Yesterday, I had the opportunity to witness a bit of history in our profession. I attended the last public appearance of Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick at the 2011 ASTD Conference. Even people who are new to our profession can tell you what the four levels of evaluation are. According to Kirkpatrick, he never called them that himself. The remarkable proliferation of this process of evaluating learning programs was never really intentional on his part. He never promoted his process; it just took off on its own. It was truly a grass roots movement that was adopted not because it was sold or marketed, but because it was useful, and probably because it was simple and made so much sense. You don’t see that much anymore. Back in 1954, Kirkpatrick was a visionary. Today, he doesn’t think of himself as a legend or a guru. He says with a grin though, you can call me a genius if you want. Not only does he have a great sense of humor, but he is remarkably humble when talking about his accomplishments. He leaves us a legacy not only through his writing and his research, but also in his family. Always a dedicated father and family man, he has two sons, a daughter and a daughter-in-law who will be carrying on his work. Now he plans to watch from the sidelines—well not always from the sidelines, he says. He looks forward to spending more time with his wife of 60 years. You can also bet he’ll be watching his beloved Packers. His session featured a review of his process and his research, but it was mostly a personal farewell to all of us who benefit from his work and his remarkable career. In fact, it was mostly personal and at times quite emotional as well. Before I left the conference, I had the opportunity to thank him personally for his contributions. He picked up my name tag and studied it carefully, and then he studied my face as he shook my hand. I didn’t feel like just another person to him. In that moment, he made me feel like a colleague, although I really didn’t know him well. Millions of people in countries around the world have benefitted from your work, Dr. Kirkpatrick. We wish you a long and happy retirement, and maybe even another Super Bowl win for Green Bay.  By the way, Dr. Kirkpatrick retired at age 87. Now that’s commitment. 

Once you establish a proactive interviewing routine and develop a true consulting relationship with your client, you may no longer need the skills of conducting a reframing meeting. However, most of us are going to come across the need for this type of meeting more often than we would like. The purpose of the reframing meeting is simple. You need to change your client’s focus from solutions to defining business results and defining required performance outcomes. While the purpose is pretty straightforward, the actual skills required to achieve the desired outcome require practice and can be challenging. One difficulty of this meeting is that your client brings a pre-conceived solution to the meeting and is expecting to tell you what he or she thinks is needed.  Your client may expect you to dutifully "take the order."  Perhaps the biggest difficulty in conducting this interview is that you also may enter the meeting with your own pre-conceived solution. In either case, we call this "solution jumping" and it is to be strictly avoided in this meeting. The next step from this meeting should be to agree to gather some data or conduct some analysis to have better information with which to make a decision about problem definition and solutions. The workshop that I just conducted for the ASTD International Conference and Expo focused on eight principles for conducting a reframing meeting. You can find those Reframing Principles by clicking on the Resources tab. You can also view a short role play video called Reframing Meeting on the Home page or by clicking the Resources tab. 3 of 3 in series

Reframing Meeting Dick Handshaw demonstrates how to reframe a client’s request.

I was having lunch with a colleague last week and we started talking about the state of instructional design skills in the learning profession today.  To say that this colleague and I go back a ways is an understatement.  She was my company’s third or fourth client back in 1986 or ’87—I can’t even remember exactly.  When we met she was new to training and I was new to the consulting business. My colleague described to me the way many learning projects begin with a SME providing a pile of content and then stating, "Build me a learning program."  I agreed and added that too many people carrying cards saying they are instructional designers have become nothing more than organizers of content.  I’m not saying that this is all they know how to do, or that this is what they want to do, but it seems to be happening because of time constraints.  Sometimes designers say they only have time for organizing content.  According to my colleague, this has led to what they call the "spray and pray approach."  This is where you spray some content around and pray that it helps.  She told me about another common problem that occurs "when we do poor contracting with our business partners which can result in improperly defined projects, thus causing lots of rework, or what I call ‘spin and swirl.’" My friend manages an internal group for a large corporation and I have a small consulting company but we have essentially the same mission.  She has clients to please and budgets and timelines to meet and so do we.  Instructional design is the systematic approach we use to handle the work and meet the deadlines.  What I have seen as I visit local professional associations and clients is that there has been an erosion of the skill and efficiency with which people leverage instructional design to keep projects on track and meet clients’ needs in a way that drives business results.  Every Instructional Designer at Handshaw has learned how to do a task analysis that truly identifies best practices and how to write performance objectives that truly measure the desired performance that will meet business needs. It just doesn’t come from going to school; it comes from actual practice and the use of a proven process. I hope I get a few comments from my readers on this one. My colleague and I think we have seen gradual erosion in the effective practice of instructional design in the last few years. What do you think?

