Are you ready to learn about the next key from my new book, Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, coauthored with Morton Shaevitz? As a reminder, the first key, Refiring Emotionally, is about creating a work environment where people can be engaged. The second key, Refiring Intellectually, suggests the need for lifelong learning. Now let’s consider the third key—Refiring Physically. Numerous articles have been published about the positive link between physical exercise and improved mental outlook and job performance. Smart companies realize that employees who exercise are more productive and engaged. Many HR departments offer wellness programs such as exercise facilities in the building, discounts to a gym, or a hosted yoga class or walking club. And it never hurts to get creative—encourage people who sit at a desk all day to get up every thirty minutes to walk or stretch to get their blood pumping. Hold meetings where everyone stands up. Walk down the hall or to the next building to talk to someone instead of e-mailing them. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Exercise doesn’t have to be a carefully planned, timed activity—it can be anything that gets you up and moving, even for a few minutes. Through the years as our company has grown, our headquarters has spread out little by little until we now occupy several small office buildings on our street. A few years ago we created a natural walking path that goes around the buildings. I’ve noticed that our "Blanchard Trail" gets quite a bit of use. Some people walk in exercise clothes so I know they are working out, but others wear work clothes and are just taking advantage of a nice way to get reenergized. Some have told me they even hold one-on-one meetings while walking on the path. A short walk in the fresh air can give anyone a new perspective and help them be more effective on the job. The health benefits are an added value. It’s easy to help employees understand the link between a healthy body and a healthy mind. Share this code of conduct that Morton and I created as a handy reminder: Be healthy—Honor and strengthen your body Be an exerciser—Move your body Be a smart eater—Eat less and enjoy more Be energetic—Play hard and rest well Stay flexible—Stretch every day Learn balance—Practice standing on one foot, then the other So get up and move! And spend time to keep your employees healthy. It’s an investment in the vitality of your entire organization.   To learn more about Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, visit the book homepage where you can download a free chapter.

In our new book Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, Dr. Morton Shaevitz and I talk about four keys. The first key, Refiring Emotionally, is about creating connection; the second key, Refiring Intellectually, refers to lifelong learning; and the third key, Refiring Physically, is about keeping active to improve your mental outlook. The fourth key is Refiring Spiritually. When I begin to talk about this topic, people often assume it’s going to be about religion. But I’m actually referring to the universal sense of the word spiritual as the opposite of material things. Refiring Spiritually is about getting in touch with something important outside of yourself—looking outward instead of inward. I believe when people have an opportunity to focus outside themselves, they will work toward a higher purpose. After all, it’s hard to become stale, bored, or dissatisfied with your work or your life when you are doing something that serves the greater good. As the Chief Spiritual Officer of our company, I leave a morning message every day to praise and inspire people. I want everyone in our company to hear when someone has accomplished a big goal or when someone needs a little help with achieving something personally or professionally. Leaders who provide opportunities for giving and spiritual growth help people understand that it’s not all about them. For example, we have a self-organized team called Blanchard for Others that donates time and funds to help other charities in the community. In another program we call Blanchard Gives Back, every year we set aside a percentage of our profits and allow each of our people to designate a portion to go to a charity of their choice. We also encourage employees to take up to 40 paid hours a year to donate their time to charitable organizations. Do our people feel good about the difference they are making in the world? You bet they do. In our book, Morton and I share a code of conduct that I think can help you find ways for your people to grow spiritually, too. Encourage your people to think about these statements from the perspective of their own working environment: Be aware—See the big picture Be forgiving—Give up being right Be grateful—Count your blessings Be accepting—Realize you’re not in total control Be humble—Realize you’re not the center of the universe It’s amazing what people can do when they work toward something bigger than themselves. Encouraging people to focus on the greater good works in our company—and I think it can work in yours as well. To learn more about Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, visit the book homepage where you can download a free chapter.

When I ask people to talk about the best boss they ever had, they always mention one quality—listening. The best leaders are good listeners. Our research shows that listening is a critical skill for developing people, building trust, and creating a meaningful connection. But be careful—we’ve also found that it’s common for direct reports to score their managers lower in listening skills than the managers score themselves. I’ve said many times that God gave us two ears and one mouth because he wanted us to listen more than we talk. Let me explain some of the fundamentals of effective listening in case you may want to sharpen your skills. Pay Attention to Nonverbal Behaviors. Listen with your eyes as well as your ears—watch a person’s facial, eye, and body movements in addition to the tone of their voice. Be aware of clues that their silent behaviors provide while at the same time being sensitive to your own nonverbal signals. For example: are you encouraging someone to continue with a conversation, or silently telling them to stop? Ask Questions. This is not about interrogation or control. Use well thought out questions to seek information, opinions, or ideas that will help you understand the person while helping them feel heard. The best leaders ask open-ended questions to encourage communication, clarifying questions to check for understanding, and prompting questions to encourage deeper thinking. Reflect Feelings. Acknowledge any emotions being expressed by the person and share your understanding by restating the person’s feelings back to them in a nonjudgmental way. This will help demonstrate that you not only understand their message but also empathize with their feelings. Paraphrase. Restate in your own words what was said to demonstrate that you heard what the speaker was saying. Paraphrasing is useful to confirm that you understand what your team member was saying. Summarize. State in a nutshell what was said over the entire conversation. The exact words are not as important as clearly capturing the main points and sequence of what was said. This is where you want to reflect the speaker’s conclusion back to them to indicate that you understand. As you can see, effective listening is about focusing on what the other person is saying and then demonstrating that you understand and value their thoughts. Developing listening skills takes an investment of time but is the best way to build trusting relationships with the people you lead. Using these skills should get you off to a good start.

Have you ever heard the words, "we need to talk" and not felt a little uncomfortable? In a fast-paced work environment, communication challenges come up every day.  It’s natural for conflict to arise and disagreement to occur, so leaders need the skills to successfully manage emotionally charged conversations and help resolve issues between team members. To help improve their skills in dealing with challenging conversations, Eryn Kalish, the co-creator of our Challenging Conversations program teaches leaders how to speak up without alienating the other person and how to listen even if they are "triggered" by what they are hearing. The concepts are easily understandable, explains Kalish, but it is something that’s challenging emotionally to practice. For leaders just getting started, there are five skills represented by the acronym SPEAK that Kalish recommends as a way of becoming comfortable with, and open to, others’ feelings. S. Stating concerns directly. Speak up in a way that doesn’t alienate other people. Understand how to get at the essence of what’s important. P. Probing for more information to gain a deeper understanding. Learn how to get more information from someone who might be hesitant to talk. Learn how to gently, but firmly, probe and get somebody to speak out when it is going to serve them and the situation. E. Engaging others through whole-hearted listening. Be able to listen even when it is uncomfortable. Learn how to work with your reactions so that you can focus and understand what the other person is saying. A. Attending to body language. Pay attention to body language and be able to spot discrepancies between what you are hearing and what you are seeing. How many times have you been sitting in a meeting when somebody said everything was fine but his or her body language was saying that it is clearly not? Avoid the temptation to say, "Oh, good, everything is ok. Let’s move on." K. Keeping forward focused, but only when everybody is ready to move forward. This can be a challenge for leaders with a natural bias for action. Learn to resist the urge to move forward prematurely. In challenging conversations the real issues often don’t come to light at first. Perhaps the most important thing about using a process like this is teaching a common language and approach that can be used by everyone in your company. Remember to address the issues directly—ignoring them will only make things worse. But using the SPEAK approach will improve communication, trust, and employee engagement. I encourage you to try it out soon to see the positive impact it will have.

