Fierce CEO, Halley Bock, was interviewed in this eZanga.com article by Megan Ingenbrandt. It was originally posted here. Add a dash of relaxation, and a pinch of hard work, and that should be the perfect recipe for balancing work and home, right? Wrong! With a growing family, a social life, and a full-time job, it can be hard for anyone to find the perfect balance between work and home.But when you’re running the business, it can be even tougher. C-levels and entrepreneurs need breaks too, but how do they find the time? Do they let the two worlds cross over, or leave them separate? Is there a perfect recipe to balancing work and home life?eZanga’s owners, Rich and Beth Kahn, try to keep the business out of their home, while others take a quite different approach - they turn the business into a family affair!Add a Heavy Spoonful of Family…Andrew Thompson of Peak Performance says he enjoys having his family mere feet from his office door:"Because I travel often, I do spend time away from home, however, when I return I get to experience the joy of being a husband and a father, and being included in family activities. My kids are on the company pay roll as independent contractors, so they empty the trash, help me shred documents, clean windows and help Mommy prepare meals in the executive lounge (the kitchen).""I’m teaching our boys about my business and how to run a business. Both have expressed interest in wanting to run their own businesses someday and they are getting a daily education that you wouldn’t be able to get anyplace else."Halley Bock, of Fierce, Inc., has found that it’s not at all about keeping the realms of home and work separate, but successful delegation of tasks to manage time and de-stress. "A simple, yet, powerful way for leaders to unshed some of the burden and find some peace of mind is successful delegation. Effectively delegating tasks allows leaders to relax and get away from any unnecessary burdens, while freeing up valuable time for what is really important. It also helps others acquire new skills and responsibilities."Then Stir in a Dash of Love.When it all comes down to it, you have to love what you’re doing to be a CEO or entrepreneur. Nima Noori, of TorontoVaporizer.ca, says, "Ultimately, the balance should come from within. If you have to completely drop your work life to enjoy your personal life, you’re not happy with your job and it’s probably more important to focus on how to fix that, rather than make amazing weekend plans that will soon pass and leave you right back where you started. You spend one-third of your life at work, if not more, so why are we trying so hard to separate work and play to gain sanity, when if you combined the two, you’d be so much happier and more accomplished?"Now Separate Your Ingredients…It’s no secret that eZanga is a family-run business - Our CEO and CFO are married, after all! While Rich and Beth can’t stand to be out of the office for too long, they know the importance of shutting it off for a few hours of family time. CFO Beth Kahn puts it best: "There’s no separation of the business, but leave the business at the office, and never, EVER take it in the bedroom."And Mix in a Dose of Relaxation!They say it’s important to take time to relax and be with your family. Our CEO, Rich Kahn, says. "I can actually break down how I wind down and relax into four sections: daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly." Here’s how he does it:Daily: "To help me sleep every night, I need to watch one to two hours of TV to shut my brain off. It has to be something that doesn’t require too much thinking on my end, something that I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy. If I don’t do this, I can get pretty irritable."Monthly: "Every month, I get a couple’s massage with my wife. It something that we can do together and both disconnect from the business, but only for an hour or two."Quarterly: "Every three months or so, I’ll take a long weekend with my wife to recharge our batteries. We’ve found that this works best for us because we get to feel like we’re taking a lot of time away from the business without actually doing that."Yearly: "Something that has been much easier to do recently has been for us to take our annual cruise. It’s a time where we’re out in the ocean with our family and we can completely disconnect from the business. I will always, of course, check my email and respond to phone calls - but I get to be far enough away that I can’t let it get to me as much. And it helps that I have such a great management team to watch over things when I’m away." So there you have it, all CEOs and entrepreneurs balance their lives differently. So really it’s all about finding the balance that works best for you. So, what’s your recipe to maintain that balance? Let us know in the comments below!The post The C-Level's Recipe for Work-Life Balance appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Generation Y isn’t working to survive or to bring home a paycheck. They seek fulfillment and active participation in a bigger, more important organizational vision.They’ll pay their dues, put in their time and even take less pay as long as they feel they are contributing to an organization’s big-picture goals. But when they feel marginalized, millennials walk out the door without hesitation.The impact of this attitudinal shift is being reflected in the ways Gen Y leaders are beginning to create a new workplace culture.Here are three changes they’re inspiring:Connectivity: The workplace is becoming a social organism. Call it the Facebook effect. Gen Y employees and their leaders are building cultures that foster stimulation and creativity through constant contact with others. Co-workers no longer connect at the annual office party. They connect professionally and socially every minute of every day.Collaboration: The old maxim that "there is no I in team" holds true — but on steroids. Gen Y leaders are building organizations that recognize the value of differing perspectives. Within these organizations, teams fluidly form to explore the many points of view that comprise reality and collectively work toward the bigger goal.Competition: While competitive, millennials are not cutthroat. Millennials are often more competitive with themselves than they are with their colleagues. The new Generation Y workplace provides opportunities for well-rounded growth and a multitude of professional experiences. These organizations are also more likely to recognize and reward departments than they are individuals. The infusion of millennials in the workforce and their rise as leaders is an evolution, one current leaders must support to retain talent and keep their organizations relevant in the future.To encourage Generation Y and their leaders to completely buy in to the new regime, here are a few best practices:Account for work-life balance. We no longer live in a 9-to-5 world. The lines between work and home life aren’t just blurry, they’re gone. Today’s employees take work home, they frequently check into the office while on vacation and they never turn off their smartphones.It’s also natural that home life spills into the office. Online shopping, fantasy football and personal Facebook use will happen at the office. Managers should do more than permit these activities, they should encourage them.Create a growth lattice, not a ladder. The traditional paradigm of moving up the corporate ladder one rung at a time is dead. Today’s millennial employees demand cross-discipline growth opportunities, not infinite