Nov. 14, 2013 Presentation - "Performance Partnering - Proactive and Reactive Performance Consulting". Please join Dick and your peers for this upcoming event. For more information on the presentation description including the performance objectives please click this link. http://www.dickhandshaw.com/presentations#8   

Oct 10, 2013 Presentation "Analyzing Performance Gaps: The Gaps Map" Oct 11, 2013 "The Gaps Map Workshop"  http://www.astdchatt.org/Events?eventId=664367&EventViewMode=2&CalendarViewType=0&SelectedDate=8/20/2013

  Telework option for foreign service officers’ families in pilot phase Employers’ increased acceptance of telecommuting and flexible schedules is redefining the workweek. "Workers want more flexibility in their schedules, and with improvements in technology that enable employees to check in at any time, from anywhere, it makes sense to allow employees to work outside the traditional nine-to-five schedule," said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer, in a statement. Telecommuting specifically has grown in popularity over the past five years, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2015 Employee Benefits research report. Sixty percent of surveyed...

Oct 17, 2013 Presentation - "Doing More with Less" Click here to register.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, partners, vendors and our dedicated team for the opportunity to work together and serve our clients for the past 28 years.  We don’t intend to slow down and in fact have aggressive plans to continue for many more years.  Everyone defines their own personal success in different ways and based on what is important to them.  I’ve always believed if you really enjoy your work every day, trust your gut instincts, and surround yourself with talented and like-minded people you can exceed your goals over the long haul… All the best! Dick           

Performance Partnering - Proactive and Reactive Performance Consulting:  In many companies and organizations it is no longer acceptable for learning and organizational development professionals to conduct business as order takers.  Internal consultants are expected to practice performance consulting with their clients in order to achieve measurable returns on the investments made in organizational initiatives.  Performance Partnering is focused on enhancing the skills of internal consultants to support the goal of establishing strong proactive partnerships with their clients.  The Performance Partnership presentation exposes participants to Handshaw’s two-part process. The first part of the process is the introduction of proactive performance partnering. Participants learn and practice the skills required to develop the consultative partner relationship with key clients and leaders in the organization. This can be a difficult challenge for some organizations. Participants will be shown positive and unacceptable examples and will be able to visualize the process as they watch one team of participants perform a live role play during the session. The second part of the process focuses on re-framing. Participants will learn how to handle inappropriate client requests in a way that yields better results for the consultant and the client.  One team of participants will develop skills using a re-framing exercise that allows them to play the role of the consultant and client during practice.    Performance Objectives:  -Engage clients in discussions about business goals and barriers tperformance even when there is no immediate project or opportunity on the table. -Engage the client in an open discussion about business needs and the performance required to support them. -Observe eight skills that will facilitate the proactive interview. -Observe 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. This meeting will take place at… … Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch Library 111 West Ocean View Avenue, Norfolk VA 23503    

September 11, 2014, 5:30 - 8:00 PM - Training That Delivers Results Program September 12, 2014, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM - Proactive and Reactive Performance Consulting Workshop UNC Charlotte Center City Campus,320 E. 9th St, Charlotte NC 28202 (Located at the corner of E. 9th and Brevard Streets)

Dick will be presenting "Training That Delivers Results".  The conference will be held on April 11-16, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Please join Dick and your peers for the event!    http://www.ispi.org/content.aspx?id=1686

Please join Dick Handshaw on Friday, September 5th as he delivers his half day workshop titled "Training Request: Ask Questions First." To register for this workshop, please visit http://www.astd-rta.org/calendar-of-events.The location is still to be determined, please check back for additional details! This workshop is focused on re-framing skill building and is a major component of our Performance Consulting Workshop. In this workshop, participants will learn how to handle inappropriate training requests in a way that yields better results for the participant and the client. Participants will develop skills using a re-framing exercise that allows them to play the role of both the consultant and client during the practice. The results are effective since real world project examples are used for the role-play scenarios. This workshop allows participants to discover their own abilities as a performance partner 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 interview. Identify opportunities to conduct further analysis of the performance needs in order to identify learning needs.

