TIME TO REWIRE Making changes in the workplace to incorporate these motivators and reduce the demotivators is likely to improve the work environment for employees of all ages. Click here or on image below to download the article.

If you’re a Millennial manager, the odds are good that you’re leading a team that looks like a four generation family reunion. According to Pitney Bowes, 20% of mid-level corporate employees report to a boss who is younger than they are, but only 5% are perceived as ready to lead. As a Millennial manager, what can you do to change the perception about your readiness to lead? The Learning Cafe’s field research about successful (and unsuccessful) Millennial managers identifies nine simple actions to accelerate a new or younger manager’s credibility. These items are the lessons of time and experience that, when deliberately implemented early and often, help Millennial managers settle into their roles with calm and maturity. Check out What Every Millennial Manager Should Know and see how easy it is to build a good rep with every generation. New managers can find comfort in Tip #3 and need to pay special attention to Tip #5, a frequent pitfall. Use the quiz to see how you’re doing.

Harold Stolovitch has sold more training books than anyone else with one simple message, "Tellin’ Ain’t Trainin.’"  We know it’s true. We know we really don’t actually learn much by listening or by reading. Reading, listening or watching a short video can work well when used in context as performance support. But for actual learning, nothing takes the place of real experience, trial and error, and self-discovery.  I remembered this lesson while I was working with scuba students last weekend.  Let’s go back to the scuba instructor laboratory again.  Learning to scuba dive is a pretty complex skill, and fairly critical. It’s a relatively safe sport, but good skills can save your life. When we begin to teach skills in the pool, we can overload students with too much to remember at one time. For example: swim horizontally not vertically; don’t exhale through your nose; don’t bend your knees, kick from your hips; breathe all the time, never hold your breath; ascend slowly and in control. Well, you get the idea. Truthfully, the last two items in this list are the only two important ones. They are the only ones that can get you hurt if you forget them. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in corporate learning. We overload people trying to make them perfect in their first class. And we create those e-learning programs where we overload learners with reading and listening and details without real experience or practice or feed-back. We put a check in a box, but have we spent our organization’s training dollars wisely? No matter how much my students struggle through their first pool session, I don’t over-correct them. I find something they did well and praise them for it. They come back the next week a little more fearless and a lot more enthusiastic. By their fifth pool session they are ready for the real world. Learning is a process, not an event. As a learning professional, you know what works. Explain your plan to your client. Tell them you want to spend their money wisely on what works. I bet they’ll trust you.

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?

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.   

Scuba diving is a relatively safe sport, but it is a sport with risks, so scuba training and certification is a fairly serious business. We have a saying around our shop, "It’s only life support!" With this type of critical skill, performance-based training and measurement strategy are a necessity, especially for a meaningful certification. Like many things, there is a need to present information (content) but there is also a need to practice skills in a controlled or simulated environment (context). Sometimes our information presentation is in the form of a book or lecture with slides or an online course. Sometimes our skills practice is done in a pool to simulate open water, and sometimes it’s done in shallow open water under controlled conditions.  In today’s terminology we call this blended learning. Measurement is for the most part performance-based as well. The information or content portion is measured with a written test of 50 multiple choice questions. Not ideal in my opinion, but better than nothing. The performance portion is measured in open water with a check list graded by a certified instructor. Regardless of some criticisms and imperfections, it is, if implemented properly, a good system with valid standards, well-designed instruction and valid and reliable measurement. The cost for all this? Around $200 to $300 per person, including materials!  Matching that cost would be quite a challenge for those of us in the corporate world. But with the money we do spend, we should be able to design performance based learning with valid and reliable measurement. It may be time to leave those page-turning e-learning programs behind. The biggest take-away from my scuba training that I apply in the corporate world is simply this: "We just need to teach our learners how not to die while they learn to do their jobs." The rest, they will pick up on their own. So, keep your learning performance-based, provide information and practice in context and as my professors at Indiana University used to say, "Teach them everything they need to know, and don’t teach them anything they don’t need to know."