specialization. Develop career paths that allow team members to explore diverse experiences in different departments throughout the organization.Communicate the big picture. Never before has it been so important to align teams behind a clear vision of where the company is going. It’s more than a strategy for focusing resources.It’s a critical motivational tool for Gen Y staff. Unless they feel their efforts, however menial, are in pursuit of the key objective, millennials won’t become emotionally engaged, and they will leave. Provide the opportunity for them to buy in fully.Whether or not leaders agree with or appreciate the cultural changes millennials are inspiring in the workplace is irrelevant. What’s more important is recognition that this new generation of employees — and the future leaders within their ranks — aren’t waiting for these changes to happen organically.They’re thrusting these changes upon organizations, and organizations are becoming smarter and more efficient as a result.This article was originally published on Talentmgt.com and was written by Fierce, Inc. CEO & President, Halley Bock.The post Millennials: Creating a New Workforce appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Uh, hello? Remember us? The ones commonly referred to as "latch key kids"? {ahem}Okay, sure. Even though we like to come off as tough, we may feel forgotten and voiceless in this battle between generations. And, yes, we can come off as self-absorbed as our desire for change occasionally trumps relationships. But "slackers", we are not.We hunger for diversity, for changing the system, for achieving some sense of balance in a lop-sided world. We have utmost respect and gratitude for our parents who worked themselves to the bone so we could enjoy a richer life. And we appreciate the younger set as they continue to push the momentum for a more connected world forward.We want to work with both of you, Boomers and Millennials, to help bridge any gaps of skillset and mindset so we can all come out on top. We found our way, Millennials, so relax… you will too. It isn’t the Boomers who are making it difficult; it’s your perception of them that’s getting in your way.And Boomers, thank you for your ongoing resilience. If ever a generation has shown an ability to withstand change, it’s you. Keep going in that direction. And, hey, give these kids a break every once in a while, okay?This piece was written in response to a generations blog recently featured on Fierceinc.com and can be found here.Interested in having Fierce keynote at your organization or an event? Learn more by clicking here.The post The Forgotten Generation: Reflections from a Gen Xer appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

According to the International Facility Management Association, more than 70 percent of employees work in an open office environment, yet many are dissatisfied due to a number of challenges this concept creates. From distractions and lack of privacy to the one-size-fits-all cubicle approach, there is a lot to consider when ripping out the walls in favor of sharing one space. Whether or not you have already gone this route, here are some powerful considerations for ensuring your open plan workplace is, indeed, a place that supports getting work done, not just one that looks cool.1)     Cut the cord and go untethered. One of the largest benefits of an open office is the ability to maximize space. Given the wide popularity of telecommuting, flex-hours, and more generous PTO policies, it is extremely rare that all employees are in the office, occupying the same space on a daily basis. In fact, companies with fixed desks - where an employee is permanently assigned to a particular desk - average 25 to 50 percent of unused workspace on any given day. That’s a lot of wasted space!Due to the ever-increasing cost of real estate, it makes sense to create an untethered environment where employers can host a higher headcount in less physical space. The benefit for employees is they are then able to plug into a workstation best suited for their needs on that particular day. Which brings me to…2)     Create task-based zones. Now that you’re dealing with a wide-open space in which you are not required to plop down one workstation for each employee, you are free to create work "zones" or environments that are conducive to common tasks within your organization. Is there a need for a quiet, focused work area where folks can process information and respond? What about opportunities to collide and collaborate with other employees to generate new ideas or problem solve? How about a casual space to come together before and after meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page before running off to take action?Herman Miller, a well-known and innovative office design organization, provides a helpful guide, "The Living Office", that illustrates common needs so you can consider and address those that pertain to your business. Be sure to include codes of conduct for the different zones, as some may need quiet whereas others are expected to be highly collaborative and loud.3)     Maintain space for privacy. One of the biggest gripes of the open office is complete lack of privacy. So before you knock down every single wall, seriously consider leaving some up. Creating small "phone booths" that offer privacy when individuals need to make personal calls or focus on a client. It doesn’t take up much space, but covers a lot of ground in addressing employee needs.And if you are an executive and have an assigned office with walls, consider offering it as communal workspace when you aren’t in. Invest in locking file cabinets to keep confidential material safe and open the door to guests.The open office offers a lot of advantages for employers. It’s cost efficient, promotes collaboration and teamwork. It has the potential to afford employees a work environment that’s "just right" at the right time through hot-desking and zones. As with anything, it requires thoughtful planning. Your workplace is a delicate ecosystem that can thrive given the right conditions. So before you send in the construction crew, get with your employees and a planner to design an intentional space - one that’s open and conducive to the real needs of employees.This blog was originally published on Business2Community.com and was written by contributing author, Halley Bock, President & CEO, Fierce, Inc.The post The Open Office: Making the Concept Work appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