ROI Certification Workshop - Charlotte NC : Hosted by: SIEMENS ENERGY in Charlotte, NC on February 10-14, 2014. The workshop is open to the public. You don’t have to be an employee of Siemens Energy to attend. Please click on the link above for additional registration information.  Become a Certified ROI Professional Fully master all the skills you need to implement a comprehensive ROI initiative in your organization in our five-day Certification workshops. You’ll gain the skills to become certified in the ROI Methodology™, and you’ll learn how to sustain the measurement and evaluation process on a continued basis. You’ll also receive support when you complete the workshop to conduct an impact study in your own organization. When you’ve demonstrated competency in applying the ROI Methodology™, you will earn the prestigious Certified ROI Professional designation. ROI Benefits The ROI Methodology™ is a proven method to show the contribution of programs in terms that executives appreciate. It is used to improve programs, build support, increase commitment, enhance relationships with key stakeholders, and secure funding. You will also have access to the Members Only area of our website which provides you with resources, tools, templates, and networking. During ROI Certification, Learn How To: - Apply the ROI Methodology™ to a program in your own organization - Gain detailed, first-hand experience with every step - Calculate ROI and explain its meaning - Measure the contribution of all types of programs - Enhance program results & improve ROI - Discover how to use intangibles. - Practice reporting results in an executive briefing - Explore how to sustain the use of ROI  Certification Benefits: - Demonstrate ability in conducting an impact study - A professional designation of Certified ROI Professional upon successful completion of your own impact study - Permission to conduct one-day workshops on the ROI Methodology™ in your own organization - Sought-after skills that will make you more credible and valuable to your organization’s executives  Who Should Attend: This workshop is designed for learning and HR managers and specialists who need the skills to measure impact and ROI of all types of programs. Typical programs include technical training, IT training, compliance training, sales training, empowerment programs, leadership development, talent management, and recruiting. The process applies to facilitator-led programs, blended-learning programs, and e-learning programs.      

Guest Blog - Start Your Performance Consulting Practice with You by Peter Engels I was recently speaking with a friend who is trying to change industries, about how to position himself as a newcomer in the field. This led to my thinking about the hurdles that instructional designers and training departments face when they try to incorporate performance consulting methods into their current practices. We talk at great length about how to proactively pursue change and ask questions that go beyond training to get to the heart of the performance gap.  However, this all depends on clients and stakeholders believing in the performance improvement process and their trust that you have the skills to use it.  This begins with how you present yourself. If performance improvement is not currently used in your organization, but you or your learning organization feels it could add value to the work you do, start introducing yourself and your methods with a performance improvement spin. If adding to your title, even unofficially, is not permitted in your organization, it can still be easy to introduce yourself as a learning professional who utilizes performance improvement methods. Another way to include performance improvement concepts is in the analysis and design phases of your projects. Stakeholders will undoubtedly ask "what does this mean to us?" This question opens the door for you to talk about the benefits of connecting training to larger business goals and researching the root cause of workplace issues to find the best solution. Throughout these conversations and through your work, highlight the "value add" you will bring to the project by using performance improvement methods. Provide examples, either from previous projects or by crafting a scenario out of a current project, to show the effectiveness and savings on the end-result. In addition to positioning yourself as someone who practices performance improvement, prove it by engaging in self-directed professional development or blogging and publishing to build your performance consultant brand within the organization. While it can be challenging to change the direction of an organization’s methods and introduce new concepts, noticeable progress can be made by changing the way you present yourself professionally and the evidence you have to support it. By establishing yourself as the resident performance improvement expert - even when no one else is talking about performance improvement - you may be able to start a conversation to really begin working on closing your organization’s performance gaps.

This winter weather definitely has me looking forward to attending the Training 2014 Conference in San Diego, CA more than ever! It is always a great conference and San Diego, where it’s currently seventy degrees and sunny, never fails to provide the perfect reprieve from the cold! I will be presenting my session "Analyzing Performance Gaps" at 10:45 Monday morning, February 3rd.  This session uses Dana and Jim Robinson’s "Gaps Map" process to identify both learning and non-learning solutions to deliver business results. The Gaps Map process is a type of needs analysis that compares the "is" state to the "should" state, for both business results and performance. This is how performance consultants identify the gap between what is currently happening and what should happen, relative to the business goal. Although the process sounds simple enough, there are specific techniques for both asking questions and establishing a strong consulting relationship, that are really quite specific. After explaining the process in detail, I will show a four-part video demonstrating exactly how the ideal Gaps Map meeting with a client should be conducted. From there, I’ll ask for feedback from the audience to see if they have identified key best practices or observed any errors. Frequently written off as too time consuming, the needs analysis process is often overlooked by clients and training professionals.  However, it can be difficult to deliver results, even with great training programs, if you haven’t correctly identified the specific behavior that will ultimately result in achievement of the business goal. Time spent in the Gaps Map process can be the best investment you can make in any training project. The Gaps Map process is not difficult to learn and is really quite efficient, once you take the time to practice and elicit feedback on your progress. I hope to see you in sunny San Diego. I’m counting the days. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

