September 11, 2014, 5:30 - 8:00 PM - Training That Delivers Results Program September 12, 2014, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM - Proactive and Reactive Performance Consulting Workshop UNC Charlotte Center City Campus,320 E. 9th St, Charlotte NC 28202 (Located at the corner of E. 9th and Brevard Streets)

Dick will be presenting "Training That Delivers Results".  The conference will be held on April 11-16, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Please join Dick and your peers for the event!    http://www.ispi.org/content.aspx?id=1686

Please join Dick Handshaw on Friday, September 5th as he delivers his half day workshop titled "Training Request: Ask Questions First." To register for this workshop, please visit http://www.astd-rta.org/calendar-of-events.The location is still to be determined, please check back for additional details! This workshop is focused on re-framing skill building and is a major component of our Performance Consulting Workshop. In this workshop, participants will learn how to handle inappropriate training requests in a way that yields better results for the participant and the client. Participants will develop skills using a re-framing exercise that allows them to play the role of both the consultant and client during the practice. The results are effective since real world project examples are used for the role-play scenarios. This workshop allows participants to discover their own abilities as a performance partner and equips them to develop the confidence to use them. Performance Objectives: Engage the client in an open discussion about business needs and the performance required to support them. Practice and improve eight skills that will facilitate the re-framing interview. Identify opportunities to conduct further analysis of the performance needs in order to identify learning needs.

ROI Certification Workshop - Charlotte NC : Hosted by: SIEMENS ENERGY in Charlotte, NC on February 10-14, 2014. The workshop is open to the public. You don’t have to be an employee of Siemens Energy to attend. Please click on the link above for additional registration information.  Become a Certified ROI Professional Fully master all the skills you need to implement a comprehensive ROI initiative in your organization in our five-day Certification workshops. You’ll gain the skills to become certified in the ROI Methodology™, and you’ll learn how to sustain the measurement and evaluation process on a continued basis. You’ll also receive support when you complete the workshop to conduct an impact study in your own organization. When you’ve demonstrated competency in applying the ROI Methodology™, you will earn the prestigious Certified ROI Professional designation. ROI Benefits The ROI Methodology™ is a proven method to show the contribution of programs in terms that executives appreciate. It is used to improve programs, build support, increase commitment, enhance relationships with key stakeholders, and secure funding. You will also have access to the Members Only area of our website which provides you with resources, tools, templates, and networking. During ROI Certification, Learn How To: - Apply the ROI Methodology™ to a program in your own organization - Gain detailed, first-hand experience with every step - Calculate ROI and explain its meaning - Measure the contribution of all types of programs - Enhance program results & improve ROI - Discover how to use intangibles. - Practice reporting results in an executive briefing - Explore how to sustain the use of ROI  Certification Benefits: - Demonstrate ability in conducting an impact study - A professional designation of Certified ROI Professional upon successful completion of your own impact study - Permission to conduct one-day workshops on the ROI Methodology™ in your own organization - Sought-after skills that will make you more credible and valuable to your organization’s executives  Who Should Attend: This workshop is designed for learning and HR managers and specialists who need the skills to measure impact and ROI of all types of programs. Typical programs include technical training, IT training, compliance training, sales training, empowerment programs, leadership development, talent management, and recruiting. The process applies to facilitator-led programs, blended-learning programs, and e-learning programs.      

Guest Blog - Start Your Performance Consulting Practice with You by Peter Engels I was recently speaking with a friend who is trying to change industries, about how to position himself as a newcomer in the field. This led to my thinking about the hurdles that instructional designers and training departments face when they try to incorporate performance consulting methods into their current practices. We talk at great length about how to proactively pursue change and ask questions that go beyond training to get to the heart of the performance gap.  However, this all depends on clients and stakeholders believing in the performance improvement process and their trust that you have the skills to use it.  This begins with how you present yourself. If performance improvement is not currently used in your organization, but you or your learning organization feels it could add value to the work you do, start introducing yourself and your methods with a performance improvement spin. If adding to your title, even unofficially, is not permitted in your organization, it can still be easy to introduce yourself as a learning professional who utilizes performance improvement methods. Another way to include performance improvement concepts is in the analysis and design phases of your projects. Stakeholders will undoubtedly ask "what does this mean to us?" This question opens the door for you to talk about the benefits of connecting training to larger business goals and researching the root cause of workplace issues to find the best solution. Throughout these conversations and through your work, highlight the "value add" you will bring to the project by using performance improvement methods. Provide examples, either from previous projects or by crafting a scenario out of a current project, to show the effectiveness and savings on the end-result. In addition to positioning yourself as someone who practices performance improvement, prove it by engaging in self-directed professional development or blogging and publishing to build your performance consultant brand within the organization. While it can be challenging to change the direction of an organization’s methods and introduce new concepts, noticeable progress can be made by changing the way you present yourself professionally and the evidence you have to support it. By establishing yourself as the resident performance improvement expert - even when no one else is talking about performance improvement - you may be able to start a conversation to really begin working on closing your organization’s performance gaps.

