Article Published on - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 6:41 am Click here to Comment!

In this concluding article, Sydney, Australia-based learning transfer expert, Emma Weber, CEO of Lever Learning, interviews Fort Hill’s Chief Learning Officer, Dr. Roy Pollock. Roy shares his insights about the role of the manager in regard to learning transfer and clearly shows why this issue will become a significant priority for L&D professionals everywhere.

We encourage your input on the subject and look forward to your engagement. Thank you for your continued participation in this important global topic.

T & D article Interview with Dr. Roy Pollock (2)

Article Published on - Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 9:01 am Click here to Comment!

Question:
As a learning professional, I am frustrated by what seems to be an obsessive focus on training’s shortcomings. I can’t attend a conference or listen to a webcast without hearing about what’s broken in learning and development. Sure, we have lots of opportunities to improve—every function does—but, surely, there is a lot going on in training and development that is positive. So, my question is this: What do we do right? What are strengths on which we can build to produce great results for our organizations and trainees?

Answer:
Great question! Take learning transfer as an example. Learning transfer is the process of putting learning to work in a way that improves performance. There is no question that in many programs, it is the weak link. But, you could also say that the learning transfer glass is partially full. There are many programs after which learning gets put to work in ways that really do improve results. So, rather than focusing on what is broken in learning transfer, we could explore what is working and start to build on those strengths.

That’s the fundamental rationale for appreciative inquiry. Appreciative inquiry is very different than traditional business problem-solving. Instead of always starting with “what’s wrong,” appreciative inquiry assumes that the potential—or capacity—for exceptional performance is already present in every organization; that there are many things already being done well, resulting in outstanding performance. The goal is to learn from and build on these strengths, rather than always looking to “fix problems.” Appreciative inquiry rejects the deficit approach and instead asks the question, how can we do more of what we are really good at to drive performance.

By way of illustration, compare how typical corporate problem-solving and appreciative inquiry would approach the same issue. In their excellent book, “Appreciative Inquiry,” Barrett and Fry frame the example this way: Suppose that you were in a company that was experiencing an employee turnover rate substantially higher than the industry average. The knee-jerk reaction is: “let’s figure out why 15% of our employees are leaving.” Appreciative inquiry would reframe the question as: “let’s find out why 85% of our employees choose to stay, so we can further strengthen those areas with the result that 90% or 95% choose to stay.” (Barrett & Fry, Appreciative Inquiry, Chagrin Falls, OH, Taos Institute, 2005) The first approach leads to a disheartening laundry list of what is broken; appreciative inquiry leads to creative and positive ideas to make those things that are working even better.

In October, I had the privilege of putting these ideas into practice on the topic of learning transfer with a large group of talented learning professionals from many different organizations at Fort Hill’s annual Learning Transfer Summit. We began the session by exploring what we currently are doing well, by having participants tell about a time or program in which learning transfer was outstanding. Using that as a positive platform, we then shifted to creating a future vision three years from now.

Building on the things we are already doing well, we were able to describe an exciting and positive future for our profession. We included the already taken actions and the impact they produce when we are at our best. The following is the future we envisioned through appreciative inquiry; I hope you will agree it is much more energizing than a list of problems to fix. Our thanks to all the LTS attendees who helped create it. Now let’s make it happen!

Vision Generated by Appreciative Inquiry

October 2014 – Much has happened in the three years since we met at the LTS in San Francisco to envision a positive future for learning and development.

Nowadays, learning is co-designed with our internal clients, so that business outcomes are clear and participant’s job relevance obvious. The learners’ perceptions of relevance and utility are tracked routinely, and programs are adjusted whenever a disconnect is detected.

Learning design emphasizes work as the practice field; the learning intervention is conceived as the catalyst that launches our participants onto the “Achievement Highway™.” Specific plans to support learning transfer are now built into all instructional designs. As a result, high levels of learning transfer are consistently achieved, producing competitive advantage; transformational business results are now the norm. Soft skills programs achieve the same levels of transfer and application as technical and compliance training.

