May 18 2007

Ray Svenson

My former business partner Ray Svenson (1982-1997 at SWI – Svenson & Wallace Inc.) was in town for a nephew’s wedding and came in a few days early so we could work on our new book: “Performance-based Qualification/Certification Systems.”

He came in on Wednesday late afternoon and he and I and Nancy went on an hour-long boat ride to a lakeside bar/restaurant. All was fine until the rain started. Then it was time to drive the boat home in the rain…and the dark…for an hour.

We all got wet, something Ray was familiar with as he too has a 24′ boat on a lake…just that his lake is Lake Michigan…and you can’t ride out on that lake often without getting somewhat wet…the wave spray breaking over the bow or the wind blown spray from any direction. So he didn’t really mind. I drove, he stood on the steps going down into the cabin and helped me look out for other boats in the dark through the windshield, and Nancy went below to stay drier.

Because of his timing for the visit I had “volunteered” him to the “ISPI Carolinas Chapter” as a speaker for this month. They said yes and made contact. Ray gave them a list of about 6 presentations and they choose:

Winning Every Time: Six Ways to Make Large-Scale Performance Interventions Succeed

It was an excellent session – I knew it would be – as I had seen him do this in Tampa in 2004 at the ISPI Spring Conference.

The session description- Large-scale performance interventions carry high risk and often fail; some say as high as 70 percent fail. The reasons for failure usually have more to do with engaging and working with the sociopolitical system and human dynamics than with doing a good job of planning, analysis, and design. As performance technologists, we tend to focus on the arts of analysis and design, because these are our special expertise. This presentation will focus on the sociopolitical aspects that help guarantee success.

The session materials and a related article may be found (soon) on the ISPI Carolinas Chapter web site at: http://www.ispicarolinas.org/index.html

There are articles and presentations (including an earlier version of what he delivered last night) on his web site.

Here is a review of Ray’s first book-

“The tested tools and techniques in The Training and Development Strategic Plan Workbook give you a systematic way to develop a training plan that guarantees superior performance and can produce a 10-to-1 or better payback.”

Although the book is out of print, it CAN BE found used… check out http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/013853862X

Ray’s second book was “The Quality RoadMap” which was co-authored by myself and my wife (at the time) Karen Kennedy.

We hope to have this new book completed in the fourth quarter of this year…and seem to be on track with our plan. It is based on methodology we developed in the mid-1980s for that type of work…performance-based Qualification/Certification…of Performance Capability for a project up in Prudhoe Bay in 1987…in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope, in the Arctic Circle. We later did a very similar project in 1994 on the Alaska Pipeline.

Later my firm (CADDI) did similar work for several clients for other technical populations, sales and branch management.

If the Risks/Rewards of performance for certain performers in certain processes are SIGNIFICANT…then this may be the approach to ensuring that those performers are qualified to do that work.

This is also covered a bit in my book: lean-ISD…in the IAD section and chapters. You can get a free copy of that at http://www.eppic.biz/

Enough about me. More about Ray…

Ray’s consulting service offerings include: Learning and Development Services

for Learning & DevelopmentProven planning processes for addressing learning and development needs driven by business goals, strategies, and challenges; the scope can be corporation or businesswide, leadership development, or functional such as engineering or sales
Workplace Learning SystemsIntegrated holistic learning systems for natural work groups such as a sales district, a manufacturing operation, an engineering unit, or a customer service center
Executive Coaching SystemsSystems that integrate executive coaching in a broader executive development program; features include selection or sourcing, development, assignment, and management of internal or external coaches
Executive CoachingSourcing of expert executive coaches
Organizing for Learning and DevelopmentDesigning the Learning and Development Organization including processes, structure, teams, jobs, results metrics, and infrastructure
Governance Systems for Learning and DevelopmentBusinesswide, functional, and geographical boards and councils made up of executive customers to oversee, direct, and support the learning and development function
Assessing Your Learning and Development SystemAssesses any Learning and Development System against industry best practices and makes recommendations for improvement
Coaching for Learning and Development LeadersOne-on-one expert coaching for leaders of Learning and Development Organizations

Organizational Effectiveness Services – Implementing business strategy or organizing to align with business strategy
Organization DesignDesigning any organization to align with the strategies of the business; includes processes, structure, teams and jobs, results metrics, and infrastructure requirements
Strategic Planning for Human CapitalDevelop a strategic plan for systematically meeting Human Capital Requirements including sourcing; recruiting, hiring, and staffing; training and development; performance management; career and succession management; and compensation and benefits
Departmental Strategic PlanningDevelop a strategic plan for a department that supports the overall mission, goals, and strategies of the larger organization
Business Strategy ImplementationDesigning and executing initiatives to implement specific business strategies
FacilitationFacilitating any leadership team to free them from managing their process and permit them to focus on content in pursuit of important business objectives