The adage "If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself," might apply to skill building in the office. Managers and company leaders are taking a more proactive role in training their own teams."It began with managers using their own budgets and not relying on the formal training budget," said Halley Bock, CEO of Fierce Inc., a leadership development company. Brock said her company has seen an increase in the number of leaders within organizations looking for tools to advance their teams.That makes sense. A University of Phoenix survey released in 2013 found 68 percent of respondents had worked in dysfunctional teams, which soured their interest and ability to lend their skills to teams in the future. By having managers deliver training, it not only ensures that all team members are competent enough to contribute the way their leader wants them to, but also managers can finesse programs to perfectly fit specific employee groups."If training was left to a CLO or an HR department, there would be more of a template," said David Garvin, a professor at Harvard Business School who has researched outcomes associated with cohesive teams. "By handing the keys to individual managers, the managers get to put their own stamp on how the team works."Making managers responsible for training ensures that content and delivery is personalized to the team and cuts out programs that aren’t necessary. For example, a program teaching Microsoft Excel could be customized by a supervisor to focus only on the types of tables his or her employees need, rather than including all of the functions the software offers.Managers who take the lead in training skills and leadership behavior can also help the bottom line by cutting out the need to pay a vendor, Garvin said.But before managers can make employee development an official part of their job description, they have to know how to work with their subordinates in a way that keeps them in charge but also makes them approachable, engaged and open to new ideas."A manager needs to ask, ‘Where are we strong? Where are we weak?’ If I’m a manager, I need to know," Bock said. Managers need to connect with their team on a personal level. "You can’t fake it. I’ve seen people try."One of the potential pitfalls of having a manager lead training is that it may be harder for learners to get constructive criticism — especially if a manager is off the mark, the team will be too. Just as a good manager can create a good team, a toxic manager can create one that’s counterproductive."Feedback has to come without consequence," Bock said. However, this doesn’t mean feedback should be anonymous. Face-to-face conversations can go a long way to build an emotional connection.One of the biggest areas managers can improve is open discussion and hearing employees, regardless of what they’re saying — or not saying, as the case might be. "Team leaders often overstate the candor on their team," Garvin said. "As a team leader, just because you don’t hear dissent doesn’t mean there isn’t dissent."Here are a few more ways managers can better connect with their teams to prime the way for a trainer-trainee relationship.Hold your tongue. One of the biggest mistakes a manager can make at a meeting is to present his or her idea first. By waiting to present an opinion, a manager can foster a more open discussion. "If I say what I think what we should do, then ask everybody what they think, there’s less conversation," Garvin said. "Who’s going to disagree with the boss?"Think like a millennial. Bock said millennials want a more Socratic approach to training, and they’re not alone — the rest of the workforce is just as interested in having a leader tuned into its needs. Get managers to act as guides who involve their followers, not simply couriers for learning materials.The key is conversation.  "Look at the word conversation. It has the Latin root con, which means ‘with’ or ‘together,’" Bock said. "Leaders aren’t trained go into conversation [with a together mindset]; no one likes being talked at."Halley Bock, President & CEO, Fierce, Inc. was interviewed in the Chief Learning Officer article originally shared on CLOMedia.com and was written by Cameron Songer.The post Why Managers are the New Trainers appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Vital Signs: Measuring the Health of Business Performance I remember walking home around 3:45 in the afternoon at the age of six with an 8½ by 11 folded piece of paper in my hand to be delivered to my parents for their signature. Yes…the dreaded report card. The letters on the report either spelled: ‘go to your room’ or ‘go out back and play.’ We have been measured on our performance from first grade through the remainder of our education. Why do we not measure our employees and our businesses? Our employees were conditioned and prepared to be measured for a minimum of 12 years. Picture yourself in your doctor’s waiting room. The first thing the nurse will do is take your vital signs: blood pressure, temperature and heart rate. The data the nurse collects then aids the doctor in their decision making process to determine your condition, and ultimately find a cure. We need data to enhance the decisions we make in our businesses. To this day, many companies do not measure their employee’s performance and sometimes lack the discipline to measure their business’s performance. Companies are in business for one reason and one reason only… TO MAKE A PROFIT What do we measure? The first step to increase your profitability is to determine key areas to measure. As a minimum, every business has the following areas to measure: Profitability Cash Flow Revenue Orders Quality Customer Service Several businesses have many derivatives of the aforementioned and additive metrics specifically for their employees, business and industry that are relevant and important. Now that we have the data gathered, what do we do next? The next step will require us to assign the metrics to our management team. Each individual on the team will be responsible for explaining the definition of the metrics and determining from where the data came. These tasks will occur at our monthly Operations Meeting attended by all key members of the management team. The benefits of Monthly Operations Meetings include: improved communication, elimination of isolation, team building, education of our team and accountability and responsibility of our management team. After this, we must analyze the data and look for trends to learn more about our operations and business model. The final and most important element is to set goals for our metrics. One commonly used method for goal setting is known as the "SMART method". Goals should be SMART: Specific Measureable Attainable Realistic Timely When we develop our goals using the "SMART method’, we enhance our Operational Meetings. By utilizing actual vs. forecasted goals, we can take it to the next level by having the responsible manager discuss variations in excess of  + or  -  5%.  The team will need to comprehend and answer the following questions about the variations: What Happened? Why Did Happen? Will it Happen Again? How Long Will it Last? Now we have determined the metrics, gathered the data, and held our management team accountable and responsible for the results and their explanation. After the data are laid out and analyzed, we need to develop an action-based plan to increase profitability. All action plans should have the following elements clearly identified: Action - What needs to be accomplished? Champion - Owner responsible for the action Measure of Success - Defines if we meet our objective Timeframe - How often we review plan or course correct? Using this plan will allow you to master the art of using data to make better business decisions and increase profitability. You and your team will ace your report card and now we can all go out and play. Morrie Feinman B G Services www.bgs4u.com Editor’s Note: Morrie Feinman is a management consultant with over 30 years experience, much of it in senior leadership roles with profit and loss responsibility. Morrie is experienced in training, facilitation and implementation. He has served in profit and non-profit organizations in the aerospace, medical, construction, food, packaging, printing, materials and microchip industries. Please post here any comments or questions regarding Morrie’s article, but reach out to him individually for a consultation at morrie.bgs@gmail.com or 610-662-2376. If you liked this article, please check out Morrie’s blog BGS4 at http://bgs4.wordpress.com/.