On May 5, HarperCollins will release The New One Minute Manager. I’m already getting a lot of questions about how the One Minute Manager has changed since the original book was published in 1982. The workplace has evolved dramatically over the last 30 years. In the early 1980s command and control leadership was a way of life. In those days, the One Minute Manager was the one who set goals—he decided who to praise and who to reprimand. The New One Minute Manager realizes that today the old top-down management style doesn’t work, because people want to find meaning in their work and be recognized for their contributions. Now side-by-side leadership—being a partner with your people—is much more effective. To address these changes, my coauthor Spencer Johnson and I have updated and adapted the Three Secrets used by the New One Minute Manager—One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings, and One Minute Re-Directs. Now the Secrets are more relevant than ever. Readers will discover that goal setting is no longer a task managed by the leader and handed off to the employee as a list of directives. Setting One Minute Goals is now a collaborative activity that the leader and direct report work on together. The focus is on setting clear expectations and providing examples of what a good performance looks like. People are encouraged to review their goals daily so they can stay on track by focusing on their most important projects. The Second Secret, One Minute Praisings, remains one of the most powerful tools a leader can use to encourage and motivate people. The New One Minute Manager knows the importance of catching people doing things right and praising them right away. In time, people learn to praise themselves and become self-leaders. The Third Secret is where we’ve made the biggest change: One Minute Reprimands have been changed to One Minute Re-Directs. We did this because the pace of work is so fast today that people are in constant learning mode. Even if you’re an expert today, tomorrow your area of expertise may be outmoded. It’s not helpful to reprimand or punish a learner. Today it’s more effective to coach and support people with One Minute Re-Directs. I’m excited about the practical tips we’ve incorporated into this book for a new generation. Now more than ever, the Three Secrets provide powerful tools to help you build relationships and achieve personal and professional goals. And the heart and soul of the new book remains the same: one minute really can make a difference. In fact, I believe the best minute of the day is the one you invest in your people. To learn more about The New One Minute Manager and download the first chapter, visit The New One Minute Manager pre-release website.

All good performance starts with clear goals. That’s why Spencer Johnson and I made sure that the First Secret of The New One Minute Manager® is One Minute Goals. This is illustrated perfectly in the children’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which path she should take. The Cheshire Cat responds, "That depends on where you want to go." When Alice says she doesn’t know, the smiling cat says, "Then it doesn’t matter." The same is true in the work environment. If people don’t have a clear understanding of where they are going and what they need to focus on, they can’t perform at their highest level. The secret of setting One Minute Goals is for the leader to work side by side with each direct report to write goal statements that include performance standards, so that both people agree on what needs to be done by what date. In other words, they work together to determine exactly what good performance looks like. I think the best practice is to have each goal on a separate page. Keep the goal statement short so that every day it will take less than a minute for the person to review it to make sure they are staying on track. Yes—I’m suggesting that everyone look at their goals every day. Why? Because too often, goals are written and filed away in a drawer, not to be referenced again until it’s time for a performance review. Creating goals and hiding them from sight for a year is a surefire way to ensure that people won’t work on the most important projects in an organized way. What kind of message would it send if goals were set and never reviewed? Reading over goals every day ensures that people’s behaviors are matching their goals, allows them to adjust their behaviors if their goals are not being met, and reminds them how their work contributes to larger department or organization initiatives. This method actually lets people manage their own performance—which in turn helps them enjoy their work more and be more productive. So where are you and your people going? When was the last time you checked? Start working with your direct reports today to write clear One Minute Goals, and encourage them to spend one minute each day to read them. I’m sure you’ll start seeing higher levels of goal achievement—along with higher morale. To learn more about The New One Minute Manager, visit the book homepage where you can download the first chapter.

I ask people all the time, "How many of you are sick and tired of all the praisings you get at work?" I always get the same response—laughter. It’s sad how many managers spend their time pointing out things that are wrong with performance instead of catching people doing things right. That’s why Spencer Johnson and I encourage you to focus on the Second Secret of The New One Minute Manager®, One Minute Praisings. After you have set clear goals with someone, it’s important to spend a good amount of time with that person to make sure they are set up for success. In fact, let people know you’re going to give them lots of feedback on their performance because you believe in their talent and you want them to be high performers. If they aren’t used to receiving much feedback it might seem confusing, but soon they’ll realize what a valuable tool it can be. When you praise performance, remember to do it promptly and be specific about the behavior. Let the person know how you feel about their achievement and encourage them to keep up the good work. This is especially true when someone is working on a new skill or task, because praising will help build confidence. As people become more proficient, they will actually learn to praise themselves for a job well done. Something to keep in mind: a One Minute Praising is not the same as flattery. It’s a statement that builds trust and improves communication because it’s based on facts and data. Saying "nice job" isn’t specific enough to build rapport. But if you say, "Sally, thank you for getting your monthly report to me on time. It provided accurate information and allowed me to meet my deadlines. Keep up the great work," it clearly states your appreciation and will boost Sally’s morale. It will also help her realize she is an important member of the team and improve her productivity overall. So spend a few minutes every day catching your people doing something right. It doesn’t take much time. Remember: the best minute of the day is the one you invest in your people. To learn more about The New One Minute Manager, visit the book homepage where you can download the first chapter.

In The New One Minute Manager, Spencer Johnson and I share that setting One Minute Goals begins with the belief that everyone is a potential winner. They just need to understand what they are being asked to do and what good performance looks like. When setting goals, managers work side by side with each direct report to write a goal statement for each of their areas of responsibility, including the standards that will be used to evaluate their performance. This provides clear direction on what the direct report needs to accomplish and how they will know they have done a good job. Ensuring that direct reports have a way to monitor their own performance and measure progress is an important component of motivation. To explain the motivating nature of creating clear goals, in the book we share a story we heard from Scott Meyers, a longtime consultant in the field of motivation. One night when Scott was bowling, he saw some people from an organization he previously had worked with. Everyone in this group had been described as disinterested and unmotivated. Meyers watched as one of the men who had been identified as unmotivated approached the line and rolled the bowling ball. Soon he started to clap and jump around with delight. Meyers had never seen the man so animated. Why do you think he was so happy? Because he got a strike and he knew he had performed well. Meyers contends that the reason people in organizations are not clapping and jumping around at work is, in part, because they aren’t always clear about what is expected of them. In bowling, this would be like rolling the ball down an empty lane without any pins at the end. With no pins to knock down, there is no goal and no performance to measure. That wouldn’t be much of a game, would it? Yet, every day in the working world, people are bowling without pins. As a result, they can’t tell their manager how they’re doing. When managers assume wrongly that the people on their team know what the goals are, no one is set up for success. Never assume anything when it comes to goal setting. Set your people up for success by working with them to write clear One Minute Goals. Then check in occasionally and see how they are scoring. Keeping goals top of mind will help people focus on the important work and achieve higher levels of performance.

