Speed Matters E-Book

Dr Raman K Attri

• Herausgeber: Speed To Proficiency Research: S2Pro©
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

In today’s fast-paced world, with a high degree of skill obsolesce, massive technological innovations, and rapid changes, it is important that global leaders develop the performance of their employees to be at par with the speed of businesses. This book aims to make “speed” as the priority to stay ahead in the competition.

This book is a one-stop portal for futuristic leaders and managers to learn about the importance of shortening the time to proficiency of their workforce. This book is a distilled wisdom derived from an extensive research on 66 start-to-end project success stories spanning 28 industries, contributed by 85 best-in-class business leaders from 7 countries. This book is the first and the only one until now that has revealed some alarming figures on the time to proficiency metrics, which, you, as a futuristic leader, cannot afford to ignore.

You will gain in-depth insights as to why and how the best-in-class global business leaders prioritize and institute time to proficiency metrics in their business dashboards. You will adopt data-based evidence to present compelling business cases to implement those metrics in your organization.

In particular, this book will enable you to find the answers to some crucial questions:

- How can you go about being a “speed-savvy” visionary leader?

- Why should you focus on developing employee proficiency?

- Why should the speed of employee development matter to you as a leader?

- How are global organizations using the new time to proficiency metrics?

- How alarming is the time to proficiency of workforce in your industry?

- What drives the best-in-class leaders to prioritize time to proficiency metrics in their dashboards?

- What tangible business gains can organizations derive from a shorter time to proficiency?

Leseprobe

SPEEDMATTERS

A MUST-READ GUIDE FOR FUTURISTIC EXECUTIVES AND MANAGERS

SPEEDMATTERS

WHY BEST IN CLASS BUSINESS LEADERSPRIORITIZE WORKFORCE TIME TO PROFICIENCY METRICS

POWERFUL LESSONS UNPACKED FROM WORLD’S BEST ORGANIZATIONS

DR. RAMAN K. ATTRI

Copyrights © 2021 Raman K Attri and Speed To Proficiency Research: S2Pro©

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN:978-981-18-0536-3 (e-book)

ISBN: 978-981-18-0535-6 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-981-18-0534-9 (hardcover)

Published in Singapore

Printed in the United States of America

https://www.speedtoproficiency.com

[email protected]

National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing in Publication Data

Name(s): Attri, Raman K., 1973-

Title: Speed matters : why best in class business leaders prioritize workforce

time to proficiency metrics / Dr. Raman K. Attri.

Description: Singapore : Speed To Proficiency Research, [2021] | Includes

bibliographical references and index.

Identifier(s): OCN 1241069112 | ISBN 978-981-18-0534-9 (hardback) |

ISBN 978-981-18-0535-6 (paperback) | ISBN 978-981-18-0536-3 (ebook)

Subject(s): LCSH: Core competencies. | Performance--Management.

Classification: DDC 658.4--dc23

To Efren Lopez

&

my outstanding training teams at KLA Corp

“You need to know the level of performance required to do the job and how long it takes to get there ... when you can get employees up-to speed in far less time, productivity rises at far less expense.”

Steve Rosenbaum and Jim Williams (2004)

-

PREFACE

I was born a normal kid to poor parents in a remote place where there was hardly any access to education or medical facility. Amidst those conditions, I got infected with poliovirus when I was barely six months old, which took away my ability to walk for good. As I was growing up as a disabled kid among the healthy kids around me, I probably realized very little about what I was lacking back then.

However, primary school was the place where I started realizing the sheer lack of “speed.” I had to go to school limping on one leg. I could hardly match with the pace of the other kids. Subsequently, the lack of speed troubled me at various points in life so much that it was the only thing in my mind during most of my early childhood years, so much so that speed became my greatest obsession for several decades to come. At times, I used to tell myself that if I could not have speed in walking, I will find speed in something else.

My immediate experiments were on my speed of learning because I strongly believed that it was the best means to master “speed.” I gave in all that I had and tried different ways to learn things, which other kids may not have even thought of. It took me several years of failing and succeeding, but there came a moment when I figured out the science and art of learning faster. At the age when kids would typically read comics, I began reading Dale Carnegie. I read books from all genres, poetry to palmistry, physics to psychology. Once I mastered the ways to learn fast, there was hardly any boundary of subject, discipline, or genre for me. Some of the things I learned were five to eight years ahead of my age. I remember reading university physics in my high school times itself.

That’s pretty much how I set on a course to focus on speed. Eventually, the lack of speed became my niche that led me to become a learning scientist a couple of decades later. As I continued my academic journey in that path, I earned over a hundred international academic credentials, which include 2 doctorates, 3 masters, and several international certifications.