In the learning world, measurement is a lot like the weather, everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. I have a hard time understanding why the people who pay us thousands of dollars to develop learning solutions aren’t more interested in measuring the results. I want to focus on a type of measurement that costs very little and becomes a great development tool for instructional designers. I’m talking about Formative Evaluation, or what Darryl Sink calls Developmental Testing. First, it’s important to understand the difference between Formative Evaluation and Summative Evaluation. I’ll defer to the first person to write about Formative Evaluation, Dr. Robert Stake, for a definition, "When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative." Stake suggested two levels of Formative Evaluation. He called the first level a Learner Try-out. This is an informal test of a prototype of the learning solution conducted with a small group of learners. Its purpose is to verify that the instructional strategy enables learners to master the learning objectives. He called the second level a Field Test. This is a more formal test of the entire learning solution under conditions that simulate the real learning environment as closely as possible. The clear goal of both of these tests is to measure the success of the learning design and implementation, not the learners. The goal of both tests is to generate data that can be used to revise and improve the learning solution until learners demonstrate that it will enable them to master the learning objectives. I remember my professors at Indiana University calling Formative Evaluation the "all purpose magic" of instructional design. If you use it properly, you really won’t ever release a bad product or have any unpleasant surprises on implementation day.   1/8 of series

For the last twenty five years, I have insisted that our clients allow us to build a very early prototype, or sample of the learning strategy that we intend to use. Then we simply "try it out" with no more than 4 to 6 actual learners. We have had a lot of pushback over the years:  "it will take too much time; we won’t be able to get access to actual learners, etc." The reason I have insisted on this small investment of time is that Formative Evaluation can become a quality guarantee. What better way to measure the results of learning than with actual learners? The time required for a Learner Try-out is minimal. We need four to six people for about two to four hours on average. Sure, there is some preparation time, so we use up a couple of days. What we are doing is testing the validity of our instructional strategy, or in plain English, we find out if people can actually learn something from the strategy we have selected. It seems a small price to pay to find out how our plan is going to work before we have spent all our money and completed the project.   Let me cite a recent example. Our design team was working with a large client that was willing to take a risk to totally re-design a core program to employ a task-based strategy rather than one that presented content organized by topic areas. The guideline on how much time to spend on Formative Evaluation is: "the more risk there is in the project, the more time and money we are willing to spend on Formative Evaluation." In this case the new approach was quite different from the traditional approach. We wanted to be sure our assumptions, which were based on careful analysis, were correct and that our instructional strategy worked, before we completed the entire program. The pay-off from this session exceeded our expectations. Check out the next blog post to read about the results. 2/8 of series

Let’s go back to our example from the previous blog. Since we were running sophisticated simulations in a classroom environment, our Learner Tryout lasted an entire day and actually trained eight new learners in the process. The team had a debate about two different strategies for how to implement a particular simulation. Without the tryout, we would have slugged it out until someone picked a direction. Both strategies were tested, resulting in a clear consensus from learners, the instructor, and the designers. Why guess when you can measure? Many other decisions and enhancements were made as a result of this type of measurement. The team estimates they saved potential rework by about 40% of what we projected. This type of saving translates to several weeks of work saved as a result of the learner tryout. But this wasn’t the only pay off.  An operations manager from the client area came to do her standard introduction for the class. This normally takes her thirty minutes, and then she leaves. She was so fascinated by what was going on that she stayed all day, and has now become our biggest internal advocate. Learners and clients love to be asked for their input into how their learning is going to be developed. The benefits of this kind of internal PR are hard to quantify, but are worth their weight in gold. With a pay-off like this, why would anyone not want to invest a small amount of time and money to measure instead of guessing? 3/8 of series

I recently presented this workshop to two different teams at TIAA-CREF.  Read below to find out what the managers at TIAA-CREF had to say about their experience. "Dick showed our consultants how to remain professional in their approach, acknowledge the client concerns, and help the client arrive at a decision on their own that is focused on results and not actions.  Kudos to Dick and Handshaw, Inc for providing such a valuable program!  I hope others take advantage of the expertise and value that Dick can bring to a session on performance consulting."   Kathleen Skelly, Learning Manager at TIAA-CREF "Dick Handshaw facilitated a reframing workshop for our team of performance consultants during a time when we were trying to shift from order-taker to trusted advisor.  It was one of the best development opportunities that TIAA-CREF could have invested in for our team.  Our consultants have been able to successfully apply these skills immediately following the workshop in many different interactions with their clients.  I would highly recommend this workshop to anyone who wants to transform their relationships with their clients!" Heather Fausnaugh, Learning Director at TIAA-CREF Want to experience this workshop firsthand?  Join me for the half-day session in November. Date:  Friday, November 5thth Time:  8:30 am - 12:00 noon Cost:  $95 Location:  Interact Studios, Charlotte, NC To register or learn more visit:  http://dickhandshawworkshop.eventbrite.com/ ** Only 10 seats available