The main idea of The New One Minute Manager is to help people reach their full potential. In the book, Spencer Johnson and I describe the Three Secrets: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings, and One Minute Re-Directs. I believe the most powerful of the three is One Minute Praisings. For a One Minute Praising to be effective, you must praise the person as soon as you can and tell them in specific terms what they did right. Let them know how good you feel about what they did and encourage them to do more of the same. As a manager, the most important thing you can do is to catch people doing something right. And when someone is just beginning to learn a task, it’s important to catch them doing something approximately right so you can help them move to the desired result. One of my favorite examples of this is a parent teaching a child to speak. Suppose you want to teach your toddler son how to ask for a drink of water. Of course his first attempt isn’t going to be a full sentence. If you waited for him to say "Give me a glass of water, please" before you gave him a drink, that wouldn’t turn out too well. So you start by pointing to a glass of water and saying, "water, water." After several weeks or months, all of a sudden one day your son says, "waller." You are so excited you hug and kiss him, give him a drink of water, and get Grandma on the phone so the child can say, "waller, waller." It wasn’t the exact way to say water—but it was close, so you praised his progress. Eventually, you only accept the word water and then you start working on please. By setting up achievable targets along the way and praising progress, you help the learner move toward the end goal. In the workplace, unfortunately, many managers wait until people do something exactly right before praising them. The problem with this is that some people never become high performers because their managers concentrate on catching them doing things wrong, keeping an eye only on the desired performance instead of praising progress along the way. This happens with new employees all the time. Their manager welcomes them aboard, takes them around to meet everybody, and then leaves them alone. Not only does the manager not catch the new person doing something approximately right, they periodically zap them just to keep them moving. I call this the leave-alone-zap management style. You leave a person alone, expecting good performance from them. When you don’t get it, you zap them. What do you think that does to a person’s performance and engagement? If you set clear goals and catch your people doing things right, you’ll create a work environment where people are engaged and fully committed to doing a good job. It only takes a few minutes to praise someone for a job well done. It will be the most important minute of your day.

As a manager—or a parent, coach, or any other kind of leader—you want to get rid of bad behavior but keep the good person. To do this, you must give feedback frequently—this goes for catching people doing things right as well as noticing mistakes or poor performance. It makes no sense for a manager to store up observations of poor behavior and present them all at once at the end of a project or during a performance review. Not only would this be frustrating for the manager, it would also put the person receiving the feedback on the defensive. Re-directing behavior as soon as possible allows the manager to deal with one behavior at a time. It also allows the other person to focus on constructive feedback and how to correct the problem, instead of being overwhelmed with information about numerous mistakes or misbehaviors that happened long ago. For the manager, the most important part of the re-direct is remembering to build people up, not tear them down. Confirm the facts, review the goal, and explain specifically how the behavior didn’t support the goal. End the re-direct with a praising: this lets the person know they are better than their mistake. A re-direct should never be perceived as a personal attack. You want the person to be aware of and concerned about what they did, not feel mistreated. Like all of the Three Secrets Spencer Johnson and I share in our book, The New One Minute Manager, the One Minute Re-Direct takes about a minute and can be a great learning moment for both the manager and the direct report. It allows them to refocus on the goal and work together to strategize how to align performance with the desired outcome. Working collaboratively also improves the relationship by building trust and improving communication. One Minute Re-Directs are the perfect way to provide feedback and coach people to peak performance. Remember, the best minute of the day is the one you invest in your people.

Much has been written about work-life balance. Some say it is impossible to find in our fast-paced world. Others say it is achievable—but you have to work at it. Summertime is usually the time of year when people try to concentrate a little more on work-life balance. However, I don’t see balance as just a summer project. In fact, for some people, summers can be more hectic than the rest of the year with children out of school, extended visits from family and friends, and pressure to take vacation—even as project deadlines pile up at work. This kind of schedule can turn a balanced summer into a stressful summer. But there is a way to manage all the day-to-day demands of a busy life, no matter what time of year. Reaching balance in life is all about decreasing stress by focusing on things that create a sense of contentment. Several years ago my lovely wife, Margie, came up with PACT—an easy to remember model whose elements can help people relieve stress in their lives by achieving Perspective, Autonomy, Connectedness, and Tone. Perspective is about seeing the big picture of life. If we know our purpose and direction in life, chances are we have a good perspective and daily stressors don’t get blown out of proportion. To illustrate the concept of perspective, I think about when our kids were young and we would take them to the zoo. Most parents get a little crazy chasing their kids around the zoo, but we loved it because our top priority was to have fun with the kids. We were able to overlook certain things and just enjoy the day—it was all part of our perspective. I called it zoo mentality. Honestly, it still seems strange to me that parents take their kids to the zoo then spend the whole time yelling at them. Everyone would have more fun if they embraced the perspective of zoo mentality. Autonomy relates to our ability to make choices that allow us to be in control of our lives. If you have a high sense of autonomy, you are not totally controlled by your job, your spouse, your children, or anyone or anything. Of course no one can always be in complete control of every aspect of their life, but as long as your daily activities support your personal and professional goals you will have a greater sense of balance. Connectedness is all about having strong positive relationships at home, at work, and in the community. Mutually supportive relationships can enhance a feeling of overall well-being and balance. Creating trusted connections at work helps improve morale and performance, while spending quality time with family and friends leads to a feeling of satisfaction of belonging to a community or being part of something bigger than yourself. Tone covers how you feel about yourself physically. It includes the way you look, your health and energy level, and your level of fitness.  People with high tone generally have a high energy level, maintain a proper weight, have sound nutrition, and feel good about their physical appearance. Margie and I have taught the PACT model for many years, and I still use it to monitor the balance in my own life. It’s a great tool that will help you not only pinpoint what’s wrong when life gets stressful, but also check off what you’re doing right when you are feeling great. When your life is in balance, stress naturally loses its grip. Start using the PACT model this summer and keep it up all year long. You’ll live life at a higher level.