When I stepped into the professional world, my focus shifted from learning to job performance. My primary concern as a disabled person was to make sure that I sped up my job performance. I had to figure out ways to stay ahead and stay visible. I had the constant anxiety to learn and master job-related skills faster than my peers.

So, I set on a fresh course to figure out ways to speed up professional performance, not merely learning. As I moved into leadership roles, I observed that my team members were taking an incredibly long time to reach the desired speed in their essential job skills. I realized that it was the same across all business units. As I reached out to several forums and consulted with some of the leading professional bodies in the learning and performance field, I realized that it was a systemic issue across industries.

While human performance is the foundation of businesses, I also understood how badly the majority of the organizations were equipped to develop employee performance at the desired speed. I noticed how poorly the professional skills were being delivered through inefficient corporate training. I found the training programs to be outdated, old-styled, and stuffed with volumes of content. As opposed to acting as accelerators to performance, these inefficient training programs were, in fact, acting as decelerators to speed.

Why are speed-savvy organizations doing such a poor job in speeding up the performance of their workforce? I said to myself, and there ought to be a better way. Is there an art that they don’t know? Is there a science no one taught them?

That one question led me to pursue an intensive doctoral study on “speeding up the time to employees’ proficiency.” As it stands today, I am the only one in the world who has conducted an in-depth doctoral study on this significant business challenge. Today, I am one among the handful of global experts on speed in professional learning and performance.

I have the privilege of reaching out to the world’s best organizations and renowned leaders to learn, understand, and extend the art and science of speed to proficiency. I deeply explored how best-in-class organizations could stay ahead in the game by leveraging time and speed.

I realize that time is the only thing that is available to all organizations or businesses in equal quantity. How strategically an organization uses that available time determines its market positioning. Charles Fred, the author of Breakaway and arguably the father of the term “speed to proficiency,” said two decades ago that ‘Speed to proficiency is the most devastating competitive weapon in a world where the competitive forces of scale, automation, and capital are subordinate to the power of a proficient workforce.’ This statement is far more valid now than it was two decades ago. The speed with which innovations and technologies are changing our lives is incredible. By the time we adapt to one technology, the next generation of the same technology is already knocking at the door. The cut-throat competition among global organizations is too fierce to ignore. While serving as a learning leader at a 50-billion-dollar semiconductor giant, I saw that a delay by merely a day in launching a product cost the company millions of dollars. It is not an overstatement to say that the universal need across all businesses is “speed matters.”

In today’s fast-paced world, with a high degree of skill obsolesce, massive technological innovations, and rapid changes, it is important that global leaders develop their employees’ performance to be at par with the speed of businesses. This book aims to make that “speed” as the priority of futuristic leaders, executives, and managers to stay ahead in the competition.

Ironically, the need for speed is understood only when the absence of speed is irrevocably established. That’s the hard part. There is hardly any science available today to define and establish time-related metrics that could allow organizations to figure out how long it is taking their employees to reach the desired performance level. Correspondingly, front-line managers find it hard to build a solid business case to start projects to shorten time to proficiency or speed up employee trajectories. The biggest reason these projects do not hold ground is that more often time to proficiency is hardly measured systematically in organizations.

That’s the precise reason I wrote this book as a one-stop portal for forward-thinking leaders and managers to learn about the importance of shortening workforce time to proficiency. This book is the first and the only one until now that has revealed some alarming figures on time to proficiency metrics, which you, as a distinguished leader, cannot afford to ignore.

This book is a distilled wisdom derived from an extensive research on 66 start-to-end project success stories spanning 28 industries, contributed by 85 best-in-class business leaders from 7 countries for whom “speed mattered” a lot as a competitive weapon.

This book gives you in-depth insights as to why and how the best-in-class global business leaders prioritize and institute time to proficiency metrics in their business dashboards. As a reader, you will learn to data-based evidence to present compelling business cases to implement those metrics in your organization.

In particular, this book will enable you with the answers to some crucial questions –

 How can you go about being a “speed-savvy” visionary leader?

 Why should you focus on developing employee proficiency?

 Why should the speed of employee development matter to you as a leader?

 How are global organizations using the new time to proficiency metrics?

 How alarming is the time to proficiency of workforce in your industry?

 What drives the best-in-class leaders to prioritize time to proficiency metrics in their dashboards?

 What tangible business gains can organizations derive from a shorter time to proficiency?

If speed matters to you and you want to learn science-based secrets to bring speed to your organization, follow me on any social media platforms and my blog. Find the links to the same at the end of the book. I would encourage readers to read my other books to read about proposed models or frameworks: Modelling accelerated proficiency in organisations (2018), Designing Training to Shorten Time To Proficiency (2019), Speed to Proficiency in Organizations (2019), Models of Skill Acquisition and Expertise Development(2019) and Accelerated Proficiency for Accelerated Times (2020).