I think we can all agree that there are a lot of training requests that should never be acted upon, but that saying "no" to a client can damage the trusted partnering relationship. While this is a good strategy for not damaging that relationship, how do we build a trusted partnering relationship in the first place? The answer to this question is easier than you think. It just isn’t fast! It takes time, but it can be an enjoyable and rewarding process.  The Robinson’s call this process Proactive Consulting. It is proactive because you are initiating contact with your client rather than waiting for your client to contact you. The first step is probably the hardest. You have to get that first meeting when there really is no agenda and no pressing need to get together. The whole point of the meeting is to talk to your client about his or her business when there is no agenda. Again, you should focus on desired business results for the coming year. You may also ask questions about challenges both internally and externally. You should keep the meeting short—thirty minutes over a cup of coffee is good, certainly no more than an hour. Once you get your client to expect these meetings on a regular basis, you will no longer be surprised by a new initiative when it finally makes its way to you as a training request. You will also develop a different relationship with your client, as a true partner rather than an order taker. This will make it easier to ask good questions about the initiative in order to qualify it as a valid training request. You will also have an opportunity to investigate non-training interventions that may support the desired performance. One last thing you must keep in mind though, as you begin your proactive consulting meetings is to correctly identify the "true client". You may have to work your way up through influencers to the true client, but eventually you have to take your interest and your questions to the person who truly owns whatever line of business you are supporting. Ask yourself, who writes the check to create whatever solutions are developed and put in place, or who is responsible if goals aren’t met, and you will be able to identify your "true client". Click on the Resources tab to see video role plays and the eight principles of both Reactive and Proactive Consulting. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

This year’s conference will be held in Indianapolis, IN from April 14 - 16. Workshops, including the Chapter Leaders’ Workshop will be held over the weekend on the 12th and 13th. This should be a great venue, with an accessible location from both coasts. Let’s hope spring arrives in Indiana by the middle of April! I will be presenting a new session, supporting my new book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals." I have thought for many years that the only thing wrong with instructional design models is that they don’t include enough performance improvement or enough measurement and evaluation. The Handshaw Instructional Design Model has evolved to achieve this integration. This is my reason for writing the book and developing the session. The model is influenced by three major experiences in my career. The performance consulting portion of the model is drawn heavily from the work of Dana and Jim Robinson, since they have been mentors to me since the mid-1990s. The more traditional ADDIE components of the model are drawn first, from my days at Indiana University, and later from nearly thirty years of working with customers and improving our instructional design process at Handshaw, Inc. Many talented instructional designers have used and influenced the Handshaw model through their work in our training services and performance consulting practice. I have also been influenced by the work of Jack and Patti Phillips. I have leveraged their work to strengthen the measurement and evaluation components of the model. My presentation will be on Wednesday the 16th at 10:00 in the morning. I will be assisting Tim Brock with the Chapter leaders’ Workshop on Sunday the 13th. Among other things, we will be introducing a new Chapter Affiliation Agreement. This new agreement is designed to strengthen the brand consistency of ISPI among its affiliated chapters. It is also designed for chapters to help support the International Society with increased communication, support for increasing Society membership and increased support for the International Conference. I hope this Workshop marks a watershed moment in which the Society and the chapters will work together to strengthen the brand of the entire organization. The one event of the week that I am most looking forward to is on Sunday evening when I will be making the short drive to Bloomington to have dinner with my Instructional Design professor from IU, Dr. Michael Molenda. My commitment and passion for our profession began at IU. Dr. Molenda introduced me to Instructional Systems Design in 1978. His influence has stayed with and helped guide me over the course of my career. I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to thank him for the influence he has had on my life and career. Another IU alum, Thiagi will also be joining us. It couldn’t get much better. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available for pre-order now!

