Got 5 minutes for professional development? Here are 3 resources.
Would you like to be in charge of your own professional development rather than waiting for a formal training process to be offered (and without even having to sign up for one!). Here are 3 easy, free, and GREAT ideas:
Your local library (radical, right?)
If you haven't been to your local library since high school, it's time for a visit. Believe me, it's probably more up-to-date than the training department in your company. My favorite part of the library are the LIBRARIANS. They are a fount of information and know where to look for information if they don't know it themselves. They can point you in the right direction, request resources for you, pull reading lists, and more. I use one particular librarian as my personal research department; she is awesome and she loves the work because she doesn't have many customers asking her for corporate research.
Deep dive in to podcasts
Would you like to be "better educated"? Find a podcast on an "academic" topic (finance, economics, astronomy). You'll be surprised at how much a topic you knew nothing about informs your present-day life.Maybe you'd like to increase your business acumen. Look for podcasts that focus on engineering, logistics, marketing, human resources, etc. Give yourself a bigger perspective on the work that you do, or the industry that you are in.
One of my favorite podcasts is Freakanomics, because, it turns out, economics plays a role in everything; and it can be fun! I especially like that this podcast has a transcript of all the shows on its website. Earlier this year they did a series on the "Secret life of a CEO" and had hour-long interviews with Jack Welch, Satya Nadella, Mark Zuckerberg, and Indra Nooyi, among others.
Look at LinkedIn
One of the things I love about LinkedIn Learning is that you can filter for exactly what you want. You can choose an industry, and then a field, and then the type of learning (video, full blown course), what level of knowledge you are looking for (beginner, intermediate, advanced), and finally how long it takes to complete. Often, when I get that :15 minute reminder that I have a meeting coming up, I have time to fill. I love looking up 5 minute or less nuggets to expand my knowledge on all sorts of topics. How can you not spare 5 minutes to expand your thinking?
(Note: If you are a paid member, LinkedIn Learning is free AND if you scroll down the right side of your "home" page, you'll find a new suggestion for a course, every day. It learns your preferences and will start to suggest shorter lessons in topical areas you've shown an interest in.)
Happy Learning!
Mea Culpa - Is it really better to ask for forgiveness?
The number of “apology ads” I’ve seen on TV in the last month is astounding. It’s caused me to wonder – as a company, is it really better to ask for forgiveness from your customers than to do the right thing, or behave the right way, to begin with? Is the message we are learning “do your own thing, until you get caught, and then apologize and carry on as usual?”
Wells Fargo is apologizing for violating our trust by opening over 2 million fake accounts in order to hit their sales goals. One of their ads (seen here) begins by saying “We know the value of trust…” later in the commercial they promise they are “holding ourselves accountable to find and fix issues proactively…” Finally, they declare that they are halting the business process (sales goals for branches) that caused the bad-behavior in the first place.
Facebook apologized for unknowingly allowing the personal information of tens of millions of users to be leaked and/or manipulated by advertising; possibly impacting the 2016 US elections. In their apology ads the company says it will do “more” to make you feel safe and protect your privacy.”
In Uber’s apology ad, the new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi , looks straight in to the camera and says “we have new leadership and a new culture.” He states that as a company, “one of our values is to always do the right thing.” Is that a new thing, which started with you, Dara? Or was that always in place but now you’ll take it seriously?
Apologies that Miss the Mark
Wells Fargo stating it has ended the business process that caused the “problem” is simply addressing the symptom – what is the root cause of an organization that is unethical, views cheating as necessary to maintain one’s job, and has little regard for its customers?
In the case of Facebook and Uber, their ads don’t even really claim responsibility; they simply say “Oops, something went south. We’ll fix it.” And Uber’s “responsible CEO” made no appearance at all – they sent out the new guy to apologize for past transgressions.
