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Insight Strategies note: The Fort Hill Company is a valued partner of ISI, Inc. In this white paper you will learn how to truly define and deliver the kind of long lasting training results we all pursue when undertaking skill improvement initiatives. Links to Fort Hill Company are available on our "Partners" page. Enjoy!
The 6Ds™
Six Disciplines
that
Deliver Results from Corporate Learning
by:
Calhoun Wick
Roy Pollock
Richard Flanagan
Andrew Jefferson
Montchanin Mills, Suite P
Montchanin, Delaware 19710
(302) 651-9223
www.ifollowthrough.com
Copyright 2004 Fort Hill Company
6Ds™ – Six Disciplines that Deliver Results
Six disciplines —the 6Ds — are required to turn course learning into business and personal results. They are:
|
1. Define |
2. Design |
3. Deliver |
4. Drive |
5. Deploy |
6. Document |
|
Outcomes |
Complete Experience |
for Application |
Follow-Through
|
Active
Support
|
Results |
|
Prepare |
Teach |
Apply |
Measure |
The 6Ds are built on two key assumptions:
· The primary purpose of corporate learning is to improve business and personal results.
· Learning produces results only when it is transferred and applied to the work of the organization.
The disciplines that turn learning into results span the full life cycle of a program - from design, to delivery, application and assessment.
Importantly, they extend the scope of corporate learning into the post-course period, acknowledging that follow-through is essential for learning transfer, application, and the business results.
Traditionally, disciplines 4 and 5 (driving follow-through and deploying support for knowledge transfer) have been seen as outside the learning organization's purview. They therefore represent the greatest opportunity for improving outcomes.
The 6Ds are derived from our research with more than 30,000 participants in industry-leading companies and institutions. Our clients have found the 6Ds to be powerful organizing principles that have helped them produce more effective learning programs and greater return on investment.
Fort Hill has deep expertise and experience in learning development and application, including the unique follow-through management systems, Friday5s® and DevelopmentEngine®. We hope that your find the 6Ds stimulating and useful. We welcome your comments and reactions.Introduction to the 6Ds:
On the following pages, each discipline is defined, and new expectations for corporate education are illustrated by example.
1. Define Outcomes in Business Terms
The first discipline is to clearly define the business results that you want participants to achieve. The key is to define results as opposed to activities.New Expectation:
This discipline involves answering three deceptively simple questions:
What are the business issues that the course and its follow-through are designed to solve? (Effective programs are grounded in business strategy and priority needs.)
What will the participants learn to do better or differently that will address the business needs?
What does success look like?
Think ahead to three months after the learning experience. What will participants have accomplished that will reflect well on them and on the program? What results will they be achieving that will delight the line leaders who sponsor the program?Example:
A great example of using this discipline in action comes from Susan Burnett when she was Chief Learning Officer for Hewlett-Packard. Her discipline included:
Business Issue: Spoke directly with business leaders to understand their needs, which were new skills to cope with unprecedented change and lead HP to a successful future.
Do Better or Differently: Defined that managers needed to learn to make faster decisions, resolve issues earlier, hold authentic conversations, and drive visible accountability.
Desired Outcomes: Participants would be able to document specific examples when their faster decisions, earlier issue resolution, authentic conversations, and visible accountability made a business difference.
These are precisely the outcomes HP achieved in a program that involved 9,000 managers and leaders.
2. Design Complete Experience
The full learning experience includes what happens before, during, and after the course.
Effective program design encompasses not only pre-work and follow-through management, but also other factors and persons - such as the participant's manager - who impact results.New Expectation:
The new end point of learning design is not the last day of class, but several months later. Success is defined by the results participants have achieved on-the-job, not merely their reaction to the program.
Course designers have four important opportunities to improve results:
1. Prepare participants, managers, and sponsors for their roles and responsibilities in the learning and follow-through process.
2. Design course content and experience to make learning transfer and application fast and easy.
3. Provide tools and processes to drive follow-through and keep the focus on results and application.
4. Harness participant's work environment to reinforce the value of putting knowledge to work.
Research by Fort Hill and others has proven the importance of follow-through and the work environment on learning transfer. In general, improvement is proportional to follow-through and is greatly enhanced by an engaged and supportive superior.
The most effective learning initiatives plan follow-through and environmental support as carefully as the course itself. Example:
A large retailer designed its Leadership Forum to equip store mangers to improve results in five specific areas.
The entire management chain from the CEO and Regional Presidents as sponsors, to Regional Vice Presidents as coaches, all focused on the common goal of driving follow-through to deliver business results.
As a result, 100% of participants were able to document specific actions that resulted from the training. From these, the learning organization was able to prepare a handbook of Best Practices.
3. Deliver for Application
Corporate learning is pragmatic; its purpose is to improve results. Every component of a course should be delivered in a way that facilitates its application to the work of the organization. New Expectation:
The new paradigm is to deliver for application. Courses need to be practical - analogous to teaching a surgeon to perform a new procedure or a fighter pilot to fly.
