Enterprise Learning Initiatives.

Stories have a long history as the teaching tool of choice, but not all are created equal – and not all are good for learners. At 16, I loved reading, yet I did not love “The Scarlet Letter.” Reading it was a slog. The odd language and old-timey morality left me cold. But Ms. Wester’s version? It went something like, “This particular adulteress didn’t feel so bad about her ‘sexy time with preacher.’ After years of everyone’s efforts to bring her low, when she and her secret, tortured guy met up alone in the woods, she was ready to go again.” What a difference two sentences can make.

Like any great teacher, Ms. Wester knew a lengthy lecture wasn’t the way to hook us. Instead, all it took was some relatable phrasing and a fresh spin. Learners crave these kinds of stories – the ones that draw us in, fire our imaginations, and, if we’re lucky, surprise us.

Knowing the potential of stories, why isn’t there better storytelling in training? Maybe time constraints are to blame. (We already have miles of ground to cover, and you want me to add more content?!) Or maybe a controlled, play-it-safe approach limits stories to flat, two-dimensional characters. (Employee A always gets it done right, and Employee B never does.) Unfortunately, this disconnect with real-world experiences prompts learners to give us the dreaded snarky-eye-roll-tired-sigh combo. Nobody wants that.

How to Build a Story

Take a minute. Stories can pack a powerful punch in a lot less time than you might expect. Remember, jokes are just short stories with a fun finish. Tweets can be 280-character personal stories shared on a vast scale. In short (pun intended), good stories won’t take time away from content; they are content. Well-chosen, well-placed stories can save time by focusing and clarifying your message.

Set the stage. Narrative organizers, such as well-known fairy tales and shared history, help learners interpret and classify incoming information. When you use each part of a story to introduce content, learners gain a strong sense of where they are in the training. This improves recall as learners associate new information with something they already know well. Moreover, the stories can double as metaphors to reinforce learning. The possibilities are limitless (and fun!). Delivering training on avoiding hidden dangers? Red Riding Hood is your girl. Or how about training on a new testing process? Goldilocks would work. She is, after all, the QA Queen (what with all that testing of porridge, chairs, and beds).

Add a twist. What if Goldilocks didn’t flee for her life but, instead, delivered her test results to the Bear family, leading to across-the-board improvements in porridge temperature, chair strength, and sleeping conditions? In and out of the classroom, people remember novelty. When faced with something new and surprising, we wake up and take notice. Take a story, turn it this way and that, locate those “what ifs,” and then surprise and engage your learners.

Bring the fun. Humor in your stories makes them especially memorable. Humor is also a time-tested antidote to stress, and learning new skills can certainly be stressful. There’s something funny in almost every situation. Find it and inject it into your stories whenever you can.

Make it personal. When learners hear a relatable story, they are more apt to remember it. Personal stories engage learners and encourage them to share their own experiences. This builds a relationship of mutual respect and trust between instructors and learners.

Keep it real. Even when a story is entertaining, if it isn’t realistic and relevant to the training, learners will notice. Rely on experts to confirm every story rings true. This ensures credibility and strengthens learners’ confidence in the training – and its usefulness to them when they’re back on the job.

Trust the classics. If you have a story to share, but aren’t quite sure how to tell it, learn from Gustav Freytag, a noted dramatist. Apply his pyramid model to structure any story – from case studies to informal anecdotes – with a hat tip to classic literature and drama.

Good stories elevate training – they engage learners and breathe new life into even the most mundane topic. Crafting and sharing memorable, relevant, well-placed stories is time well spent. And, let’s face it, compared to a dry procedure, designers prefer writing stories, instructors prefer telling them, and learners prefer hearing them. Everyone wins!

Have you ever wondered whether games would work in your learning programs? If so, congratulations! You have joined the ranks of curious learning professionals who evaluate learning trends before using them.

Here are three ways to determine whether games are a help or a hindrance to your learning program.

Educate yourself.

Video games have come a long way since the 1970s. By 2020, the gaming industry will be worth $90 billion. And instructional designers are contributing to the boom; use of video games in educational settings has become incredibly popular.