In conversations with clients and colleagues recently, I’ve been asked what Performance-Based Instructional Design (PBID) is, how it is different, and why it makes sense for workplace learning in particular. In this post, I’d like to lay out some of the tenets of PBID and distinguish this approach from others that pervade the field of learning. Some years ago, my friend Ty Johnson and I ran a workshop for the Great Valley chapter of ISPI, where we staged an instructional design simulation. It turned out to be a revealing experiment as well. We asked groups of participants to role play a typical interaction among instructional designer (ID), subject matter expert (SME), and client sponsor. Some of the groups were given leeway to apply whatever approached they wished to designing the training. I’ll refer to them as the control group.  Other groups were specifically instructed to use a performance-based approach…I’ll call them the PBID groups.  Several interesting things happened. The control groups produced nice, neat collections of learning objectives, treatment plans, and content outlines-the standard outputs of a training needs analysis.  The training they designed ranged from 5 to 10 days of seat time and incorporated a nice variety of sound classroom instructional techniques. The PBID groups instead came up with solutions that: Ranged from 0 to 3 days of training Incorporated a mixture of formal training, informal training, and non-training tactics Leveraged technology to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning. Why the difference? PBID is an approach to designing learning experiences that focuses primarily on driving behavioral changes in the workplace. Much as Kung Fu has different styles-like the Snake in the Tree technique and the Tiger Claw technique (at least according to the Martial Arts Theatre movies that I watched growing up) and like psychology has different schools of thought (e.g., behaviorism, cognitivism, social constructivism, post-modernism, etc.), so the practice of instructional design can be applied in different ways.  Let’s look at what makes PBID different. Focus on Results  In our simulation, the PBID group was first instructed to define what the business problem was, then to understand what the perceived performance gaps were that were creating that problem.  In other words, the PBID instructional designers did not start by asking: "What do these people need to learn?" Instead, they started by asking: "What does the business need from these people?" This subtle change can have a profound impact, because it raises the conversation to a more strategic business level and gets everyone focused on business results and performance outcomes. In the simulation, the instructional designer had to manage conversations with both the SME who feels that workers need 10 days-worth of classroom content and a business sponsor who wants to minimize the amount of time his/her workers spend "off the line" and in the classroom. Sound familiar? Getting both parties focused on the business outcomes, rather than on irrelevant factors like seat time, enabled them to define more clearly the problem that they needed to solve. The PBID groups were also instructed that whatever solution they identified needed to address those business needs. This focus on business results stems from the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) as well as the broader field of Management, and is typically well-received by business leaders, assuming the instructional designer has the nerve to initiate a business conversation like this. Training is Not the Only Answer Instructional designers who espouse PBID live by the Performance Consultant’s credo: "Training alone has never solved a performance problem…and never will."  If we’re focused on business results and are open to using whatever interventions are needed, then we are more likely to come up with a blended approach that leverages formal training, informal training, and non-training interventions.  For example, one of the PBID groups came up with the idea of creating incentives and recognition programs to drive some of the desired behaviors, then allow some of the training to be conducted through informal lunch & learns that would be delivered by peer mentors. This dramatically reduced the reliance on formal training and more closely aligned the solution with the business need.  The point is, training alone is not the answer to most organizational learning needs, though training can be an important element of a broader solution.  Training combined with other interventions is generally going to be more effective in driving business results. Context is Queen In chess, without the King, you will definitely lose the game but without your Queen, you’re unlikely to win the game. Likewise, when we design instruction, it’s important that we have content to work with-for without content, we don’t have training. However, if we don’t have a strong understanding of the performance context-the context in which the new knowledge and skills will be applied and used-and we don’t incorporate that contextualized know-how into the learning experience, we will not have a successful training program. In our simulation, none of the control groups talked about the performance context.  They focused on topics, best practices, policies and procedures. The instructional designers never bothered to ask about the context in which those would be used by the workers.  On the other hand, the PBID instructional designers were instructed to understand the performance context before even starting to explore the content of the training program.  In each case, the PBID designers asked to observe workers in real time.  As part of the simulation, we actually had a group of participants establish a production line, so those designers who made the request were able to tour the facility, as well as observe and interview workers, to understand the performance context.  