At the 2013 ISPI Conference, Dana and Jim Robinson received the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award. I had the pleasure of having dinner with them that evening at the conference where we were joined by Jack Phillips. As we were discussing the award and how much the Robinsons enjoyed seeing everyone again since their retirement, Jack suggested that they write a third edition of their Performance Consulting book—and that he and his wife Patti Phillips and I join them as co-authors. Dana and Jim jumped at the idea, and within a short time, Jack had a draft proposal for us to review. Before long, we had a contract with Barrett Koehler, the publisher of the first two editions of Performance Consulting. The proposed title for the third edition is: "Performance Consulting: An End-to-End Process to Improve, Measure and Sustain Business Results."  What will make this book significant is that it will combine the work the Robinsons have done in the area of performance consulting with the measurement and evaluation work of the Phillips. There is great synergy in the work of both couples, integrating the front-end consultative process of the Robinsons with the measurement techniques of the Phillips. My role is twofold:  to provide current case studies and examples as well as ensuring the content is congruent with instructional design principles. This is a very exciting role for me to play and I am enjoying every minute of it.  This new edition will be published in the spring of 2015. The Robinsons most recent book, the second edition of Performance Consulting, appeared in 2008. Jim retired in 2009 and Dana in 2011. Jack and Patti are extremely prolific writers with over 100 titles to their combined credit. I am the newcomer to book writing with my first book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals" which will be released by AMACOM Publishing in May of 2014.   

I am presenting a 90 minute session on Monday, May 5th at 1:00 pm that features my new book, "Training That Delivers Results: Instructional Design That Aligns with Business Goals." Immediately after the session at 2:45 I will be signing copies of the book. There will be a second book signing session at the ASTD Book Store on Tuesday at 12:45. I received a pleasant surprise this past week when my complimentary copies arrived at my office quite unexpectedly. They arrived exactly one year from the date that I signed the contract with AMACOM, the publishing group for American Management Association. The book is co-published by ASTD. After a year of working on the book, I was surprised at how exciting it was to actually have the book in my hands. It was an ambitious project to combine performance consulting and instructional design in one book. I also included information on measurement and evaluation, followed by a chapter how to sustain the strategic change to a results driven process. The book is based on the Handshaw Instructional Design Model. Our process is based on the work of many thought leaders in the field including but not limited to Walter Dick and Lou Carey, Robert Gagne, Jim and Dana Robinson, Jack and Patti Phillips and even some local experts like Barbara Thornton (former SVP of Human Resources at Krispy Kreme)  and John Gretes (Professor at UNC Charlotte). Although the model is rooted in the work of others, the Handshaw staff continually improved the process through nearly thirty years of practical use, which makes it highly evidence-based. The book includes case studies, client stories and many useful tools for practical application. Above all, it really is easy to read, with lots of white space bulleted lists and helpful graphics. The book is intended to help you improve your organization and your own career by making instructional design and performance consulting easier to apply in your work situations. I hope it will help inspire you to do great things for yourself and for our profession. A Kindle version is currently available at www.amazon.com, or you can pre-order the paperback version for shipment by May 28th. If you are going to the ASTD conference in Washington, DC, please stop by the Book Store to purchase your copy of my book and say hello!                      