Games can provide a virtual environment for active learning. Learning space isn’t restricted to a classroom and activities are in the hands of the learners. They might even be allowed to build their own experiences. For example, Second Life encourages building items within the game. Moreover, games provide the learner with an identity enculturation platform (through a game immersion experience).

Research shows learners who have experimented with learning concepts in a virtual world apply them more easily to real-life scenarios (Hung and Chen, 2007). This is because a gaming platform gives players the chance to practice a skill multiple times in a controlled environment. Furthermore, playing can contribute to a more student-centric experience (Stroup et al. 2007).

Think about ways to use games.

Ask yourself, what am I trying to achieve and how will the game help? Think about the following examples and how they might work for your situation.

• Introduce a learning module in a fun way to spark interest.
• Reinforce concepts by letting learners practice using a new system or tool with goals, rewards, and a little friendly competition.
• Extend practice beyond the classroom into a virtual, realistic world that lets them explore to find the right answer.
• Create relationships between team members that build a foundation for a social learning community that continues beyond training.

Consider your unique circumstances.

Once you know some ways you might implement gaming into your learning program, think through how that may play out.

• Audience: Not everyone likes playing games, especially computer-based games. In the words of Prensky (2001), we are either digital natives, born into the digital world, or digital immigrants who have adopted some technology but might prefer the old-fashioned way. Prensky believes digital natives have a shorter attention span, process information faster, and like to multitask. Games are an excellent medium for digital natives as well as digital immigrants with some interest in or comfort with technology. Consider the ratio of natives to immigrants to predict the effectiveness of technology-based games in your solution.
• Resources: Every project has constraints. Do you have the time and budget to invest? The effort it takes to develop an educational game is directly proportional to the complexity of the game. Some games, like Jeopardy, take little effort while others, like MMORPG or virtual worlds, require a lot. Develop a work plan for each stage of game development, implementation, and maintenance. This will help you estimate the investment and impact on your project.
• Stage: Where are you in the project? If you have already started design or development, it might make more sense to cover objectives with the essentials before thinking about games. If you’re still in planning or conceptual design, you might have the luxury of considering a powerful addition to your program.
• Measurement: Think about your learning objectives and business goals. Gamification might serve your program well if metrics are important. Many games facilitate pre-game assessments, activities with embedded metrics, and post-game evaluations.

There isn’t one answer to the gamification question. Inserting games in your learning programs successfully is both an art and a science. As learning professionals, we look for creative and innovative solutions. We are lucky to have games in the mix!

References

• Marc Prensky, (2001),”Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1″, On the Horizon, Vol. 9 Iss 5 pp. 1 – 6
• Hung,D & Chen,d.(2007).Context-process authenticity in learning: Implications for identity enculturation and boundary crossing. Education Tech Research Dev 55:147-167
• Stroup, W.M.,Ares, N.,Lesh, R.& Hurford,A. (in press). Diversity by Design: The What, Why, And How of Generativity in Next Generation Classroom Networks. In R. Lesh, E.Hamilton & J.J. Kaput (eds). Models & Modeling as Foundations for the Future in Mathematics Education, Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaun Publishing Company.
• Statista (2018), Value of the global video games market from 2011 to 2020 (in billion U.S. dollars),Retrieved here.

One of the first big learning programs I worked on was for a global corporation in the construction industry. They were rolling out a new logistics system to tens of thousands of seasoned blue-collar workers. My team of twenty-something suit-wearing consultants could not have been less credible. Our SMEs (the warehouse supervisors serving as our subject-matter experts) were openly skeptical that we could teach them anything useful. To be honest, we weren’t so sure ourselves.

The new system would touch everyone in their warehouse, forcing them to use handheld radio frequency (RF) terminals to perform nearly every task. They had been 100% paper-based and computer-free, and that’s the way they liked it. We were the bearers of very bad news.

But we were also good instructional designers. We knew we needed to know the new system inside and out but, to serve our learners, we also needed to know them a lot better. Here’s the advice we followed.

Think about each role represented in your audience. Gather enough information – from the right sources – so you can imagine yourself in their shoes, whether they’re pumps or steel-toed boots.