The CEO (formerly the CLO of the organization) ensures that all leaders appreciate the strategic importance learning can have, provide support for their employees’ learning, and are active participants in the process. Performance improvement through learning is embraced as a shared responsibility between management and the training department. Demonstrated learning agility is a key criterion for selection as a high-potential employee. Leaders throughout the organization are exemplars of continuous learning and cite the ability to learn and adapt as an important factor in their success. Learning and development professionals have a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion of any new strategy; the CEO requires that every business plan includes a discussion of the new skills and knowledge needed for its execution. Senior business and learning leaders work together to develop an annual learning plan that is closely linked to the business strategy and focused on the highest priority needs and opportunities. Learning and development earned its seat at the table by delivering—and documenting—improved performance in business-relevant measures.

Across the entire enterprise, every participant is expected to deliver visible and valuable improvement as part of the learning process. Credit for completing programs is granted only when competent on-the-job application is apparent. Achievements are documented in a way that can be verified and shared broadly across the organization. Active measurement and evaluation ensure that learning is delivering on its promise, as well as continuously improves. The commitment to delivering and continuously improving business results has transformed the learning function from a cost center to an acknowledged contributor to top- and bottom-line performance.

This future was achieved by learning leaders who were courageous in their execution, who viewed themselves as true strategic partners, and who, as a result, took calculated risks to try new approaches to integrate learning into the business.

The Road Ahead

As we look forward to the New Year, let’s envision the future we want for ourselves and our learning colleagues. Let’s be mindful of what we already do well, and ask—through an appreciative inquiry—how we can use the elements of excellence that already exist in ourselves and our organizations to create the future we want.

To continue your learning, be sure to attend our upcoming complimentary webinar, “Using an Achievement Roadmap™ to Create Valuable Business Results,” on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11:00am EST.



Article Published on - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 9:02 am Click here to Comment!

Question:

In the July Learning Alert, you talked about getting participants to tell an Achievement Story about putting their learning to work. Can you explain why and give an example?

• It gives participants a concrete finish line to shoot for. If they know that by a specific date, they will be expected to tell an Achievement Story, then they will need to have achieved something to talk about. If they know their manager will be included, that provides additional incentive.
• It also gives participants a way to communicate and get credit for their efforts and results.
• Lastly, achievement stories are powerful ways for the learning organization to communicate the value of training programs, both to management and to future attendees.

What Goes Into an Achievement Story?

The following questions will help participants frame their Achievement Story:

An Example

The following example is an achievement story told by a sales team leader following a program on holding more productive and authentic conversations:

Next Steps

Choose a strategically important course where it is vital for participants to apply what they learn.

Inform them that they will be expected to tell their Achievement Story and when. Include their managers and other key stakeholders. Consider using ResultsEngine® to help keep them on track and to automate the capture and dissemination of stories.

Select the most compelling stories, verify them, and tell them frequently to communicate the value of the program to the business sponsors and the value of learning transfer to participants.

To learn more, attend my upcoming complimentary webinar, “Using an Achievement Roadmap™ to Create Valuable Business Results,” on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11:00am EST, where details on using the Achievement Roadmap™ will be given to help participants get great Achievement Stories as well as using ResultsEngine as a GPS to create even greater learning value.

Article Published on - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 3:55 am Click here to Comment!

When the APi Group created their L&D Department, it was estimated that between 8%-10% of those participating in organizationally funded soft skill training programs (primarily leadership development) achieved level three transfer (using the new knowledge/skills gained from training upon return to their jobs). At this time, only level one participant surveys were being used for measurement and evaluation purposes.

The department made several changes in their learning design and evaluation procedures in order to increase level three / four learning transfer. These included:

• The creation of pre-course contracts that required participants and their supervisors to discuss the course, the reasons for attendance, and to formalize two initial participant goals for the course.
• An experiential learning design that gave participants an opportunity to apply their learning to a real work problem they brought with them to the class (formalized in their pre-work). Using tools provided in class, participants created an action plan that could be implemented immediately upon return to their jobs.
• Employing Fort Hill Company’s ResultsEngine® in order to facilitate the completion of two formalized course related goals, which were set at the end of the classroom portion of the course. ResultsEngine supported the transfer and application of learning on the job and its data-mining and report generation capabilities enabled them to convincingly demonstrate the measurement and evaluation of level 3 / 4 learning transfer.