When you’re trying to get good at something, I’ve always believed you should go learn from the best people you can find. So two weeks ago, I went to the Charlotte ISPI chapter meeting to hear Margo Murray talk about mentoring. She pretty much wrote the book on mentoring, so that’s about as good as it gets. The next day I had to reluctantly miss her workshop on mentoring because I was scheduled to see Harold Stolovitch do his famous "Tellin’ Ain’t Trainin’" workshop for the Research Triangle Area ASTD chapter in Morrisville, NC. Again, it doesn’t get much better than that. I heard that Harold has sold the most training books of anyone in the business. He says he didn’t know that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is true. What makes both of these individuals great is that they have great content that has been developed over years of their own practice and research.  They design the workshops and present their material well and they also deliver their sessions with a good sense of humor and entertainment value. The medium, being good workshop presenters, often times is the message.  My apologies to Marshall McLuhan, author of the seminal work, "The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects," 1967. Two weeks ago I got to learn from two of the best, and this week, I have the opportunity to go and be the presenter myself. I’m traveling to one of my favorite clients—yes, I say that about all of them—to do my "Performance Partnership" workshop and 90 minute session on "Instructional Design - Selling the Real Value."  But my learning really won’t stop, because I won’t be doing all of the talking. Harold wouldn’t like that. I’ll be doing a lot of listening to my clients and that’s the very best part of my job. Next week I’ll be doing the Instructional Design session again for another one of my favorite clients—I told you I’d say that—right here in Charlotte. If any of my other favorite clients happen to be reading this and you’d like to see me in your town, just call us up and ask.

During the lifecycle of a system simulation training project, there are three times when subject matter expert input is essential: During task analysis, unless you’ve managed to procure the elusive "expert performer," where you need SME input to help you understand what learners need to be able to do on the job.  During the content review cycles, where you need SME input to help you make sure you’ve gotten it all correct. During the early stages of production, when you’re capturing the system screen shots. The first two are well-known as necessary SME touch points, but I’ve recently learned that the third touch point, if you can secure the SME availability and participation to make it happen, can be a key contributor to the success of your project.  There’s a definite gap to bridge during the screen capture stage of a system simulation project.  You’ve documented your tasks, developed objectives and a design for the course, and maybe even built a prototype.  Your new challenge is to take the higher-level tasks and objectives you’ve identified, and actually teach the learner something.  Putting the learner aside for a moment - how do you know what to click and type and navigate to in the system?  Yes, there’s probably documentation for that, but you’ll really strike gold if you’re able to get the SMEs to participate in a system walk-through with you while you capture the screens. Here’s what you’ll get: A fail-proof process - When an expert is walking you through the process as you capture it, you’ll have a high level of confidence that you’re getting it right. An all-access pass to conceptual expertise - You’ll pick up valuable tidbits like, "You might want to tell the learner that if they forget to click Save here, they’ll lose hours worth of work." A review/revision process you can brag about - What could make a review/revision cycle more efficient than having the SME reviewers walk you through each lesson up front?  So, when it comes time to make your case for justifying a request for additional SME time, remind your client that you’ll likely be able to significantly reduce the percentage of re-work during revisions.  Major revisions, such as process changes, should be next to none since you’ll have up-front guidance.  Additionally, the amount of revisions should be reduced since you’ve already gathered important points from the SME.  Of course, that results in time and money saved. Beth Hughes is a Senior Instructional Designer at Handshaw, Inc. She takes projects through the entire process of instructional design and development, incorporating learning principles, instructional needs, and methodologies into the best learning solution for each client. Beth earned her M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Technology from UNCC.

