Looking for tips on engaging Millennial workers? Engaged employees are more likely to show up, perform well, and stick around. Check out Diane’s latest article, which includes an insightful quiz on how engaging you are as a manager of Millennials. The article is full of tips and how to’s. Of course, many of the tips here can apply to employees of all ages, but they are slanted to target the unique work styles, motivators, and other preferences of Millennials. Click or tap on the image of the article above for practical ways to implement the three C’s of Millennial engagement. Climate: To engage Millennials, you will need to create a positive, empowering, and flexible work environment. Communication: Messages matter and it will help if you can customize your communication for Millennials. Career: Coaching counts, and candid discussions about career aspirations, reputation, and sharing the lessons of experience are vital to engaging Millennials for the longer term.

I’ll see you at the ISPI Conference in April.  Here’s the announcement. Dick Handshaw to Speak at ISPI Chapter Leader’s Workshop Charlotte ISPI chapter President Dick Handshaw has been invited to speak at ISPI’s annual conference.  "The Performance Improvement Conference 2010" will be held in San Francisco, California from April 19th - 22nd.  On April 19 the Chapter Leader’s Workshop includes an hour-long presentation on Chapter Leadership by Dick Handshaw. The Charlotte chapter of ISPI gained national attention for its successful start-up, rapid growth, and ability to attract high caliber speakers in its first year.  In his workshop presentation Dick will tell the story of the Charlotte chapter and will share ideas and strategies with other leaders for improving or stimulating growth in their own chapters. Dick has an extensive background in forming and leading new ISPI chapters. In 1992 he was the founding president of a Charlotte chapter that existed for over three years. In 1999 he became founding president of a statewide chapter, called Carolinas ISPI, which maintained a presence in NC for ten years.  In addition to being an ISPI president for six years, Dick also served as Vice President of Programs for Charlotte ASTD for seven terms. "Ongoing professional development is necessary in our field," says Dick Handshaw. "Unfortunately, many of our colleagues can’t gain access to conferences and workshops as often as they would like due to travel restrictions and budget cuts. Our goal with Charlotte ISPI is to give people access to the best thought leaders in the Performance Improvement field here in Charlotte at a price anyone can afford." This focus is the goal around which the Charlotte chapter was founded and the vision Dick will share with other chapter leaders at the ISPI conference in April. Visit www.ispi.org for additional conference information and registration.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to 39 ISPI chapter leaders at the Chapter Leader Workshop held the day before the 2010 Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA. The number and membership in ISPI chapters, unlike many other professional organizations is in decline. In an effort to reverse the trend, our discussion centered around best practices of successful chapter leadership. We cited just two basic principles of chapter leadership. First, having a clear, easily definable vision, and living that vision. In the case of the Charlotte, NC chapter that vision is "high value programs that will attract high volume attendance at a low cost to the participant". Secondly, staying focused on that vision and not becoming distracted with other lower value activities. Sustainability was also a key topic. Early succession planning with a large Executive Committee to spread the workload and to create experienced replacements for senior committee members are two strategies of the Charlotte chapter. In identifying why chapters fail, again only two principles were cited. The first was lack of leadership with a clear vision. The second was loss of focus and giving in to too many distractions that took away from the core vision. In other words, re-read the previous paragraph. We listed several key principles for execution from the Charlotte chapter: Pick your Executive Committee carefully Design succession planning early Be prepared to develop underperforming VPs or move them into committees Recruit new leadership constantly Survey membership for program preferences Give them the programs they asked for Organize the Committees Spread the workload over many volunteers Don’t try to do everything at once Be realistic, stay focused Finally, since our chapter vision is centered on programs, we listed some principles for maintaining high quality programs that are perceived as high value by the membership, not necessarily by the executive committee: Recruit the best national thought leaders Spend money on travel, not food Give free speakers lots of free publicity Publish speakers’ articles in our newsletter and journal Use virtual meetings if travel is too expensive Protect 90 minutes of time for each speaker

I recently went to the 80th birthday party of friend of mine who, since I met him in 1995, has become my mentor and my inspiration for the remainder of my career. He retired less than a year ago. I guess he just didn’t have that much stamina after only fifty some odd years. He never worked that hard anyway, only about three times as hard as I do on my best day. Having him leave the working world has nagged at me ever since. He was both selfless and tireless in the way he poured his soul into teaching as many people as he could what he had learned about our profession in his long and remarkably successful career. I can still quote him and I can still refer people to his books, but who do I send them to for the amazing lessons he has to offer?  I keep drifting back to my favorite Ghandi quote; you know the one, "Be the change you wish to make in the world."  It’s so annoying because it’s so hard to do and at the same time it’s so true. I can never be him—not Ghandi of course, my friend. But there seems to be a void and in some way I need to fill it. A wise person recently pointed out to me that I have been sitting on 30 years worth of good content for a blog and it’s time to uncork the bottle. So here is my commitment.  I will use this space to share as many of the lessons I have learned in the last 30 years in the learning field as I can possibly remember. I will always focus on the practical results from actual experience either of mine or of the colleagues with whom I work. Most of all, I will strive to be as unselfish and as honest as my friend and mentor Jim Robinson. Because, I know if I don’t, I’ll be hearing from him.  Won’t I, Jim?