Over a three year period, these changes have achieved the following results:

• 81% of training participants either achieved or made significant progress with their two course goals (indicating change in behavior).
• 79% of training participants state that their performance on the job improved due to their involvement in the course and follow-through program.
• 96% of the participants’ supervisors state that they observed course related participant performance improvement.

The APi Group’s learning function is now a strategic business tool that is getting tangible results and has been given an ASTD 2011 BEST Award.

Article Published on - Friday, October 21, 2011 at 8:21 pm Click here to Comment!

What would you ask a human capital and organizational development expert about how to better leverage training to drive performance improvement?

T & D article Interview with Dr. Roy Pollock (1)

Article Published on - Friday, September 16, 2011 at 3:45 am Click here to Comment!

Question:

I have been reading Rita Smith’s new book, Strategic Learning Alignment. She makes the point that learning organizations need to make a business case for learning. What about learning transfer? Is it possible to make a business case for investing time and resources in learning transfer?

It is, and you should.

We agree whole-heartedly with Smith when she writes: “The only reason that learning functions exist is to drive business outcomes” (p. 10). Training and development drives business outcomes by equipping people with new skills and knowledge, that when applied to their work improve performance, resulting in better service, higher revenues, improved quality and so forth, which collectively produce a competitive advantage for the organization (Figure 1 below shows the path by which learning creates value).

It is clear from the sequence of events that realizing the business benefits depends on BOTH high-quality training to impart vital skills and knowledge AND on the transfer of those skills to the work of the individual and firm. When there is no transfer, there are no benefits.

Unfortunately, transfer is the weak link in most corporate training initiatives. For example, ESI recently polled 3,200 learning professionals about the effectiveness of learning transfer. The majority felt it was less than 50%, many much lower. In other words, in their organizations, more than half the training effort is wasted for lack of transfer to the job.

This, improving learning transfer, represents a huge opportunity for training and development to increase the value it delivers. That is why a recent research report by Bersin & Associates stated: “Based on our research, we expect learning transfer support to be a major differentiator for high-impact learning organizations in the next 10 years.”

The Payoff

Improving learning transfer makes sound economic sense. Here is an example based on not atypical numbers: XYZ company runs a program for 100 participants that costs $1,000 each. When they evaluate the results three months later, they find that only 20% of the participants applied what they learned; but those that did generated, on average, an additional $6,000 each for the company in new revenue and cost savings. So, the ROI is good: 20% on this investment of $100,000 (Table 1).

Table 1: ROI Analysis for Program A

The learning team, however, is convinced they can do better. So, they invest some of their time and resources in a learning transfer support system and materials. The effort increases the cost per participant by $200 each or 20%. On analysis three months later, they find they have only increased the transfer rate from 20% to 30%. So, the question from a business leader’s point of view is: Was spending the extra money worth it?

Now let’s look at the analysis for Program A+ (the same program + support for learning transfer) in Table 2.

Table 2: ROI Analysis for Program A+

The results are quite startling. Increasing the cost of the program 20% by investing in learning transfer increases the ROI two-and-a-half times! Note that the value per participant who used their learning did not change; it shouldn’t since the course was exactly the same. All that changed was the percent of people who diligently applied what they learned.

We often hear learning professionals say that they have no additional budget for supporting learning transfer. If that is true, then an alternative that should be evaluated is: What would happen if you trained fewer employees and used the cost savings to support learning transfer? Would that produce better results than continuing to train so many with such a low yield?

Let’s do the math. If we use the preceding example of Program A+ (with support) but instead of adding budget for learning transfer, we reduce the number of participants trained so that we stay within the $100,000 allocated, then the results would look like this:

Table 3: ROI Analysis for Program A+ with Fewer Participants

Surprisingly, this approach produces both a higher total dollar return as well as a higher percent ROI than the base case (the program with no transfer support). In other words, you can often create greater value by training fewer people and investing the savings to make sure that those you do train put their learning to work.