• What are the most important parts of their jobs? Which of their behaviors drive results for their team or their company?
• What is their motivation? What are they rewarded and punished for? What gets them a pat on the back or kudos from the boss?
• What kinds of behaviors are supported or discouraged by company culture?
• What are their work settings? Group? Solitary? Loud? Quiet? Long periods of concentration or lots of switching gears? Office? Cubicle? Shop floor? Car? Retail store?
• What language, acronyms or metaphors do they use? What kinds of communication are they used to and what do they prefer?
• How do they feel about this change? What will their attitudes and expectations be as they start the learning program and as they go back to the job?

The answers? For our learners, the most important thing was moving the right materials and getting orders out the door. They were rewarded for speed and accuracy and encouraged to be team players. Their work setting was a loud warehouse full of lots of people moving constantly.

They were not computer-literate. They communicated through conversation and team meetings and notices or signs posted in the workspace. They had tons of technical terms and shorthand. They were NOT excited about the new system.

They seemed disinterested or annoyed, but we felt that some of this was really fear of failing – suddenly not being able to do the jobs they had mastered over the years. They didn’t want to sit in a classroom for any reason and they didn’t want to return to work and have to use a new system when the stakes were high.

Based on all this, we wanted to move a lot of the learning into the warehouse, but that didn’t fly with our client; we had to train in a classroom. So, we created other elements with our users in mind. One of them was a job aid, showing critical codes and functions for the RF terminal. We made it from tough, flexible plastic with curved corners that wouldn’t cut or scratch. It was pocket-sized, but we also punched a hole in one corner and attached a closed hook so the user could clip it to his belt loop or the RF terminal itself. It was a pretty simple thing, but it was what we thought they would want as they tried to use the new system on the job. Our main SME John agreed.

As expected, our learners approached training warily. They weren’t exactly happy, even as they demonstrated they could use the new system. Day One was rocky, but work was getting done.

A week later, John came to our team with a smile on his face and a story. It seems that Pete, easily our most disgruntled learner, had arrived for his shift, realized he had left his plastic job aid at home, and drove all the way back home to get it. He punched in late for his shift, but apparently it was worth it. We knew then we had done something that mattered, because we took the learner’s perspective.

How many times have you heard something like this before: “Why are people still following the old process? Didn’t they attend training?” Training is not an event. Learning a new behavior happens over time. It’s a process. Instructional designers help architect the learning process using a collection of tools to create a structure to support the desired behavior.

The best way to architect the learning process is to put yourself in your learner’s shoes.

It’s important to understand a learner’s daily routine and know where the desired behavior intersects. The “intersection” is the moment when the learner must choose a direction.

• Will they choose to go back in the direction of their familiar, comfortable behavior?
• Or will they choose the new and uncomfortable direction and use the new behavior?

That intersection is exactly where you need to put a buttress. If you identify that intersection moment, and design a support mechanism to encourage the new behavior, learners will be more likely to exhibit that behavior at each intersection. Soon it will become a familiar and comfortable behavior for them.

Choosing the best support depends on the situation. Here are a few ideas:

• New system training? Where do users tend to get stuck? Consider providing job aids or online contextual guidance for just-in-time help. Make sure Super Users are easy to reach for more complex questions.
• New process? Where does it differ from the old one? Add visual cues at intersections to guide the way. You can also create a community of practice where learners support and learn from each other. This improves performance and helps them understand that they belong to something important to the organization.
• New leadership behavior? A mentor or coach can provide real-time feedback and reinforce the application of the learning. Include the desired behavior on performance appraisals and consider incorporating a reward system.

Behavior change requires many interventions, used over time. As an instructional designer, you are the architect. Know your learners. Understand how the change will impact their world. And use the tools available to build a learning experience that guides them through the learning to performance. Soon the new behavior will feel like a natural part of their day.

Nathan Smelley was one of my favorite teachers in school. (Yes that was really his name.) He taught Algebra 1 and 2. He stands out to me because his classes were always a blast. He delivered laughter (at his theatrics) and “aha” moments (albeit about algebra). As I started facilitating training programs, I recalled those times and tried to create a Smelley experience for my learners.

Mr. Smelley loved algebra but, more than that, he loved teaching. He loved watching his students’ eyes go wide at his antics and light up with new understanding. He would slap rulers on desks or make funny voices to illustrate his points. Not only did his methods wake us up, they said, “Pay attention – this is different!” Good facilitators use similar techniques with their adult learners. We walk around the room to address different people, use props, games, jokes, surprising images and metaphors – all to keep the room “alive.” What distinguishes facilitators from presenters is our ability to stimulate our audiences to learn. And, as adult learners get more sophisticated, we challenge ourselves to work harder to engage them. Mr. Smelley would do no less.