Dr Raman K Attri

April 2021

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

THE BUSINESS OF TIME AND SPEED

1.1 WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

1.2 WHY THIS BOOK?

1.3 HOW THE BOOK IS ORGANIZED

CHAPTER 2

THE STUDY

THE RESEARCH STUDY ON

TIME TO PROFICIENCY

2.1 THE RESEARCH STUDY

2.2 RESEARCH OUTCOMES

CHAPTER 3

THE PROFICIENCY

THE ROLE OF PROFICIENT PERFORMANCE

AT THE WORKPLACE

3.1 NATURE OF WORKPLACE PERFORMANCE

3.2 PROFICIENCY AND PERFORMANCE

3.3 NOVICE-TO-EXPERT PROGRESSION

3.4 PROFICIENCY SCALING

3.5 PROFICIENT PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS

3.6 EXPERT PERFORMANCE

3.7 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

CHAPTER 4

THE METRICS

IMPORTANCE OF TIME TO PROFICIENCY

METRICS IN ORGANIZATIONS

4.1 TIME TO PROFICIENCY (TTP)

4.2 SPEED TO PROFICIENCY

4.3 ACCELERATED PROFICIENCY

4.4 DEFINING TTP METRICS

4.5 DRAWING THE BOUNDARIES

4.6 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

CHAPTER 5

THE TRIGGERS

THE MAGNITUDE AND SCALE OF

TIME TO PROFICIENCY

5.1 MEASURING TTP

5.2 THE MAGNITUDE OF TTP

5.3 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TTP

5.4 THE SCALE OF TTP

5.5 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

CHAPTER 6

THE DRIVERS

THE BUSINESS DRIVERS TO

REDUCE TIME TO PROFICIENCY

6.1 TIME-RELATED PRESSURES

6.2 SPEED-RELATED COMPETITIVENESS

6.3 SKILL-RELATED DEFICIENCIES

6.4 COST OR FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6.5 INTERPLAY OF DRIVERS

6.6 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

CHAPTER 7

THE BENEFITS

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF

REDUCING TIME TO PROFICIENCY

7.1 MAGNITUDE OF REDUCTION IN TTP

7.2 BENEFITS OF A SHORTER TTP

7.3 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

CHAPTER 8

THE SYSTEM

THE CLOSED-LOOP OF

TIME TO PROFICIENCY

8.1 THE CLOSED-LOOP OF TTP

8.2 WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

PUBLICATIONS

REFERENCES

INDEX

THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

THE BUSINESS OF

TIME AND SPEED

In recent times, the business world has shown a clear need for what I call as Accelerated Proficiency. At various points in this text, I will use variants of this term as accelerating proficiency, accelerating time to proficiency, or accelerating speed to proficiency, to mean the same thing.

My objective behind writing this book is to educate business leaders about this emerging and highly pressing business challenge that cannot seem to wait. I have written this book for business leaders, performance experts, organizational leaders, direct managers, and human resource strategists.

1.1 WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Of late, the business world is not only changing at a very fast pace but is also becoming overly complex. As a result, the skills and knowledge acquired become irrelevant or obsolete quickly. The employees need a new set of skills for new technologies and products. The time they take to learn the new skills could delay the launch of new products. In certain industries like semiconductors, a delay by merely a day in launching a new product may cost millions of dollars to a company simply because its competitors may be far ahead of it. The cutthroat competition between global organizations has been an everlasting reality. In this context, organizations cannot wait for long for their employees to become proficient in the critical skills required to support their businesses and customers. This is where the emerging concepts of accelerated proficiency, time to proficiency (TTP), and speed to proficiency are making rounds at several business forums. Nevertheless, business leaders find it difficult to understand this problem completely, in particular how these metrics influence or drive businesses.

In the last 25 years, I have worked on a range of projects and initiatives that required speeding up the acquisition of proficiency in complex job roles. Time and speed inherently intrigued me in my personal and professional life. In this era of digital revolution, where the time-to-market is being highly squeezed, TTP is a very important metric that all organizational leaders and performance professionals must care about for the support and sustenance of their current and future businesses. A leader’s job is to support the employees in achieving proficiency at the fastest rate possible.

I have seen that organizations are now shifting their focus on ‘how to shorten the TTP of their employees and bring them up to speed to the required performance.’