What accounts then for the huge increase in value realized? It is because the current level of transfer is so low. In most programs, 75% or more of the potential value goes unrealized (Figure 2 below). We only need to capture a small portion of the unrealized value to dramatically improve the overall outcome.

Don’t take our word for it. Prove it to yourself by plugging numbers for your own training program into our free online Impact Calculator.

The bottom line is this: There is a strong business case for investing some of next year’s budget and time in support for learning transfer. The investment will be repaid many times over in superior results. Indeed, if business managers appreciated how much value was being “left on the table,” they would want to know why you aren’t investing in learning transfer.

Want to learn more?

Attend ASTD’s Learning Transfer Conference in November, where you will have the opportunity to do a deep dive into creating a healthy transfer climate and exchange best practices with learning professionals around the country. To learn more about using the learning transfer management system ResultsEngine®, click here.

Article Published on - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 7:34 am Click here to Comment!

As part of our commitment to help advance the learning profession, Fort Hill Company is pleased to offer the following educational webinars at no cost to you. Two new webinars introducing the 6Ds® have just been added. Click on the below titles to learn more and register:

September 13, 2011: The Business Case for Learning Transfer- Dr. Roy Pollock
In this engaging and interactive webinar, Dr. Roy Pollock, Chief Learning Officer of Fort Hill Company, will make the business case for learning transfer. He will explain why learning professionals should be very concerned about the lack of learning transfer and how they can improve the ROI of programs without changing the content.

September 28, 2011: On Beyond ADDIE: Introduction to The 6Ds® of Breakthrough Learning- Dr. Roy Pollock
Hear from the authors of the best-selling The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning why more and more organizations are adopting the 6Ds® as the model for designing and executing training and development programs. Find out why we need to “move the finish line” for training and how to ensure that all your hard work pays off in real business impact.

October 7, 2011: Using an Achievement Roadmap™ to Create Valuable Business Results- Cal Wick
In this fun and thought-provoking webinar, Cal Wick, one of ISA’s Thought Leaders of the Year, will introduce the Achievement Roadmap™ and how you can use it to help participants visualize—and complete— the journey from learning to business results. He’ll explain how to get participants on the “Achievement Highway” and prevent them from using the “Same Old Way,” which leads only to the “Opportunity Scrap Yard.”

October 28, 2011: On Beyond ADDIE: Introduction to The 6Ds® of Breakthrough Learning- Dr. Roy Pollock
A repeat of the September 28 webinar for those who missed it or had scheduling conflicts. Hear from the authors of the best-selling The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning why more and more organizations are adopting the 6Ds® as the model for designing and executing training and development programs. Find out why we need to “move the finish line” for training and how to ensure that all your hard work pays off in real business impact.

November 8, 2011: How To Make Learning Transfer a Priority for Participants- Cal Wick
Cal Wick, Fort Hill’s Chairman and Founder, will show why Learning and Development needs to do more than just teach content. We also need to engage, equip, and energize our participants to make learning transfer a personal priority. Otherwise, as one Learning Leader said, “If participants are not going to apply what they learn, it would be cheaper just to send them the bagels!”

December 7, 2011: Turn on the Results; Plug the all new ResultsEngine® into your Training Programs- Michael Papay
In this interactive webinar, Michael Papay, Fort Hill Company’s Chief Innovation Officer, will demonstrate ResultsEngine® and discuss the recent Bersin Research Report on learning transfer. He’ll review case studies that show how leading organizations got significantly better results from the same training when they added support for learning transfer.

We look forward to sharing our insights with you during these webinars and, as always, welcome your suggestions on topics you’d like us to present.

Article Published on - Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 10:29 am Click here to Comment!

Bersin & Associates, a leading talent development research and consulting firm, has just released a new Research Bulletin on learning transfer.