I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point in my profession where there is nothing left to learn. I’ve been practicing in the learning field since I left graduate school in 1979. Any way you look at it, that’s a long time. I developed my first computer-based training program in 1980 and since then my company has been involved in many "firsts" like developing a Learning Content Management System in 1999.  I always seek opportunities to learn but I certainly never expected that my next lesson would come from teaching scuba. My biggest passion outside of work is scuba diving. I like it so much that I became an instructor about five years ago.  If you sign up to take scuba lessons where I teach, you’ll get five one hour classroom sessions and five two and one half hour pool sessions.  These sessions are followed by a fun trip where you will make five open water dives in a fresh water quarry or lake or even the ocean to prove to us that you are proficient enough in your skills to earn a lifetime certification to dive.  Here’s the catch though. I cannot make you into an accomplished scuba diver in five classes, five pool sessions and five open water dives. Now diving is a very safe sport, but these are life preserving skills we are talking about. Most people will not master their buoyancy skills, their quick decision making, their navigation skills and all of the other things that make them an accomplished diver until they have completed 35 to 50 dives on their own. So how are these skills magically acquired? Think about the world of corporate learning. Is it feasible to teach every employee everything there is to know about doing his or her job? And if we don’t, where and how do they get the rest of the knowledge? This is the part where I invite your comments. I’ll finish the rest of the story next week.

On Friday June 4th, I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Ruth Clark’s Evidence-Based Training Methods workshop presented by the Research Triangle ASTD chapter. Having been a fan of Dr. Clark’s work since the 80s, I jumped at the chance to see her in my home state. The experience was well worth the short drive from Charlotte to Raleigh. As Dr. Clark pointed out in the beginning of her session, it is often difficult for us to convince clients to follow our advice because many of our clients don’t view training as a profession.  She notes that our clients all went to school and therefore presume to know as much about learning as we do. She also points out that we, as busy practitioners, rarely have time to read the latest research that might help us make decisions about training design. If we use empirical research to help us in our daily decision making, we may be more successful at influencing our clients.  I agree with Dr. Clark and make time to attend workshops, read books, and review data provided by my current clients to remain up-to-date in the field. It is really important for us to separate the latest fads and vendor-speak when deciding what information we should actually use in our regular work. Dr Clark has done that for us in her newest book, Evidenced-Based Training Methods: A Guide for Training Professionals. If reading a book is not your thing, she also does webinars through ISPI. I really recommend you go see her live in one of her workshops. She is superb in person. The workshop moves rapidly, keeps you engaged and will change the way you make decisions about your work. When Guy Wallace and I started the Charlotte chapter of ISPI, one of our goals was to only have programs that were of proven methods based on actual practice or research. Dr. Clark’s work epitomizes that goal. Maybe she will find the time to visit us in 2011. I know I’ll be there again. Thank you, Dr. Clark.

I have had an inspiring two weeks lately—Ruth Clark two weeks ago and Darryl Sink last week. Darryl was kind enough to speak at the evening meeting for Charlotte ISPI and presented at the full day workshop the next day.  For the past ten years there has been a debate raging in the learning world. Is the ISD process as we know it obsolete or is it still useful and relevant?  Darryl helped me resolve that debate, at least in my mind. The answer lies somewhere in between. The actual model that you use is not as important as the how you use it. In listening to Darryl talk about his experiences, it is clear that he approaches each new project differently.  He decides which steps in his process he will use for the specific set of circumstances in each new opportunity. There is no one process that meets the needs of every new project. There is no silver bullet, just good planning and intelligent choices. Sure, instructional design is based on good science. But sometimes, how we use it is part art and part science.  As always, Darryl places a strong emphasis on good analysis. He knows this is the only way to develop learning that gets results and prevents the development of learning that isn’t needed. This not only contributes to quality, but saves time and money. Another aspect of Darryl’s process that I particularly like is what he calls Developmental Testing. This is the practice of developing a prototype that represents your overall instructional strategy and testing it with a small group of sample learners. You use the data to verify that your strategy achieves its intended results. The data are also used to make revisions as you continue the iterative instructional design process.  If you would like to resolve the debate about the obsolescence or relevance of the Instructional Systems Design process, go catch Darryl at any of the national conferences.  And thank you, Darryl, for your visit, from all of us in ISPI Charlotte.   

I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point in my profession where there is nothing left to learn. I’ve been practicing in the learning field since I left graduate school in 1979. Any way you look at it, that’s a long time. I developed my first computer-based training program in 1980 and since then my company has been involved in many "firsts" like developing a Learning Content Management System in 1999.  I always seek opportunities to learn but I certainly never expected that my next lesson would come from teaching scuba. My biggest passion outside of work is scuba diving. I like it so much that I became an instructor about five years ago.  If you sign up to take scuba lessons where I teach, you’ll get five one hour classroom sessions and five two and one half hour pool sessions.  These sessions are followed by a fun trip where you will make five open water dives in a fresh water quarry or lake or even the ocean to prove to us that you are proficient enough in your skills to earn a lifetime certification to dive.  Here’s the catch though. I cannot make you into an accomplished scuba diver in five classes, five pool sessions and five open water dives. Now diving is a very safe sport, but these are life preserving skills we are talking about. Most people will not master their buoyancy skills, their quick decision making, their navigation skills and all of the other things that make them an accomplished diver until they have completed 35 to 50 dives on their own. So how are these skills magically acquired? Think about the world of corporate learning. Is it feasible to teach every employee everything there is to know about doing his or her job? And if we don’t, where and how do they get the rest of the knowledge? This is the part where I invite your comments. I’ll finish the rest of the story next week.

Join me for this half-day workshop to learn how to turn a training request into a performance consulting opportunity.  Date:  Friday, November 5th Time:  8:30 am - 12:00 noon Cost:  $95 Location:  Interact Studio, Charlotte, NC To register or learn more visit:  http://dickhandshawworkshop.eventbrite.com/ ** Only 10 seats available

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]Dick Handshaw Family Dollar Presentation Instructional Design:  How to Sell the Real Value March 23, 2011