Another teacher of mine, Mr. Jones, taught English Literature (or should I say told us about English literature). He lectured his way through every class period. His monotone voice added to the misery. Most of us were drowsy within 10 minutes, but he didn’t seem to notice. The only way he knew to teach was to tell us what to think. In contrast, Mr. Smelley would constantly ask us “What do you think that means?” Or “What happens next?” When we struggled to answer you could see his intent on his face – he resisted giving us the answer; he wanted us to think. During my career, I have learned to use the Socratic method and open-ended questions to lead participants to learning. When we create moments of discovery, real change happens. Our learning programs have lasting impact because we have helped people create new pathways to the answer in their own brains. The content is no longer just in our training materials – it lives on in the minds of our learners.

I didn’t find algebra that hard. I actually loved it. But there were times that even Mr. Smelley couldn’t get us to “get it.” He would use his funny ways and tell compelling stories, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. In those cases, we would sense his brain working to find another way. Then we could almost see the light bulb illuminate over his head. Suddenly, he was excitedly passing out blank paper for us to draw on or grabbing two yardsticks to illustrate his point. He had modified his lesson plan on the spot. We training facilitators have our guides and agendas, but sometimes they don’t work like they should. Some of the best facilitators I know are those who can flex on their feet and find another path to the moment of discovery.

When we graduated, many of us said fond goodbyes to Mr. Smelley. He clearly made an impression on students like me, who learned much more from him than algebra.

Postscript: He told his classes that his wife’s name was Ima and her maiden name was Lemmon, so that made her Ima Lemmon Smelley. I am not sure it was true, but I remember it decades later. Classic Smelley.

By Emerson Consulting Manager, Patti Hughes

$70.6 billion is a lot of money. That’s the total investment U.S. corporations made in training people during 2016.* What did your company spend? And was most of your spend (including time and energy) on the front end – in design, development and delivery of the training?

How much did you invest on the back end – to support people as they performed and applied their new skills, knowledge and behaviors on the job? Did you just let ‘em sink or did you help them to swim?

You see performance will happen, regardless of what you do. But if you want it to be the right performance – the results that you’ve invested serious training dollars to achieve – you must guide participants to that outcome.

The level of performance support and reinforcement you use should match the complexity and criticality of the tasks, and the size of the behavior change you’re asking for. On-the-job support is essential if you answer “Yes” to most of these questions:

• Do you have a large audience (more than 250 people)?
• Is your audience dispersed?
• Is the content complex so that you couldn’t know it all by heart after completing the training?
• Is the task performed infrequently?
• Does management support new ways of learning?
• Are there high consequences for errors?
• Would performers benefit from advice while performing?

So what techniques, tools and aids should you use to support performance on the job? Here are some to consider:

• If you’re implementing a new technology, process or system, build online help and easy access to answers.
• Provide on-the-spot help through multiple channels. Find out where people naturally go when they don’t know what to do. Is it other teammates, help desks, trainers, reference materials, or websites? Use their preferred channel to provide answers and support.
• Hold on-the-job learning reinforcement sessions. Break the new process, behavior, or technology into small bites and conduct short sessions. You might make it a topic of a regularly scheduled meeting. Target the most challenging tasks, where the consequences for errors is great or where people have the most questions.
• Conduct ‘a-ha’ sessions to let people help each other out. Ask people to collect ideas, tips, tricks that have worked for them, then bring them together to share with others.

When you invest in training, you want the result to be accurate and repeatable performance. Don’t just train and then hold your breath and hope. Invest in reinforcing learning to guide people to the performance you expect. It is time and money well spent.

*Source: 2016 Industry Training Report. training. November/December 2016, p.29

A couple of years ago, I worked on a Learning and Development effort for a major retailer’s new financial system. It was the largest ERP implementation in their history. I’d be a very wealthy man if I had a nickel for every time I heard my client say things like:

• “We have to train them on that.”
• “That’s a training issue.”
• “We have to include that in training.”