The report, authored by Bersin senior analyst, Janet Clarey, emphasizes that learning transfer—the process of applying new skills and knowledge from training to the job—is essential for learning to produce business value. The report also notes that “having a process in place to support transfer of learning is often missing in the design of corporate L&D.” “Based on our research,” Bersin concludes,¹

This finding is consistent with the research by Fort Hill that led to the publication of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: “The Fourth Discipline that characterizes high-impact learning organizations is that they drive the transfer of learning back to the work of the enterprise. They do not leave it to chance or individual initiative. Instead, they put in place systems and processes to actively encourage and manage the transfer process.” ²

Until recently, however, providing support for learning transfer was a time-consuming, mostly manual process. That is certainly a contributing factor to Bersin’s finding that “more than one-quarter of learning leaders say improving transfer of learning support is a significant challenge.”

Fortunately, there are now alternatives that make support for learning transfer efficient, scalable, and economical. The Bersin report goes on to profile the leading learning support tool from Fort Hill, ResultsEngine®, and three examples of organizations that have used ResultsEngine and the 6Ds® process to boost the impact of their learning programs.

ResultsEngine is an easy-to-implement, software-as-a-service tool that automates the learning transfer support process. A dashboard of key metrics, such as the progress learners are making toward their goals (see Figure 1 below), provides learning leaders with key insights into the critical post-program application period, so that they can focus on business outcomes.

At Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, according to the Bersin report, “The focus on business outcomes has meant L&D is now able to get behavioral changes and show ROI. A recent coaching skills program resulted in more employee engagement and optimism, as well as a 50 percent improvement in skills over those employees not using ResultsEngine®.”

A major pharmaceutical company highlighted in the report implemented ResultsEngine—(formerly Friday5s®) after a leadership development program. “This follow-on, the company found, was much easier with the Fort Hill software than when it had tried to do post-program support manually.” Even more important, “The ROI reported by participants using ResultsEngine was almost 50 percent greater than for the same program without it.”

The full Bersin report is available for free download on our website under Articles. To learn more about how you can boost the results of your learning programs with ResultsEngine and the 6Ds® process, email us at: info@forthillcompany.com.

At this time, I’d like to invite you and your colleagues to join me for our upcoming complimentary webinar, “Turn on the Results; Plug the all new ResultsEngine into your Training Programs,” to be held this Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 12:00pm EDT.

References

¹ Bersin & Associates (2011). How to Support and Improve Learning Transfer Using Fort Hill Company’s ResultsEngine®. Research Bulletin 6(29) June, 2011.

² Wick, C, Pollock, R and Jefferson, A (2010). The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results. San Francisco: Pfeifer.

Article Published on - Friday, July 29, 2011 at 10:19 am Click here to Comment!

Bersin & Associates just published a Research Bulletin that discusses how having the proper tools to support learning transfer is one of the key ways in which organizations can ensure formal learning is actually applied. It highlights the idea of continuous learning – the ongoing development of skills, abilities and knowledge, and explores what three top organizations are doing to make sure their training is being applied on the job to improve business results.

Check it out HERE!

Article Published on - Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 4:51 am Click here to Comment!

Question: I am launching a program in September with 500 participants. How can I engage them to apply what they’ve learned in a way that leads to valuable improvement?

Answer: I may have an answer to your question in what I have been working on for the last six months. The answer goes right to the heart of motivating, empowering, and enabling participants to put what they learn to work…

I call it the Achievement Roadmap™.

This approach motivates participants to use what they’ve learned and supports them in doing so. Here are the three steps.

Achievement Roadmap Process

Step 1: Define an Achievement Story™ as the finish line of your program.

Step 2: Give participants an Achievement Roadmap™ and GPS.

Step 3: Implement a scalable process.

At this time, I’d like to invite you and your colleagues to join me for a complimentary webinar, “Using an Achievement Roadmap™ to Create Valuable Business Results,” to be held on October 7, 2011 at 11:00am EDT, during which I will provide more details and examples of using the Achievement Roadmap™, Achievement Stories, and ResultsEngine as the GPS to create greater value from learning.

