Reader Participation--Send Your Questions

If you have questions about management issues, send them in. Indicate whether you would like for me to answer them myself--or whether you're seeking input from other readers.

Also note that at the end of article-style posts, I've provided discussions. Please join the discussion.

Changemeister

According to consultant and author, Jiri Maly (Achieve change by accepting these inconvenient truths, Globe and Mail, Monday, December 28, 2009, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/achieve-change-by-accepting-these-inconvenient-truths/article1413125/), planning a process or business change is only part of the challenge of instituting change. Encouraging the staff to join in—especially one that’s battle-scarred from layoffs—poses as much of a challenge.

Maly offers no silver bullet, but finds the “inconvenient truth” approach apt. Succeeding in change requires accepting three:

• Employers must seek buy-in for the change from the staff. To do so, employers must acknowledge the “thoughts, feelings and beliefs of those” affected.

• Employees need to be motivated to make the change. But Maly derides “the common practice of ‘communicating the change story,’" which can “backfire;”suggesting, instead, that employees need to discover the need for change on their own and write their own stories. In that way, the develop “ownership” of the change process.

• The work environment needs to support the change. Mass culture training and trying to plant change agents among the workers often fails to work as intended; Maly recommends smaller efforts such as short learning forums that explore the whys of instituting change.

When I read this article, it reminded me of one I read during the economic downturn of 1990-1992. Executives said that they knew what their organizations needed—but convincing their staffs to join the change was the challenge. What differed about this approach is that, although some of the advice was familiar (like gaining buy-in), they author acknowledged that some of the more popular tactics for implementing change aren’t working.

Question for discussion: What has worked for you in promoting change in your organization?

And just as significantly, what hasn’t?

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Do It Yourself--Now It's a Management Philosophy?

A few years ago, Harold Jarche commented that the future of learning is Do-It-Yourself (DIY) (Febuary 26, 2007, http://www.jarche.com/2007/02/the-future-of-learning-is-diy/), in which subject matter experts prepare learning programs on their own, using software that lets them record soundtracks to Powerpoint presentations (like Captivate) or filling in templates from the learning content management systems used in their organizations.

David Merrill calls these people instructional-designers-by-assignment; they're not professional instructional designers who sought these jobs. They're people who, by virtue of their ability to explain things clearly or just because no one else was available, are expected to develop learning programs.

Although Jarche and Merrill may have been speculating, they are definitely onto something. The concept has received a lot of attention in the press in the last month or so—especially in the training press.

In her annual predictions for e-learning in e-Learn Magazine, Margaret Driscoll (my writing collaborator for a book and several articles) sees DIY as the dominant trend (http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=106-1).

Agatha Gilmore (The New Workplace Mantra: 'Do It Yourself', Chief Learning Officer Online, January 2010, http://www.clomedia.com/talent.php?pt=a&aid=2846) reports that the trend has moved beyond mere instructional design; one consulting firm found that it's standard operating procedure for many training organizations.

More specifically, Gilmore reports that many organizations are in-sourcing work that used to be outsourced. To address this trend, some organizations are teaching their clients how to do work on their own. (I don't know what's novel about this; the consulting firm I worked at in the mid-1990s has always offered this service.)

But perhaps Gilmore misses the larger picture. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sees a Do-It-Yourself economy arising from the two trends noted above--the economic downturn forcing people to do for themselves tasks that used to be performed by others, plus the availability of new software tools to make doing-it-yourself easy (The Do-It Yourself Economy, New York Times, December 12, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/opinion/13friedman.html?ref=opinion).

Called the "The Great Inflection," Friedman defines it as "the mass diffusion of low-cost, high-powered innovation technologies — from hand-held computers to Web sites that offer any imaginable service — plus cheap connectivity. They are transforming how business is done." To illustrate the great inflection, he describes how an ad agency in Minneapolis could develop a video for a client in a matter of days using low-end equipment; something definitely not feasible in earlier times.

This has profound implications for professional communicators and trainers. For those of modest skill, they can easily be replaced by a combination of subject matter experts and simple software. Yes, trained professionals might be able to produce high-quality work, but the simplicity and cost savings of avoiding these high-maintenance professionals might seem, for now at least, a worthwhile tradeoff.

Indeed, the experience of a Fool’s approach to DIY learning (that’s “fool” as in the name of the company that’s doing this—“the Motley Fool to be precise—not a comment on the strategy) is that “The results haven’t been perfect — not everyone is a natural-born orator, for example, and not everyone sticks to the plan” (Insourcing Education: A Foolish Approach, by Roger Friedman, CLO Magazine, December 2009, http://www.clomedia.com/talent.php?pt=a&aid=2829).

