Make What You Know Matter

They just don’t understand! 😖

I was reminded again this week that a lot of non-training people think they know a lot of things about training.

Here’s the reality: they do.

Here’s another reality: most of us got into this world of training because we thought we knew a little bit about it too.

But here’s a final reality: if you’ve put effort into honing your craft, you DO know more than others about training. The question is whether anyone cares (or maybe more significantly… does it really matter?).

My experience this week was a friendly reminder to connect what I know to why it matters.

Got a great design method? Show how it improves learning effectiveness or cuts cost.

Have a great framework? Show how it improves scalability or speeds up time to productivity.

You know a lot. Show why it matters.

Safe Failure

One of my favorite tactics when it comes to designing learning experiences or developing someone’s skill is the idea of Safe Failure.

Safe failure essentially involves creating a controlled environment where individuals can make mistakes or experience setbacks during learning without significant negative consequences.

It’s failing at something that makes practice so effective. It’s the immediate feedback of what didn’t go well that cements in your brain what NOT (or at least try not) to do next time.

As we start 2025, what are some ways you can create safe failure scenarios for you or your team?

Where can you try something you might fail at but is low risk?

Here are some examples to consider:

- A low risk project that you can see through from start to finish

- A stretch assignment to design or build something new

- An informational interview with that person you don’t want to sound stupid in front of (PRO-TIP: you should ask for skip-level meetings and do informational interviews as most leaders worth their salt will love to take the opportunity and they will rarely see any mistakes in that conversation as negative… they’ve been where you are before)

- Simulate a scenario (role play, get feedback, etc.) 

Fail fast. Learn More!

They Can’t See the Problem

Be a problem solver… not an order taker.

Want to be a true consultant? Help your client or stakeholder (or spouse? 😅) find the problem, even when they’re looking for the solution.

I’m starting to lose count of the times I hear someone come to me with, “we need a training for…”

Is it just me?

Building real value through actual impact requires knowing your stakeholder’s problem and helping them find the solution… even if that solution is not you or your team.

Here are a few quick ways to help your stakeholder or client identify the problem so you can solve it effectively… TOGETHER.

1. Know their business - this means listening and research and empathy.

2. Speak their language - if you’re not able to articulate their problems they way they do, you won’t be able to articulate your solution either (even if it’s great). ProTip: look for data

3. Ask good questions - “Tell me more” and “what is the problem you’re really trying to solve?” are two golden questions that you can’t afford not to ask.

Be a problem finder, not an order taker.

#consulting #performance #learning #learninganddevelopment #leadership #training #problemsolving #results

The Phantom Business Problem

Chasing a problem that turns out to be a ghost might come back to haunt you. 

How many times have you as a leader seen something that appears to be a problem and you immediately mobilize your team to go fix it? It’s scary, it’s nebulous and your intuition says it’s something that needs to be solved. 

Large organizations are particularly challenged with this. There is always a need to innovate and optimize and staying in the same place just isn’t an option. The problem, however, comes when you’re mobilizing your team to solve something that isn’t really a problem. 

You have a lot of motion, but no action… because it’s not clear what the outcome really needs to be. 

Here are some ways I’ve found you can be sure the problem you’re trying to solve is really a thing and not an ominous shadow of what MIGHT be around the corner…

Ask for data - This seems obvious… but it’s actually true that real problems do exist even where hard data doesn’t. The value in ASKING for data is making sure you at least know what you’re working from and you get your stakeholders aligned on what can and cannot be measurably impacted. 

Quantify the impact of not acting - This is more of a risk-based approach, but it may be that by identifying the impact of not acting to be low, you can focus instead on higher-value things where problem statements are better defined (and truly exist)

Push back (ask good questions) - My biggest mistakes have come when I didn’t feel confident in the answer to something, but I was too afraid (intimidated?) to push back. Your leaders and your team need your insight and value your input. If they don’t, you can work to build credibility, ask better questions or ultimately find a new leader.

Problems can be scary. Chasing a problem that isn’t really a problem is actually deadly. 

#problemstatement #leadership #consulting #coaching #learning #performance

Leaders Create Leverage

Good leaders create leverage. They are a force for good in unlocking potential in two directions: (1) Vertically in creating more capacity and momentum for the leaders you are following and (2) Horizontally in unlocking the capability of those who follow (direct reports, matrixed teams, peers, etc.). 