That experience radically changed their perspective as it related to the content and the overall design of the solution. Looking at their designs, the PBID groups produced solutions that were what I characterize as "organic," meaning that they fit naturally into the performance context of that particular company, minimizing disruption to the production line and the company’s operation.  When we debriefed the simulation, the control group IDs were all suprised by this and commented that they did not know they could ask to see the performance context. And that right there is a problem, isn’t it?  If we understand that context is critical to the success of any solution design, then we must not be afraid to ask for the access we need in order to understand the context.  When I worked with a financial services client, I asked that each of my IDs be given the opportunity to spend a day at one of their branches to observe and interview Financial Advisors as well as members of the branch management team.  This made a tremendous difference in the quality of their design outputs.  The solutions that did involve formal training included real-world examples, scenarios, and cases and terminology that resonated with people in the field. So next time someone tells you that content is King, remind them that context is Queen, and the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board. When you sacrifice your Queen, you’re unlikely to win the game. Efficiency, Not Just Effectiveness When I was a doctoral candidate at Penn State University, I remember Dr. Frank Dwyer telling a student that when comparing two alternative instructional tactics, learning efficiency is just as important-and from a practical standpoint, even more important-than learning effectiveness. In other words, if you compare two different methods and workers learn just as much with either approach, then the method that enables them to learn the content most cheaply is really the better choice. In fact, Dr. Dwyer often argued that efficiency has more practical application than learning effeciveness.  After all, most comparison research studies that have looked at instructional technologies and methods have generally found no significant difference in terms of learning effectiveness, assuming that the technology or method is properly employed.  However, if one method or technology can bring about the same level of learning, but do so much more cheaply, more quickly, or more easily, then there is a strong case to be made for it. When we apply that kind of thinking to workplace learning and performance improvement, we begin to design our solutions differently.  We realize that not every need requires a solution. Some gaps are just not significant enough to warrant the time, money, and effort required to close them.  Other gaps are ones that can be addressed sufficiently with a simple job aid or a role clarification meeting.  Prioritizing and catagorizing our organizational needs enables us to ration our limited resources more efficiently, leaving us more to devote to serious organizational gaps that require intense effort.  I address some of this in the 9/15/12 post. Getting back to the simulation, the control groups came up with 5-10 days of classroom training, a very expensive and time-consuming solution.  Aside from the tremendous expense of building 10 days-worth of instructor-led content, there are the costs of the classrooms, trainers, and administrative resources and the costs associated with pulling workers off the line to attend 2 weeks of training, such as overtime for those providing coverage and reduced productivity.  Training professionals need to be sensitive to all of these costs.  If there’s a more efficient way to accomplish the business need, then it must be considered. The PBID groups were instructed to be mindful of the costs of their solutions.  As a result, those PBID instructional designers came up with more efficient approaches.  For example, one group proposed to have a pretest that would enable workers to test out of most modules. Another group proposed that training would only be given where a manager identified a learning gap and requested training.  Their time, money, and effort would be spent making the managers better at driving performance and diagnosing performance problems-this is a "teaching them to fish" approach.  Another group decided that no formal training would be needed at all…that instead the desired behaviors would be driven through coaching and mentoring programs, job aids, and incentives. There are more differences between PBID and other, more common approaches to instructional design, but these three highlight the differences nicely.  To summarize, the PBID groups were instructed to: Focus on organizational needs and the desired results, then work backwards from there.  Stay focused on those performance outcomes and don’t get distracted by irrelevant factors. Keep an open mind to what the solution might be rather than falling into a training-only approach, and you will find that blended solutions that involve formal training, informal training, and non-training interventions rise to the top. Understand the performance context before you try to design a solution…observe and interact with your target audience and make your solution a more organic one that is a natural fit. Design efficiently. Prioritize the needs; assign resources accordingly; consider multiple solutions and go with the approach that gives you the right outcomes as cheaply, quickly, and easily as possible. Applying these four practices in your instructional design work will radically change the way you approach your organization’s needs and will dramatically increase the value that you bring to your organization.  Though any type of organization could benefit from a performance-based approach, organizations that are results-driven, such as businesses, are ideally suited. I invite you to share your own perspectives on this. I didn’t invent PBID, but I do my best to be a conscientious practitioner of it. Gus Prestera, PhD GLAPIE and proud!            