YOU CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO DO ANALYSIS I’ve talked to a lot of trainers about analysis, and the most common reason most of them give for not doing analysis is "I don’t have time." But here’s what my experience has taught me— and I admit that it’s counterintuitive. The less time I have to complete a project, the more critical it is to do analysis early. A friend and colleague, Damon Hearne of Bank of America, once succinctly characterized the importance of analysis with this statement: "If you don’t have time to do analysis, be prepared to do design again and again and again." That’s absolutely true. In fact, your best insurance policy against costly mistakes and missed deadlines is making the time to do the necessary amount of analysis. Here’s a personal example to illustrate the point. An Expensive Lesson A large bank in the Northeast wanted to use e- learning to demonstrate successful product sales skills to its financial consultants. It’s important to mention that the product was new and a previous launch had gone so badly that the bank was in a hurry to take corrective action. That’s why our request to complete a task analysis got so much push back. The bank thought the best way to meet the deadline was to give its consultants the needed selling practice by using virtual role plays with interactive, prerecorded video clips. The client just wanted our team to develop the video clip storyboards and the attendant e- learning program as quickly as possible. I explained that the purpose of the analysis was to document the process and write effective performance objectives. Our clients in the training department insisted that they would provide us with the performance objectives and that they would take on the job of explaining the process. Soon the video clips were shot, and the scripted interactions were integrated into a powerful, interactive e- learning program. Our team designed a simulation that put the learners into an interactive conversation with their clients. Learners were able to select questions, and the video clips provided the appropriate client responses based on those choices. The training department clients were ecstatic and happily took credit for the wonderful design. The business manager for the product line was not so pleased. "That’s not how you’re supposed to sell this product," the manager commented on first viewing the program. I knew we were in trouble. As it turned out, the performance objectives we followed were based on an outdated process and, of course, were completely wrong. We had to go back and rescript and reshoot the video clips. The e- learning program needed a great deal of revision to accommodate the new video clips and the updated sales process. Needless to say, we finished way behind schedule and way over budget. Expensive lessons are OK as long as you don’t repeat them. Cost- vs - Risk Rule In this example, we ignored the cost- vs.- risk rule. This simple rule states: "As the project risk increases— whether that risk is cost, an aggressive schedule, and/or volatile content— so does the need for analysis." The corollary to the rule is: "Analysis is of little use without the appropriate stakeholders reviewing and signing off on the analysis data." In the preceding example, our team broke both of these rules: ■ Because there was high risk due to a previously failed product rollout and the high production costs of interactive video role plays, we should have insisted on doing our own task analysis. ■ The objectives given to us by the training client were reviewed by the appropriate subject matter experts but not by the stakeholder and managers. Once we discovered the errors, we immediately conducted the appropriate level of task analysis. Based on a new and useful task analysis, all the performance objectives were rewritten. Based on the new performance objectives, the role- play scenarios and performance tests were rewritten. Based on the new scenarios, the new video clips were produced and new e- learning logic was written. You can see that my friend was right. We didn’t do the necessary analysis, so we had to do our design again and again. It was a very expensive lesson.

ROI Institute Certification Workshop July 21-25 in Charlotte NC - Hosted by Siemens Energy: Workshop Overview: This five-day workshop builds skills in the ROI Methodology developed by industry leader Jack Phillips. Participants experience application of the ROI Process model. This includes developing application and impact objectives, collecting various types of hard and soft data, isolating the effects of HR Programs, converting data to monetary values, tabulating appropriate program costs and calculating the ROI. Participants quickly see the advantage of the process as six types of data are collected and analyzed. This data represents both qualitative and quantitative data, developed from a variety of sources. Workshop Attendees Learn How To: • Present a briefing on the ROI Methodology • Link HR program objectives to business results • Describe at least three ways to collect data, isolate the effects of a program, and convert data to monetary values • Identify all costs of an HR program • Calculate ROI, given benefits and costs of the program • Identify intangible measures • Explain the 12 guiding principles for ROI use • Conduct and complete an ROI study for their organization • Articulate the value of using ROI Materials  Materials: Attendees will receive a variety of books, as well as a detailed participant workbook complete with exercises and exhibits. They will also receive an ROI process model and calculator. Who Should Attend? This workshop is for participants who are responsible for measuring the impact of Human Resources. Individuals such as: HR Executives, HR Specialists, HR Managers, Talent Managers, Compensation Managers, Recruiting Specialists, Organizational Development Managers, Change Management Consultants, Learning and Development Managers, and Performance Consultants. No mathematical background is required. Topics of Interest Include: • Recruiting projects • Training and learning systems • On-the-job training • Career and management development • Leadership/coaching • Compensation/benefits • Diversity and compliance • Wellness and fitness • Employee benefits • Talent management • Performance management • Employee engagement • Safety and health • Risk management http://www.roiinstitute.net/learning-opportunities/certification/5-day-course/2014/07/21/roi-certification-charlotte-nc/