While I appreciated the client’s zeal and passion for developing employees, they didn’t realize what they were asking for. If they trained their users on every aspect of a new system before go-live, employees would be over-worked and – worse – unfocused. They would spend way too much time in training, away from their work. And they wouldn’t be able to apply what they had learned in the context of their jobs. In other words, they wouldn’t know how to deliver the behaviors on which the ERP business case depended.

Instead of training the employees on EVERYTHING, we helped the client see that they needed to look at three factors to decide what to train. We call them the three C’s.

Three Factors to Decide What to Train

Critical: These are the most important behaviors employees need to perform – typically their core job responsibilities. Ask your stakeholders to answer questions like: What are the most important things for employees in this role to do? What are the essentials? What drives the performance of their team or business unit?

Common: These are the most frequent behaviors employees display – the things they must do routinely to successfully complete their work. Ask your stakeholders to answer questions like: What will the employee need to do most often? What are the everyday tasks?

Catastrophic: These are the behaviors that, if done incorrectly, would have a significant negative effect on the business. If the employee got these tasks wrong, the department or function would suffer. Ask your stakeholders questions like: What will shut down the business? What would open you up to lawsuits or employee injury?

If you can get your stakeholders to agree on these elements, you will focus your training development efforts in the right places. You will help the organization deliver on the project’s business case and get the greatest bang for their training buck!

I don’t remember the first time I used a hammer, but I know my dad didn’t just hand it over and say, “Good luck!” He had a vested interest in my health, so he took the time to teach me. There’s a simple lesson in that: learn to use the tool, or else it’s gonna hurt.

I know I’m not the only person to learn this lesson, yet I keep running into companies integrating new technology with little or no training. These companies have a vested interest in the health of their business, yet they hand over new technology and say, “Good luck!” I don’t know why – whether employers have a lot of confidence in workers learning independently, or whether new technology is considered a cure-all on its own, making the human element irrelevant. But the reality is, technology is not a solution; it’s a tool. If you want to hit your goals, you must take responsibility both for acquiring the tool and teaching employees to use it.

That doesn’t mean just tossing one more thing in your shopping cart. You can sometimes get away with buying a tool with no customization, but you can’t buy training off the shelf and expect it to work. Your business is unique. You have your own processes, procedures, jobs, reward systems and – most importantly – your own business goals. When you bought the technology, you expected some business benefit. Your employees must use the tool well, in the context of your business, or you won’t get the benefits you expect. Training for new technology should be mandatory and customized.

If you want to hit your goals, you must take responsibility both for acquiring the tool and teaching employees to use it.

Tech companies might claim their product is so intuitive anyone can use it immediately. They might use smartphones as an example. No one sent you to training for your first smartphone, right? Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t trained. You probably used a lot of trial and error, went online for help, and asked your friends or associates at the store where you bought it. For years, I ranted about my screen constantly rotating before a friend showed me a quick way to lock rotation. It’s really easy to do, but it hadn’t even occurred to me a feature like that existed. Now that I know, sure, it’s intuitive, but as an inexperienced user, my phone just seemed broken. Very few of us would be able to properly use our smartphones without friends acting as trainers. NOW your smartphone isn’t hard to use; now each one is intuitive, because your “intuition” depends on your own experience with the many smartphones you’ve owned. You’ve lived it, and that was your training, so now you don’t need to think about it. Do you want employees stumbling through your new technology until it’s intuitive? Do you want to wait that long to get your ROI?

Ok, that’s why training is important, but why custom training? Having spent years in the thick of technology implementations, I can tell you that all training is not equal and you get what you pay for. “Vanilla” training is cheap up front, but it’s not very effective. And its cost doesn’t include the high price of low productivity. Even if you implement technology as-is, right out of the box, vanilla training is dry and one-dimensional. No one wants to read a user guide, and frankly they’re not always helpful. Just look at Ikea. They market their products as easy-to-assemble furniture with easy-to-follow instructions. In reality, putting their furniture together is a notoriously frustrating process. Vanilla user guides simply aren’t enough to properly train a team to do their jobs effectively with new technology.

Besides, most technologies allow custom configuration, which most companies take advantage of, and which immediately makes vanilla training irrelevant.