This post is adapted from "Your First Leadership: How Catalyst Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others," by Tacy M. Byham and Richard S. Wellins, Wiley, 2015. Byham and Wellins are CEO and SVP, respectively, of Development Dimensions International. If you enjoy this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. We absolutely believe that as a leader you are a powerful, creative, and indispensable force for good in society. But you’re not a mind reader, nor are you a psychiatrist (most likely). You may discover that the employees you’ll be coaching have personal issues beyond your scope that make it necessary to enlist your HR contact for help. But by approaching the entire situation with empathy and planning — and considering the personal and practical needs of all involved — you’ll be better able to help your team consistently work well together. The following tips can help. Start with a Comprehensive Hiring Process Choose team members in ways that lead to top employee performance and engagement. For now, let’s say it this way: The right hiring decisions today will save you considerable headaches in the future. Ensure Expectations for Performance Are Always Crystal Clear "How can you possibly tell me I missed my goals?" ranted Malu. "You never gave me any!" Yes, this happens more often that we would like. Use your company’s performance management system to set expectations each year. Include both the "whats" (quantitative goals) and the "hows" (behaviors/competencies). And, review them with employees regularly. Clear expectations equal fewer surprises! Pinpoint the Situation Study personalities and scenarios — with some familiar characters — you may encounter and prepare for each one. Use it as a starting point to plan your conversations. Handling an employee who has tuned out is often much different than dealing with an employee who offends others by being a constant know-it-all. An Ounce of Planning Is Worth a Pound of Cure Plan your approach and conversation in advance. If the situation is serious or is likely to involve formal consequences like probation or termination, seek guidance from your HR specialists. One thing you can count on — employees are likely to ask for specifics: "What did I do wrong?" Make sure you seek and use real data. All-Around Coaching Coaching is one of your most important leadership roles. When you coach proactively, by helping your team members do things right from the start, it not only builds their confidence, but it also helps to prevent problems from occurring in the first place — a far better place to be. Better to learn from success than failure. But when you must react to a team member gone astray, coach for improvement sooner rather than later. Keep Notes Don’t rely on your memory. Discussions with problem employees should be documented for three reasons. First, documentation helps you and them keep track of your agreements over time. Second, it keeps you on track for your next (of many) coaching conversation. And third, it ensures that there will be no misinterpretation later about what you discussed. ("I never said that," "I didn’t agree to that," "I never knew it was a serious problem.") If problems become severe enough to lead to disciplinary action or even termination, documentation will become even more crucial. It might very well be used as part of a legal proceeding in some countries, should the employee accuse you of wrongful treatment. Be Prepared for Multiple Conversations It might take several coaching and feedback sessions to reverse the negative trend. If you take two steps forward and one step back, that’s OK—it’s still progress. Always schedule follow-up meetings to review where things stand and to clarify the process. Positive feedback is also critical. If (when) things begin to turn for the better, let the person know with sincere, positive feedback. One supervisor told us she had five different meetings with one of her team members over a period of two months. It was worth it! The person has become one of her top performers. Don’t Get Hooked Emotionally Your commitment to good leadership is admirable. And it’s not a bad sign that you care about the employee, or that you’re nervous about giving feedback. But others’ problems can quickly become your problems. And to make matters worse, some employees may attack you personally — "It’s all your fault." Many leaders stay awake all night blaming themselves for an employee’s or team’s poor behavior. But, that doesn’t mean it’s your fault! Besides feeling sorry for yourself, you might also feel like you and you alone are on the hook for solving the mess. Take a breath. Your role is to help the employee understand that something needs to change. Then your job is to help him come up with solutions. And, in most cases, it should be the employee’s solution, not yours. Your goal is to provide support without removing the person’s responsibility and accountability for addressing the issues. Related Posts: Boost employee engagement by encouraging collaboration Why performance appraisals fail: A root-cause analysis and alternative How do you efficiently onboard new employees? What employee engagement data can tell you about change management New leaders, build strong relationships 8 tips for first-time leaders to get results from the team originally published by SmartBlogs

Certified public accountants face a range of risks that can lead to professional liability claims. Aon Affinity Executive Vice President Ken Mackunis and Senior Vice President Dave Sukert discuss how firms can mitigate their potential for liability. (Aon Affinity is the administrator of personal and business insurance benefits for members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.) Have technology and cybersecurity-related issues raised the risk of professional liability claims? Mackunis: In the course of delivering professional services to clients, CPAs are ultimately responsible for the tools and technology necessary to complete their engagements, so if they lose or misplace their laptop or tablet, there is potential for claims from both clients and third parties. Additionally, accounting professionals have a duty to protect personally identifiable information, in compliance with HIPAA privacy laws, among others. A failure to maintain and protect private information, in contravention of laws or regulations, could result in greater risks of claims being brought against a practitioner. It is paramount that CPAs engage with a risk professional at an early stage to understand what risks their professional liability policy covers and to ensure they have the right coverage in place to minimize their risk. Does an accounting firm’s exposure to liability claims increase when it reports an error? Sukert: No — in fact, the earlier a CPA reports an error, the quicker and easier it is for the CPA to control the issue. Sometimes the right "early intervention" can help resolve an issue and preclude an actual claim. There are more pre-claim assistance options available to the CPA if the error is reported immediately. Are there particular areas where firms should ensure they are adequately testing controls, etc. to avoid liability claims? Mackunis: There are many areas firms should focus on testing controls to avoid liability claims. Properly responding to comfort letter requests and ensuring that engagements are properly documented are two of the top areas on which the AICPA Professional Liability Insurance Program focuses on providing its advice and counsel. Other items on which the program regularly provides guidance and risk-control advice to CPAs include client acceptance and termination considerations, controlling your risk in accounts receivable/billing/collection practices, and what to do if fraud or employee dishonesty is identified. What are some key steps that firms can take to reduce professional liability? Mackunis: Issue an annual, signed engagement letter for all services, regardless of the type, and be sure to clarify the limitations of service. Follow up on red flags or items that appear incorrect, inconsistent or otherwise unsatisfactory. Clearly document work performed to support delivery of services, as described in the engagement letter. Monitor and manage "scope creep." Ensure the scope of work to be performed is clear and understood by all team members and the client. Are there any aspects of business where firms commonly underestimate the potential for professional liability? Sukert: Managing longtime clients, lack of expertise and engagement letters are just three of the many aspects where firms tend to underestimate the potential for liability. Longtime clients may be friends or even family members. A good question to ask is, "Did the CPA get an updated engagement letter?" As the scope of services broadens through the years, the risk broadens as well. CPAs shouldn’t be afraid to ask a client for an updated engagement letter. It not only manages risk, but it also helps set expectations both by and for the client. Manage your practice from the perspective of "expect the unexpected." CPAs should apply professional skepticism to all aspects of an engagement. Having another partner review the work — one who may have a different sensitivity to red flags — may help limit a firm’s liability. CPAs should recognize when they don’t have the expertise in a particular line of service. They should bring in a colleague that does have the right experience and be transparent with the client, in letting them know they are bringing in another colleague to handle the engagement and why. Historical claims data strongly suggests that CPA firms which rarely perform a service in a specialized area are more likely to experience a claim in that area of practice. Firms underestimate the value of good documentation. Engagement-letter documentation is the first line of defense for CPA firms if a claim is filed. We cannot stress enough the importance of documenting every conversation, interaction, etc. a CPA has with a client. Related Posts: Increase in demand for CPAs equals job openings nationwide Financial sector working to improve speed of cyberthreat info-sharing, experts say How to recruit and organize cybersecurity talent SmartBrief Cybersecurity Forum Experts: Cybersecurity collaboration between government, industry making progress Q&A: Engagement letters, proactive measures reduce CPAs’ professional-liability risk originally published by SmartBlogs