Within five minutes from the time I finished renewing my membership to ATD Charlotte, where I volunteered to present at a meeting, I received a phone call from Susan Byerly, their VP of Programs. The most recent membership survey showed a high degree of interest in a program on instructional design. I will be delivering the workshop I recently presented at the ASTD International Conference and Expo in May and prior to that, at the ISPI International Conference in April, entitled "Training That Delivers Results." This is also the title of my new book which carries the sub-title, "Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals." The meeting will be held on July 17th at CMC Mercy and the event begins at 5:00 PM. You can read the session description, find directions and register for the event on the ATD Charlotte website at www.astdcharlotte.org. I want to talk about the topic of instructional design itself and the fact that it has been requested by members of ATD Charlotte makes this a timely discussion. Ever since I first heard the term Instructional Systems Design (ISD) in graduate school at Indiana University in 1978, it has been a controversial subject. The practice has always had its champions and its critics. In response to receiving a copy of my book, my Instructional Design professor, Dr. Michael Molenda commented, "I hope it (my book) gets major distribution … and plays a part in blunting the current attack on ISD." Shortly before I released my book, Michael Allen of Allen Interactions!, released a book called "Leaving ADDIE for SAM." What Michael is referring to is a suggested move away from the traditional approach to instructional design as described in a number of ID models that are categorized as Analysis, Design, Develop and Evaluate type models. Let me be clear that there is no one ADDIE model, rather it is a classification describing a number of models including those developed by the US Air Force, by Professors Walter Dick and Lou Carey, and the Handshaw Model, described in my book. As with these models, Dr. Allen’s SAM model is also a systematic approach to the development of instruction. Having practiced instructional design for over 35 years, I have concluded that any problems with instructional systems design are not caused by which model someone might choose or any of the pros or cons of one model over another, but the way in which people apply the systematic approach to the design of instruction. Any evidence-based, proven instructional design model can yield observable, measurable  and repeatable results if use properly. A model is not a recipe approach that is simply followed the same way again and again. It is a set of operating rules that must match a set of existing circumstances. In my book, I introduce the "Cost vs. Risk" rule which helps you decide how to apply an instructional design model to different projects under different circumstances. For more information on this rule, scroll down to my blog posted June 11th, which is an actual excerpt from my new book. I hope it will make you want to come to the ATD meeting on the 17th of July in Charlotte and perhaps entice you to buy the book!  Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now on Amazon.com.  Get your copy today!

Last month I had the opportunity to deliver a presentation for one of my home ATD chapters, here in Charlotte. I am also a member of the excellent ATD chapter for Research Triangle Area. Next month, on September 5th, I will be delivering a half day workshop for my other home ATD chapter, there. The workshop is called "Training Request? Ask Questions First." It will begin at 8:30 in the morning and conclude at noon. For more information on location and to register, please click here. I think the reason this workshop is so popular is because many training professionals must have difficulty following up on and negotiating requests for training. First of all, negotiating these requests rarely works. Even if you have heard a request before and you know that training alone will not solve the problem, there is only one way to begin the conversation. You must acknowledge the client’s concern. Although offering your opinions or advice to other solutions may seem like the most direct route to change the conversation, it rarely works. If you want to change the training request conversation from tactical to strategic, you must always turn the conversation to the ultimate business goal. This practice almost always works. I have only found one way to learn how to successfully navigate the training request conversation. You can’t just read about it or hear someone talk about it; you have to do it yourself. I begin with eight principles for reframing a training request. I learned these principles from the two people who taught this skill to me, Jim and Dana Robinson. I then show a series of video role plays demonstrating both good and not so good examples of how to "reframe" a training request. The majority of the morning will be spent doing participant role plays and listening to peer feedback. This type of practice and feedback is the key to understanding and ultimate skill building. I presented this session to a client last month on a Friday morning. Late that very same afternoon, I got an excited call from one of the participants. She was on a call with another participant, talking to a client who had a training request that was not well thought out and had little basis of information for the desired solution. They looked at each other and said, "Let’s try those eight principles." "It worked" she said! The client came to realize he did not have enough information to make an informed decision on the final solution. The two participants from that morning’s session received permission to gather more information, which is the desired outcome of this type of meeting. To see the eight principles of Proactive and Reactive Performance Consulting, along with sample role plays, click on the Resources tab above. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now on Amazon.com.  Get your copy today!

I first heard the term "Performance Consulting" in the mid-1990s. I am not sure who first created the term but Dana and Jim Robinson certainly contributed greatly to its proliferation. It is descriptive terminology to be sure, but I have discovered that you have to be careful how you use it. Many organizations were attempting to introduce the practice of performance consulting into their HR organizations during the mid-1990s. The practitioners were the training or organizational development professionals. In many cases, the change amounted to sending practitioners to a class or workshop in performance consulting and printing up business cards with the new title "Performance Consultant." I’m sure a number of these enthusiastic, newly trained performance consultants met with some resistance. When they were summoned by their client to help with a training or OD problem, they announced that they were performance consultants now and they were available to help solve business problems and recommend a whole variety of business solutions in addition to training and/or OD solutions… A keynote speaker at an ISPI meeting back in the nineties introduced me to the concept of "stealth consulting" as she called it. She had been part of one of those well intended moves to go beyond training to create a performance consulting organization. She even had the business card with the new title to prove it! That bold new initiative with performance consulting never overcame the resistance and soon faded, especially after her manager who launched the initiative left the company. Shortly after that experience, she left that organization and took a leadership position in a smaller company. Remembering her first experience with performance consulting, but still committed to the value of the role, she tried again. She began by building relationships and engaging her new clients in proactive performance consulting meetings when there was no agenda or request for training. She hired the Robinsons to conduct performance consulting training for her team. But she stopped short of making those new business cards. Instead she asked her staff to be, well…stealth consultants. She asked her staff to partner with their clients, to identify key business goals and share the responsibility with their clients for achieving them. Rather than telling people they were consultants, she and her team became consultants. They measured results and reported on the outcomes and results they had achieved. I visited her two years later and chatted with her and her team. It was clear to me they had been successful beyond their expectations… Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!