Here’s Rolling Stone’s take on the limp apologies:
Hi, America. We were awesome for a long time. Here are some culturally representative shots of people like you smiling and enjoying our services. After repeated denials, we recently had to admit to violating your trust, but the unelucidated bad thing doesn’t have to come between us. We promise: we fixed [all] that. You will now wake up feeling refreshed in 3,2,1…
The Burning Question
What role did leadership play in creating these damages in the first place? And what role could leadership development play to get these companies back on track? Teaching individuals to be better leaders after the fact is not the best approach; what about the future leaders of these companies? When does their development begin? And more broadly, of course, the future leaders of any company, because a scandal or business transgression could indeed happen to any company.
Go Forward
A multi-faceted leadership development curriculum – offered over the long-term, to everyone in the organization – would benefit from a groundswell of workers who understand ethics, risk, team work, communication, self-management and more. If companies are not solely reliant on leaders to set the course, then everyone is a leader. That’s what we need going forward.
Case Study - Malls of America - a Vanishing Behemoth
Malls used to be THE gathering place. You could shop, dine, go to the movies - even ride a roller coaster (at Mall of America) - now they are sitting vacant and decaying. What happened?
Was it online shopping (why go shopping when you can order merchandise to come to YOU)?
Myspace and Facebook (why leave the comfort of your couch to meet-up with friends)?
Were the retailers responsible for bringing traffic to the mall? Or the mall responsible for bringing traffic to the retailers?
Examine these and other weighty questions that focus on:
- Finance
- Competition
- Risk
- Forecasting
Download the handout here and put it to use in your next leadership meeting or workshop.
If you'd like other case studies, just filter for "case study" in the lower right of this page.
UPDATE: As of the end of the first quarter of 2019, six-thousand retail locations were set to (or already had) closed in America - more than in ALL of 2018.
Ways to Ensure Reading Comprehension
Reading is probably the #1 thinking skill, yet it has become a lost art. The ability to read and comprehend is so important for getting ahead in the business world, yet we never receive any formal training in it. If you can read – and comprehend – you pretty much have the key to success.
BUT reading has to be done correctly. Print materials are best. There is a significant difference in comprehension and retention between reading on screen (poor) and reading in print (best). It has to do with neuroscience and the ability to make references and associations between paragraphs, pages, etc.
Here are 5 Tactics for Reading Comprehension
(We will assume you are reading a professional piece such as in a trade journal, newspaper, or text.)
Read the headings first, to get the main points – think of them as a road map for the readin
Look at pictures and figures and their explanatory text – they are there to illustrate the points of the text and help you to better comprehend
There are two benefits to highlighting 1) it means that you were able to separate out the important stuff from the filler and 2) when you need to review and summarize, you’ll be able to skim for the highlighted parts
Use the margins to give yourself clues to the context, such as: stars for key points, question marks for things you don’t understand or want to look up elsewhere, exclamation points for things that resonate with you (think of it as giving a virtual high-five to the author)
Write a summary. If you have comprehended what you read, you should be able to write a 3 – 5 sentence summary of the text or explain it to a friend
When you get REALLY good at comprehension, you’ll be able to evaluate and synthesize what you’ve read and integrate it with your own opinions, experiences, or research. (Hello Adult Learning and Bloom's Taxonomy) Try these tips this week and see if you don’t feel smarter immediately.
Case Study: Teavana - wrong market? wrong time? wrong selling strategy?
In 2017 Starbucks announced it was closing all of its US based Teavana(R) retail locations (close to 400). It sounds like a product / brand in trouble - but is it? Read and discuss our Case Study look at Teavana which addresses numerous business factors such as #strategy, #risk, #socialtrends and more.
Why Testing is Detrimental to Thinking
We all know that just because you've passed a test, you haven't really learned anything (when I passed the test to get my motorcycle permit, I had never even ridden a motorcycle!).
But did you know that testing processes can actually INHIBIT your thinking and learning ability? Read on to learn more...
Do you remember the Scantron bubble sheet from your school days? It's the familiar number-two-pencil- fill-in-the-circle-which-corresponds-to-the-answer-you-have-chosen test. The filled-in card is then run through a computer which compares your bubbles to the correct answers and scoreds your test in mere seconds. When it was first introduced in the 1930's, the Scantron bubble sheet was extremely helpful to teachers and administrators as class sizes grew and record keeping became more stringent.
