Dropping the Ball – Or the Baton – During Hand-Offs

34 Second video…

My Experience in Hand-Off Situations 

I’ve seen it work well – rarely – and poorly – often. And it is very frustrating. Very.

In my professional life I’ve witnessed hand-offs while on the Board of ISPI (1999-2002), as ISPI President-Elect and President (2002-2004), as the co-founder and President-Elect and President of ISPI Charlotte (2009-2011), as the Deputy and Chair of the NSPI Awards of Excellence Committee (1996-1998), as a member of 3 successive Marketing Committees for NSPI Conferences (1983-1985), and numerous other professional society committees, task forces and ad hoc groups.

I witness these hand-offs between CAD and MCD efforts – Curriculum Architecture Design to Modular Curriculum Development/Acquisition efforts going from the establishment of a modular Path of formal and less formal and totally informal Instruction for development of targeted Performance Competence capabilities – where folks not involved in the upfront CAD efforts would do their client a favor by combining Events and blending all of the carefully segregated content intended to increase the ease and lower the costs for future ReUse.

And within MCD effort between the Design and Development Phases – so much so that I created a new Role in my methodologies – the PACT Lead Developer – whose role was to participate in the entire Design Phase and carry that design forward into the Development/Acquisition Phase and kick-off the development/acquisition efforts with a formal meeting to convey the critical modularity of the design so that developers would discontinue doing everyone a favor and combining things where they saw that possibility – thinking only of the target audience at hand and not all future audiences and attempting to lower the ReUse costs and cycle times further on down the road – er track.

Lessons in Making Lemonade

I’ve also witnessed this in my personal life – but never-mind the details on any of that. You get my point. It’s EVERYWHERE.

Hand-Off Issues Are Both Problems and Opportunities

To be quite pollyannaish about it. So that we can all stay positive about stuff that is often VERY frustrating.

And to make forward progress.

Often they are flip sides of the same coin – the Problems and Opportunities.

The two biggest Problems IMO are – 1) unnecessary rework and re-inventing the wheels – and 2) the discontinuation of key initiatives.

The Opportunities would therefore be:

1) use of “communications technologies” (in the broadest sense of that term) to capture and disseminate or make easily accessible that work you wish to have “lost” creating the need for rework/reinvention.

2) use of ” communications technologies” to capture the initiative plans and details – and track progress toward milestones – and to communicate about it in any manner about any topic that is germane to the initiative.

Being pollyannaish and hopeful and all….

Communications Is Key

But by that I mean both types – written (or maybe video-ed/audio-ed) – and verbal.

Something concrete – 1 way – that can be referred back to as needed. Right there it says/reads: ABC. No kidding.

And something less concrete – the possibility for a verbal exchange, a 2-way exchange – or a digital exchange. Where things can be tested… “do you mean that in the case of XYZ we should do 123?” That can be done on the phone, in person, an email exchange – or an exchange on Social Media.

But it’s important to share both – without making the sharing of the looser verbal/digital exchange so difficult – you know, 999 responses to a question that no one has time to review and interpret. Something/ someway that doesn’t bury the interested parties in a deluge of Information overload. Something that organizes the “bottom line” response to topics or tasks – something organized/architect-ed.

I particularly like Kick-Off Events/Meeting with handouts (written documents) – that could include links to audio podcasts and video podcasts and web pages, etc., etc. so that both types of Communications can occur. Of course that’s a bit “old school” and synchronous – but it can be recorded for asynchronous deployment/access – making it perhaps, somewhat “new school”  - whatever.

What’s Been Your Approach to Avoiding This Dropped Hand-Off – Or Your Recovery From Such?

Please share your comments or links to relevant Blog Posts, articles, videos, etc. – in the comments below.

And may all of your Hand-Offs be successful!

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Slides from an HP Presentation About a CAD 

I did a CAD – Curriculum Architecture Design – for HP back in 1992 – and then Darryl Sink did the actual ADDIE-level development based on my modular designs for the T&D Events and their T&D Modules – think: Books and Chapters – for all of the gaps in the T&D Path.

Due to the Performance Model as the anchor for the design – the Time To Proficiency was reduced from 10 months to 3 months. The ROI – calculated by the HP Financial organization – was $1.25 Million.