In other words, although DIY does address cost concerns, it may or may not address quality concerns. The producers of the soap opera Guiding Light learned that one the hard way. In a bid to control costs, Guiding Light, too, adopted a DIY approach to rehearding and taping shows. The resulting low-tech production made the show look so amateurish that viewers abandoned it--so many did so that the 72-year-old show was taken of the air.

Professionalism costs, but it might be a life-saver.

Question for discussion: Are you “doing it yourself” in your organization? How is that affecting your technical communicators and trainers?

Article to Check Out

For those of you who manage training and instructional design activities--here's an article that might be of interest.

In "Locked Out: Bridging the Divide between Training and Information Technology," a just-posted article in the e-Learning Guild's e-Learning Solutions Magazine, Marc Rosenberg and Steve Forman describe how cultural differences between Training and Information Technology create tension in their increasingly inter-dependent work relationship.

As organizations increase not only their use of e-learning but, more fundamentally, on learning, performance, and talent management systems, pressure increases for them to strengthen their collaboration.

To help in this process, Rosenberg and Forman suggest several concrete steps that these groups can take to collaborate.

View the entire article at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/285/

Note that the article is adapted from their chapter in Patti Shank's and my book, E-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges.

If you choose to read the article, after doing so, check out the rest of the magazine. You might find useful tips for designing and developing e-learning there.

Reader Participation--Send Your Questions

If you have questions about management issues, send them in. Indicate whether you would like for me to answer them myself--or whether you're seeking input from other readers.

Also note that at the end of article-style posts, I've provided discussions. Please join the discussion.

Saul

A New Year, A New Direction for Your Career?

OK—The new year may be a few weeks old at this point, but January is a good time to start plotting a career change (Workplace Shaman: 'Tis the season to think about career change, Mary Pearson, Financial Post , December 18, 2009,http://www.financialpost.com/careers/story.html?id=2356120).

Some things to think about as you do so.

Don’t let your age limit your opportunities. As Pearson reports—let Susan Boyle serve as your inspiration.

Furthermore, evidence is mounting that the perception of older workers as deficient is a myth (The Myth of the Deficient Older Employee, New York Times 9th Annual Year in Ideas Supplement, December 13, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/?ex=1276059600&en=3315a37210ca3555&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=GN-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M127-ROS-1209-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click#business-1).

(On the other hand, don’t fool yourself—age-ism exists (see my September 2009 article inIntercom.)

Don’t try to be a celebrity—just try to do something well, Pearson advises. Recognition will follow.

She adds that people need to define success on their own terms—the success you seek might not come from your job; it might come from some other sphere of your life.

Honestly assess the likelihood of your plans. To do so, sometimes you might benefit from the guidance of a mentor— a more experienced person who helps a less-experienced one (Finding the Right Mentor Can Bolster a Career, Associated Press, New York Times, December 28, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/28/business/AP-US-Your-Career-Mentoring.html?_r=1). More than open doors and encourage you, they can help you honestly assess your skills and abilities and suggest ways you to address those skills that need development.

If it’s new skills you need—consider education (I’m a professor—I have to say that). Consider some of these exciting new masters degrees and new twists on existing ones:

• Specialized MBAs, such as ones for clergy (Specialized M.B.A.’s: The Business of Zeroing In, Nancy Hass, New York Times, December 29, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03mba.html?ref=edlife) and an MBA for aviation industry workers (like the one at Concordia’s John Molson School)
• Social computing (New Media: The Interactive Entrepreneur, Brian Stetler, New York Times, December 29, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03socialnetwork-t.html?ref=edlife), such as degrees in social and interactive media
• Education leadership degrees that combine both education and management courses (some taught in conjunction with them) (Education Leadership: Skills to Fix Failing Schools, Laura Pappano, New York Times, December 29, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03educ.html?ref=edlife) (apparently, these degrees are really hot—Harvard’s first class had far more applicants than spaces)
• Narrative medicine (Narrative Medicine: Learning to Listen, Gina Kolata, New York Times, December 29, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03narrative.html?ref=edlife), which explores uses of storytelling to get a sense of a “whole” patient so he or she can be treated holistically rather than symptomatically.

And don’t forge about the educational technology degree at Concordia University in Montreal (hey—it’s a good program, why shouldn’t I plug it—and there’s still time to apply).

Be prepared for hard work. If your experience is similar to mine, when I transitioned from working in industry to an academic career, the transition is slow, painful, and hard. Roadblocks will exist. Some will be imagined—others will be real.

Celebrate One Success at a Time. In those instances, remind yourself why you’re doing this, focus on the interim rewards you’re receiving, and don’t forget to celebrate the intermediate milestones along the way. They provide tangible evidence that you’re making progress on the challenging path you’ve chosen.