That is not to say that there is no place for teaching the underlying theory or principles. It is to say that teaching theory is incomplete unless it also helps learners see how to impact real-world business issues.
Examples should be realistic and as close as possible to the actual business of the firm in order to reduce the gap between classroom and the business and facilitate application.Example:
A financial services company provides training for its high potential sales people to improve their performance.
The delivery focuses from beginning to end on the application of what is being covered in order to maximize the business and personal impact.
Facilitators enhance application by:
· Setting participants' expectations at the beginning of the course; letting them know that they will be expected to transfer and apply what they learn to their work.
· Identifying the WIIFM (What's in it for me?") for participants.
· Using stories to illustrate how the material can be applied.
· Providing time and encouraging participants to write down how what they have just learned can be applied when they return to work.
They also prepare participants to take follow-through action by:
· Teaching participants to write strong goals.
· Helping participants prepare an application plan.
· Having participants practice an elevator speech to communicate with those at work.
· Preparing participants to meet with their managers.
4. Drive Follow-Through
Follow-through is the single most important discipline to ensure that participants turn learning into results.
Follow-through on learning objectives cannot be left to chance or individual prerogative, any more than a company could make action on financial goals optional.New Expectation:
A great course is necessary, but not sufficient. Course learning - no matter how stimulating or enjoyable - will not produce improved business results in the absence of effective follow-through and application.
Learning leaders must accept as much responsibility for the application of course learning as for the delivery of content. Follow-through must be planned and managed.Example:
The top four hundred leaders in a major forest products company attend a two-part Leadership Development Program. Participants leave the first weeklong session with two goals: one developmental and one business. They are expected to take action on these goals between the first session and a reconvene three months later.
To ensure program learning is transferred to work and applied in a way that improves results, participants use a web-enabled follow-through management system.
Every two weeks, participants are reminded of their goals and asked to use the system to update their progress, document results, identify next steps, and share lessons learned.
The follow-through management system is designed so that every participant can see and learn from the actions of their colleagues. Moreover, participants can receive online coaching from their manager, peers or others and access actionable ideas for next steps.
As a result of setting the expectation for transfer, and sending reminders to take action, participants are able to report visible results on both their business and leadership objectives during the reconvene.
5. Deploy Active Support
Transfer of learning, and hence the results of corporate education, is greatly enhanced when participants are actively supported during the follow-through period.
The reasons are two-fold: first, on-going support makes it clear that learning is a process - not an "event." Second, adults learn best in the context of real problems. Making on-going support available takes advantage of these "teachable moments" to reinforce course principles.New Expectation:
Participants will be supported in their efforts to apply course material when they return to their work. Contact with course material, fellow learners and instructors will be extended beyond the classroom walls.
The literature on the transfer of learning is clear: support from a participant’s manager is vital. Securing managerial support is as important to delivering results as what happens in the classroom. Example:
A global leader in technology had a highly rated management development program that was given throughout the year.
Although the course rated highly in end-of-class evaluations, the learning leaders believed that greater follow-through and managerial involvement would strengthen its impact.
Follow-through management was implemented using Friday5s. The system was configured to automatically send each participant's goals to her/his manager with a request for support.
At the end of the follow-through period, each manager was provided a link to the participant's updates and was asked to recognize progress, identify lessons learned, and to determine ways to sustain progress.
The results were dramatic. Manager's awareness of goals increased from 40% prior to Friday5s to 100% after implementation.
The percent of participants who discussed their development with their managers increased dramatically as did the number of discussions they had with their manager.
Managers reported greater post-program effort and improvement when the follow-through management system was used.
6. Document Results
In well-run organizations - results are rewarded, not activity.
Documenting post-course results gives Corporate Learning new credibility and influence. The ability to show executive sponsors hard evidence of outcomes and return greatly enhances the probability of increased funding and sustained support. New Expectation:
No longer is it good enough to say, "Trust us, we know that learning pays off." To grow and thrive, learning organizations must be able to demonstrate that they contribute to the company's success in a meaningful and measurable way.
Corporate education can deliver compelling results, provided the 6Ds process has been followed so that the objectives were clear and the complete experience was managed end-to-end. Example:
A major pharmaceutical firm needed to increase the effectiveness of its 6,000 person+ sales force.
Sales management had identified coaching as a key driver. The training department was charged with increasing both the quality and quantity of coaching across all levels of sales management.
Sales managers attended a 2-day program on coaching skills. Friday5s was used during a 3-month follow-through and application period. At the end of the follow-through period, both the sales managers and the sales people in the field were surveyed using Fort Hill’s Measure4Results® Tool. The learning organization was able to show:
61% of managers had improved their coaching skills as judged by the sales people they coached.
57% of subordinates reported improved job satisfaction as a result of better coaching.
75% felt they had improved sales performance.
The data was so compelling that the executive sales team spent 2 hours reviewing the results with the head of training rather than the 30 minutes that was originally scheduled.
The Vice President of Sales concluded the meeting by saying, "If the head of learning or any member of her team knocks on your door, open it and give her anything she wants. She and her people can help us."
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