Multitasking: Why our addiction to it is making us ineffective leaders Cassandra is in a strategic planning meeting, helping to develop next year’s business plan, yet she is also emailing a colleague a response to a question while simultaneously managing three instant messaging conversations with her employees and one with her daughter.  Cassandra has a voicemail…should she listen to it or would that be too much?  All hail the technology that enables Cassandra and us to stay connected with the world while we’re stuck in meetings!  I can’t hear you. I said ALL hail, darn it!  Maybe you could stop watching Dancing with the Stars while reading my blog, just for a little bit. Mo’ w/ Less Recently, I was reading Joe Robinson‘s The Truth About Multitasking: How Your Brain Processes Information in Entrepreneur magazine. In it, the author cites the work of David Meyer, Director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University  of Michigan and other cognitive scientists who have been studying the phenomenon of multitasking, a behavioral pattern that continues to grow, especially in today’s corporate workplace.  Do more with less, that is the mantra in these lean times.  Yet our work days can’t get much longer, so we try to squeeze more productivity out of each minute throughout the day. The ubiquity of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other technologies enable us to multitask more effectively from anywhere and keep many balls in the air at once. Perhaps it does or perhaps it only gives us the illusion that it does, but either way, we need to ask ourselves if our brains can keep up or if all this multitasking is actually making us dumber and less productive. Parallel Processing Cognitive research tells us that our brains process information in parallel through different channels.  We can see and interpret images independently from processing speech, for example.  For this reason, Instructional Designers are taught to make effective use of graphics by reinforcing important content elements conveyed through words with graphics, animations, builds, and/or video that complement the text.  This kind of multitasking optimizes the use of both channels to convey ideas, making those ideas more likely to stick.  So multitasking can be a very positive thing, when it leverages the brain’s ability to parallel process through multiple channels. A Thoughtful Choice or a Random One? Unfortunately, this is not the type of multitasking that we typically see in the workplace.  Cassandra’s example is much more common.  She is supposed to be participating in a cognitively intense brainstorming and planning discussion.  At the same time, she is reading, thinking, and typing her emails and IMs, activities that tax her brain’s speech channel.  That’s the same channel she needs in order to follow the discussion in the room and contribute to it.  Her brain can’t do both simultaneously, so she needs to choose. If she understands that she’s making a conscious choice, perhaps she can manage the process by tuning into the meeting at the right times and tuning out to attend to the emails and IM messages at the right time.  However, what’s more likely happening is  that her attention is being yanked away each time an IM message or email pops up on her screen, at random.  When the meeting hits a high point, such as during a loud debate or near a stopping point, her attention might get yanked back to the meeting.  In general, though, her attention and focus will randomly go back and forth between these activities and she will miss important information coming out of the meeting and, perhaps more importantly, she’ll miss opportunities to contribute to the shaping of the strategic plan.  The quality of that strategy and business plan may suffer as a result.  Oh well, that’ll be a problem next year, right?  At least Cassandra was able to put out some immediate fires. Even though it’s pretty clear to us that Cassandra’s multitasking has made her less effective in this meeting, she likely walks away from the meeting thinking that she successfully multitasked.  She probably thinks she’s one of the more capable leaders in the room, because she’s able to multitask better than most.  Maybe she even thinks she deserves a promotion for being able to keep so many fires under control at once.  Would you reward that sort of behavior if it were your company? We Have a Choice Is this what we want leadership to look like?  Gosh, I hope not.  I hope that we want our leaders to prioritize and focus their energies to maximize their positive impact on the organization. Our brains are capable of all sorts of things if we understand how to tap into their capabilities and if we apply meta-cognitive strategies to help us harness our brain power. As someone who has worked and thrived in a fast-paced, high-pressure corporate environment all of his career, I have a lot of experience with juggling priorities and multitasking, and as someone who studies cognition and its implications for learning and performance, I have a keen interest in meta-cognitive strategies.  In my next post, I’ll share some practices that I’ve adopted and put to the test over the years to help me maximize my productivity and actively manage my brain power. Geek Out With Me In the meanwhile, I hope you’ll post some comments and share with us your own multitasking experiences and best practices.  If you’re really interested in this topic, perhaps you’ll read David Meyer’s influential research paper, Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching and post your thoughts on it. Gus Prestera, PhD GLAPIE and proud!        

As promised, here are some tips for managing your work life in a way that leverages your brain power and enables you to get more out of each day…without falling into the multi-tasking traps that I discussed in my previous post. Tip #1: Make Your B and C Priorities a Priority This is probably the most controversial tip, so why not start here.  Most time management experts will tell you that it’s important to prioritize your to-do list, then start with your highest priority tasks and leave the low-priority ones for last.  The Franklin Covey approach, which is mirrored by other models, involves categorizing your tasks into three buckets: A for the house-is-burning-down urgent items, B for important yet not hair-on-fire urgent, and C for things that would be valuable to do when you have time.  You can probably guess what typically happens.  People will work hard to get all of their A items done, then push off their B and C items for another day.  They’ll keep pushing them off until something happens and those B and C tasks suddenly become urgent…or eventually they cross those items off because they’ve become irrelevant. Thing is, many of those B and C tasks are tasks that would help you make you and your organization become more effective.  