This winter weather definitely has me looking forward to attending the Training 2014 Conference in San Diego, CA more than ever! It is always a great conference and San Diego, where it’s currently seventy degrees and sunny, never fails to provide the perfect reprieve from the cold! I will be presenting my session "Analyzing Performance Gaps" at 10:45 Monday morning, February 3rd.  This session uses Dana and Jim Robinson’s "Gaps Map" process to identify both learning and non-learning solutions to deliver business results. The Gaps Map process is a type of needs analysis that compares the "is" state to the "should" state, for both business results and performance. This is how performance consultants identify the gap between what is currently happening and what should happen, relative to the business goal. Although the process sounds simple enough, there are specific techniques for both asking questions and establishing a strong consulting relationship, that are really quite specific. After explaining the process in detail, I will show a four-part video demonstrating exactly how the ideal Gaps Map meeting with a client should be conducted. From there, I’ll ask for feedback from the audience to see if they have identified key best practices or observed any errors. Frequently written off as too time consuming, the needs analysis process is often overlooked by clients and training professionals.  However, it can be difficult to deliver results, even with great training programs, if you haven’t correctly identified the specific behavior that will ultimately result in achievement of the business goal. Time spent in the Gaps Map process can be the best investment you can make in any training project. The Gaps Map process is not difficult to learn and is really quite efficient, once you take the time to practice and elicit feedback on your progress. I hope to see you in sunny San Diego. I’m counting the days. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

I think we can all agree that there are a lot of training requests that should never be acted upon, but that saying "no" to a client can damage the trusted partnering relationship. While this is a good strategy for not damaging that relationship, how do we build a trusted partnering relationship in the first place? The answer to this question is easier than you think. It just isn’t fast! It takes time, but it can be an enjoyable and rewarding process.  The Robinson’s call this process Proactive Consulting. It is proactive because you are initiating contact with your client rather than waiting for your client to contact you. The first step is probably the hardest. You have to get that first meeting when there really is no agenda and no pressing need to get together. The whole point of the meeting is to talk to your client about his or her business when there is no agenda. Again, you should focus on desired business results for the coming year. You may also ask questions about challenges both internally and externally. You should keep the meeting short—thirty minutes over a cup of coffee is good, certainly no more than an hour. Once you get your client to expect these meetings on a regular basis, you will no longer be surprised by a new initiative when it finally makes its way to you as a training request. You will also develop a different relationship with your client, as a true partner rather than an order taker. This will make it easier to ask good questions about the initiative in order to qualify it as a valid training request. You will also have an opportunity to investigate non-training interventions that may support the desired performance. One last thing you must keep in mind though, as you begin your proactive consulting meetings is to correctly identify the "true client". You may have to work your way up through influencers to the true client, but eventually you have to take your interest and your questions to the person who truly owns whatever line of business you are supporting. Ask yourself, who writes the check to create whatever solutions are developed and put in place, or who is responsible if goals aren’t met, and you will be able to identify your "true client". Click on the Resources tab to see video role plays and the eight principles of both Reactive and Proactive Consulting. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

