T is for Training @ #ATD2019 I Got Your Comps Right Here

ATD featured a sneak peek at the new Association for Talent Development Competencies model currently in progress.  Any questions or feedback for the study email to: competency_study at td dot org

The session called Shaping the Future of the Profession: The 2019 ATD Competency Study, featured a round table moderated by:
Courtney Vital,  (cv) Associate Vice President, Education & Credentialing,  ATD
Panelists: Elaine Biech, (eb) ebb associates inc;
Jonathan Halls (jh) Trainer Mojo LLC; and
William Rothwell, (br) Penn State University

There were two authors mentioned by Elaine Biech, ; Dianna Booher and Kevin Cope.

This is a slide capture of the Top Trends Identified in ATD’s Competency Research

This peek was in the middle of their re imagining the skills needed to be a competent  talent development professional.  The quotes were captured via a live tweet stream.  I tried to identify the panelists as I could while tweeting. This is not verbatim but I did try to get the sense of what each speaker was saying at the moment.  This session made my conference since I got to meet Elaine Biech.

Any questions or feedback for the study email to: competency_study at td dot org

CV Lets talk new competencies. ATD is in a unique position to determine the needs of talent development. TD professionals have to predict future changes otherwise we won’t be able to move our orgs into the future. What is a competency study? Scan literature, scan field, occupational survey and talk to practitioners.  The model development is continuing and the comps should be released later this year.

First question [to the panel] Why do we look at the forces to form competencies?

EB the comp study will take us from where we are today to where we need to be. The study will put thoughts on paper to codify what we need to be true professionals in field.

BR we start with a trends and future study so that the comps aren’t dated when they are written. Characteristic that underlies a successful performer as a def of comps.

JH Comps help to bring to a concrete place what we can focus on developing in response to changes in profession.

EB our profession is both wide and deep. We cover many areas of organizational development.

CV there were 3000 responses to survey

BR we are becoming trusted advisors. Technology is allowing us to be in a position to do things we need to do.

CV most significant shift is…

JH Our world is shifting. We get to build a new bridge.

EB our role in supporting our leaders and guide them. We need to speak C suite ese. Part of building a new bridge. ATD name change solidified TD role.

BR Technology will have a profound effect on the workforce. Full time workers are going away. Employers want to pay for results not time. 40 % of workforce will work virtually in the future. We expect online workers to produce immediate results.

JH go from deliver learning to helping workers access learning.

EB The bridge building will require everyone to stretch. We will have to help people learn to learn.  Must coach employees to find way through training and make them feel good and excited to plan for their future.

BR 70 percent of org change efforts fail. As changes get faster humans have trouble adapting to change. they shut down. We need to be aware of learner stress that comes with too much change too fast.

Why have competencies?

EB if we don’t pay attention to building our own comps, we need to take it and go with it. Otherwise, someone will take our job role away from us. Masters of Learning Engineer from BU? has many things that are learning pro

JH need to have competencies to make sure our roles are valued and known in organizations. What will never change is people needing help to develop their skills.

JH the professionalization of the training must be codified. Someone will do it and it should be us.

BR There will be new labels new names and charge more for the same work.

The Players: Courtney Vital,  (cv) Associate Vice President, Education & Credentialing,  ATD, Elaine Biech, (eb) ebb associates inc; Jonathan Halls, (jh) The 11th Hour Group; and William Rothwell, (br) Penn State University.

If you have questions or feedback for the study email competency_study at td dot org

Q and A (questions from the floor and answers have no attribution.) 

IEEE is working on a learning engineer program …

Is the change part of the comp model small?

Yes it will be woven into all the other parts of competences. Think holistically think integrated change management and integrated change.

Is Career development in the competency model?

Yes it is and it is an important element. We have to look at careers in a broader manner.

What does speak c suite mean?

We use acronyms that confuse. Get in the suite quickly. Diana Booher is a recommended read. We need to fit training into business goals. Tie talent development to business strategy.