That list might include things like conducting or attending training or professional development; organizing your files for more rapid access when information is needed; completing infrastructure projects that enable you to do things better, faster, and/or more efficiently.  Almost always, when I look at a colleague’s task list, the lowest priority items are typically the most value-added for the organization, so I tell them what I’ll tell you. Make it your goal to accomplish one of your B or C tasks every day before you tackle any of your A tasks. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds, and yet if you can knock one little B or C task out each day, you’ll see your productivity rise significantly, I promise you.  You’ll have fewer fires to fight, imagine that. The other reason I like to tackle a B or C task before I start on my A list is that I will usually have more mental energy at the start of the day than at the end, so better to pump my creativity into something that will yield long-term efficiencies rather than putting out fires, which I can do in my sleep. You may think I’m crazy for suggesting this heresy, but try it for a couple of weeks and then tell me if I’m not crazy good. Tip #2: Block time on your calendar for work tasks Sometimes, I get to the end of the day and am frustrated that I spent the entire day in meetings and got no real work accomplished.  The truth is that some meetings are valuable and you are accomplishing work in those meetings, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes.  Even so, when you need to sit down and brainstorm, work through a solution to a problem, prepare a report or presentation, or produce some other tangible outputs, you want to make sure that your work day isn’t swept away by meetings.  Otherwise, you’re left doing important work when you’re exhausted and burned out until 2:00 am.  I’ve found that the best remedy for this is to block out time on my calendar for getting work done.  There are two types of blocks: what I call anticipatory blocks and defined blocks. Anticipatory blocks are hours blocked on my schedule to allow for tasks that may or may not be required.  For example, I may have a weekly risk management meeting on my calendar.  There’s a good chance that on any given week, I’ll come out of that meeting with some fires that I need to quell, so it makes sense for me to block out 30-45 minutes of time after that meeting to handle urgent follow-up tasks.  I do this with travel time also.  When I know that I need to travel from one building to another for meetings, I block out that time.  I’ll often use it to catch up on voicemails as well.  Another example. When I had worked with a sales team, I knew that they would need my help throughout the week with their proposals, but I didn’t know exactly when they would need the help or how much.  To get ahead of that demand, I blocked out chunks of time throughout the week and made those available to them, so that they could book the time as needed within those windows I gave them.  This reduced some of the chaos and last-minute requests-though of course there will always be some of that. Defined blocks are hours blocked out on my calendar to perform specific tasks.  For example, I’m in a meeting and I agree to take an action item to prepare a report.  Before I even leave that meeting, I’ve done two things in my calendar.  I’ve identified when I need to send that report to the group, and I’ve blocked out 30 minutes to prepare the report in advance of that date/time.  This way, I walk out of the meeting having set aside time to follow through on my commitment.  These types of blocks are critical if you’re going to stay on top of your calendar.  When I’m working on a project, I look at the project plan to see what tasks I’m responsible for, then I block out time over the coming weeks to get that work done.  This way, I know what bandwidth I have left over to take on other tasks, attend other meetings, etc.  If I haven’t mapped my tasks to my calendar, then I’m never clear on what bandwidth I have.  That’s when things can quietly pile up on you and overwhelm you. Tip #3: Listen to your body rhythms Some of us are most energetic and alert in the morning, some of us in the afternoon, and some of us in the evenings.  Schedule your work around your body’s natural rhythm.  If your body handles creative work best in the morning, then block out time in the morning to perform creative tasks, such as brainstorming, planning, designing solutions, and developing presentations. Schedule routine, low-creativity work, such as listening to status updates, during low-energy times.  Sometimes, you have no choice in the matter, but usually you do, so make a concerted effort to schedule meetings and work tasks in a way that goes with the flow. Tip #4: Minimize distractions It seems obvious but if we allow ourselves to get distracted, our schedules become fragmented and our energy gets diluted.  When we block out time to get work done, we need to minimize interruptions.  This can be difficult when people can pop their heads over the cubicle wall, call our office lines and cell phones, email, text, IM, Facebook, and tweet us whenever they choose.  It’s not easy but when I’m in meetings or heads-down doing work, I try to shut all of those things out.  I take frequent breaks when I can catch up on emails throughout the day, voicemails, IMs, etc., but I do so at a time of my choosing.  I try not to allow those random interruptions to break up my concentration.  There will always be emergencies that come up, but if someone wants to ask me a question, they can wait for me to get back to them at a stopping point. Tip #5: Minimize meeting time Don’t roll your eyes, please.  I know meetings are necessary and it’s not realistic to think that we can ever do away with them.  However, we do have a tendency to schedule meetings for things that could easily be accomplished through different modes.  Meeting time for giving and receiving updates, for example, can sometimes be accomplished or minimized by using a project update report. People can read the report, then perhaps come to a shorter meeting where the group can discuss risks and issues, skipping over the basic information covered in the report.  When multiple teams need to report out their progress, they can attend just the portion of the meeting that applies to them rather than sitting through the entire meeting.  In other words, before asking for a meeting or accepting a meeting, make sure you’ve done everything you can to minimize the meeting time and that you’re using that time effectively. Please share with us your tips for managing your time and brain power. Gus Prestera, PhD GLAPIE and proud!        

