monstrous and miraculous in most circumstances and individuals, and that honor the critical struggle to make the unknown known.

Isn’t this what performance analysis is about?

I hope that this book helps you ask and answer better questions for yourself and for your organization or the organizations you serve.

Allison Rossett

San Diego, California March 2009

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’VE LEARNED important lessons from my academic colleagues and students at San Diego State University. I have been blessed with smart colleagues who nudge me and our graduate students to consider emergent approaches, ideas, and technologies. In particular, I want to thank Marcie Bober, Elsa Tapia, Bob Hoffman, Pat Harrison, Rebecca Frazee, and Jim Marshall for their support and their kindness.

One blessing of teaching at the university has been my contact with generations of graduate students in educational technology. Some have read chapters from this book and offered suggestions. Others provided the grist for the tales that pepper the book. Joe Williams was a significant contributor to Chapter Seven. Rebecca Frazee added much to Chapter Eight. Lisa Schafer, with whom I have worked on many projects, was always there with an example or a citation. Marcie Brown, one of the SDSU EDTEC online graduate students, helped enormously by soliciting, editing, and communicating with the sidebar experts. This is a new feature in the book, and I could not have done it without Marcie and those contributors, now sprinkled throughout the book.

I’ve continued to work with many of our alumni long after their graduation. Their ideas advance my thinking every day: Jordan Baldueza, Ed Beale, Terry Bickham, Randy Bland, Audrey Bloom, Jeff Brechlin, Betsy Bruce, Antonia Chan, Caleb Clark, Colleen Cunningham, Carl Czech, Ann Derryberry, Nancy Dosick, James Frazee, Fernanda Gimenez-Groenendijk, Shirley Gresham, Chris Hall, Liz Herrick, Cathy Kang, Doug Lucas, Paul McManus, Erica Mohr, Matt Moore, Marty Murillo, Milagros Noy, Marci Paino, Dawn Papaila, Rudy Robles, Lou Sanchez, Jeanne Strayer . . .

Not everybody I know is a former student. I also have professional colleagues and pals who deserve acknowledgment. Some posed interesting consulting problems on which we worked together, others helped me through their writings and professional contributions, still others have been wonderful conversationalists: Roger Addison, Cynthia Anderson, Sarah Beers, Sven Blomberg, Bill Brandon, Bryan Chapman, Susan Considine, Kathy Dardes, Joe Durzo, Heidi Fisk, Rob Foshay, Marguerite Foxon, James Frazee, Gloria Gery, Michael Glass, Tony Gleeson, Susan Greenberg, Ruhe Hao, Paul Harmon, Sam Herring, David Holcombe, Joe and Julie Hymes, Roger Kaufman, Ann Leon, Dave Merrill, Becky Monroe, Santhiru Murugiah, Kevin Oakes, Brian Patterson, Deb Pettry, Sandy Quesada, Rena Robey, Patty Schutt, Janice Simmons, Katie Smith, Tim Sosbe, Tom Stewart, Ruth Stiehl, John Stormes, Will Thalheimer, Ellen Wagner, Pat Weger, Deb Wharff, and Diana Wright.

I’d also like to acknowledge the antecedents of this book in what Ruth Clark, Tom Gilbert, Joe Harless, Erica Keeps, Robert Mager, Dave Merrill, Marc Rosenberg, Harold Stolovitch, and Ron Zemke have written and said. Their contributions are woven into the way I approach my work.

I’ve acknowledged many people. There are others. I fear I’ve forgotten many. I apologize if you are not included in these long lists. You know who you are. Please know that I am appreciative.

Finally, I want to thank Sue Reynolds for everything, absolutely everything. I’m happy there is no need to update anything about that sentence.