Unfortunately this technological wonder has been quite detrimental to developing the ability to think for two reasons:
1 Lack of teacher involvement in grading.
Prior to a machine grading tests, teachers had to read each response, giving the answer critical thought. Very often they would add commentary to the grade, rather than simply marking an answer wrong. They might remind the student where the correct information was found or help them to remember how the concept they got wrong was similar to what they were thinking. Sometimes they would give partial credit if the student was on the right track but then veered off before their final summation (this is the only way I passed geometry, believe me). Prior to a machine grading tests, even when a student got an answer wrong - they were learning. They had coaching, correction and refinement from their teacher based on how the teacher graded the test.
Once the Scantron bubble sheet became de rigueur in public school education, students simply received a grade; rarely did you get the bubble sheet back. And, let's be honest, there is no youngster motivated enough to follow through on a wrong answer and figure out why they got it wrong.
2 Everything became a multiple choice test.
The only way for the bubble sheet to work is if every question has only one right answer. Not only did this focus make learning seem easy (just look for the right answer) but it eliminated an individual's need to put any critical thought in to the answer. Essays went by the wayside. “Explain your answer," was no longer the final instruction of a test question. Once the "outcome" only had to be one right answer, it was much easier to look for an answer you could recognize than to pull one up from memory or reason it through.
More complex questions, such as "Using your knowledge of bees and migration, how would you explain the Hylaeus bee species on the island of Hawaii?" became impossible.
You can learn more about the demise of thinking skills - and more importantly, how to solve it - here.
Continuous Improvement Teaches Thinking
Continuous Improvement is an ongoing effort to improve. The improvement might be to a product or service, or in one's own abilities. Improvement can be incremental or come rapidly in a "breakthrough."
Not only is continuous improvement an important skill to work at, but it is an important life skill. It teaches one to look critically and analytically at the "present state" and imagine it being done a different way - more quickly, more cheaply, more accurately, etc. AI and robotics aside, at some point someone looked at the laborious process of hand-processed transactions - such as in banks or at airport check-in desks and asked "Does someone physically have to do this job?"
In many instances the answer is no... so what are alternative methods of completing the same transactions? I was recently at an airport where I printed my own luggage tag and affixed it to my own bag! (Very poorly, I might add. There is a skill in lining all the sticky-stuff up correctly.)
Being skilled at continuous improvement also means you can take things "apart" and see them for their component parts. Oftentimes when we analyze various components of the whole, we see a potential incremental improvement. Health conscious individuals like to cook at home - but that requires various other processes such as planning, shopping and prepping. Companies such as Blue Apron and Hello Fresh identified those various component parts and then asked "How can we eliminate one or two of these for the home-cook?" Voila! Entirely new business models were born.
One of the "instead of" / "try thinking" statements on the image is this: I'm not good at this vs What am I missing? That's a great way to identify incremental improvements that can be achieved on an individual level.
Personally, I try to incrementally improve my work each year. In the past I've spent a year learning more about neuroscience and how the brain works in order to be a better designer of learning. I've also taken courses, read books, and analyzed graphic design in print materials and online in order to create content in a more visual (and thereby more easily understood) way for the learner. In fact, here is a recently released report, by Salesforce, regarding the appeal of colors in our visuals and how they contribute to understanding. It may inform the way you make your slides and job aids for training purposes.
Continuous improvement helps to develop thinking skills because it forces one to not accept the status quo and instead to look at things from a new perspective. When we think about things differently we often do things differently - to the benefit of both ourselves and our companies.
If you'd like to try a continuous improvement activity with your learners, try this Re-imagining the Hotel Experience exercise you can find on our website. It's generic and familiar enough for any group to use and really helps the learner to separate the experience in to pieces.
Future-Proofing just released!