I was working with a client who was implementing a new software system for front-line personnel. The system was fairly user-friendly, but it did require some practice in the form of e-learning in order to master its new functionality for that all important first day in front of customers. As is our practice, we created a couple of 20-minute prototype modules that were representative of our overall instructional strategy. One of the modules was rich in simulations with plenty of opportunities for extra tries with nice instructional feedback. Everything was proceeding nicely until we had a design meeting with our client to discuss something as innocent as a color scheme for the simulation screens. Our client wanted the colors of our instruction, scenario and feedback boxes to match the color scheme of the system. Our designers advised that this would cause confusion for the learners, because they would not know which messages were part of the learning and which might be actual messages from the system. We simply could not convince our client to use contrasting colors for the learning messages. The project team was stumped, worried, and a little bit frantic because they were sure the Learner Try-out would fail. Now here’s the thing, a prototype may fail, but a Try-out that yields data that leads to improvement of the strategy or any part of the solution is a success.   I sat next to the insistent and well-intending client representative during the Learner Try-out. After the third person turned to us and said, "I can’t tell when I’m looking at a message from the real system and when I’m reading a message from the e-learning," my client turned to me and said, "Why don’t you use the colors you originally recommended?" It didn’t take us long to go back and make those changes to the one 20 minute prototype. As a result of our investment in a four hour Learner Tryout, we did not have to make those changes to all 12 modules in the course. That was one improvement we expected to find, but just one of many other improvements we find every time we do a Learner Try-out the right way.   4/8 of series

Whenever I hear that a team from our company has returned from a client site to conduct a Learner Try-out, I always ask, "How did it go?" The answer I usually get is, "Oh, it went great." Now this always concerns me. You can conduct a Learner Tryout in such a manner that you verify that every single design decision you made was spot on. It can also be done methodically and objectively so that it yields useful results for future design decisions and revisions.  The real value of a Learner Try-out depends on how you collect the data. We have three phases of data collection during a Learner Try-out. The first phase is qualitative. We interview the client using a standard set of questions, which we always customize, before the Try-out begins. The next phase is more quantitative. We observe the learners one-on-one as they proceed through whatever prototype they are testing. We ask them to "think out loud" for us as they proceed. We watch body language and frequently stop them to ask questions. We must avoid coaching them. The idea is to let the prototype fail if it isn’t working. We will coach our learners if necessary to make sure they don’t fail, but failures are our best opportunity to collect useful data. Being an observer during a Learner Try-out is not for the timid. The third and final data collection phase is qualitative again. We interview with a list of open-ended questions to get personal opinions and impressions about the learning experience. What surprises us is that even with a small sampling of six learners, clear trends always develop. For complete procedures on how to select sample learners, how to prepare for, and how to conduct Learner Try-outs, and how to collect and interpret data, click on the Resources tab and select Formative Evaluation and Formative Evaluation Procedures.   5/8 of series

Chris Adams and I will be presenting a breakout session at the 10th Annual U.S. Coast Guard Human Performance Technology Workshop on Friday, September 17th.  Our session is titled "For Training Purposes Only" and focuses on the practical and creative use of content management systems. The title is significant to Coast Guard personnel who are used to seeing documents and other materials stamped ‘FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY’ because materials are often out of date and can’t be used as performance support on the job. The session is based on a project that Handshaw, Inc. is doing with partner Vector, CSP for the Coast Guard, in which we will deliver maintenance procedures on hand held devices. The devices are capable of instant updates through our hosted content management system, Lumenix. To learn more about the workshop visit www.uscghpt.org. Check back on Monday, 9/20 for highlights from our session and the HPT Workshop.

Stay tuned for details as they become available.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

