"Creative Abrasionist" Lance Dublin

There’s  a lot of talk these days about “formal” vs. “informal learning”.   Time and again, managers in every industry are asking, “How can I leverage this whole ‘social media’ thing?  That’s informal learning, right?”

Not exactly, according to Lance Dublin of Dublin Consulting, who spoke last night in San Francisco at an event of the ASTD Golden Gate Chapter.

I found Dublin’s ‘s presentation, “Formalizing Informal Learning—Learning’s Third Dimension,” to be quite a thought-provoking journey.    If you think about it, what really is “informal learning”?   According to Dublin, the title is just too broad.  On one side of the spectrum you have “formal learning” — books, classes, trainings, etc.  This type of learning tends to be objective, structured an, most of all, intentional; you have something you want to learn and you find a structured place to dig in and absorb it.   On the other side of the spectrum is informal, unintentional learning.  In other words–all the learning that happens, seemingly by accident, in the course of living our lives.  You’re having a conversation, or you’re playing, or you put your finger on a hot stove…and learning somehow takes place–without any intentionality. That’s informal, unintentional learning.

Where it gets interesting, however, is in what Dublin calls the “third dimension”:  learning that is intentional but fairly unstructured.  We’re talking about activities like reading, and doing web searches; coaching and mentoring;  blogs and wikis; podcasts and YouTube; facebook and other social media;  emails.  In other words, you find yourself needing some information and you go out and get it–but without the structure of  a class or a training.

Dublin’s argument is that we trainers should NOT be thinking about “instituting company-wide, informal learning programs.”   Labeling is useless.  Dublin believes that we have to be extremely solution focused,  asking our clients, “What are you trying to solve?”  & “What would be the best way to solve it?”   And then, depending on the answers we receive, we should use the most appropriate tools available — no matter what the label, “formal or informal”.  For example, if information is not being spread quickly enough in an organization, perhaps a wiki is the best solution…or a quick podcast…or a YouTube video.

Learning is happening all the time, all around us.  When you need some information, do you simply put the problem on hold until you can get into a training program? Of course not!  You grab a book; you do a web search; you call or email a colleague; you pop your head into the office down the hall and ask for help, etc.  There’s intentionality about it, to be sure, but it’s certainly informal.  Trying to “formalize” this “informality” is crazy.

Dublin’s conclusion:  choose from all the tools available; use the best ones for the problem at hand; and don’t label it.

The problem:  my job felt stagnant.  I wasn’t learning new skills.  Nor was there any opportunity for advancement.

Not surprisingly, employee stagnation continues to exist today!  According to an article in December’s Training and Development Magazine, titled “Employee Stagnation Could Lead to Migration”, allowing your employees to “stagnate” may well lead to a ton of turnover–and soon.    Shockingly, a recent  survey of 1,000 employed U.S. workers across industries showed 1/2 of respondents said their jobs were stagnant.  Imagine it — a possible 50% turnover rate on the horizon.

The solution:  Provide people with a chance to advance.  Give them the resources they need to tackle assignments.  Afford them the opportunity to learn new skills.

Yes, times are tought, and we’ve all been forced to focus on profits and bottom line.  But don’t forget about your people!  To keep them, you’ll need to take measures re-engage people. Otherwise your employees will check out, doing only what they need to, to get by.  And that’s the bottom line.

For the entire T&D article, go to:  http://bit.ly/8fQFGU

Some of the outcomes of a trust-based work culture include:

• Customer Loyalty
• Retention
• Top-line revenue growth

The point:  you can have the best busines plan…superior funding for your initiatives…but if you don’t create the proper “relationship environment”, you’ll never make headway financially.

Serving up trust

What are you doing to build trust in your business?

According to a recent article in Inc. Magazine, entitled “Lessons from a Blue- Collar Millionaire, this is a question Nick Sarillo asks himself nearly every day.  Sarillo, a former construction worker turned restaurateur, is the founder and CEO of Chicago-suburbs-based Nick’s Pizza and Pub.  Although he came into the business with no management philosophy to speak of, Sarillo clearly has implemented some highly-effective work systems for building trust — not always an easy task when the majority of his employees are high schoolers.

Here are a couple of his innovative trust-building practices:

A) Coach in the moment, not after the fact

Sarillo’s managers activitely employ three forms of feedback:

1) the feedback loop:  at the end of a shift, a trainer might ask someone, “So, what is the one thing you did well, and–if you could replay the tape–what is one thing you would do to enhance your peformance?”  It’s called a feedback “loop” because the employees and managers engage in a 2-way dialogue.

2) performance feedback:  Also at the end of a shift, after observiing someone’s performance, the manager or trainer will customarily mention one  thing the person did well and one thing he or she should try to improve.

3) direct feedback:  the manager or trainer intercedes/communicates immediately when noticing a specific behavior that needs improvement.

B) Create Safe Space:  At Nick’s Pizza & Pub, employees operate under specific, well-defined ground rules of communication.  For example,  in meetings and elsewhere, a statement must be based on data, not feelings or speculation.  Also, people should always strive to unearth and identify “the moose in the room”, something many people are aware of but no one is talking about. This allows you to nip gossip and rumors in the bud.