I forget the time horizon – but all of that was calculated long after I was finished and handed off the analysis and design data to my client. This was my 3rd CAD effort with her – and was used deliberately in her less-Formal Training – as there was only 1 Learner versus a group warranting a Group-Paced approach (Workshop) – and she began to do the Performance Modeling and K/S derivation herself on future projects.

The 4 Phase CAD Effort

In this effort we followed my standard approach – represented in this graphic.

Award of Excellence

Here is the handout HP and the Sink organization handed out – at NSPI (now ISPI) after they won an Award of Excellence.

Note the use of the Performance Model data – to build the evaluation/ assessment tests. That Phase (III) could have been done as Phase II – but again, I wasn’t involved after the Phase I efforts – which were really all 4 of my CAD Phases (normally I would use Stage where HP used the word Phrase).

Anyway…

I’m still doing these projects – and developing others to do them themselves.

Contact me for more information.

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HPT Practitioner Video

At the ISPI Conference last month I was able to schedule some time with Russ Powell for this 7 minute video interview.

Russ Powell

Russ Powell is a 20-year learning-industry veteran who helps mid-sized and large businesses create effective and affordable professional training programs that help bring their employees to the next level.

His programs help business leaders:

1. •Reduce high rates of turnover
2. •Decrease warranty costs associated with products
3. •Maintain quality and profitability during rapid growth
4. •Expand markets
5. •Regain customers lost to competition
6. •Increase employee productivity

Russ works with directors, managers, and business owners to analyze workforce performance problems and build systems that solve those problems.

He is particularly skilled at working with accomplished performers (e.g., experts in the field) to document how they do what they do. That documentation is often used in job-aids, training programs (web-based and/or instructor-led), manuals, or to address industry compliance needs.

See a Listing of All of My HPT Practitioner and Legacy Videos

Over 60 videos in this collection - here.

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HPT Practitioner Video

At the ISPI Conference last month I was able to schedule some time with Eileen Banchoff for this quick 5 minute video interview.

Eileen Banchoff, CPT, PhD

Eileen Banchoff is the president of Banchoff Associates, Inc., a company that provides learning and performance support-related services from small to mid-sized companies in Southeast Michigan. Over her 40-year career, Eileen has educated and trained thousands of adult learners and led numerous custom learning projects. Eileen knows first-hand how to use formal models to develop results-based training interventions and/or is eager to share how to transition from successfully educating in the K-12 arena (her first career) to training in the business world (her second career).

See a Listing of All of My HPT Practitioner and Legacy Videos

Over 60 videos in this collection - here.

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32 minutes

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HPT Practitioner Video

At the ISPI Conference last month I was able to schedule some time with Ingrid Guerra-Lopez for this 10 minute video interview.

Ingrid Guerra-Lopez, Ph.D.

Ingrid Guerra is associate professor at the Wayne State University. She has published articles in the areas of strategic planning, performance improvement (competencies, and professional practice), and distance education. She was previously project manager of a needs assessment project with the Florida Division of Blind Services and the Florida State University Office for Needs Assessment & Planning.

Please click here for a complete resume.

See a Listing of All of My HPT Practitioner and Legacy Videos 

Over 60 videos in this collection - here.

Uh Oh – Seventy-Thirty

Another set of numbers. Not to be confused with what those promoting 80/20 or 70-20-10 are trying to communicate. This is something backed by research. But first, let’s digress a bit…

A Meaningful Number: 70:30

Research has concluded: approximately 70% of what an Expert knows – is at the non-conscious level – meaning either “they don’t know what they know” – or – “they do know – what they don’t know – they just cannot tell you anything about it.” They can only tell you about 30 of what they really know to do what a novice would need to know.

The old saw is “I’ve forgotten more than I know” turns out to be pretty darn accurate.

They, experts, are on auto pilot.

Just as you have experienced when you find that you are in your driveway already home – but don’t recall the drive. Or you drove to the wrong place – absent mindedly, so to speak.

Even if they, your SMEs, Master Performers, Exemplary Performers, Star Performers, Accomplished Performers, etc., are motivated to share the specifics of what they know with you – as they might be when you are doing an SME interview to build Training/Learning content – they cannot.