1.2 WHY THIS BOOK?

I have written this book to reveal some eye-opening findings from a large-scale study that I conducted on TTP (the TTP study hereinafter). I conducted the study with 85 world-renowned leaders who have demonstrated leadership and experience in reducing TTP in their respective settings. I conducted the study across 66 project cases from 15 functional job roles and covered over 21 business sectors and 30 industries. It helped me understand the nature and meaning of accelerating the TTP in organizations under various settings. The study also revealed some shocking truths. The major one among those was that the TTP in some roles could be as long as 3 years. The studies conducted previously have not mentioned or discussed such alarming.

Time is money; therefore, a reduction in time should be the first goal of any training program or employee development initiative. This is the foundational premise of the book. In particular, I have designed this book to explore the following questions that are concerned with the business value of developing employee performance and proficiency:

What is the meaning and nature of the process of accelerating proficiency in workplaces?

How does the TTP metrics manifest in organizations?

What are the drivers or factors that push organizations to think about shortening employees’ TTP?

What are the business benefits accrued from shortening the TTP?

Why should organizations and their leaders care about shortening TTP?

In this book, I discuss the concept and measurement of the acceleration of proficiency; four business drivers that trigger the need for reduced TTP; and four business benefits of shortening it.

Notably, to date, only four books are available on this subject area, apart from mine: Breakaway: Deliver Value to Your Customers—Fast! (Fred 2002); Learning Paths: Increase Profits by Reducing the Time it takes Employees to get Up-to-Speed (Rosenbaum & Steve 2004); Speed to Proficiency: Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage (Bruck 2015); and Up-to-Speed: Secrets of Reducing Time to Proficiency (Rosenbaum 2018). The authors of these books have identified “shortening TTP” as a crucial business challenge.

I highly encourage the readers to check out my other books to get a comprehensive grasp of the concepts, models, and methods of speeding up employee proficiency. I have added significantly to this know-how in my doctoral thesis and several of my books: Modelling accelerated proficiency in organisations: Practices and strategies to shorten time-to-proficiency of the workforce– Doctoral Thesis (2018); Designing Training to Shorten Time To Proficiency: Online, Classroom and On-the-Job Learning Strategies from Research (2019); Speed to Proficiency in Organizations: A Research Report on Model, Practices and Strategies to Shorten Time to Proficiency (2019); Accelerated Proficiency for Accelerated Times: A Review of Concept and Methods to Accelerate Proficiency (2020), and The Business of Time and Speed: How Leading Organizations Reduce Time to Proficiency (forthcoming).

1.3 HOW THE BOOK IS ORGANIZED

I have organized the book into eight chapters.

Chapter 1 introduces the preamble and background of the book.

Chapter 2 introduces the TTP study that I conducted across a large sample of world-renowned leaders to investigate the strategies and practices to accelerate proficiency in organizations. I discuss the findings of this study in the subsequent chapters, elaborating on the various aspects of accelerated proficiency.

Chapter 3 provides the foundational understanding of the concept of proficiency. The chapter presents the role of proficiency in employee performance and sets the grounds for defining and outlining proficient performance, as suggested by various researchers. The chapter also discusses in detail the four characteristics of proficient performance at the workplace and establishes the construct of job-role proficiency.

Chapter 4 broadens the understanding of the concept of accelerated proficiency. It explains the metrics such as time to proficiency, time to competence, time to full productivity, speed to proficiency, and relates them back to the concept of accelerating proficiency. The chapter also describes the five characteristics of accelerated proficiency, which emerged from the TTP study.

Chapter 5 describes how the magnitude and scale of TTP act as triggers for organizations to rethink about shortening it. It establishes the importance and mechanism of measuring TTP. The chapter analyzes the TTP numbers across various contextual parameters such as job type, complexity, critical skills, economic sectors, business sectors, and industry groups. The chapter also raises an appeal as to why organizational leaders cannot ignore the magnitude and scale of TTP.

Chapter 6 presents the findings of the TTP study on the factors that drive organizations to institute projects to shorten TTP. The chapter reveals four drivers, namely time-related pressures, speed-related competitiveness, skill-related deficiencies, and cost or financial implications.

Chapter 7 outlines the findings of the TTP study and provides a deeper understanding of the benefits accrued by organizations from a shorter TTP. The chapter discusses the four business benefits, namely business gains, cost savings, improvements in operational metrics, and productivity improvement. The chapter also provides a sense of the range and extent to which leaders can expect a reduction in TTP.

Chapter 8 concludes the book with a big picture which ties the triggers, drivers, and benefits into a closed-loop system model. It explains how a longer TTP may hamper organizational goals and why it is worth doing something about it.