Having spent years in the thick of technology implementations, I can tell you that all training is not equal and you get what you pay for.

If people struggle with smartphones and Ikea furniture – which are relatively simple and have a low cost of failure – how do you think your employees will fare with your pricey new technology? You need them ready to perform their own jobs with your technology configuration and your business processes in your teams and culture to hit your business targets.

You Need a Custom Training Solution

Do it right or don’t do it at all. Create training and support that fits your organization. Provide multiple avenues for learning, both guided and self-paced, as well as performance support on the job. Make it engaging, memorable and even fun – something your employees will want to take and refer to in the future. Build something that engages the whole learning community, encourages dialogue, and provides rewards and recognition for hard work – learning that makes your teams perform better. The health of your company depends on it.

I’m a mom of two kids. I often find myself helping them with homework or doing practice quizzes with them to see if they remember what they learned in class. Both play sports and on many days I can be found at a baseball or soccer field working with them one-on-one to apply skills they learned in their weekly team practice. Being a mom has shown me that learning doesn’t happen in a single event. It takes follow up, repetition, coaching and practice to make it stick. Why should this be any different in the workplace?

I’ve worked with many clients who see training as a one-time event, thinking their employees will return to the job and immediately apply what they’ve learned. That instant mastery is more the exception than the rule. I recently came across an article stating that 70% of employee training is forgotten within 24 hours. That’s a pretty discouraging statistic for a learning professional. But we can increase that retention .

Five Tips to Improve Application of Learning on the Job

• Make it visual. Visualization is a powerful tool in retention. 80% of people remember what they see and do, but only 10% remember what they hear. When we make training more visual, we automatically improve learning.
• Involve the manager. Supervisors should be involved before, during and after training. For example, they can set expectations before the training and ensure employees know why they should attend. Managers who attend training themselves, side by side employees, are more effective coaches when learning transfers to the job. They can also debrief after the training to reinforce what was learned.
• Plan follow-up activities. Follow-up is powerful because it turns the individual’s focus back to the new skills. On-the-job challenges, collaboration with peers, and regular checkpoints to observe and encourage employees – all of these reinforce learning.
• Schedule training at the point of need. Minimize the time between learning and real-world performance; train only what is immediately needed on the job. This is especially effective for systems training. If you train employees on new technology too far in advance of when they actually use it for the first time, there’s a good chance they won’t remember what to do. Embedding training and performance support into the system itself lets the employee get help exactly when they need it.
• Chunk it. Avoid information overload; people retain more complex information when it’s chunked into small modules and delivered at a manageable pace. For example, an employee could click on a button within a screen to view a short 1-2 minute video demonstration of the task he needs to perform on that screen. They would get only what they need, when they need it.

The next time you design a learning program, think about repetition, reinforcement and retention. Whether it’s kids or employees, the goal is to make the learning stick and the “stickier” the better!

Ever heard…

“Not so fast! That might have been ok elsewhere, but we do things a bit differently on this team.”

Or what about…

“I know what the documented process says, but in reality, it’s not done that way at all.”

But surely you’ve heard…

“If you are going to live in this house, you will obey my rules – it’s my way, or [you insert the rest here].”

These colloquialisms are a part of our lives. In one way or another, they govern how we behave on a team, in a department, and even in our family lives. They deliver information about how we should behave socially, coexist, and get things done the “right” way. Or, as my 92–year–old grandmother would say, “Doing the thing the way it is supposed to be done, when it’s supposed to be done, using the right stuff to get it done.”

These phrases reveal culture. (OH NO….the “C” word!) Culture exists in any field of human endeavor involving two or more people. It is the way things work, regardless of what is formally documented or stated when “big brother” is watching. In the workplace, culture governs day–to–day business operations. Culture is rarely documented, but it affects every decision made. Once, when I asked a client about a practice that confused me, he said, “It’s just the way things get done around here.” That’s as good as any other definition of culture.

In my time as a learning and development consultant, I’ve become painfully aware that culture – the unwritten rules of order – can enhance or destroy the best laid plans.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast
Mark Fields, former CEO of Ford Motor Company

Once upon a time in a conference room far, far way, a client felt the company culture was getting in the way of their change project. He asked our group of experienced change management and learning professionals, “How do you change culture?” A colleague wisely answered “Slowly, and almost never.”