BR what ceo’s think of training book. Don’t say comps say blueprint of successful performance. Think like a consultant. Problem, solution, action plan, budget, payback, staffing.

JH Learn what bonus structure is or regulations to be met and show how talent development and learning helps those goals.\

EB Kevin Cope is the other name of the books of how you can talk to C level folks.

What is the role of trusted advisor:

EB the role is three-pronged. 1) Collecting and curating. 2) Coaching and connecting others 3) Consulting and Coordinating organizational projects.

Organizations must be learning organizations. (BTW libraries have been learning organizations for decades. Look to your local library to see how it can be done. )

General Statements: 

BR We need to find a way to build blended experiences.

EB Think about the topics and how they are best delivered. Everything can’t be taught face to face. We need to be curators of information right answer at the right time.

JH we are in the business of helping people change.

Change management Creating competencies for leaders is going to crucial Leaders need a core comp for change.

BR training is retention strategy. People STAY if there is training and talent development programs for staff. We need to look at the people who have invisible learning disabilities. There are over 600 different things.

JH We need content creation as a competency. (we have always been content creators)

Excitement about future

JH we are at an exciting time no longer clunky tech

BR How our field can contribute to change everything

EB We can create an exciting future for our organizations. Orville Wright didn’t have a pilot’s license.

I hope that you have enjoyed my twittercap of the 2019 ATD competencies sneak peek.

T is for Training can be found on twitter @tisfortraining and here on the blog tisfortraining.wordpress.com

 

T is for Training 249.1 Live at ATD2019 Interview with Ken Phillips Effective Evaluations or You Are Probably Doing Them Wrong

Interview with Ken Phillips at the Association for Talent Development International Conference and Exposition from May 20th, 2019.   The interview can be downloaded HERE.

Ken was gracious enough to spend a little time talking about evaluations, the PLA Method, learning analytics, predictive measurement, what most people get wrong with evaluations and his upcoming book Going from Training to Application Using Predictive Learning Analytics on evaluation backed by analytical data via a predictive model.

His website, Predictive Learning Analytics (PLA) lays out the methodology:

The mission of PLA is to provide L&D professionals with a systematic, credible and repeatable process for maximizing the value of learning and development investments by measuring, monitoring and managing the amount of scrap learning associated with those investments.

Contact him either via the Predictive Learning Analytics website or email at ken at phillipsassociates dot com

Side Note:  I sometimes have problems remembering people’s names.  Faces I know names, not so much.   Names can take a while to settle in the database.   This interview was so wonderful, I would talk about it and try to remember the name of the interview subject.  I merely said “the evaluation guru” and two different people said, oh, you mean Ken Phillips.

Here is Ken Phillips.

T is for Training can be found on twitter @tisfortraining and here on the blog tisfortraining.wordpress.com

 

 

T is for Training @ #ATD2019 Monday reflections of a Wednesday @ ATD and Upcoming Recordings

The one thing about conferences, is that if you time it just right, you come back from a conference at night then get straight up to work the following day, with little time left for immediate reflection.

So here we are a couple of days after the end of the conference, and I am still processing the wonder things learned at the 2019 ATD International Conference and Exposition.

Here are some things I learned on Wednesday at the conference.

• Trade Show floors always look the same.  ATD’s could be ALA’s or vice versa.
• Author signings can be fun.  Kevin Kruse I am looking at you.
  
• The Talent Development and Learning profession is constantly changing.  ATD’s competencies for Talent Management professionals are currently being re imagined by ATD’s membership guided by a group of highly regarded talent development folks.  They presented a sneak peek at the direction of the new competencies.  I will bullet point my notes (from twitter) from the presentation with a slide or to later this week.   Below is a slide capture from the event.  
• Eric Whitacre’s closing event of the conference was incredible.   He talked about how he scaled his project from one voice to thousands, his collaborations to create the virtual choir and his writing process.   There was even a live/virtual choir mashup at the end to send us soaring out of Washington.  Here is the Virtual Choir Website.
  