We are happy to announce that Future-Proofing Your Organization by Teaching Thinking Skills has finally arrived! 
And.... it was just featured in the list of Top 21 Self-Published Business Books You Need to Read. (Currently in 14th place, but you can help "up" that by up-voting the synopsis.)If you'd like to learn more about the book, download a free chapter, or purchase a copy. Click here.
Developing the Solid 70
When your organization decides who gets training – who gets chosen? In terms of performance, employees can be classified as A players, B players and C players.
A players are your superstars – and make up only 20% of the typical staff. C players – those whose performance is passable but not great – make up another 10%.
The bulk of employees are B players – the solid 70. B players are the heart and soul of organizations. They do consistently good work. They represent your company – and your success. When a customer has an interaction with your company there is a 70% chance they are dealing with a B player. You want your B players to be the best they can be. Too often companies have such limited availability of training that it goes to the A players.
If you’d like to develop your solid 70, you can find a number of suggestions in this earlier posting. But it doesn’t have to be your responsibility to figure it out! During the next round of performance reviews (assuming your company still does them) ask individuals what they are interested in, what they would like to attempt or test, and what skills they would like to develop.
No matter how good your A players are, they will never make up for the “solid citizen” B players. And the more you can incrementally increase the B player’s skills, the more your organization will benefit.
Can You Develop Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence (EI) is one of those “sciences” that might be the key to success., or it might be a bunch of hooey. Who’s to know? While it might be hard to define emotional intelligence (although I have below, keep reading) we definitely know when it isn’t being exhibited. A three year old lying on the floor screaming “Nooo” lacks emotional intelligence. So does the forty year old who says “You can’t fire me because I quit!”
In today’s fast paced and tumultuous business climate, emotional intelligence is an important skill to have. We need to be able to accept challenges and frustrations, work with others cooperatively, accomplish assignments independently, participate in activities we might rather not, and so much more.
Talent Smart has been able to equate high performance in the workplace with high EI (and likewise poor performance with low EI [also known as EQ]). John Mayer, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire, is one of those who thinks that claim is hooey. But let’s assume that emotional intelligence IS a definable and measurable skill and that we’d like to develop it in our workforce.
Emotional Intelligence Defined
There are five “domains” or competencies of emotional intelligence:
Self-awareness (recognizing emotion and its effect, knowing one’s strengths and limitations)
Self-regulation (conscientiousness, adaptability, comfort with ambiguity)
Self-motivation (goal setting, commitment, optimism)
Social awareness (interest in others, empathy, understanding power relationships)
Social skill (communication, conflict management, leadership, etc.)
Each of these can be further broken down. For instance, conscientiousness can be further defined as keeping promises, fulfilling commitments, and holding oneself accountable.If we believe Talent Smart’s claims, these would be nifty markers on a performance evaluation, don’t you think? Do we assess people on their ability to complete their work correctly and in a timely fashion or are they really being assessed on their conscientiousness? Correcting poor performance would be quite different depending on whether you were assessing the visible output or the EI that underlies it.
Developing Emotional Intelligence
If we want to develop better performers in the workplace, it behooves us to examine whether we can develop emotional intelligence. Many of the things that we do when Teaching Thinking naturally align with increasing emotional intelligence. For instance. being open to and examining different perspectives. Let’s assume your company announced that there will be no bonuses this year. People with poor EI will think “that’s not fair!” while people with higher EI will realize the business climate has changed and the company acted accordingly.
To “teach” this skill we can include higher-order, open-ended questions in our training. Coaching and mentoring also help to develop emotional intelligence because coaches and mentors ask open-ended questions aimed at getting people to self-examine. Questions such as, What would you do differently next time? Who could be an ally? and What did you learn from this? get at examining and developing self-awareness – an important EI skill.
Another way to develop EI is to turn the coaching / mentoring idea around and have your trainees act as a coach / mentor. This assignment requires social awareness and the ability to empathize with others. The coach / mentor doesn’t have to be an expert. For example, providing feedback about an upcoming presentation requires the coach / mentor to consider the developmental needs of the presenter, frame feedback in a constructive way – taking in to consideration the emotions of the other person, and provide emotional support (you can do this!) – all EI skills. These are all great leadership skills too… but I digress.