Article Published on - Friday, June 10, 2011 at 4:20 am Click here to Comment!

At Fort Hill, we have been working to improve learning transfer for the past 10 years. Over that time, we have accumulated deep insight into the factors that influence learning transfer—the process of putting learning to work in ways that improve results.

We recently had the opportunity to review the statistics for more than 66,000 participants in learning programs that have used our ResultsEngine® transfer support tool. We also surveyed recent users at one company to gain additional insights. Here is what we learned:

1. Managers have a big impact on transfer efforts.

Our research reinforces prior studies of learning transfer. A learner’s direct supervisor has a profound influence on whether he or she will make the effort to utilize new skills and knowledge at work.

In ResultsEngine, participants are prompted to reflect and record progress on their goals for learning transfer every two weeks for two months. As part of that process, they can request feedback from their manager (and/or coaches).

Analysis of the data for 66,000 participants showed a strong correlation between the managerial response rate and the number of updates completed. In other words, the more interest managers showed (by providing feedback through ResultsEngine), the more effort participants made to transfer their learning (as measured by how many additional updates they did). Figure 1 below shows the impact of managers and feedback on post-course effort:

© 2011 Fort Hill Company. All rights reserved.

Learning transfer is maximized when participants have a manager who actively encourages application of new learning. In our database, participants whose manager provided written feedback completed 50% more updates than those who had no manager in the system or whose manager failed to provide feedback.

Practical Implications for training and development:

To deliver business results, learning needs to be transferred from the class to the job. Managers have a huge impact on whether or not that happens. Training departments that invest time, technology, and creativity in engaging managers realize a greater return on their training efforts. Facilitate the process by providing on-line tools like ResultsEngine and easy-to-follow coaching guides like those in Getting Your Money’s Worth from Training and Development.

2. Participants value on-going collaboration.

In a classroom or virtual setting, a significant portion of the learning occurs when peers exchange experiences, ideas, and best practices. ResultsEngine is designed to help foster on-going collaboration and peer-to-peer learning during the post-class learning transfer stage. Figure 2 below shows the collaboration page in ResultsEngine:

© 2011 Fort Hill Company. All rights reserved.

When we surveyed participants who had used ResultsEngine, 80% reported that they had reviewed other participants’ updates and 68% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I found it valuable to review what others in my class were doing.”

Practical Implications for training and development:

This finding indicates that program designers can extend and amplify the value of training by facilitating social networking and informal learning following training programs. Web-based technologies, like ResultsEngine or similar systems, are the most practical and scalable way to encourage ongoing knowledge- and experience-sharing.

3. Periodic reflection boosts progress.

Forum Corporation’s Principles of Workplace Learning concluded that the best form of practice associated with learning was alternating periods of action and reflection because “reflection is the motor that propels the cycle—without it, learning slows or stops completely” (Atkinson & Davis, 2003, p. 25).

ResultsEngine is designed to periodically prompt learners to stop, reflect, and plan for further action during the immediate post-course period. Analysis of 66,000 participants’ records indicated that 79% of those who do one update, do more, suggesting that they find value in the process. To test this hypothesis directly, we polled a subset of participants who had used the system recently. Of the 161 respondents, 72% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “The process of periodically updating my progress helped me improve my performance.”

Practical Implications for training and development:

Because improved performance is the ultimate objective of learning and development, program designers can help improve performance by instituting post-course processes that causes participants to pause, revisit the course material, and report on their progress periodically.

Why Learning Transfer Is More Important Than Ever

Training and development is vital for companies and employees to stay competitive. But whether training delivers on its promise depends not only on the quality of the learning but also on the effectiveness of learning transfer. The greatest training in the world will fail if it never gets applied on the job.

That’s why these insights are so important. It also explains why Cal Wick’s and Andy Jefferson’s presentations on learning transfer at the ASTD Conference in Orlando last month were “standing room only” and why the April Learning Transfer Conference sold out completely.

We are convinced that improving learning transfer is the single greatest opportunity learning professionals have to increase the value delivered by training and development. If we really want to make a difference for our organizations and learners, improving transfer is the missing ingredient.