My editing continues on the interviews.  They will be up on the T is for Training Blog over the next two weeks.

 

T is for Training @ #ATD2019 Monday Monday 2 Paul Smith @paulsmithATD author of Learning While Working

Paul Smith (@paulsmithatd) discusses his new book Learning While Working which focuses on successful training while in a particular position.   I was lucky enough to hear his briefing and record an interview with him.  That interview is coming up soon on this same @tisfortraining station.

NB — This is an edited stream of consciousness note taking.  This only scratches the surface of the book.

Many places treat OTJ (On The Job) training as an episode of survivor, sink or swim.

Organizations should treat OTJ training just like regular structured training.  It should have consistent goals and outcomes just like a successful n or outside of the traditional classroom setting.

Known objectives work to keep younger learners engaged.  Keep them in the drivers seat with upfront objectives shared at beginning of job cycle.

Good SOTJ (Structured On The Job) training program builds on a specific job role not the whole company. if there is just a sink or swim training mentality, the good people leave after four years.

Best to have specific tasks not just general Know excel but know how to x in excel.

There are two things that all good SOTJ training programs have:

Number One:

Sit down with specific role and identify specific and measurable things to be considered competent.  Doesn’t matter the size of the job.  Both learner and organization must know specific tasks to ensure learner success.  This list is a living document, not set in stone for eternity.

Must be specific measurable competencies in a position.

It can be a painful but beneficial journey to make organization position skills consistent throughout an organization leaving room for customization and local enhancement.

Once you do that you go to Two which is:

How do you know that they are competent?   Must evaluate observable output so someone else can evaluate position competence.

Don’t think of On The Job Training as that but think of a  competency based training.  While there is a place in the workplace for classroom training, job specific training is different from the information dissemination class training experience.

OTJ should be competency based learning to help you the worker establish a sense of competence in what you need to know to successfully do you job.   Use the measurable items to determine success of training and program.

You can use a competency based learning program that is completely  organized and viewed up front can be used as a recruitment tool.

Mentors love the list of competences so there is a consistent training foundation and expected outcomes with the benefit of helping a mentor guide the learner leading to project success.

What makes a good program works is accountability   Somebody must monitor and measure so the job gets done.  The employee has a list of measurables, the mentor has list, then there is an independent development coordinator to meet with the learner to evaluate the measurable items and what they have successfully completed in time x and what hey plan do to in the near future.

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development”

ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development. (2014). Alexandria: ASTD Press

Elaine Biech, editor 

If the title doesn’t already say all it all, let’s go one step further: Elaine Biech is one of our great ATD (Association for Talent Development) resources, and the Handbook is a treasured, foundational part of my talent-development book collection. Well organized and comprehensive in its survey of all aspects of talent development, the book makes nearly 100 of our greatest colleagues/mentors accessible to us within one volume. Whether you use it as an encyclopedia (exploring topics on an as-needed basis) or decide to read it cover-to-cover (and there’s no reason why you can’t do both), it’s a cherished must-have book.

–This brief review, originally written as a “shelf talker” posted in the conference bookstore at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver (May 2016), is re-posted here with the permission of our ATD colleagues. 

The T is for Training Bookshelf: “The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning”

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results (3^rd edition). (2015). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons and ATD Press

Roy V.H. Pollock, Andrew McK. Jefferson, and Calhoun Wick 

When you sit down to read The Six Disciplines, you’ll want to have a highlighter nearby: every page of this book bursts with wonderful guidance and stories that remind us talent development [aka training-teaching-learning-doing], at its best, is a results-driven endeavor. Having been tremendously influenced by the first edition when the Six Disciplines phenomenon was initially gaining steam, I found myself falling in love with the book all over again in its latest iteration; it’s like meeting an old friend who had a first-rate makeover none of us realized was necessary. Glad the authors continue to build on their earlier successes.

–This brief review, originally written as a “shelf talker” posted in the conference bookstore at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver (May 2016), is re-posted here with the permission of our ATD colleagues.