CHAPTER 2THE STUDY

THE RESEARCH STUDY

ON TTP

This book is an expansion of the first-of-its-kind findings of an intensive 5-year research study titled Modelling Accelerated Proficiency in Organisations: Practices and Strategies to Shorten Time-to-Proficiency of the Workforce (the TTP study). Iconducted this study as part of my doctoral work between 2014 and 2018, which addressed the larger question ‘How to accelerate the TTP of the workforce in organizations?’ (Attri 2018).

This chapter intends to summarize the study to set the context for readers and establish the credibility and generalizability of the TTP metrics discussed in the subsequent chapters. Readers may go through the participant distribution and general process to understand the rigor applied to conduct the research.

2.1 THE RESEARCH STUDY

2.1.1 Business challenge

The TTP study addresses one of the most critical challenges faced by modern organizations—the enormous amount of time taken by the workforce to reach full proficiency, irrespective of the job role. The enormous time taken creates both market and financial pressures on organizations.

In today’s fast-paced world, most organizations are constantly struggling to bring their employees to the desired level on job-related skills in the shortest time possible. While organizations are focused on finding the strategies that can do the wonder and accelerate employee development, I observed that they lack the comprehensive know-how on how to achieve this goal. Though there is plenty of research on various aspects of this topic, only a small portion of that has been transferred to the business world.

During the last decade, Hoffman1 and Fadde2 and other leading expertise researchers have conceptualized the constructs of accelerated proficiency and accelerated expertise in training and work settings. In their studies, Hoffman, Fadde and their and colleagues have identified the lack of a good understanding of the concept and process of accelerated proficiency, the need for accelerating proficiency, and the methods to accelerate proficiency in organizations. I aimed to understand the shortfall through the TTP study, that is, the way it plays out in the organizations. Through the study, I have explored the practices and strategies that have proven successful in reducing the TTP of the workforce.

2.1.2 Research objectives

The TTP study’s core research questions were: How do organizations view the business challenge of a long TTP of their workforce? How can organizations accelerate the TTP of their employees?

Part of these questions, the TTP study answered the four important aspects of the TTP metrics:

1. Meaning of accelerated proficiency, as seen by business leaders

2. Business factors driving the need for a shorter TTP

3. Business benefits accrued from shortening TTP

4. Practices and strategies to shorten the TTP of the workforce

This book builds a comprehensive, research-informed understanding of the first three aspects, while the fourth aspect is discussed in my other books3. The crux of these three aspects covered in this book is as follows: Despite the foundational understanding of the essence of time in business settings, organizational leaders still find it difficult to make a strong proposal or business case to convince their upper management to invest in projects or initiatives to accelerate performance (which involves reaching the desired output in a shorter time). This is mostly due to the lack of quantifiable data in that area. In the absence of initiatives focused on speeding up performance, most learning leaders and training organizations continue to emphasize improving the performance (which involves raising the level of output). The impediment is somewhat because of the gap in the contextual understanding among practitioners on how the TTP of the workforce drives business differentiation or affects the other operational metrics.

2.1.3Research approach

I have used exploratory research, a qualitative research method, to conduct the TTP study, which is considered best to reveal ‘how things work in particular contexts’ (Mason 2002). I have chosen this approach since accelerating proficiency in workplaces is a relatively new business challenge and needs to be understood in its natural settings. Also, the mechanisms and strategies adopted to accelerate proficiency of workforce are not the same across organizations. Incidentally, even within the same organization, different jobs may require different approaches. Therefore, it is important to understand why strategies work in some contexts and not in others.

2.1.4Participants

I have been working in the learning industry for over two decades, specifically supporting business challenges of shortening time to proficiency. I knew that there were only a few experts around the world who possessed such know-how. Therefore, I targeted such experts using purposive sampling and criteria-driven sampling. From a range of databases such as LinkedIn and others, I spotted 371 potential experts who appeared to have evidence of leading at least one project to reduce the TTP of the workforce in their respective organizations. I used evidence from explicit mention written media (e.g., industry reports, interviews, newsletters, books, magazines, blogs, industry awards, affiliation, and success stories) and self-proclaimed sources (e.g., a LinkedIn, academic CVs, questionnaires, and personal communications). From the cluster of 371 experts, 85 project leaders took part in the study.

These participants (most of them being CEOs, consultants, or an equivalent and called ‘project leaders’ hereinafter) were some of the best-in-class experts, global training experts, and business leaders from 7 different countries. The mean number of years of experience was over 20 years. Most of the project leaders were highly educated, with 35% of them holding doctorate degrees and 39% master’s degrees. Table 2‑1 shows the tabular distribution profile, and Figure 2.1 shows the graphical distribution profile of the participants.