  Yesterday, I was talking with a Maverick colleague about one of our new yellow belt candidates, and she asked me: "Well, is (the candidate) a passenger or a driver?" "Passenger? Driver?" I said. "What do you mean?" "Does he only focus on meeting his own personal objectives or does he have a sense of responsibility to the organization’s larger objectives?" Passenger or Driver? The question is at the heart of the role Learning and Development (L&D) plays in organizations. I see a whole lot of passengers—great, talented people who are working hard at the their jobs, sometime very hard—but who don’t pick their eyes up from their desk to see the bigger picture of what the organization is trying to achieve. Drivers, on the other hand, are all about the mission. They are always looking up and out at the road ahead, making sure their L&D work is having a measurable and significant impact on employee job performance in a way that is aligned with the organization’s objectives. Here’s an easy way to identify an L&D Passenger All you need to do is listen for phrases like these: I’m not responsible for results. If employees don’t use the training I create, that’s the manager’s fault. You can’t really measure the impact of training. I don’t think this is the right learning solution, but if that’s what management wants, then who am I to say ‘no’? And here’s how to spot an Owner Listen for phrases like these: We gave this same training last year with no real results. Let’s rethink this situation and take a new approach. This process is complex and hard to learn. Let’s simplify it first. What you’re describing is not a training problem. Too Many Passengers in L&D The notion of passengers and drivers speaks to the heart of L&D’s value to the organization. For too long, L&D has turned its eyes downward, delivering training solutions that don’t do jack for their organizations. That has to change. Your organization, your industry, your country…heck…the entire world needs everyone in L&D to look up from their desks. We simply don’t have the resources any more to spend on elegant learning solutions that don’t achieve objectives. Lean Creates Drivers If you manage L&D and you want a staff of Drivers instead of Passengers, Lean gives you an entire methodology to do just that. Here are just a few examples: Reduce the Learning Burden. Lean demands you reduce the Learning Burden on your organization. You do this by consistently requiring people find new ways to make learning and processes visual, intuitive and obvious. Manage Learning Value Streams. Lean ensures that individuals in the Learning Value Stream aren’t putting their own objectives ahead of the Value Stream’s goal. Become Learner Focused. One of the most powerful Lean tools is the Gemba Walk, which makes L&D people become steeped in the learner’s work situation before designing a learning solution. In cases where we’ve helped organizations transform L&D with Lean, we’re seeing entire departments of former Passengers look up and become confident Drivers. (Yes, even the ones who have made themselves a cozy nest in the back seat.) Lean is a persistent, gentle influence that is designed to break through resistance. The Lean Learning Bottom Line L&D needs to transform itself into a profession of Drivers, not Passengers. Lean Learning gives you a methodology and tools to create that transformation.   A Special Note About the Term "Lean Learning" In pioneering the application of Lean to training and learning, we started out calling our methodology "Lean Knowledge Transfer." But, as good Lean practitioners, we are going through our own PDCA cycle and have discovered through our own Gemba Walks that "Lean Learning" is a more approachable and appealing name. Starting now, we will be using this term instead of "Lean Knowledge Transfer" and will be gradually changing it on all of our content. Going to SHRM Talent? I’ll be giving my presentation "Using Lean to Improve Onboarding: A Case Study" at the SHRM Talent Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Hope to see you there!   Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Passenger or Driver? appeared first on Maverick Institute.

Have you seen this video of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant doing her own version of the pre-flight safety talk? It’s hilarious. It’s also a perfect example of how the Lean Learning Value "Emotional Connection" can help you get employees to actually attend and learn from compliance training. Emotional Connection: The Secret to Successful Compliance Training The pre-flight safety talk has to be one of the world’s most ignored and despised forms of compliance training. Government regulations require that it be done, even though just about every single person on the plane has sat through it dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Yet, if you watch the passengers in this video, you’ll see something you’ve probably never seen before…everyone on the plane is paying rapt attention. The passengers probably didn’t realize it, but they actually learned the safety instructions that day. Why did people sit up and listen? Because the flight attendant’s patter was new. It was funny. It was engaging. That’s the Lean Learning Value "Emotional Connection." And for compliance training, it offers you a powerful way to get people to engage. Overcoming Disdain The thing about compliance training is, there’s usually a good reason behind it. (Like surviving an accident, for example). But the value often gets lost because it doesn’t immediately and directly affect the job performance objectives for which employees are rewarded. Those objectives carry a lot more emotional connection. And it’s not just the employees. Most organizations approach compliance with equal disdain, and the result reflects the attitude: terrible training. Boring. Complicated. Blah, blah, blah. Death by PowerPoint. E-learning course. Check the box. Learners feel and absorb this attitude. They disengage from the training and can’t apply what’s taught when they need it. And that’s bad for everybody. Try something new: Add Emotional Connection to your compliance training. You don’t need to hire a comedian (although that’s not a bad idea). There are lots of different emotions you can engage, and they can all be effective. Competitive Spirit - Turn the training into a game and have people vie to win. Shock - Show people what can happen if they don’t learn the content. But be careful…if you go overboard, people turn off because they think "that will never happen to me." Empathy - Use storytelling techniques but not by a professional trainer. Have someone who’s actually experienced the situation and/or the consequences tell about it. And if those don’t deliver the results you want, try a trick from one of my favorite books "Moonwalking with Einstein." Engage learners’ curiosity by harnessing the power of weird. The Lean Learning Bottom Line Knowledge sticks when we’re emotionally connected while learning. This is the fundamental reason why compliance training is such a slog — there’s little or no emotional investment in learning content that’s being presented. Create that emotional connection with your learning solution, and you’ll see much better results. Let’s ride!   Todd Hudson The post The Secret to Successful Compliance Training appeared first on Maverick Institute.