They simply cannot. Try as they might.

So What?

This has major implications…

• To folks in the Learning/Training/Instruction profession. Their methods for gathering content will most likely have to change.
• And to “Authoring Tool” vendors who tout that SMEs can do Rapid Development to trap and share their Knowledge – are also going to have to change their Sales Spiel.
• And to all organizations that rely on SMEs to teach courses – they will need to examine what they are getting – and not getting – from this approach.
• And those who think they’ll get a lot of benefit from participating in Communities of Practice.

Then What?

There are proven approaches – some are called Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) that are beneficial – but as Dr. Clark warns – there are over 100 versions of CTA discovered in one study – but only 6 were found to be EBP – Evidence Based Practice.

Yikes.

Dr. Richard E. (Dick) Clark speaks to this in a couple of videos.

Video From USC – CCT – 2008 – 63 minutes

Video From April 2012 at ISPI – 45 Minutes

Resources From the USC – University of Southern California’s CCT – Center for Cognitive Technologies

Cognitive Task Analysis

	Clark, R. E., & Estes, F. (1998). Cognitive task analysis. International Journal of Educational Research, 25(5), 403-417.
	Clark, R.E., Feldon, D., Van Merrienboer, J.J.G., Yates, K., and Early, S. (2008) Cognitive task analysis. In J.M. Spector, M.D. Merrill, J.J.G. van Merrienboer, & M.P. Driscoll (Eds.).Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
	Clark, R.E., Feldon, D., & Yates, K. (2011, April) Using Cognitive Task Analysis to capture expert knowledge and skills for research and instructional design. Workshop presented at the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
	Yates, Kenneth A. (2007). Towards a taxonomy of cognitive task analysis methods: A search for cognition and task analysis interactions. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Other related resources may be found in the Publications area of the Center for Cognitive Technologies web site – here.

The Group Process

My own approach – first written about in this – below – NSPI (now ISPI) publication in November 1984 – used what we called a Group Process to accomplish what a CTA attempts to accomplish – getting closer to 100%.

Models and Matrices- NSPI PIJ -1984 - 5 page PDF – the first publication of the performance and enabler analysis methods for ISD, from NSPI’s (ISPI’s) Performance & Instruction Journal, November 1984.

An Application – Using Proven Group Processes in Analysis and Downstream from Analysis

Two months earlier – September 1984 – Training Magazine published my partners’ and my article on Curriculum Architecture Design (CAD) with a recommended sub-title about the recommended construction method: Group Process.

CAD – Training Mag – 1984 - 6 page PDF – the first publication about Curriculum Architecture Design via a Group Process – published in Training Magazine in September 1984. Original manuscript (30 pages) – How to Build a Training Structure That Won’t Keep Burning Down.

Here is a 13 minute video I did earlier this year (2012) that goes into that – and how what was then called out by Training Magazine as “innovative” – doesn’t seem to have been picked up by others in this Curriculum/Learning Architecture space – for what they are doing and how they are doing it – according to their books, articles and videos, seems very old school to me – and would have seemed old school to me back in 1984:

And here is an 11 minute from client’s at General Motors back in 1997 – about the Process that my firm and I used to conduct the analysis and design – leading to development of an 18-month program for new Supervisors – one week in class and labs and then one week on the job applying what they had learned (and doing other work) – where we designed the 18-month Event just ahead of the Developers (from both General Physics and Raytheon and several other GM sub-contractors).

The focus at GM back in these days was on “Process” – hence the renaming of my methods (CAD and MCD) to MC and MI Processes – architect-ing or systems engineering of the Instructional Product Line or Path – and then the development (manufacturing) of the engineered (Instructional) products. Another focus was – reuse of auto components and so my focus on Re-Use on Instructional Content was intriguing to them.

CAD efforts lead to rapid development. And have since 1982 for me and my clients.

But As Always – It Depends

Just because a group of Master Performers can come to consensus on something – doesn’t make them right.

You’ll always need to test – developmental testing and then Pilot-Testing – to make sure before you unleash – release – your Content – to the world. As Bob Mager always recommended we do.