Table 2-1 Distribution profile of the study participants

Participant’s country

USA

66

77%

Australia

5

6%

Netherlands

5

6%

UK

4

5%

Singapore

3

4%

UAE

1

1%

Philippines

1

1%

Total

85

100%

Participant’s current industry (self-declared)

Professional training & coaching

18

20%

Management consulting

13

15%

Education management

7

8%

Computer software

6

7%

Higher education

6

7%

Semiconductors

6

7%

Research

5

6%

E-learning

5

6%

Information technology & services

3

4%

Oil & energy

3

3%

Financial services

2

2%

Military

1

1%

Broadcast media

1

1%

Public relations & communications

1

1%

Electrical/Electronic manufacturing

1

1%

Education technology

1

1%

Banking

1

1%

Management consulting

1

1%

Internet

1

1%

Human resources

1

1%

Information services

1

1%

Unknown

1

1%

Total

85

100%

Participant’s current position/title

President/CEO/MD/Founder

27

32%

Researcher/Scientist/Academician/Author

13

15%

Consultant

12

13%

Program/Training manager

10

12%

Director/VP

9

11%

Trainer/Facilitator / Instructional designer

6

7%

CLO/CKO

5

6%

Leadership/HRD specialist

2

2%

Retired

1

1%

Total

85

100%

Participant’s education

Doctorate

29

35%

Masters

34

39%

Bachelors

16

19%

No information

6

7%

Total

85

100%

Participant’s experience range (in years)

0 to 10

3

4%

11 to 20

24

27%

21 to 30

22

26%

31 to 40

24

29%

41 to 50

7

8%

Unknown

5

6%

Total

85

100%

Figure 2.1 Graphical distribution profile of the study participants

2.1.5 Sampling unit

I used the bounded project case approach, wherein the bounded project case essentially was a success story with a defined start and end (i.e., a project), and was bounded (i.e., its boundaries are defined in terms of scope) (Merriam & Tisdell 2016; Miles, Huberman & Saldana 2014; Turner & Müller 2003). I gathered successful project cases to understand more clearly the need for shortening TTP, the methods that worked, and the results obtained.

I collected 66 successful project cases and 50 documents associated with the cases. I categorized the collected project cases into four broad categories based on the contextual variables: (1) sector—economic, business, or industry; (2) nature of job role; (3) critical-to-success (CTS) skills—primary skills required for the job; and (4) complexity level—the complexity of the skills required, the job role, or both.

I then subjected the 66 project cases through a criterion to ensure completeness of every project story, which had clear-cut evidence of shortening time to proficiency. Finally, I selected 60 projects which showed strong evidence or supported the results. These 60 project cases were seen to span across 10 economic sectors, 20 business sectors, and 28 industry groups, covering 14 different types of jobs, 15 different CTS skills involved in those jobs, and 5 levels of complexity. Table 2‑2 shows the tabular distribution profile, and Figure 2.2 shows the graphical distribution profile of selected project cases. Therefore, it could be said that the study spanned across a reasonably wide spectrum. Table 2‑3 presents a summary of project cases across all the contextual variables.

Table 2-2 Distribution profile of the project cases classified as per TR – Thomas-Reuters (TR) Business Classification System

Contextual variable

Value

No. of projects

%

Economic Sector (TR)

Technology

14

23%

Financials

10

17%

Healthcare

8

13%

Industrials

7

12%

Energy

7

12%

Consumer non-cyclicals

5

8%

Basic materials

3

5%

Military/ government

3

5%

Telecommunication services

2

3%

Utility

1

2%

Grand Total

60

100%

Business Sector (TR)

Technology Equipment

12

20%

Energy - Fossil Fuels

7

12%

Banking & Investment Services

6

10%

Healthcare Services

4

7%

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Research

4

7%

Insurance

3

5%

Industrial & Commercial Services

3

5%

Government / Military

3

5%

Industrial Goods

3

5%

Telecommunications Services

2

3%

Software & IT Services

2

3%

Mineral Resources

2

3%

Retailers

2

3%

Real Estate

1

2%

Transportation

1

2%

Chemicals

1

2%

Automobiles & Auto Parts

1

2%

Utilities

1

2%

Cyclical Consumer Services

1

2%

Food & Beverages

1

2%

Grand Total

60

100%

Industry Group (TR)