  So, Lean is all about reducing waste and improving efficiency, right? Actually, no. At its core, Lean is about developing, engaging, and inspiring everyone at all levels in the organization to think differently and exercise creativity in order to create more value for the customer. And, if your organization is implementing Lean, L&D has a critical role to play by creating learning solutions that get people to think differently and creatively. Getting People to "Think Lean" Lean transformation demands that employees learn to think in terms of what the customer values: What do customers want? What will they pay for? And in healthcare, where the customer relationship is more complex, how can patients get the best outcome in an environment of safe, affordable comfort? With this knowledge, employees need to learn how to "see" things that customers/patients don’t value, so that waste can be eliminated and replaced with what they do value. This is "thinking Lean," and here are some examples: A call center supervisor knows that customers who call are frustrated and value fast response to their problems. While "thinking Lean," she notices that the automated message that plays when customers dial the service line is long and contains unhelpful special offer information. In a hospital food service department, the person who delivers meals to patients knows that diabetic patients need to eat certain meals on a regular schedule. While "thinking Lean," he notices that those patients often receive the wrong meals, or the meals are delivered at times that are out of sync with their insulin schedules. At a food products manufacturer, a line worker knows that customers value the dark yellow color of their specialty hot mustard. While "thinking Lean" he notices that the mustard gets lighter as a hard-to-replace ingredient filter gets clogged. As you can see, these examples all show that the employees’ keen awareness of the ultimate value to the customer is driving what they "see" in their work and allowing them to spot potential ways to eliminate waste and add value. Getting People to Think Creatively In a Lean transformation, everyone should be creating new ways to deliver more value to customers and eliminating waste in the processes that create the value. From the above example, here’s where the creativity comes in: The call center supervisor creates a new automated message that shortens the time that customers have to wait to talk to a person and contains quick tips to help customers solve simple problems themselves The hospital food service worker devises a new delivery method based on hotel room service that allows diabetic patients to call for their meals and have them delivered 15 minutes later. The line worker at the food manufacturer thinks of a clever way to quickly switch out the clogged filter with a new one. And, of course, the challenge for executives is to create a work environment that connects employees to customers and that encourages and rewards creativity. How Can L&D ‘Teach’ Lean Thinking and Creativity? Lean Learning can be a powerful way to get employees thinking Lean and exercising their creativity. Your first step is to begin working with your organization’s Lean implementation teams. As you Map the Learnscape for the Lean implementation, pay special attention to how your learning solution will spur Lean thinking and creativity. You can create learning solutions specifically to encourage Lean thinking and creativity, and you can incorporate them in solutions that have other learning goals. If your organization is planning to implement Lean, get out ahead of it, so the Lean thinking skills are already in place by the time they’re needed. Remember, also, that when you implement Lean Learning, you are modeling Lean thinking and creativity for employees. Make sure they know that when you are doing your Gemba walks and deploying your learning solutions. The Lean Learning Bottom Line As an L&D professional, you can make a mighty impact on the success of your organization’s Lean implementation by teaching employees how to "think Lean" and how to exercise their creativity to find ways to eliminate waste and add value. Make Lean Learning the model and use it to demonstrate these new habits. Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick   The post How to Teach People to "Think Lean" appeared first on Maverick Institute.

June 12, 2014 I’m just back from the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit 2014 in Los Angeles. Really inspiring to see how healthcare providers are improving experiences and outcomes for patients, and also to hear so many great stories about how nurses and techs are jazzed about their expanded roles in delivering better care with Lean. A high point for me was when John Shook, President of the Lean Enterprise Institute, wrapped up the event with a talk on the Five Questions for a Lean Transformation. Although he didn’t use our terminology, Lean Learning figured prominently! Here’s how: John’s five questions for a Lean transformation were: What value, from the customer’s point of view, are we trying to create? What is the work that needs to be done to deliver that value? How do we develop the capability to do the work that delivers that value? What leadership behaviors and management systems to we need to build the capability and manage the work? What basic thinking and assumptions underlie this transformation? By answering and addressing these five questions in this order, an organization can create a Lean culture more quickly and efficiently and is less likely to go off the rails or down a rabbit hole. Lean Learning falls smack in the middle of John’s question #3, How do we develop the capability to do the work that delivers that value? John’s approach makes crystal clear that there is a direct connection between developing people’s capabilities and delivering value to the customer. That’s the proper role of training and development. But in many of today’s T&D organizations that direct connection has been lost, and as a result, Training will create and deliver learning solutions for anything and anyone at any time. Lean Learning requires that training and learning professionals thoroughly understand the answers to John Shook’s first two questions BEFORE creating learning solutions. This is why we use methods like writing good problem statements, taking gemba walks and mapping learnscapes. By truly understanding the value your organization is trying to create and the work that needs to be done to deliver it, you can develop engaging learning solutions that are waste-free, full of value and deliver real results. Otherwise, you could spend days, weeks and months creating a learning solution that receives a collective shrug or, worse, an overwhelming "This was a total waste of time." The Lean Learning Bottom Line To help your organization develop capabilities that deliver real value, try screening your training requests with John Shook’s first two questions (above). Then show learners the connection between their improved capabilities, the work they are doing and the customer value they’re delivering.   Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Connecting Learning, Work and Value appeared first on Maverick Institute.

  June 19, 2014 It’s safe to say that every organization in the world today needs knowledge to flow freely and rapidly. Yes, every organization in the world. It’s that important. But in most organizations, there’s a force working against that goal, actively throttling learning and keeping that essential knowledge from reaching those who need it most. And you may be surprised when I reveal what that throttling force is: the training department. Grains of Knowledge that Can’t Get Through Picture corporate learning as an hourglass. The sand in the top bulb is the knowledge the organization needs: information about software, hardware, customers, products, regulations, policies and procedures; how-to information to create new skills and enhanced abilities. Think of each grain of sand as a piece of learning content. The empty bottom bulb of the hourglass represents learners. They’re standing there, hungrily looking up and waiting for the knowledge to drop. And in the middle, in the narrowest part of the hour glass, is the Training Department, slowing down the flow. Training Doesn’t Mean to Squeeze It’s just that there is more expertise and knowledge to transfer than any training department can handle with their team of instructional designers, elearning programmers and classroom instructors. So, it’s triage. Training does its best to pick and choose what to work on, which courses to create, which classes to teach. If something doesn’t make it this time , too bad. Maybe next year. After triage, Training takes the expert knowledge (learning content) and repackages it, pulling together the grains of sand to give it order and an attractive look, adding examples, quizzes and exercises. This can take weeks or months. A large international bank with an extensive e-learning staff told me that it took their Training department a minimum of 12 weeks to create one elearning course. (Picture the learners, standing under the top bulb, waiting three months for the learning they need.) Eventually, the repackaged knowledge gets approved and distributed to people through classroom instruction or through technologies like learning management systems or mobile devices. This can take additional weeks and months. Training is a Knowledge Bottleneck When you look at it this way, it’s crazy. The last thing you want is a knowledge bottleneck, especially today where changing conditions and technologies require learning more and more, faster and faster. You want knowledge to be where it’s needed, when it’s needed and in whatever form makes sense for the learner almost instantaneously. The training hourglass approach will never accomplish this. It’s too clumsy, too slow, and there’s too much waste. So, what’s the alternative? Lean strives for flow, which is the uninterrupted creation of value to the customer, in this case, the learners. In Lean Manufacturing, flow means creating a product in response to a customer order as quickly and as waste free as possible. In Lean Healthcare, flow is a patient entering a care facility and moving through every step of their visit, from check-in to exam to procedure to discharge without delays, mistakes or other waste. No waiting rooms! In Lean Learning, we want learning content to appear where there’s demand for it. It passes, for example, from an outside expert to an inside expert to an employee to a supplier, gets incorporated into the work and improves performance as quickly as possible. And I’m talking hours and days, not weeks and months. For that to happen, Training must completely switch its focus from controlling information to unblocking and facilitating the flow of knowledge throughout the organization. Lean Learning does exactly that! Concepts like the learning burden and learning value stream help training professionals see new possibilities and change their roles to add more value to the learning process. The Lean Learning Bottom Line To create a true learning culture, Training must stop being a knowledge bottleneck, standing between experts and learners while controlling the pace of learning, and, instead, focus on removing obstacles to the flow of knowledge throughout the enterprise. Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post The Surprising Thing that Throttles Learning appeared first on Maverick Institute.

