Courageous Training

COURAGEOUS TRAINING This page intentionally left blank COURAGEOUS TRAINING Bold Actions for Business Results Tim Mooney and Robert O. Brinkerhoff Courageous Training Copyright © 2008 by Timothy Mooney and Robert O. Brinkerhoff. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650 San Francisco, California 94104-2916 Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512 www.bkconnection.com Ordering information for print editions Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the Berrett-Koehler address above. Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626. Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ingram Publisher Services, Tel: (800) 509-4887; Fax: (800) 838-1149; E-mail: customer .service@ingrampublisherservices.com; or visit www.ingrampublisherservices.com/ Ordering for details about electronic ordering. Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. First Edition Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-564-8 PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-57675-780-2 2008-1 Tim Mooney dedicates this book to his parents, Joan and Ray, who inspired him to never settle for good enough and taught him that big dreams combined with clarity of belief and hard work will prevail in the long run. Their self-sacrifice and love for their children continue to be an inspiration to this day. Rob Brinkerhoff dedicates this book to Jane and Richard Auld, who had the courage to live with and raise their daughter Stevie, to whom Rob is now married and whose feistiness and beauty live on in their three daughters. Thanks to Jane and Dick also for their wondrously generous and highly principled values—a continuing source of inspiration. This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Introduction: The Hole We’re In and How We Can Stop Digging 1 What Is Courageous Training? 19 33 Pillar #1: Be a Business-Goal Bulldog Pillar #2: Build Whole-Organization Responsibility for Training Impact 53 Pillar #3: Win the Hearts and Minds of the Make-or-Break Partners 71 Pillar #4: Tell It Like It Is with Truthful Measurement and Evaluation 93 The Courageous Training Code: Seven Ways to Strengthen Your Leadership Backbone 117 Introducing Four Courageous Training Leaders Case Example #1: Diary of a CLO 139 133 Executive Development at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, by Larry Mohl Case Example #2: The “So What?” Factor Organizational Change at Clark County School District, by Dr. Jeff Hafen 159 Case Example #3: Raising Expectations for Concrete Results 175 Leadership Development at Holcim, by Lisa Bell viii Contents 12 13 Case Example #4: From Training Delivery to Trusted Advisor 195 Sales Force Transformation at Insight Enterprises, by Julie Dervin Getting Started on the Courageous Training Path 213 Resources: Terms and Tools Bibliography 228 Acknowledgments 229 Index 230 About the Authors 240 224 Preface I f you were a brand-new baby sea turtle, your odds for survival would be grim: of thousands hatched, only a dozen or so make it to adulthood. From jellyfish to dandelions, this is the way nature works. Thousands of seeds are dispersed in the seas or winds, but only a few are viable survivors. What seems to work OK in the world of nature is not effective in the world of business. Investments in workplace learning are meant to give birth to new capabilities that employees can use to improve job performance. Odds are better here than for sea turtles, but not by a huge amount. If you wanted a sure bet, your best guess would be 15% to 20% of trainees who participate in the typical workplace learning event ever employ their new capabilities in a way that leads to worthwhile results for the organization. This book is about how people who beat those odds do so, and it is for people who want to do the same. In the past several years, we have had the privilege to work with training leaders who, despite myriad obstacles, consistently accomplish truly remarkable results. They have not done this by relying on luck or chance. They have changed the way they think about and approach their work, and they have changed the way training works in their organizations. In this way, they have helped their organizations be more successful and accomplish valuable business goals with far more certainty and speed. They have also changed the way they are perceived and valued, moving from being simply training administrators or deliverers to being impactful leaders who have earned respect and recognition. ix x Preface Their results are dramatic, doubling and often tripling (and more) the return on investment from training initiatives. For the past four years, we worked side by side with these training leaders, talked with them, analyzed their approaches, and otherwise sought to understand what differentiates them from typical trainers. “Courageous Training” is a term we have coined and a model we have articulated to describe how these training leaders have accomplished their results. Why we chose the adjective “courageous” is explained below. There are two principal components of the Courageous Training model: the Four Courageous Training Pillars (Four Pillars) and the Courageous Training Code. The Four Pillars is a systematic set of concepts, methods, and tools for thinking about, planning, implementing, and evaluating training that, when applied consistently, leads to workplace learning that has an extraordinary impact on business. The methods and tools of the Four Pillars are not based on guesswork or theory alone. They are practical and they have worked in myriad organizational settings, including health