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

8

13%

Oil & Gas

5

8%

Investment Banking & Investment Services

4

7%

Communications & Networking

3

5%

Professional & Commercial Services

3

5%

Healthcare Providers & Services

3

5%

Insurance

3

5%

Pharmaceuticals

2

3%

Oil & Gas Related Equipment and Services

2

3%

Telecommunications Services

2

3%

Banking Services

2

3%

Other Specialty Retailers

2

3%

Biotechnology & Medical Research

2

3%

Software & IT Services

2

3%

Machinery, Equipment & Components

2

3%

Metals & Mining

2

3%

Military

2

3%

Real Estate Operations

1

2%

Electronic Equipment & Parts

1

2%

Healthcare Equipment & Supplies

1

2%

Chemicals -

1

2%

Public Services

1

2%

Hotels & Entertainment Services

1

2%

Electrical Utilities & IPPs

1

2%

Aerospace & Defense

1

2%

Food & Tobacco

1

2%

Freight & Logistics Services

1

2%

Automobiles & Auto Parts

1

2%

Grand Total

60

100%

Primary job Nature

Technical or Engineering

21

35%

Sales - Non-Technical

8

13%

Scientific or Development

5

8%

Customer service helpdesk

4

7%

Strategic Management, Leadership

4

7%

Managerial

3

5%

Sales - Technical

3

5%

Medical, Healthcare

3

5%

Production, Manufacturing

3

5%

Financial services

2

3%

Warehouse

1

2%

Training or Education

1

2%

Assembly

1

2%

Management consulting

1

2%

Grand Total

60

100%

Critical-to-success Skill

Complex troubleshooting

12

20%

Sales and negotiation

11

18%

Technical Problem solving

6

10%

Innovation and design

5

8%

Strategic thinking

4

7%

Helpdesk support

4

7%

Supervisory

3

5%

Project execution

3

5%

Precision machining

3

5%

Medical and psychological care

3

5%

Financial analysis

2

3%

Business analysis

1

2%

Teaching and training

1

2%

Assembly

1

2%

Data processing

1

2%

Grand Total

60

100%

Complexity Rating

2. Medium-High

22

37%

4. Medium-Low

14

23%

1. High

9

15%

3. Medium

9

15%

5. Low

6

10%

Grand Total

60

100%

Countries

USA

51

85%

Netherlands

3

5%

Singapore

3

5%

Australia

2

3%

Thailand

1

2%

Total

60

100%

Figure 2.2 Graphical distribution profile of selected project cases classified as per Thomas-Reuters (TR) Business Classification System

Table 2-3 Summary table of 60 project cases selected for analysis

Project case ID

Project case title

Location of project

Economic sector (TRBC)

Business Sector (TRBC)

Industry Group (TRBC)

Nature of primary job role

Critical-to-success Skill

Complexity Rating

1

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

Singapore

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

2

Customer service helpdesk taking inbound calls for sales of investment products

USA

Financials

Banking & Investment Services

Investment Banking & Investment Services

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

3

Technical trainers delivering food manufacturing process training

Philippines

Consumer non-cyclicals

Food & Beverages

Food & Tobacco

Training or Education

Teaching and training

4. Medium-Low

4

Software engineers developing large scale information applications (books)

US/ Thailand

Technology

Software & IT Services

Software & IT Services

Scientific or Development

Innovation and design

1. High

5

Cybersecurity analysts analyzing and identifying cyber-threats on client enterprise networks

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Communications & Networking

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

6

Insurance agents selling insurance products

USA

Financials

Insurance

Insurance

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

7

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

8

Console operators monitoring and controlling the processes at petrochemical plants

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

9

Service engineers troubleshooting and repairing telecommunication network equipment

USA

Telecommunication services

Telecommunications Services

Telecommunications Services

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

10

Console operators monitoring and controlling the processes at petrochemical plants

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

11

Pharmaceutical biochemists manufacturing sophisticated cancer drugs

USA

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Research

Pharmaceuticals

Scientific or Development

Innovation and design

1. High

12

Managers managing retail donut baking stores

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Food & Beverages

Food & Tobacco

Managerial, Supervisory

Supervisory

3. Medium

13

Claim processing executives examining and processing health insurance claims

USA

Financials

Insurance

Insurance

Financial services

Financial analysis

4. Medium-Low

14

Sales representative selling pharmaceutical products

USA

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Research

Pharmaceuticals

Sales - Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

15

Insurance agents selling insurance products

USA

Financials

Insurance

Insurance

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

16

Console operators monitoring and controlling the processes at petrochemical plants

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

17

Customer service helpdesk taking inbound calls for hotel and travel-related services

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Cyclical Consumer Services

Hotels & Entertainment Services

Customer service helpdesk

Helpdesk support

5. Low

18

Managers managing supermarket chains

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Retailers

Other Speciality Retailers

Managerial, Supervisory

Supervisory

3. Medium

19

Energy Corporation top executives transferring knowledge to successors

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Strategic Management, Leadership