The trick – I discovered back in the early 1980s – is always in “assembling the right group” – of Master Performers, other Subject Matter Experts, sometimes Novice Performers, and sometimes Supervisors, Managers and sometimes downstream Customers and upstream Suppliers.

My approach is covered in this 2011 book: Analysis of Performance Competence Requirements

That book is available as a paperback or a Kindle – here.

I also have formal workshops and less-formal coaching sessions – for staff development – that I have been delivering to clients formally since 1983 – and my own staff and our subcontractors informally (or less formally) since 1982. More about that – here.

Contact me if you are interested in learning more.

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T&D Paths  - Video – 3 minutes

PACT Video Shorts Series – Intent

The intent of this Video Series of The School of PACT - is to help others in the development of their Performance Competence in whatever Instructional Design and/or Performance Improvement roles that they have, and help them master the PACT Processes – as either adopted or adapted – for the sake of the Enterprise and its Stakeholders – and to produce significant Performance Impact and Return On Investments (ROI).

PACT has 3 levels of flexible ISD – and shared, common Analysis and Project Planning & Management tools and techniques. PACT has been field tested and proven in dozens of Enterprise Contexts – on hundreds of external client projects by myself and my staff,  and hundreds and hundreds  more on internal projects conducted by my client’s staffs – and can be adapted for any Enterprise context’s needs and constraints.

The PACT Video Shorts Series Index and Links

There are multiple Videos of varying lengths in each of the 8 Categories below…

A- PACT Overviews

B- PACT Analysis

C- CAD – Curriculum Architecture Design

D- MCD – Modular Curriculum Development

E- IAD – Instructional Activity Development

F- Project Planning & Management

G- Group Process Facilitation Tips

H- EPPI – Performance Improvement

*** *** *** ***

Additional Resources for staff development include:

• audio podcasts
• books
• workshops.

Email me, Guy Wallace for more information:  guy.wallace@eppic.biz

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An interview with David Garvin and Amy Edmondson, Professors, Harvard Business School. Learning organizations generate and act on new knowledge. The ability to do this enables companies to stay ahead of change and the competition.

Their HBR Article: Is Yours a Learning Organization.

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HPT Practitioner Video

At the ISPI Conference last month I was able to schedule some time with Jeanne Farrington for this quick 8 minute video interview.

Jeanne Farrington, CPT, Ed.D.

Dr. Jeanne Farrington, CPT, is President of J. Farrington Consulting. She works with companies to help them define their strategic approach to education, learning, career development, and performance improvement. She also designs and implements training and performance improvement projects for all types of audiences in a variety of companies. She has taught university courses and corporate workshops on many aspects of instructional design, performance technology, and web-based training. She has worked internally as a training professional and manager at Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, and Hewlett-Packard.

Jeanne works with training and performance improvement organizations to assist them in developing strategies for internal as well as customer training. She has written business plans for Corporate Universities and training organizations in the high-tech arena. At Hewlett-Packard, Jeanne was responsible for creating and implementing the strategy for the development of their worldwide education community.

Jeanne has over 20 years of experience in developing training programs and creating performance improvement initiatives. During that time, she has contributed to the development of hundreds of projects, either as the lead designer, as part of a team, or as a consultant to others. Over the years she has worked with companies of various sizes, including Cadence Design Systems, California State Automobile Association, Cisco, Clarify, Fireman’s Fund Insurance, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Levi Straus, Oracle, PG&E, PeopleSoft, Proctor & Gamble, Saba Software, Sun Microsystems, Taco Bell, and VERITAS Software.

Jeanne has not only created a wide variety of programs for a variety of audiences, she has also taught instructional design and performance technology to others. Jeanne has an M.A. in Instructional Technology from San Jose State and an Ed.D. in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California. As an adjunct professor at USC she served as Local Advisor for their Human Performance at Work Doctor of Education program.

Jeanne is a published author on various topics related to performance improvement. She is co-author of From Training to Performance Improvement: Navigating the Transition, and she has contributed to a number of publications. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), and she is current President of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), where she has also been a Director and a frequent speaker.

See a Listing of All of My HPT Practitioner and Legacy Videos 

Over 60 videos in this collection - here.