Content analysis and “the talking cure”

One of my favorite client-centred activities is the content analysis session. It’s one of the most exciting meetings of the project, and occurs during the design phase.

Content analysis sessions involve gathering experts into one room or conference call, and giving them time to discuss the material they believe the audience should learn from this new course you’re building. While they’re on the battlefield, arguing for or against others’ ideas, I’m lingering just outside the circle, listening, taking notes, making comments, asking questions and generally guiding the discussion. I call this exercise steering the horse from within the cart. The idea is to let the experts make the decisions about the content while I quietly push them to produce an outline by the end of the session.

This week, I spent a day and a half in a meeting room with three SMEs. The power dynamics were not equally balanced: two of them had recently joined the team and spent less than a month each at their new jobs. They were invited to attend the session because they had previously performed the same job as our future audience; they had recently been the target population. The third SME was their new manager. She had a wide breadth of experience, but hadn’t been working in the field for several years. She was invited because her role was to write the first draft of the course.

In the morning of the first day, the employees deferred to the manager quite often. Everyone was getting their sealegs and becoming comfortable with the process of talking things out in a group. When discagreement arose between the manager and employees, the employees would back down and let the manager assume she was correct. It wasn’t clear to me that they agreed with her.

By mid-afternoon, though, the group had steadily clarified their course outline until they reached some topics on which the manager admitted she was not an expert. She began to ask the employees their opinions. Real discussion started to take place. Real disagreements, too! One topic flummoxed the group and they spent a long time arguing and pouring over thick textbooks as they looked for answers. Eventually they reached a consensus, and everyone looked relieved.

With no emotional turmoil to unvent, this exercise is not a “talking cure” in the psychiatric sense. However, the feeling of cartharsis after reaching an agreement is remarkable. I think that people feel positively about negotiating and compromising, and they put a lot of themselves into the exercise of creating a great outline for future learners.

Happy learning,
Fran

How to work with a Subject Matter Expert - Part III

This is the third post of a series. Read the first post here.

When your SME submits their first draft, get ready to jump into action.

Review the first draft critically

• When reviewing a draft, your goal is to ensure the material is easy to read and understand.
• Focus on the 3 C's of editing:
• Clarity: Is the message easy to understand?
• Concision: Is the message to the point, using the fewest number of words? 
• Correctness: Are verb tenses, sentence structures, punctuation and grammar used properly?
• If you are editing an electronic Microsoft Word document, use the Track Changes function to allow the SME see the changes you made, or would like them to make.

Important: Remember to ask the SME to view your edits to ensure his or her intended meaning is not altered.

Maintain your high standards, but be gentle 

Your SME’s initial draft will require changes and corrections – you can count on it. Stay positive even if the SME submits what appears to be a messy first draft: even the Mona Lisa started out as a simple sketch, which is to say that many beautiful things start out ugly. Every document improves with a little editing.

Be aware that negative feedback can be hard to accept. (By the way, it can be just as hard to give.)

One tried-and-true method of requesting corrections and revisions is the “sandwich” approach. Begin with a positive comment about the work, then mention something that needs improvement, and finish with a second positive comment.

For example: “Frannie, I found your introduction engaging and easy to read. In the second paragraph, I highlighted a few errors using Track Changes, and I was wondering if you would double-check the calculations in the table. Overall, I think you included all the major topics. Good job.”

Some people swear by the sandwich method. Some others disagree, believing that the intention of this strategy is to calm or protect the giver of feedback more than the receiver, and that receivers prefer to hear bad news straight up, with no funny business. How you handle giving feedback is up to you; just be aware that people receive news differently. It might not be a bad idea to ask your SME their preference, especially if you intend to carry on a long-term professional relationship with them.

We'll review the final phase of the series in the next post.

Happy learning,
Fran

The 70:20:10 training approach

Today, let's take a ittle break from the SME posts and check out another hot topic in training: Charles Jennings' 70:20:10 approach.

The organization I work for is very large. It excels at staying still and maintaining the status quo. It reminds me of a boulder: stable and dependable.

And like a boulder, this organization is all weight and no will. Too large to do anything independently, it sits and waits for its members to move it. When its members move in many directions at once, nothing happens. The organization continues to stand still. But it moves when members pull together in a singular direction.

You get the picure. The boulder relies on members – and that’s us, the people.

Lots of people are interested in changing how this organization approaches training. Experienced instructional designers are advising that formal training isn’t the panacea we had once yearned for. Before my time, facilitator-led classroom training was the T.Rex of training. Considered the strongest training solution, it was also the only one.

Our clients are also asking for variety in their training diet.

Formal learning is only part of a holistic training solution, and we have lots of reasons to change our training routine. As many reasons as there are employees.

As Charles Jennings states in this video on the 70:20:10 model, only about 10% of employee training should take place formally. Formal training can be expensive and time-consuming to create and maintain. (The ultimate reason, though, is that people learn remarkably little from formal training when they don't practice skills within an hour of learning them.)

Jennings goes on to say that the remaining 90% of employee training should be organized informally so that employees learn through experiences (80%) and relationships (20%). That makes sense, doesn't it? We learn by doing, and by asking those around us.

How could the 70:20:10 approach affect the future of our dear boulder?