I am pleased to announce my new partnership with Interact Studio in Charlotte, NC, where I’ll begin teaching courses this fall.  Read more below to learn about my course offering and register for the first workshop.    The Results-Based Learning Series: It doesn’t cost any more to design learning that gets results - it just works better.  "Training Request?  Ask Questions First" - Friday, November 5th"Learning Analysis?  You Can’t Afford Not To" - Friday, January 14th  "Learning Design:  Using a Practical Systems Approach" - Friday, March 11th"Learning Measurement:  Making it Practical and Useful" - Friday, May 13th To register visit: http://dickhandshawworkshop.eventbrite.com  Courses are $95 each or $300 for the series.  Use the discount code "resultsbased" for the series discount. Course Descriptions: Training Request? Ask Questions First Many performance improvement and training professionals cringe when a client suggests, "We need to do some good old-fashioned, back to basics training."  This re-framing workshop, led by Dick Handshaw, will equip participants to handle this request in a way that yields better results for the participant and the client.  Participants will learn an effective process for partnering with clients to define the performance needs that will lead to business results.  Participants will develop skills using a re-framing exercise that allows them to become both consultant and client as they role-play the skill of turning a training request into a performance consulting opportunity.  Because participants use real projects and people for the basis of the role-play, results are overwhelmingly positive with a high degree of mastery.  This workshop allows participants to discover their own abilities as a consultant and equips them to develop the confidence to use them. Performance Objectives: Engage the client in an open discussion about business needs and the performance required to support them. Practice and improve eight skills that will facilitate the re-framing discussion. Identify opportunities to conduct further analysis of the performance needs in order to identify learning needs. Friday, November 5th :: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon  Learning Analysis? You Can’t Afford Not To "Analysis? We don’t have time for that. It’s too expensive. Truth is, I’m not really sure how to do it." Sound familiar? Sure it does. In this session, Dick Handshaw will show participants how analysis has saved him more money and earned him more clients than anything else he has done in the past twenty-five years in his business. Completing a task analysis may be tedious, but it is neither difficult nor expensive. Participants will complete a task analysis during the session and will learn how analysis benefits them in course design and development. Participants will also learn what to do with an audience analysis and a learning culture analysis. Performance Objectives: Determine what type of analysis is needed given the situation, risk and the business case. Conduct a task analysis that is useful in course design and doesn’t take too long or cost too much. Conduct an appropriate audience and learning culture analysis that serves a useful purpose in learning design and development. Friday, January 14th :: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon Learning Design—Using a Practical, Systems Approach Many opinions have been shared about the value of Instructional design over the past twenty years. Some say it is obsolete and out-dated. Some say you can’t even think about designing learning solutions without it. Dick Handshaw says both schools of thought are right. Dick says, "It’s not really instructional design that’s outdated, it’s the way people are using it that’s outdated." In this session, participants will learn how to apply ISD principles to real-life learning design opportunities in a way that focuses on results, and also saves time and money. Participants will know how to write performance objectives and be able to write them correctly and easily by the end of the session. Dick will help participants understand why they should design the measurement strategy before they design the learning and participants will begin using a systematic way to select delivery systems for blended learning solutions. Performance Objectives: Write performance objectives that actually define something to measure against. Use design of measurement instruments as a way to improve learning design. Make intelligent decisions about delivery systems that take into account learning culture and business issues Friday, March 11th :: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon Learning Measurement—Making it Practical and Useful Measurement is undoubtedly the least understood aspect of learning design. Most people write test questions the way their teachers from grade school wrote test questions. A lot of people don’t write them at all. And when they do, writing tests is something done as an afterthought. Many trainers look through their written material and make up test questions. In this session, Dick Handshaw will help participants learn why it is important to design, or at least think about the testing instruments, before designing the learning itself. There are only two major mistakes made when designing tests. One is selecting the wrong type of testing instrument. The other is writing test items incorrectly. Through Dick’s proven techniques, participants will be able to avoid both of these mistakes. Participants will leave with the ability to use test data to improve learning design and to evaluate the mastery level of their learners. Performance Objectives: Select the correct type of testing instrument for the learning solution. Develop testing instruments that are valid and reliable. Use testing data to improve the learning and to evaluate the mastery level of learners. Friday, May 13th :: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon About Interact InteractAuthentically.com focuses on Authentic Communication in Business, with programs in speaking, writing, listening, e-learning, productivity, instructional design, social media and leadership communication.  Interact Studio is located in Charlotte, NC. Directions to the studio:  http://www.interactauthentically.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Interact-Studio-Directions.pdf

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Stay tuned for details as they become available. 