Vertical Leverage - Unless you’re at the very top, you’re likely working for or under someone else. The best way to effectively support the person you report to is to create leverage. Senior leaders want to have leaders under them who are capable, proactive and dependable. This creates capacity because they can trust you with increasingly important responsibilities. Creating leverage for your leader is not about ingratiating yourself to them, but seeing what matters most and then finding a way to help them do that efficiently and effectively. 

Horizontal Leverage - When it comes to the people you lead, your job is to not only cast vision and give direction, but to unlock the potential of your people. To do this well, you need to listen hard and pay close attention to the strengths, gifts and passions of those around you. Removing blockers and creating opportunities is what good leaders do. What force for performance can you be for those you lead?

Bad leaders micromanage and shape everything for their own personal brand. Good leaders find a way to share in the problem statement, craft solutions and enable those around them to do what they do best, both vertically and horizontally.

Cognitive Load

Disregarding cognitive load is costing you, your learners and your business. 

According to the Interaction Design Foundation, “cognitive load refers to the amount of effort that is exerted or required while reasoning and thinking. Any mental process, from memory to perception to language, creates a cognitive load because it requires energy and effort. When cognitive load is high, thought processes are potentially interfered with.” 

In other words, if your learner is taking in or processing too much information in a given time period, you’re putting at risk their ability both to learn and to perform.

Cognitive overload is going to impact your learner in at least three ways:

1. They are forced to pick and choose what to remember. They likely aren’t even doing this consciously. If you don’t have a strategy and design for this, you risk them remembering the less important things and forgetting what’s critical.
   

2. They get tired. This is amplified in the virtual delivery environment, in my experience. Too much processing will literally bring fatigue, which makes even the best-designed learning experience start to lose its effect (or worse, impact performance when they’re back on the job).
   

3. They have to un-learn and re-learn on the job. Because they didn’t learn effectively in the learning environment, they’re learning on the job (often on their own) and to get it right, they have to back that incorrect code out of their system and re-encode with the correct instructions (so to speak).

Ironically, by shoving twice the amount of “training” content in your learning experience, you’re multiplying exponentially the amount of time it will take someone to actually learn what they need to learn in order to do what they need to do. 

These are only a few ways (and I’ll say more in the future about how to mitigate this). How else do you see this impacting your learners and your strategy? How can you use this info to be more consultative with your stakeholders?

Leaders and Learning

The effectiveness of your learning and performance strategy depends on how well you leverage leaders. There are at least three major leader categories you should be thinking about strategically:

The Manager

A manager can make or break on the job performance. Of course they play a role in providing direction and feedback, but they also are often an individual’s most important support resource. How are you accounting for the leaders of your learners (and don’t forget, they’re even busier than you are… so you may need to get creative!)?

The Business

Trying to develop and launch any significant training program without business involvement will be painful if not entirely unsuccessful. Who can you bring along as a sponsor or a champion? Have you considered forming a steering committee or council? These leaders will not only set you on the right path, but they’ll also help remove blockers when you inevitably run up against them.

The Learning Leader

If this is you, great! Easy. But for a lot of us, we have to bring along other learning and enablement leadership to (1) make sure we are impacting the highest priority work and (2) get the leverage needed to bring along the relevant necessary elements like technology, operations, reporting and the like. The best way to do this is to partner on long term (quarter or half) planning and build shared priorities (even better if you can share OKRs or goals!).

Focus on Performance

If you’re focused on training, you’re missing the big picture. Shifting the conversation to performance instead of training is going to help you as a learning or enablement professional in at least three major ways:

Alignment

If you want to be a truly consultative partner, you must align with your stakeholder(s) on performance objectives, not learning. Speak their language (think KPIs instead of Learning Objectives) and involve them in the process. Be a chef, not a server.

Efficiency

Guess what? Things change. By focusing on performance, you drastically improve the ability to pivot for 2 reasons: (1) you can prioritize more quickly  because you know what’s truly critical and (2) you can make decisions (or obtain sign-off) more quickly because you’ve aligned with your partner on the main thing being the main thing… namely, performance! 

Results

You’re more likely to hit something if you aim for it. By focusing on performance, you may actually end up doing less training but still driving up results. When you can connect your solutions to the end result (performance), you are earning your right to be trusted again. (BONUS: You also get to share your impact story in language your stakeholder understands!)

What are you focused on? How can you shift your conversations to performance instead of training? How else has a focus on performance benefited you?