This year’s conference will be held in Indianapolis, IN from April 14 - 16. Workshops, including the Chapter Leaders’ Workshop will be held over the weekend on the 12th and 13th. This should be a great venue, with an accessible location from both coasts. Let’s hope spring arrives in Indiana by the middle of April! I will be presenting a new session, supporting my new book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals." I have thought for many years that the only thing wrong with instructional design models is that they don’t include enough performance improvement or enough measurement and evaluation. The Handshaw Instructional Design Model has evolved to achieve this integration. This is my reason for writing the book and developing the session. The model is influenced by three major experiences in my career. The performance consulting portion of the model is drawn heavily from the work of Dana and Jim Robinson, since they have been mentors to me since the mid-1990s. The more traditional ADDIE components of the model are drawn first, from my days at Indiana University, and later from nearly thirty years of working with customers and improving our instructional design process at Handshaw, Inc. Many talented instructional designers have used and influenced the Handshaw model through their work in our training services and performance consulting practice. I have also been influenced by the work of Jack and Patti Phillips. I have leveraged their work to strengthen the measurement and evaluation components of the model. My presentation will be on Wednesday the 16th at 10:00 in the morning. I will be assisting Tim Brock with the Chapter leaders’ Workshop on Sunday the 13th. Among other things, we will be introducing a new Chapter Affiliation Agreement. This new agreement is designed to strengthen the brand consistency of ISPI among its affiliated chapters. It is also designed for chapters to help support the International Society with increased communication, support for increasing Society membership and increased support for the International Conference. I hope this Workshop marks a watershed moment in which the Society and the chapters will work together to strengthen the brand of the entire organization. The one event of the week that I am most looking forward to is on Sunday evening when I will be making the short drive to Bloomington to have dinner with my Instructional Design professor from IU, Dr. Michael Molenda. My commitment and passion for our profession began at IU. Dr. Molenda introduced me to Instructional Systems Design in 1978. His influence has stayed with and helped guide me over the course of my career. I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to thank him for the influence he has had on my life and career. Another IU alum, Thiagi will also be joining us. It couldn’t get much better. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

At the 2013 ISPI Conference, Dana and Jim Robinson received the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award. I had the pleasure of having dinner with them that evening at the conference where we were joined by Jack Phillips. As we were discussing the award and how much the Robinsons enjoyed seeing everyone again since their retirement, Jack suggested that they write a third edition of their Performance Consulting book—and that he and his wife Patti Phillips and I join them as co-authors. Dana and Jim jumped at the idea, and within a short time, Jack had a draft proposal for us to review. Before long, we had a contract with Barrett Koehler, the publisher of the first two editions of Performance Consulting. The proposed title for the third edition is: "Performance Consulting: An End-to-End Process to Improve, Measure and Sustain Business Results."  What will make this book significant is that it will combine the work the Robinsons have done in the area of performance consulting with the measurement and evaluation work of the Phillips. There is great synergy in the work of both couples, integrating the front-end consultative process of the Robinsons with the measurement techniques of the Phillips. My role is twofold:  to provide current case studies and examples as well as ensuring the content is congruent with instructional design principles. This is a very exciting role for me to play and I am enjoying every minute of it.  This new edition will be published in the spring of 2015. The Robinsons most recent book, the second edition of Performance Consulting, appeared in 2008. Jim retired in 2009 and Dana in 2011. Jack and Patti are extremely prolific writers with over 100 titles to their combined credit. I am the newcomer to book writing with my first book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals" which will be released by AMACOM Publishing in May of 2014.   

I am presenting a 90 minute session on Monday, May 5th at 1:00 pm that features my new book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design That Aligns with Business Goals." Immediately after the session at 2:45 I will be signing copies of the book. There will be a second book signing session at the ASTD Book Store on Tuesday at 12:45. I received a pleasant surprise this past week when my complimentary copies arrived at my office quite unexpectedly. They arrived exactly one year from the date that I signed the contract with AMACOM, the publishing group for American Management Association. The book is co-published by ASTD. After a year of working on the book, I was surprised at how exciting it was to actually have the book in my hands. It was an ambitious project to combine performance consulting and instructional design in one book. I also included information on measurement and evaluation, followed by a chapter how to sustain the strategic change to a results driven process. The book is based on the Handshaw Instructional Design Model. Our process is based on the work of many thought leaders in the field including but not limited to Walter Dick and Lou Carey, Robert Gagne, Jim and Dana Robinson, Jack and Patti Phillips and even some local experts like Barbara Thornton (former SVP of Human Resources at Krispy Kreme)  and John Gretes (Professor at UNC Charlotte). Although the model is rooted in the work of others, the Handshaw staff continually improved the process through nearly thirty years of practical use, which makes it highly evidence-based. The book includes case studies, client stories and many useful tools for practical application. Above all, it really is easy to read, with lots of white space bulleted lists and helpful graphics. The book is intended to help you improve your organization and your own career by making instructional design and performance consulting easier to apply in your work situations. I hope it will help inspire you to do great things for yourself and for our profession. A Kindle version is currently available at www.amazon.com, or you can pre-order the paperback version for shipment by May 28th. If you are going to the ASTD conference in Washington, DC, please stop by the Book Store to purchase your copy of my book and say hello!