Stay tuned for more details!

Five years ago, the Charlotte chapter of the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) held its first regular membership meeting and workshop at UNC Charlotte. Thiagi, who is now an honorary member of our chapter, agreed to be our presenter for these events. This generous gesture guaranteed the event would be a success—and it was. It was Guy Wallace who convinced me that we needed an ISPI Chapter in Charlotte and it was his guidance in recruiting of excellent speakers and about how to set up the chapter that contributed to our success. We have won Chapter of Excellence Awards for the past four years. I served as our founding President for half of 2009 and all of 2010. Guy served as President in 2011, followed by Marc Donelson, Chris Adams and in 2014 by John Huen. Our boards have numbered between fourteen and sixteen people, which is another reason for our success. We involve as many members as possible in the leadership of the chapter, which keeps everyone involved and interested. We have truly created the "professional community of performance improvement professionals" that Guy envisioned. There is much greater awareness and practice of performance improvement in Charlotte organizations than there was five years ago, and that was my personal goal. Many thanks to all our past board members who made this chapter a reality and a success! On Thursday and Friday, September 11 and 12, I had the honor of presenting to our ISPI chapter on its fifth anniversary. I reminded the audience on both days that we are in a relationship business. Just to illustrate my point, I was delighted to see a colleague I hadn’t seen in a while. Lori Love from Wells Fargo attended both meetings. Lori attended the very first Instructional Design Workshop that I delivered when she was an employee at Belk Stores Services back in 1987. Yes, that’s a long time ago. Lori said that it seems every time she needs to learn something new for her job, I’m there to help. Lori, nothing makes me happier, and I’m glad you were there to help make both of those meetings better. Congratulations and happy fifth anniversary to ISPI Charlotte. May you have a long and happy life. Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!

In April of 2013, I was having dinner with Jack Phillips and Jim and Dana Robinson. Jim and Dana had just received the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award from ISPI at the 2013 annual conference. It was a celebration dinner. Then, out of nowhere, Jack looks at the three of us and says, "Hey, why don’t we all get together and write a third edition of the ‘Performance Consulting’ book?" I looked at Jim and Dana and they both had big smiles. By dessert, the project was under way.  The next thing Jack did was recruit his wife, Patti to help. There was only one publisher to consider. Jim and Dana were very committed to working with Steve Piersante, the president of Berrett-Koehler. A proposal was submitted and accepted. Then the real work began.  Today, the final manuscript was submitted to the publisher. It’s a big relief for all of us. We will still see edits from a copy editor, followed by galley proofs to read one last time, but the hard part is over. We had the pleasure of visiting our publisher for an event they call "Authors’ Day". We met the entire staff of Berrett-Koehler for a day long meeting on October 31. With such a remarkable team behind this book, I know it will be an important book in our field for many years to come. It has been a great pleasure for me to work with the Robinsons, the Phillips and the Berrett-Koehler team.  We will begin promoting the book at the Training 2015 conference in Atlanta in February. Dana will deliver a keynote and Jack, Patti and I will deliver a pre-conference workshop and one hour sessions during the conference. We will release the book at the ATD International Conference and Expo in Orlando in May of 2015. We are all speaking at that conference. I have the honor of sharing a session with Jim that day. That’s a day I am really looking forward to. I know the entire team of authors hopes that our readers will enjoy using this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. And thank you to the Robinsons and the Phillips for including me in this project! Dick Handshaw’s new book, Training that Delivers Results: Instructional Design that Aligns with Business Goals is available now. Get your copy today!