This topic came up in a conversation with a colleague recently. It is one that has baffled me for years. So many professions in today’s world require training, degrees and certifications. A few examples include medical, nuclear, legal, financial and of course, public education. Corporate learning and development professionals have a few certifications, such as ATD’s CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning and Performance)and ISPI’s CPT (Certified Performance Technologist), but they are not yet widely accepted or in demand. All teachers in public education on the other hand, must have education degrees and they must be certified to teach by the government for the state in which they practice. Many people enter the learning and performance improvement profession because they were good at a specific job and were then asked to become a trainer for that job. Many of us enter the corporate world from the public education sector. This was happening when I entered the field in 1979 and it’s still happening today. My friend and mentor, Jim Robinson, recently told me that if I intended to teach people instructional design and performance consulting, I would have "plenty of business for about the next one thousand years." Looking on the bright side, it is a tremendous opportunity to have so many new practitioners entering our field every year. The question is: How do we maintain quality standards and bring these people up to speed with an ever changing profession? As in other professions, one of the best ways to gain credentials and be prepared to excel in the learning and performance improvement profession is to seek a Master’s degree or even a Doctoral degree. For those who need to do this while holding down a real job, there are many programs online, that make it possible to learn and work at the same time. My own company has provided this opportunity for its employees for many years. It may not be easy to go to school and earn a degree at the same time, but at Handshaw, Inc., we pay tuition and provide as much support as we can. I consider this to be one of the best investments I can make in my business. There are other alternatives to higher education. ATD, ISPI, Training Magazine, E-Learning Guild and other organizations are great sources of ongoing professional development. There are many fine conferences each year that provide opportunities for professional development in our field. I recently had lunch with a colleague who shook his head over the number of people as he put it, "who go to work day in and day out, and yet do nothing for their ongoing professional development." He and I agreed that it is difficult to take responsibility for your ongoing development. Even as the economy improves, more and more corporations have limited travel money or stipends to attend conferences or take local classes. It is unfortunate that corporations sometimes take a shortsighted view by not investing in their learning and performance improvement practitioners. Ultimately, it is the individual performer who loses out if they choose not to improve their own skills. Joining a local ATD or ISPI chapter is relatively inexpensive and can yield big rewards in learning and skill development for you. I meet hundreds of these people who are eager to learn new skills as I travel to speak at different local chapters. I salute all of you who take it upon yourself to be responsible for your own professional development. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!

I have never been a fan of February, but one of my favorite conferences of the year always brightens up my month. This year we are in Atlanta, GA from February 6 - 8. My friend, co-author and mentor, Dana Robinson, will deliver the first keynote address at 9:15 on Monday morning. Her message will be a challenge to all of us "to deliver training solutions that turn learning into doing …and doing into desired business outcomes." Dana and James Robinson co-authored a third edition of their groundbreaking Performance Consulting book with Patti and Jack Phillips and me. It was a pleasure and a privilege for me to be included on that team. This year, I will join co-authors Patti and Jack Phillips from the Third Edition of Performance Consulting: A Strategic Process to Improve, Measure and Sustain Organizational Results, in delivering a preconference workshop on Saturday and Sunday, February 5 - 6. The workshop is called Performance Consulting and Measuring ROI. The workshop is based on our new book which will be released in May. "It combines the skills of performance consulting with measuring results, including ROI, into one comprehensive program". On Monday at 8:00 AM, I will deliver a breakout session called Instructional Design and Performance Consulting in One Model—It’s About Time. This session is based on my book Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design That Aligns with Business Goals that was released in May of 2014. Many instructional design models don’t include performance consulting or enough emphasis on measurement to deliver results that are consistent or aligned to business goals. This session offers a better way to design solutions that connect learning and performance to strategic business goals. At 10:45AM on Monday, Patti Phillips will deliver a session called ROI Basics which will give you "the fundamental concepts of measuring the return on investment learning and development." At 2:00 PM on Monday, Jack Phillips will deliver a session called Designing eLearning for ROI. Jack will use "case studies which show how learning through technology programs can deliver business value in terms that executives, sponsors and funders appreciate and understand". And finally, at 3:15 to 4:15 PM, Dana and Jim Robinson will present a featured session called Performance Consulting: Make Performance Your Business! Jim and Dana are both back and in person. So don’t miss this rare opportunity to see these two thought leaders preview some of the new ideas and practices from our book. They promise "you will leave the session with techniques to ask the ‘right’ questions so your managers will engage with you at the performance level". As you can see, all five of us who wrote the new Performance Consulting book, will be presenting on Monday at Training 2015. Please come by and see us. We all look forward to speaking with you. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!

When I started traveling to ATD and ISPI chapters a few years ago, the Nashville ATD chapter was one of the first to invite me. The chapter was so welcoming and the turnout was so good, I have wanted to return ever since. This time I will be leading a workshop in addition to an evening meeting where I will be speaking about both of my favorite topics. I will conduct a new workshop that I designed especially for the Nashville ATD chapter leaders called "Three Core Concepts of Instructional Design." This is kind of a mash up of other workshops with a spin from my book, Training That Delivers Results. The trick will be to see if I can cover all three of these core concepts between 9:00 and 3:30. With this group, I’ll have a good time finding out.For the evening meeting, I will be doing my most popular short session called "Training Request? Ask Questions First." Everyone’s favorite part of this session is when I ask for two volunteers from the audience to demonstrate how to reframe a training request in order to get permission to collect analysis data, so the performance consultant can design a complete solution based on root causes. The challenge here is to remain solution-neutral while asking powerful questions.Let me say thank you to ATD Nashville in advance for having me. I am looking forward to seeing you all again.Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!