For more information about Fort Hill’s learning transfer support tools and the 6Ds® process, please visit: www.forthillcompany.com.

References
Atkinson, T., & Davis, J. (2003). Principles of workplace learning: Insights and tools for performance improvement. Boston: Forum Corp.

Jefferson, A., Pollock, R., & Wick, C. (2009). Getting Your Money’s Worth From Training and Development. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Article Published on - Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 2:56 am Click here to Comment!

Cal Wick, Fort Hill’s chairman and founder, is quoted in an exciting new article from Fortune Management that discusses how many organizations analyze the return on investment for advertising campaigns and other company initiatives, but NOT training. Why not?

Check it out here!

Article Published on - Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 4:32 am Click here to Comment!

Learning and development delivers competitive advantage provided participants transfer their learning to address real business needs. Fort Hill Company was established 12 years ago to help organizations accelerate learning transfer and boost business results. Today, we are even more passionate about the importance of learning transfer support because we have seen its impact in organizations large and small.

Over a hundred organizations have enhanced the business impact in thousands of different kinds of learning and development programs by utilizing ResultsEngine (previously called Friday5s®). For example:

At HP, ResultsEngine helped drive a large-scale change initiative that created a 15x return on investment. “The post-workshop support system created a reinforcing cycle of follow-up action, coaching, feedback, and measurement to assure that participants were learning and manifesting the desired new behaviors, and that the new behaviors were producing the desired business value.” (The Journal of Organizational Excellence)

Pfizer used Jack Phillips’ ROI methodology to assess the impact of their leadership development program. When ResultsEngine was added to the program, they reported that the ROI increased by almost 50%. (Increasing the Value of Leadership Training at Pfizer)

As good as the results have been to date, we set out to make ResultsEngine even better. We are pleased to announce the release of a completely redesigned ResultsEngine that incorporates our years of experience along with suggestions from our clients. The result is an even more effective, powerful, and easy-to-use system.

Here are just a few of the exciting new capabilities:

A LeaderView Dashboard that lets learning professionals analyze all the post-course transfer efforts and results from any number of iterations of a program, involving hundreds or thousands of participants in the program:

© 2011 Fort Hill Company. All rights reserved.

 

The redesigned MemberView encourages collaboration and on-going dialogue among the group as well as facilitating coaching:

© 2011 Fort Hill Company. All rights reserved.

Other new and enhanced features include:

1. Email wizards to make it even faster and easier for managers to support their direct reports.
2. True multi-language capability throughout. ResultsEngine is already available in 10 languages and can accommodate programs in virtually any language.
3. The ability to identify users by level, title, business unit, function and so forth to support later analysis by any or all of these characteristics.

We have also recently introduced a streamlined ResultsEngine Express™ for organizations that want to start enjoying the benefits of learning transfer support quickly and efficiently.

To see a five-minute video highlighting these and other capabilities of the new ResultsEngine, click here. For additional information about boosting the business impact of your programs, please email us at: info@forthillcompany.com. Additionally, we’d love to hear from you about your thoughts and ideas for future enhancements to ResultsEngine.

Article Published on - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 1:38 pm Click here to Comment!

Fort Hill’s all new ResultsEngine wins a 2010 Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Award in the category of Best Advance in Performance Support Technology.

As described by Brandon Hall, the Best Advance in Performance Support Technology category looks for functionality related to performance support, such as search, tagging, information deliverable in small amounts, expert systems, and so forth. Any functionality that makes information easily available at the point of performance, rather than in the context of formal training, would be relevant for this category.

This marks the second Brandon Hall award captured by Fort Hill Company in the last 6 months. The other award was for our pre-course (Phase I) manager and participant E-learning modules created in partnership with General Physics.

To see a 5-minute video tour of the all new ResultsEngine, click here. Additional information about Brandon Hall and their awards can be found below.

Having worked with more than 5,000 clients globally and after 17 years of delivering world-class solutions, Brandon Hall Group is the preeminent research and analyst organization focused on developing research-driven solutions to drive organizational performance for emerging and large organizations.