June 27, 2014   Ever have a moment like this…you’ve learned something new and are applying it on the job and you’re thinking "I’ve got this. Yeah, I totally understand this." But, then, you stop and reflect on what you’ve done and, suddenly, it looks strange. Doubt creeps in. You start to wonder: Am I doing this right? It happens. Especially when you’re new to Lean. When you’re implementing Lean Learning (or any Lean process, for that matter), it’s easy to get disoriented. Lean is a new and very different way of thinking about…well…just about everything. It takes time to master the concepts, principles and tools and apply them in the right sequence. And when you’re under the pressure of work demands, it’s easy to say: I’ll use Lean on my NEXT project. This one really doesn’t need it. Luckily, there’s a great resource to help you find your way when you’re adrift in uncharted waters. It’s a Lean concept called "True North." Getting Yourself Back on Track True North refers to a set of simple principles that, like a compass, will guide you through the murk and confusion of a Lean change. This is especially important in the beginning when your end goal may still be elusive and you’re asking yourself: What’s this Lean thing going to look like anyway, when we’re done? True North is your "when in doubt, do…" guidance. In Lean operations and healthcare, True North typically revolves around principles like these: Create customer value Aim for perfection Have respect for people Continuously improve In Lean Learning, True North lies in what we call the Four Pillars: Learner Focus Speed Simplicity Aiming for Mistake-free Performance So, next time you find yourself at sea, all you need to do is stop and ask: Is my training solution learner-focused? Is it fast? Is it simple? Will it result in mistake-free performance? If the answers are "no" or "I’m not sure," then all you need to do is use your Lean tools—Gemba walks, learnscape mapping, SMART goals, etc.—to move in the right direction. Everyone On the Same Page True North is also a great way to align everyone in your Training and Learning organization, giving them a common purpose and a clear vision of what they’re trying to achieve. And if your organization is implementing Lean in other areas such as operations, the True North of Lean Learning will meld perfectly with their efforts to create value, aim for perfection and continuously improve in a culture of respect for people. The Lean Learning Bottom Line Can you get to True North perfectly? Probably not right away, but reaching for it causes us to stretch and achieve well beyond what we think we can do today. Let True North guide you as a compass would, always pointing you in the right direction and getting you back on track when you drift off course. Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Are You Aiming for True North? appeared first on Maverick Institute.

July 10, 2014 A Guest Post by Maverick Institute Co-founder Tamara Greenleaf I live in Oregon, where the summer bounty of fruit is so amazing that we dream of it all winter long. Especially, oh especially, the cherries. Every other year or so, I go crazy and can 20 pounds of them. Nothing is better than pulling out a jar of those sweet, little orbs when the summer sun is only a distant memory. And, speaking of distant memory, that’s a real problem with summer canning. It’s a complicated process with many steps. The results are dire if I don’t do it correctly (botulism, anyone?). And since I only do it once every two years, it’s easy to forget the steps. So, how can Lean Learning help me with this? Standardized Work: A Lean Concept The first thing to recognize is that canning is a classic example of the Lean concept "standardized work." Standardized work is a documented best practice of doing something. It can be the best practice of doing almost anything, from inserting a stent into an artery, to installing a truck bumper, writing computer code, or loading a delivery truck. When you have a well-documented best practice, you can easily: Teach it to others. Continuously improve it to create a new and even higher standard for the work. Quickly and easily remind people how to do work that is only done very occasionally (such as canning or inventory or seasonal activities). When you create standardized work, you need to document three things: The inventory needed to do the work. The time(s) it takes for the work to be done. The sequence of steps needed. Once you have that information, you can very easily create a Lean Learning solution to teach and/or remind people of how to do the work. My Lean Learning Solution for Canning Cherries For my canning, I made a simple job aid for myself—a digital document with detailed inventory and step-by-step instructions—so I can just follow the exact steps for my best practice. Here’s what I did: Supply List Before I made my job aid, I used to wrack my brains trying to remember everything I needed. Now, I have a detailed checklist of every pot, pan, bowl, tool and utensil I need. On the morning when I start canning, I simply refer to the inventory list and pull out everything so I can wash it all at once. Formula List After wrestling for years trying to estimate quantities, I started to write down exact quantities that I used in the years before. Based on that data, I was able to come up with some pretty good guidelines, for example… 20 lbs of raw cherries equals 14 quarts of canned cherries. Or 12 pints & 8 quarts. Syrup needed for 20 lbs: 9 cups sugar + 21 cups water. This keeps me from running out of syrup or having too few jars. Shopping List This list has everything I need to buy: jar lids, cherries, sugar, spring water for the syrup with correct quantities. No more trying to think it through and calculate quantities (which can create the Lean waste "defects" in the form of omissions and addition errors). Step-by-Step Instructions With Detailed Notes Here’s an example of my detailed notes: Run the dishwasher the night before so it’s clean and ready to sterilize my jars. Start sterilizing the jars 45 minutes before canning begins. For things that require visual judgment, I take photos with my cell phone and digitally paste them right into the list. If a particular action is needed, I also could make a video. Continuous Improvement and a Learning Solution that Supports It Each year, while I’m canning I pay special attention to what is confusing, irritating or stressing me as I’m working, and I change the job aid for my standard work so it’s better, clearer and easier next time. For example, I always used to forget to run and empty the dishwasher the night before so it will be available to sterilize my jars in the morning. It was a little thing, but it threw off my timing by the 90 minutes it took to run the cycle and clear the dishes out. So, last year, I wrote it into my job aid. No more problem! The key point here is that, for my learning solution, I chose a digital document that is easy to create, access and update. I could have, for example, done a video, but a video would be hard to update and time-consuming when I need to quickly look up, say, a syrup formula. Standardized Work and Lean Learning Standardized work makes processes more and more simple as they are continuously improved, and therefore easier to learn. This reduces Training Waste, the Learning Burden and time to competency. Take a look around at your organization. How much of what is being done could be treated as standardized work? As a learning professional, you can make it your mission to create learning solutions that support the development and continuous improvement of standardized work. Your learning solution might be a digital job aid like mine for canning. Or a series of very short cell-phone videos or photos. Just remember to choose the simplest effective learning solution that will be easy to update as the standardized work is continuously improved. And, of course, if you really want to get Lean, work with people to "fool-proof" standardized work in order to eliminate the need for learning altogether. (See Todd Hudson’s blog post "Visual Intuitive and Obvious.") You will avoid a lot of training waste and save your learning resources for more complex learning needs.   Tamara Greenleaf, Maverick Institute Co-founder The post What Canning Cherries Taught Me About Lean Learning appeared first on Maverick Institute.