It appears as if Charlotte, NC just isn’t hot enough for me in July, because I’m leaving here for a few trips.  Next week I’ll visit the local chapter of ASTD in Jacksonville, FL and the following week, I’m visiting a client and a potential client in Memphis, TN. Although instructional systems design has been around since World War Two, people still need to know when to use it, how to use it, and how to convince their management and clients when to use it. My session on "Instructional Design - Selling the Real Value" continues to be popular. So, I’ll be having lunch with the Jacksonville ASTD chapter and discussing instructional design with them on the 21st of July. On Monday the 25th of July I’ll be flying to Memphis to do two workshops. I’ll be doing the full-day Performance Partnering Workshop with Hilton Hotels on Tuesday. This workshop is quickly becoming my favorite. The workshop is heavily based on the work of Jim and Dana Robinson and my experience learning from them over the past fifteen years prior to their retirement. The morning session deals with the proactive consulting interview and the afternoon session deals with the reactive reframing meeting. Eighty percent of the workshop uses role plays to practice these interviews, which each employ eight principles to help clients focus more on results and outcomes rather than solutions and activities. I like it because I never know what to expect from the role plays, but they are always fascinating. On the 26th I’ll be visiting one of our long-time clients, First Tennessee Bank, to deliver another full-day workshop "Learning Analysis?  You Can’t Afford Not To."  This session is adapted from the Results-Based Instructional Design Series, which I have been practicing and perfecting since 1987. Good design hasn’t changed drastically in the last 30 years, even though delivery methods and technology have advanced rapidly. I’ll work with my friends at First Tennessee on audience analysis, learning culture analysis and task analysis. The entire afternoon session will be devoted to practicing efficient development of task analysis using actual project deliverables. Of course, I hope a considerable portion of the evening will be spent enjoying some good ribs at the Rendezvous. I love Memphis.

Thank you to everyone from ASTD Jacksonville for such a good turn out last week. There were 63 people in attendance, including me, for a lunch meeting on selling the value of instructional design. That’s a good turnout for a hot day in July—hey, the high in Jacksonville was 5 degrees cooler than the high in Charlotte that day. It appears the good turnout was because of the topic, of course. It seems that instructional design topics are the most requested topics for their chapter right now. I find this particularly interesting because one of the hottest topics at conferences in the late 90s and early 2000s foretold the death of instructional design because it was obsolete and no longer relevant. Here we are, nearly a decade later, and it is not only a hot topic in Jacksonville, but just about everywhere I go. One of the things I have noticed over the last thirty years is that technology and delivery systems are constantly changing, but good design, tied to outcomes and results, remains constant. Unfortunately, many of the eLearning programs I see today closely resemble the sound slide shows that were so popular when I was in graduate school in the late 70s. Those programs were merely a vehicle for delivering content—one way. How different is that from many eLearning programs today? Harold Stolovitch laments that we "train people declaratively and then expect them to perform procedurally."  If we identify the appropriate level of learned capability in our objectives and make the learning and measurement match that level, our learners will be able to perform appropriately. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like good instructional design to me. I also get very excited about the prospect of delivering performance support and learning with mobile devices. They offer a promising new technology that is available to so many learners right when they need it most. And that gets to the importance of context that Tony O’Driscoll is always talking about. The ability to get answers when you need them so they can immediately be applied to work process will lead to better learning and less time spent in classrooms. As I see it, the key to making all this new technology work is the same as it was thirty years ago—good instructional design.   

Dick Handshaw explains to a July 2011 Learning Analysis workshop audience how to get started with a Task Analysis in their organization.

A few weeks ago I worked with two training organizations in Memphis, TN.  I delivered the Performance Partnering workshop on Tuesday to Hilton Worldwide and presented the first workshop in the Results-Based Instructional Design Series on Analysis for First Tennessee Bank. I’ve delivered the performance partnering workshop for over 100 individuals now and the one constant is that I never really know what’s going to happen. Most of the class consists of role play scenarios and the participants get to choose their own scenario.  I never know what’s going to happen next, but I have found a few trends. Some people tend to fall back on what they have always done and don’t always take advantage of the eight principles used to conduct and evaluate each of the role play scenarios. Others tend to follow the new instruction more. In all cases, I am always intrigued by the various conversations and the often creative ways the participants use to reframe a client training request or to structure a proactive interview to learn more about a client’s business unit. The next day I was with a longtime, wonderful client, First Tennessee Bank. I had about 18 people who were really interested in task analysis, partly because of the important role the task analysis played in a recent project we are just finishing with them.  I’m finding a renewed interest in task analysis everywhere I go.  People used to skip task analysis because they didn’t have time for it and now they want to learn how to do it more efficiently for the very same reason—they don’t have a lot of time to waste.  With Memphis being the polite Southern city that it is, I’ve received no less than seven thank you email messages from the two organizations. One of the Analysis participants said, "Your way helps to clarify knowledge, process, what needs to come first and what some may be able to test out of." I’ve always tried to focus on practical solutions that people can really use. At least one person agrees, "It was an excellent workshop that provided a practical method that we can use immediately." And here’s the kind of comment I always like to hear, "I learned a lot of new information and I’m putting it right to use on my next project." From a work perspective Memphis was a very successful trip. On a personal note it was outstanding. I had barbecue for three meals in a row and got to watch the duck walk at the Peabody over a cool drink with some great clients. It doesn’t get any better than that. And, Memphis is the undisputed barbecue capital of the world—even better than North Carolina.