So whether EI can be developed in others or not may be nebulous, the skills that lead to EI can and should be incorporated in to many aspects of the workplace (training, managing, performance reviews, and more).If you’d like to assess your own Emotional Intelligence, check out this short, on-line assessment.
Can You Teach Someone to Be Happy? Yale does...
Recently the New York Times ran an article titled Yale's Most Popular Class Ever Teaches Students How to be Happy.
More than 25% of undergrads have signed up for the class this semester. From the article: The course focuses both on positive psychology - the characteristics that allow humans to flourish... and behavioral change, or how to live by those lessons in real life. It teaches habits such as procrastinating less and being grateful.
Titled Psychology and the Good Life, this course has me wondering: Isn't this really a course in "self-management?"
What is Self-Management?
Self-management is the capacity and ability to assess and manage one's reaction to situations and people. It is very akin to EQ or Emotional Intelligence. Self-management leads to higher levels of overall happiness (in both personal and business life) and less anxiety, stress and depression - all things that this Yale course purports to teach.
In 1999 Peter Drucker wrote an extensive Harvard Business Review article titled Managing Oneself. He saw self-management as critical to success at work. In the article he asks the reader to consider questions such as What are my values? What are my strengths? How do I prefer to work?
There is no magical formula for happiness - as I presume the Yale students are looking for - but rather a process for managing how one approaches life and its events. Can the process be taught? I think so. It's part of our Thinking Curriculum in a big way. It starts with self-assessments in order to gain insight in to the things that Drucker spoke of.
Once someone has an objective self-awareness they can begin to build skills in the types of things that lead to better self-management, such as communication skills, appreciating differences, accepting feedback and more. Better self-management then leads to better relationships, more confidence, and leadership ability.
It's an Important Topic
The structure of organizations has changed dramatically in the last few decades. The ratio of manager-to-worker has shrunk, virtual workers exist in fields you wouldn't even think possible, and individual autonomy has increased. It is predicted that these changes will continue and that more "organizational" decisions will be made by teams (rather than top-down) and that "leadership" will be an expectation of everyone - which means self-management skills will be critical in all roles in an organization.
Call it happiness, the good life, or self-management - it's a necessary skill that all business people must possess.
Case Study - Uber - 2017 Whiplash
Periodically, The Training Doctor releases case studies used in our Teaching Thinking Curriculum. Since we want everyone to improve their thinking skills - not just those who are enabled to do so through their employer-sponsored training - we offer these case studies for use in your personal development, corporate or higher-ed classrooms.
This case study examines a few short months in 2017 when Uber hit all-time highs and lows. The discussion questions at the end will help you to examine:
The importance of strong - and trustworthy - leadership at the top of an organization
The role media plays in a company's success
How social media can affect a company's strategy
Fast growth vs. manageable growth
and more....Download the case study here - free to use for training / educational purposes.
How Case Studies Aid in Teaching Thinking
What is a Case Study?
Before we jump in to the value of using case studies to teach thinking, it’s prudent to define exactly what it is we are talking about. Case studies are a way to present content in a narrative format, followed by discussion questions, problems or activities. They present readers with an overview of the main issue, background on the organization or industry, and events or individuals involved that lead to the problem or decision presented in the case.
As in real life, there is rarely a specific answer or outcome. Case studies are typically tackled in groups, although they can be an individual assignment. Learners apply course concepts in real-world scenarios, forcing them to utilize higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Case studies are very beneficial in helping learners to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Using case studies puts the responsibility for learning on the learner himself, rather than relying on an instructor or facilitator to guide the learning process. Case studies model more real-world tactics despite the fact that the content is prescribed.
Case studies in a business environment are typically used as an activity to transmit the course content; requiring an hour to a few hours of work as part of the larger course requirements. While business-based case studies are generally focused on teaching business principles, The Training Doctor uses business-based case studies to teach thinking processes.