It’s a common question. The client reasoned that a strategic communications approach and well–placed learning interventions mixed in the corporate cauldron would miraculously change the very nature of the organization.

Actually, it works the other way around. Culture is “baked in” to the organization. Treat it as a fixed and powerful force. It should be considered when designing every piece of the solution or the operation is bound to fail. Don’t try to change the organization’s culture. Understand it, and then harness its power for your initiative.

As we sat with the client, my team talked about our experiences with organizational culture. We reset the client’s expectations about culture change and the limitations of plans that do not consider culture. But we also helped them understand they had a massive force at their disposal – a force that could help get them to their goal.

For example, their change project required new employee behaviors. New employee behaviors mean training, right? But training, in a vacuum, rarely achieves true behavior change. We talked with the client about the need to focus attention on the behaviors they needed and use their culture as a catalyst. We helped them ask themselves, “What is the behavior we need to see after this training? How can we leverage our culture to help us get there?”

Here are some ways you can use your culture to get the behaviors your organization needs:

Acceptance

You know what they say: acceptance is the first step to change. Accept your reality. Look at the hard truths in your organization and examine the culture. Culture is what attracted most of the people working there today, so it’s not a bad thing, but you have to understand it. What are the unspoken rules? How do people talk and interact with each other? What behaviors are being rewarded? Those are the ones that are aligned to your culture. Beyond self-examination, there are more formal ways to determine culture; consider a thorough assessment. You have to know your culture before you can use it.

Engagement

Now that you have assessed your culture, determine the best way to engage the organization. Ask yourself a few questions:

• What type of organizational culture do you have? Rebels? Armies of one? One big family? Cooperation and synergy? A band of brothers who have each other’s backs? Creators and innovators? Risk–takers, encouraged to try and fail?
• Who are your employees? How much do demographics and characteristics (like gender, age, and background) drive the preferred learning approaches of the organization? For example, does the age of the majority influence the learning approach? As we try to engage the work force, what types of things will work and won’t work?
• How many people are you targeting? Does your organization have the infrastructure to support multi–faceted approaches, or are you limited to a few bells and whistles and a lo–fi approach to engage the audience?
• How are people rewarded for in the organization? What leads to high evaluations, promotions, more money, and social/political clout? In other words, what can we use – based on our culture – to facilitate engagement?

These questions are easy to answer for some organizations and difficult for others. Regardless, the effort is worthwhile. You must answer these questions if you want to engage successfully.

Execution

So far, you have done all the right things – you understand your true culture, have a plan for how to engage the organization, and now you need to execute. Your plan should be a multi–level, multi–phased, and supportive approach.

• Multi-level means stakeholders at all levels of are aware and on message. How are all levels of the organization helping to drive the engagement and support? You will need top-down (leader-driven) and a bottom–up (grass roots) approach that is aligned with your culture.
• Multi-phased simply implies you need to allow the organization to warm up to each part of the change. Total immersion in a new way of working is risky – if you ask folks to jump into the deep end, you might lose a few. I recommend using a tried and true approach – formats, words, and platforms everyone is comfortable with – and use it to deliver each component. The idea is to minimize the new stuff and make it all feel culturally right. Wrap the familiar around the new and it will go down much easier.
• Supportive means intentionally building an environment that helps employees succeed. Along with traditional performance support material like job aids, stakeholders and leaders must continue to “talk the talk and walk the walk.” Create touch points for learners to see the importance of what they are doing – the connection to the success of the team and the organization. Reward behaviors that are critical to the program’s success. ALL of these things should be designed through the lens of your culture.

There is a lot more advice I could have covered, but this is a blog, not a book! Remember a few things the next time you have a discussion about training for a new initiative and someone brings up the “C” word. Training counter to your culture never gets the results you want. Culture is powerful and should be exploited to your solution’s benefit, not ignored or resisted.

“Now get back out there and do it the way we taught ya,” the coach said, with optimism in his voice. “Atta boy!”

Kenny Simon is an L&D Director with Emerson Human Capital, as well as a sports junkie who learned about culture through professional experience and old ball coaches who were often verbally abusive. (But he isn’t bitter or anything…)