Strategic thinking

1. High

20

Hospital medical doctors and nursing staff providing pediatrics care services

USA

Healthcare

Healthcare Services

Healthcare Providers & Services

Medical, Healthcare

Medical and psychological care

3. Medium

21

Customer helpdesk taking inbound calls to remotely troubleshoot client computer and software issues

USA

Technology

Software & IT Services

Software & IT Services

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

22

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

23

School administrator and teachers instituting school improvement programs

USA

Industrials

Industrial & Commercial Services

Professional & Commercial Services

Training or Education

Teaching and training

4. Medium-Low

24

Warehouse professionals adopting SAP for supply chain and logistics transactions

USA

Industrials

Transportation

Freight & Logistics Services

Warehouse

Data processing

5. Low

25

Console operators monitoring and controlling the processes at petrochemical plants

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

26

Young military officers on the leadership pathway

USA

Military/ government

Government / Military

Military

Strategic Management, Leadership

Strategic thinking

1. High

27

Military officers setting up a new command center to prevent cyberterrorism

USA

Military/ government

Government / Military

Military

Strategic Management, Leadership

Strategic thinking

1. High

28

Biotechnology scientists strategizing business of brain implant technology for curing neurological diseases

USA

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Research

Biotechnology & Medical Research

Scientific or Development

Innovation and design

1. High

29

Machinists fabricating aircraft engine mechanical parts

USA

Industrials

Industrial Goods

Aerospace & Defense

Production, Manufacturing

Precision machining

3. Medium

30

Sales engineers selling hi-tech enterprise communication products

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Communications & Networking

Technical or Engineering

Project execution

2. Medium-High

31

Electronics technicians to troubleshoot and repair of complex Navy electronics equipment

Netherlands

Technology

Technology Equipment

Electronic Equipment & Parts

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

32

Benefit Evaluators examining eligibility for Govt. run benefits

USA

Military/ government

Government / Military

Public Services

Financial services

Financial analysis

4. Medium-Low

33

Sales engineers selling hi-tech enterprise computer and server systems

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Communications & Networking

Technical or Engineering

Project execution

2. Medium-High

34

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

Netherlands

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

35

Clinical staff and database administrators transitioning to new software for clinical trials data

USA

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals & Medical Research

Biotechnology & Medical Research

Technical or Engineering

Project execution

2. Medium-High

36

Customer service helpdesk taking inbound calls for financial products

USA

Financials

Banking & Investment Services

Banking Services

Customer service helpdesk

Helpdesk support

5. Low

37

Healthcare professionals providing assisted living services for elders

USA

Healthcare

Healthcare Services

Healthcare Providers & Services

Medical, Healthcare

Medical and psychological care

3. Medium

38

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

39

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

Singapore

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

40

Insurance agents selling insurance products

USA

Financials

Banking & Investment Services

Investment Banking & Investment Services

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

41

Baseball players trying to recognize ball pitch

USA

Sports

Sports

Sports

Sports, Athletics

Perceptual and physical skills

2. Medium-High

64

Console operators monitoring and controlling the processes at petrochemical plants

UAE

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

42

Managers managing retail store chains

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Retailers

Other Speciality Retailers

Managerial, Supervisory

Supervisory

3. Medium

43

Plant maintenance engineers to troubleshooting production machine issues

USA

Industrials

Industrial Goods

Machinery, Equipment & Components

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

44

Sales representatives upselling strategic service products

USA

Industrials

Industrial & Commercial Services

Professional & Commercial Services

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

45

Reactor operators manufacturing chemical paints

USA

Basic materials

Chemicals

Chemicals -

Technical or Engineering

Technical Problem Solving

2. Medium-High

46

Customer service engineers troubleshooting and repairing complex semiconductor equipment

USA

Technology

Technology Equipment

Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

47

Real estate agents booking mortgages and listings

USA

Financials

Real Estate

Real Estate Operations

Sales - Non-Technical

Sales and negotiation

4. Medium-Low

48

Truck assemblers assembling and fabricating automobiles

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Automobiles & Auto Parts

Automobiles & Auto Parts

Assembly, Repair

Assembly

5. Low

49

Maintenance engineers repairing and maintaining petroleum pipeline feeds

USA

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas Related Equipment and Services

Technical or Engineering

Complex troubleshooting

2. Medium-High

50

Machine operators fabricating mechanical parts for petroleum exploration equipment

Singapore

Energy

Energy - Fossil Fuels

Oil & Gas Related Equipment and Services

Production, Manufacturing

Precision machining

3. Medium

51

Managers adopting new conversation and coaching tool with their employees

USA

Consumer non-cyclicals

Cyclical Consumer Services

Media & Publishing

Managerial, Supervisory

Supervisory

3. Medium

52

Financial analysts assessing corporate insolvency cases