I think we're actually following a path that has been well-documented. We are researching options for providing a variety of performance support tools to employees, and thinking about how we can connect workers through social media. As Jennings notes, informal training isn't managed, but supported. I can imagine a boulder excelling like no one else at the game of providing support. The stakes are high, and our future looks bright.

Until next time, happy learning.

Fran

How to work with a Subject Matter Expert - Part II

This is the second post of a series. Read the first post here.

To recap:

You have a project, a deadline, and a Subject Matter Expert (SME). You and SME have discussed the exterior details of the project, like deadlines and milestones, start and end dates. The SME is aware of what to do, or who to talk to, if they run into snags, and they know your expectations for their contributions. What's next?


2. Help your SME get started 

Every writing project starts somewhere. The question is - where? Poised at the start line, fingers in position on the keyboard, can be the most difficult place to be. That's because we learn how to start something by doing it; that is, from experience. Starting fresh with a new project means there is no experience on which to rely. Without a blueprint or map for guidance, we freeze at this point because we have a vague end goal in mind but do not know how to get there.

Below are a few ideas for supporting your SME through this confusing period.

Provide your SME with tips and resources. 

This approach is part psychology, part concrete guidance. It might seem like you're just passing along "how to's" about brainstorming creatively or sizing jpeg images to your SME. The subtext, however, is that you're sharing their burden, and making their problems your own. They're experiencing trouble starting the project because they have writer's block, and you're going to find them a solution. They will feel supported and validated, and ready to perform.

• With your SME, determine the audience and the purpose of the document. Information may be power, but it is also clarity.
• Refer the SME to solid writing resources before they start. Consider sending them links to articles on brainstorming, how to start a writing project, how to write an introduction, and when to use images.

Check on their progress periodically.

Usually SMEs need blocks of distraction-free time to immerse themselves in writing projects. Give your SME some space but keep communication lines open. Contact them regularly to ask if they need help or guidance. They may appreciate hearing a few words of motivation, too.

Stay tuned for the third part of this series, where we examine the science of editing and the sport of giving constructive feedback.

Happy learning,
Fran

How to work with a Subject Matter Expert - Part I

Imagine this workplace scenario: you need to produce a document on a topic about which you know quite little, and you are pressed for time. To help you, your manager hires a Subject Matter Expert to research and write the document.

Brilliant! The perfect solution–until you realize you have never worked with a SME before.
If you are looking for suggestions for bringing out the best in your SME, you have come to the right place. Think of the process in four phases:

1. Sort out project details
2. Help your SME get started
3. Edit wisely (and give good feedback)
4. Finish up

Below, I examine the first phase, and promise to visit subsequent phases next week.

1. Sort out project details

It’s important to sort out the details of the project before you talk to the SME. Your SME needs to know your expectations so that they can decide if they can meet them. Be straightforward and clear. However, unless the project has a firm deadline, try to stay flexible.

Discuss deadlines

• What is your final delivery deadline? Most projects have a deadline; make sure your SME knows if this is a firm, unchangeable date.
• Give your SME a set of deadlines or negotiate them together. Deadlines include the date SME submits a first draft to you for review (allow enough time for the SME to get the writing done), and the date you finish editing their copy and send them a copy to revise.
• Leave some time for further changes and corrections before your final deadline.
• Accept that the dates may change - again, try to be flexible.

Clarify roles and expectations

• State your expectations upfront. Let the SME know what you expect from the final product: total word count, page length, topics to include (if you know of any), or anything else.
• Will you be editing the SME’s writing? If so, tell them in advance.
• Are you the project manager? Make sure your SME knows who they can talk to if they run into trouble.

I hope this advice on establishing project details with your SME was useful! Next time, we'll look closely at the next step - helping your SME start working with confidence.

Happy learning,
Fran

The right time for formal learning

Most of our clients come to us after witnessing good employees struggle with their workloads. These clients might ask us for classroom training because their personal experience tells them it’s the best way to learn. Other clients request online training because they hear it’s cheaper than hiring facilitators, or because it reaches a distributed audience and they need three hundred new auditors trained across the country. Or because they recall the experience of sitting, invisibly bound, in uninspiring classrooms, and shudder.

I understand that leaders want someone to alleviate the suffering of their workers. I get that. They want someone to remove the obstruction in the sink and make it workable again. Training professionals are used to this. We are often tasked with mending the hole in the sock; finding the learning gap and then suturing it as painlessly as possible. We’re used to this approach, but we know there’s a better way. It’s not “buy another sink,” or “unclog it yourself,” but “consider the sink before it gets clogged.”

Anticipation is amazing. It’s a feeling you get when your leader warns, “there’re gonna be a few changes around here.” It’s a feeling that rises to the surface when you know that the current state of affairs will not last. An expiry date as a concept is coming up, and in the air you can feel the electric charge of change. When you can back up that feeling with deadlines and stats and org charts and instructions- well, that’s the best time to formally train your employees.

 It’s emergency planning. It’s watching the fire safety technique “stop, drop, and roll” on TV before the house catches fire. It’s seeing change hover in the horizon, and then doing something about it. The best time for formal instruction is when you know almost nothing.

A great article that lists benefits of formal and informal learning can be found here.

Happy learning,
Frannie