  July 25, 2014 In my conference talks, I often say one of the ultimate goals of corporate learning is that employees will never make a mistake on the job. And, when I say it, I always get a big mix of laughs, snorts, and head-shaking. "Never happen," people say. Well, go tell that to UPS. Recently the Wall Street Journal ran two articles about the UPS Circle of Honor, which is an award given to their drivers who remain accident-free* for 25 years. In 2013 alone, they inducted 1,500 drivers into that circle! (*Accident-free is defined as not having any avoidable accidents, so, for example, if a driver is rammed from behind by someone texting, the driver isn’t penalized.) It’s hard enough for an individual driver to go that long without an accident, but a driver who is out in traffic every single day? All day? On a time-sensitive delivery schedule? For 25 years? It’s almost impossible to imagine. And yet… 1500 drivers in 2013. How Do They Do It? With the right kind of training. The WSJ article doesn’t mention Lean Learning, but the training that it describes by UPS is packed with Lean Learning value. Here are a few examples: Alignment - UPS chose the right method for learning. The article says, "Originally, 30% of UPS drivers failed the tests and quizzes given after traditional training methods. Training…switches out books and lectures for more hands-on learning." Emotional Connection - Newbie drivers spend 20 minutes climbing on and off a truck, learning how to use the handrail. They experiment with using and not using the handrail, while a machine measures the pressure on their knees, demonstrating that the handrail makes it safer and better ergonomically. This creates emotional connection and personalizes (another Lean Learning value) the training in a visceral way that is far more powerful than just telling the learners "this practice is good for your knees" ever could. Instant Gratification - UPS set up a simulated neighborhood where newbies practice driving the trucks and making deliveries. In this learning environment, they can ask questions in the moment of confusion and receive immediate correction for mistakes. (Learn more about Lean Learning Values with the Quick Reference Guide on our Resources Page.) In all, UPS drivers are required to learn and apply 600 practices that create safety and efficiency. That’s a huge training objective! Yet… I’ll say it again…1500 drivers with a 25-year perfect record in one year. And you can bet the rest of their drivers are doing pretty well, too. What Can You Learn From This? First and foremost, mistake-free performance IS possible. Set your expectations high! Second, get creative with your learning solutions (and measure the results). Do you automatically default to classroom, elearning, or video out of habit? Are there ways you can add Lean Learning Value to get better results? Third, create emotional connection and personalization by appealing viscerally to your learners whenever possible. The Lean Learning Bottom Line Mistake-free performance IS an achievable goal for training. Don’t be afraid to stretch for it, especially when you’re dealing with job (or patient) safety. Lean Learning can get you there. Let’s ride!   Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post You CAN Train for Mistake-Free Performance appeared first on Maverick Institute.

August 7, 2014   "This training is lame. That guy hasn’t done that job in a thousand years." "They put us in a room and made us watch videos for, like, whole days. It was so basic I spent half the time playing Candy Crush on my phone." "So we had to do this e-course, right? I made the window small and put it right next to another window streaming last week’s ‘Walking Dead’." If you’ve been trying to onboard and train millennial employees using traditional methods, you’ve probably heard quotes like these and worse. One thing this generation excels at is letting you know when they don’t like something. But that’s a good thing. Because the problem isn’t Gen Y. It’s your training methods. Natural Lean Learners Millennials are natural Lean learners. All the things we teach in our Lean Learning certifications, they do as easily as breathing. Here are just a few examples of how they reject training waste and demand learning value. Over Teaching Drives Them Nuts - Gen Ys won’t "suck it up" and power through hours and hours of learning content just because you say they have to. Their brains aren’t wired for it. They think in 140-character bursts, #hashtags, and emoji. Delay Makes Them Google, Gossip, and Guess - Think your Gen Y is going to wait around for three weeks waiting for you to create a training course for something they need to know? No way. They want learning content NOW, and if it’s not easily available, they’ll go out onto the web looking for it. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Other times, you have no idea whether what they "learned" is accurate. They Decide Who is Credible - This is the generation that learns from bloggers and their friends on Facebook. They don’t care whether your expert has a Ph.D. or a title. Their respect has to be earned in other areas, such as regard among their peers. Remember, this generation grew up with overpacked schedules. They’re used to a fast pace, they switch gears like lightning, and they have little ability to tolerate "wasting time" doing things they don’t perceive as important. What Does That Mean for Your Training? You can hope to create good onboarding and training for millennials by trial and error, one program at a time. But why re-invent the wheel when Lean offers you a proven, systematic approach to eliminating training waste and increasing learning value in ways that perfectly respond to the needs of Gen Y? Creating an onboarding program for millennials is the perfect Lean Learning certification project. A number of our certification candidates have done so with great success. (See our case study "Saving Big Dollars with Lean Learning: How a candidate’s Black Belt project for new-hire training is generating more than $1 million per year in cost savings.) And if you’d like to get the jump with onboarding, we offer more help through the fully customizable Onboard Yourself handbooks for new hires and interns. OnBoard Yourself is just like it sounds…it helps millennials take charge of their learning while building a network of colleagues that will assist them throughout their career at your company The Lean Learning Bottom Line Millennials are natural Lean learners. Orienting your training to match their learning styles will bring better and faster learning to your entire organization. Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick The post Why Gen Ys Are Lean Learners appeared first on Maverick Institute.

September 3, 2014 Level one assessments are those "smiley" sheets learners fill out after a workshop or class. They ask questions like: Did the instructor provide adequate time for questions? Was the room comfortable? Did you have enough time to complete all the assignments? Those assessments are training waste, pure and simple. Think back to when you learned the most valuable lessons of your career. When I reflect on mine, the most powerful learning experiences were the most unforeseen, uncomfortable, and chaotic. …yield crash, merger mutiny, supplier bankruptcy, losing a key customer… No, the instructor did NOT provide adequate time for questions. (It was a VP yelling at the top of his lungs). The room was NOT comfortable. There wasn’t nearly enough time to do everything required (even though we worked long into the night and all weekend). If someone had done a level one assessment of those learning moments, it would have been a sea of frown faces. Learning and Comfort Have Nothing to Do with Each Other If truly powerful learning happens when things are least comfortable, why obsess over providing pleasant formal learning experiences? Chairs so plush you could fall asleep. Lunches so big you almost fall asleep. And content so boring you want to fall asleep. The data on formal learning retention is abysmal; some studies show it to be as low as 15% after three weeks. Every class, workshop, and elearning course are essentially the same. Completely unmemorable. Blah, blah, blah. And I’ll bet you a cushy chair that those same learning activities received excellent level one assessments. Don’t Strive for Comfort. Strive for Engagement. I recently spoke with one of our Black Belt candidates who attended a three-day mediation and negotiation course where the last day was Saturday! Throughout the three days, attendees (many of them busy doctors) arrived on time; came back from breaks, lunches and the occasional emergency phone call with alacrity; and even stayed late. Why? The days were filled with well-structured, challenging, and sometimes emotionally-wrenching role-playing activities. She told me that, in some cases participants begged the facilitators for more time so they could fully resolve their situation. Now, that’s engagement! If you create learning solutions free of Training Waste and abundant in Lean Learning Values, then a smiley sheet afterwards is an unnecessary extra step. The Lean Learning Bottom Line Stop obsessing over comfortable chairs, good snacks, and pretty handouts! Create challenging, distinctive learning experiences that engage participants and deliver real results. Let’s ride! Todd Hudson, Head Maverick   The post Stop Worrying About Level One! appeared first on Maverick Institute.