If good teamwork is based on trust, then trust arises from ground-rules, communication and regular, specific feedback.

For the whole Inc. Article, check out:  http://bit.ly/5VLolR

The story is about Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk.  You guessed it…they’re a junk hauling company that hires college students and recent grads.  Junk businesses come and go, but what’s interesting about Nick’s biz is that he’s striven to preserve a company-wide frat-house atmosphere.

Says Friedman:  “We wanted to harness that competitive, prankster, enthusiasm and channel it for good.”

That means nearly non-stop internal competition.  Employees compete with each other over *everything* — from who can haul the most junk, to who can donate the most items to charity, to who can sign up the most local businesses to display Hunk’s marketing materials.  Employees even compete to be named, by their customers, “Hunk of the Month”.

What do you think about all this?  I have mixed feelings–on the one hand, you have to commend the founder for knowing his employees and creating a playful, corporate environment.  On the other hand, I agree with consultant Cindy Ventrice, who in the article states,  “I’ve seen a fair number of contests where, if the prize is something people really want, they will begin to sabotage each other. “    It’s certainly true that this kind of thing can be poison for collaboration and the free sharing of information–something a lot of my clients are certainly aiming for these days.  Imagine if your staff failed to report problems in order to win safety competitions!

Something to think about before you go down the road of the Hunks.

Here’s one model for how to be “respectfully authentic at work”:

1)      Check in with what your feeling inside in response to a situation, comment, behavior, etc.

2) Calmly say to whoever is involved: “In response to what you just said, I am feeling kind of …”

Don’t “act out”; don’t swear, hug, kiss, insult, throw chairs, etc. Don’t label people or use the nefarious “you” statement. Just state how you’re feeling in response to stimuli, as calmly and as clearly as possible.

More often then not, you’re feeling several things all at once, so express that. Ie. “In response to what you just said, I’m having some conflicted feelings. On the one hand, I’m feeling kind of nervous to bring things up with you, because you’ve been doing a lot of great work for me recently and I feel bad about complaining. On the other hand, when you made that sour expression and used a sarcastic tone, I felt pretty darn irritated and annoyed.”

And then you shut up and let people have their feelings. Most of the time, this approach leads to a very interesting conversation with the other person. The trick, though, is to stick with the model. “In response to XXX, I’m feeling…”  Note: the other person doesn’t *have* to do anything about your feelings. You are responsible for your own feelings–you’re not expressing your feelings to compel people to change or apologize. You’re just committing yourself to authentic expression. It’s sort of like, “So here’s what’s going on for me. FYI.  What’s going on for you? What’s your take?

Try it some time!

http://www.drclue.com/info/audioRecordings.php

It’s a good one!

Dave Blum, President, Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts

Welcome to my new blog.  I’ll be blogging on some of my favorite topics:   teambuilding, communication, collaboration, treasure hunts, social intelligence, scavenger hunts, trust, etc.  To read more about my teambuilding company, Dr. Clue, check out www.drclue.com.   And to download our free ebook, go to http://www.drclue.com/land/got-the-zero-budget-blues.php    Enjoy…and please leave a comment; I love dialogue!

Chasing History

Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Dave Blum

There’s an interesting article in this week’s Sports Illustrated; it’s about Dick Fosbury, the gawky teenager who pretty much invented the modern style of high jumping.   Before Fosbury, people essentially jumped forward and straddled the high-jump bar as they went over.  Fosbury did it backwards–jumping with his back to the bar and literally bending himself backwards to clear it…to enormous success.

What really interested me in the article was Fosbury’s motivation for competing.  The author writes:

“Fosbury was not intrigued by benchmarks. In fact, after his event was won, he never continued jumping just to set a record. “He jumps against people, not heights,” Wagner said.

Compare this with what Alex Tresniowski writes about Tiger Woods in his book, Tiger Virtues:

“Thus Tiger is not waging battle against against his fellow golfers or even against Niklaus
and other guardians of history–Tiger is pitted against himself to see what his own limits are.”

This is a significant distinction–what motivates us and our fellow teammates?  Is it something external, like “beating” one’s competitors, or internal, like pushing one’s own’s limits or exceeding some never-achieved standards.

As managers we have to know how our people are motivated.  However, we also need to weigh the possible downside of using external “competition” as a motivator.    If our goal, for example, is to defeat fellow co-workers in our own organization, aren’t we opening the door to silos, clique-ishness and overall divisiveness?

Myself, I vote for the Tiger approach. He writes:

“Who knows?  I hope I’ll become the best ever.  But the best me–that’s a little more important.”

happy employees

Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Dave Blum

This url was “tweeted” to me today and I thought it was worth sharing.  It’s from a great blogger: Gretchen Rubin.   http://om.ly/IqBL

She’s written a list of questions employees should ask themselves when considering their own job satisfaction.  If you’re a manager who wants to create a happier and more productive work environment, you might want to consider if your employees can answer “yes” to the following questions:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?

9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

10. Do I have a best friend at work?

11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?

12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Can you say YES to all of these questions?