10 Tips for Managing Your SME Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are essential to any organizational initiative but especially instructional design projects, since those SMEs are typically the primary sources and gatekeepers of course content. Unfortunately, because they are experts in what they do, they are also some of the busiest people in their organizations.  For the same reasons that you want them to help you with your course, those same people are being pulled on by colleagues, direct reports, and senior leaders across the organization for help with a wide variety of mission-critical organizational initiatives…and most of those SMEs are doing so part-time while trying to balance their day-to-day workload.  Therefore, it can be quite challenging to work with SMEs and get what you need from them.  Below are some tips from someone who’s corralled more than a few SMEs in his day.  If I’ve missed any, please use the Comments to add your own. 1. Tap into their motivation: SMEs have limited time and energy, so they will prioritize based on what’s most important to them.  Influencing a SME to dedicate time and effort to you, given all the competing priorities, will require tapping into some source of motivation.  Different people are motivated by different things, so you should take the time to get to know your SMEs.  Start this process even before you meet with your SMEs by Googling them and getting whatever background you can from their colleagues. Get to know what their priorities are and what makes them tick. At the risk of over-generalizing, I’ve found that good SMEs are often driven by a desire to do the right thing for the organization; to help others succeed; and to gain the respect and esteem of their colleagues.  Prestige and esteem tend to be more important to them than money, praise, promotions, and other tangible rewards.  I therefore try to find ways of communicating the value of what I’m doing in a way that links to those factors.  For example, if I’m designing a course that will help claims adjusters investigate fraudulent insurance claims, I might stress the value that this training will bring to the organization, how it will help adjusters be more successful, and how he/she will be a hero to those newer adjusters going through training. 2. Adapt to their work style: Each of us behaves in a somewhat predictable pattern, especially in a stressful work environment, and there are many different models for classifying those patterns (e.g., MBTI, Social Styles, DiSC, Six Thinking Hats to name a few). Whatever models you subscribe to, use them to help you categorize your SMEs’ behavior patterns, anticipate their work styles and preferences, and adapt your own behaviors to them.  If  your SME is a DiSC Dominant style, for example, adapt your behavior so that you are giving him/her the facts in brief, high-level bullets, rather than giving them lengthy explanations.  My colleague Jeff Dorman, a leadership and communications skills consultant and facilitator, likes to call this "flexing your style."  Flexing requires you to recognize your SME’s style, define any gaps between his/her style and yours, consciously think about what behaviors you’ll adapt to close that gap, then do it.  Flexing will enable you to manage the tension between you and your SME, build better rapport, and communicate more productively with each other. 3. Involve your SME in planning: Good SMEs typically have a great deal of job security and they know it.  They’re smarter and more competent than their peers. They often have big egos, inflated some might say, and they are justifiably confident in their abilities. The company can’t function without them, so they’re not afraid of what their bosses might think, and they’re certainly not going to be intimidated by artificial deadlines that you have set for them.  So whatever you do, don’t try to bully a SME into compliance with your project plan.  Arm twisting and other heavy-handed approaches won’t work.  Instead, involve your SMEs in crafting the project plan, so that they have a hand in setting those deadlines.  Once they’ve committed to something, being Type A personalities, they will work hard to hit those deadlines.  Ask them how they want to be worked with…and they will usually be experienced and self-aware enough to tell you.  Help them understand what you need from them and why, so that they can make informed planning decisions.  It’s worth taking the first meeting to discuss expectations, process, deadlines, milestones, and the timing of meetings and reviews.  Your SMEs will appreciate you’re doing this, because they are very busy people and yet also conscientious about following through on their commitments. 4. Establish a good working relationship: It’s much more difficult to ignore someone you like, someone you have a connection with on a personal level.  Again, know their style and flex yours to engage with them on their terms.  Ask them about their hobbies, family, and personal interests.  Get them talking about themselves.  That’s the secret to building rapport.  Get face time with them (either in person or through video conferencing), because the face conveys infinitely more intimacy than just a voice over a phone line, no matter how good you are on the phone.  Grab coffee with them or lunch and talk about non-work things. Do everything you can to build a personal connection with them.  Not only will this help you get more of their time and attention, you’ll also find that your collaboration is more productive and fruitful. Communication will flow more easily, and you’ll understand each other better.  All this translates into getting the work done better and faster.  Don’t underestimate the importance of building personal relationships with your SMEs.  Me personally, I really enjoy working with SMEs, because I resonate with their passion and intellect, so I genuinely enjoy their company…and I like to think that that comes through in our conversations. 5. Agree on ground rules early: When you meet with your SMEs, get input on how they want to work together but also make sure that you walk away with some agreed-upon ground rules.  For example, I ask my SMEs to commit to a 12-hour response timeframe for voice-mails and a 24-hour timeframe for emails, even if their response is simply an acknowledgment and a request for more time.  What’s the worst they can say in response to that request?  We typically agree on meeting frequency and review cycles.  For example, I might ask a SME to meet with me once a week for several weeks to work through a body of content.  Each meeting might be 1 to 4 hours in length, depending on volume and availability.  After each meeting, I commit to send the SME my meeting notes within 24 hours, and I ask the SME to review and respond to those notes within 24 hours of receiving them.  We might also block out Q&A time each week or a few times a month, just so we have some time set aside for contingencies.  We would also commit to the number, duration, format, and frequency of review cycles.  Will I email the SME a set of storyboards, then have a meeting within 24 hours to review it and capture their feedback live?  Or will they review it on their own and send me back a marked up document, to be followed by Q&A if necessary?  Getting to this level of logistical detail early in the project is critical, so that SMEs have an opportunity to shape the project plan and so they can adjust their own calendars.  Being busy people, they appreciate this effort to help them manage their crazy calendars.  Of course, all these ground rules need to remain flexible.  So long as there is good communication flowing, you need to be willing to bend the rules and adapt to changing conditions. I’ll stop here and let you digest these.  In the next post, I’ll discuss the next five tips…here’s a sneak peek: Tip 6. Know what you want from your SMEs Tip 7. Avoid overloading them with non-value added tasks Tip 8. Take some ownership and do your homework Tip 9. Create structure around content gathering and analysis Tip 10. Synthesize their ideas; don’t just re-gurgitate them I welcome your comments and feedback…and would especially love any additions to this list of tips.  Managing SMEs is tremendously difficult, especially in today’s manic corporate culture, so let’s help each other out by sharing what’s worked. Gus Prestera, PhD GLAPIE and proud!