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Group, a leading research firm in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.

“These excellent tools and systems are the cutting edge of learning technology,” said Tom Werner, chief research officer and director of the Awards program. “They really change for the better how people learn in the workplace.”

Article Published on - Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 10:22 am Click here to Comment!

Question:

In our jobs as learning and development professionals we spend the vast majority of our time and resources on content creation or acquisition, administration of learning, and delivery with very little time spent on learning transfer and post-program support. Are these really the highest value places to expend our energy and resources?
Answer:

Great question! We have been focusing on this issue for some time. If you examine all of the possible places we focus our time and resources in the learning profession and those which have the potential to produce the greatest impact and alignment with management expectations, there is a disconnect. The Forum Corporation research shown below exemplifies the disconnect between what management wants and where we spend our time and resources. It showcases the opportunity we have to reallocate our effort and resources so as to increase our chance of producing great business results.

If you examine the available research, it is clear that the vast majority of our learning and development resources go to content, delivery, and administration. If we think about the question from the standpoint of how to reallocate to increase business impact, two options are at the top of the list: driving learning transfer, and reorienting our focus away from activity and onto results using enhanced evaluation and measurement strategies.

Learning Transfer: It is no secret that improving learning transfer strategies can significantly impact the value created by learning. Unfortunately, all too frequently learning transfer is either an afterthought or not considered at all. Truly effective techniques to drive learning transfer begin long before the formal instructional period and continue long after. A primary reason we are so enamored of the new finish line for learning concept is because it implies the need to begin focusing our time and resources on treating learning as a process rather than an event.

© 2011 Fort Hill Company. All rights reserved.

As with any other business process, when resources are committed to maximizing return from learning, the likelihood of producing significant value goes up appreciably. One of the original factors that drove our decision to write The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning was our opportunity to work with companies that were focused on learning transfer as the missing ingredient to producing great business results from learning. The 6Ds® are a methodology for learning process improvement that facilitates reaching “The New Finish Line for Learning.”

If you want to achieve rapid impact from redeploying resources to a new learning transfer strategy, there are two places to begin the quest. The first is to put in place a learning transfer management system like ResultsEngine® to keep learning top of mind and encourage participants to engage in deliberate practice post-program. Tightly coupled with and made scalable by the use of a system like ResultsEngine, is to ensure that managers of participants are engaged with their direct report both before and after the program. Pre-program, have managers inquire about the value their direct report will create as a result of going to the program. Post-program, managers need to act in a support capacity that goes beyond simply offering platitudes about performance.

Evaluation and Measurement: The other place where there is a clear disconnect is in the measurement and evaluation arena. The historical evaluation focus in learning and development has been on activity, i.e., dollars spent, hours of training, butts in seats, the facilitator. While we agree that these are important internal operational measures for learning and development to track, they do not ultimately get to the critical question: Did the program deliver the promised results needed by the business to drive competitive advantage? To get the answer to that question, you need an evaluation strategy that is designed as part of the overall design of the program itself and that focuses on ascertaining whether or not the training contributed in a meaningful way to the performance objectives the program was designed to serve.

A great starting point for developing an evaluation and measurement strategy is to begin with the end in mind and get answers to two simple questions:

1. Who should define what success looks like? (A tip – it’s not the learning department; it should always be the business sponsor(s) who will benefit if the program is a success);
2. Once you know who will define success, then ask them what business need will be met if the program is a success.

Once you have answered these two questions, then you can begin designing an evaluation approach that will enable you to showcase whether or not the program delivered the value defined by the business sponsor.

There are many ways to reorient our effort and resources to increase our chances of producing great business results after learning. A small reallocation of our time and budget to ensure we drive learning transfer and create sound evaluation strategies will yield significant dividends. Thank you for the question, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I would also like to invite you and your colleagues to attend our upcoming complimentary webinar, “Turn on the Results; Plug the all new ResultsEngine® into your Training Programs,” on Tuesday, May 3 at 11:00am EDT.

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