Case studies pack more experience into each hour of learning than any other instructional approach.
Skills Taught Through Case Study Usage
While numerous studies have concluded that case studies are beneficial to learning simply because they are engaging and participative, there are many social and business skills which are taught through the case study process, as well.
If you are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, you know that the “higher” levels of learning outcomes are analysis and synthesis – which case studies are able to achieve by presenting lots of information pertinent to various aspects of the case, and asking the learner to dissect and/or combine that information to arrive at a well-reasoned opinion or solution.
Additionally, as much work in the 21st century is accomplished via teams, case studies provide an opportunity to learn critical business skills such as communicating, problem-solving, and group work dynamics in general. NOTE: It is wise to ensure learners understand group dynamics, meeting management, group process (such as decision making and conflict resolution) and the like, before sending them off to work as a team.
Often the benefits of the case study approach are lost due to the learner’s inability to manage themselves as a group (which is also an important learning outcome!).
Outcomes of Case Study Learning
In addition to skills learned via case studies, there are business outcomes which are achieved, as well. Real-world business activities are rarely cut and dry. They are dynamic and fluid which can be reflected in a case study much more easily than in the linear presentation of content which typically occurs via lecture.
Case studies prime the learner to look at an issue from multiple perspectives and – when used correctly – from multiple disciplines as well. By extrapolating a business case study to their own work environment, learners are able to grasp connections between topics and real-world application which is often difficult to do in a traditional instructor-led course.
While arriving at an answer or solution may be the stated objective of a case study (what should Fred do next?), a greater outcome is developing the learner’s ability to apply problem-solving (or opportunity revealing) management to disparate information. In organizations with workers who are more tenured, the ability to insert their own experience and knowledge is not only helpful in keeping them engaged but beneficial for younger members of the group to hear.
It is a best-practice, when using case studies in business, to utilize groups from various disciplines within the organization. Different disciplines will bring different insights to the case, allowing for a more thorough discussion. Hearing various perspectives also teaches an appreciation for the “big picture” and demonstrates the importance of gathering all relevant data. For instance, in many of our case studies we ask “Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?” It is difficult to answer this question if the group is all from the same department or discipline, they simply don’t see the other possibilities.
Additionally, case studies model the reality of business – there will always be incomplete information, time constraints, competing interests and conflicting goals, and one must still make the best decision one can – recognizing that in business no decision is ever “the right one.”
Where Do I Find Case Studies?
You can order case studies from Harvard Business Review or subscribe to The Training Doctor newsletter (right here, at the top of the page) where we release three new case studies each quarter. Additionally, you can always click on the "case studies" category of blog topics, on this page, to view previously published case studies.
Twelve Weeks to Becoming the Manager of the Most Kick-ass Department in Your Company
As organizational development consultants, we are often tasked with creating activities or events that "move an organization forward." Clients ask us to solve problems related to communication, teamwork, poor workmanship, lack of commitment or accountability, and many other issues which stymie output and frustrate individuals.
Every organization is different, of course, but if you are a manager who would like to elevate your profile and your department's reputation, here is an activity that anyone can use to achieve both. All you need to do is commit to one hour per week for three months and follow the process below.
Week 1
This works better if your team is co-located. There is something to be said for looking your colleagues in the eye.) Bring together your team and have each person stand, state their name, their role, and declare how their role interacts with or is enmeshed with another person in attendance and their role. Repeat until everyone has spoken.Be aware: This will be an uncomfortable struggle at first, but by week 6 people will easily rattle off their inter-dependencies and accountabilities.
Weeks 2 - 6
At subsequent weekly 1-hour meetings add one-more-individual to the interdependency declaration. In other words, in week 1 each speaker must choose one other individual and declare how their role interacts with or is enmeshed with that person’s role. In week 2 they'll need to choose two other individuals. In week 3, they'll choose three other individuals, and so on. Slowly your department will begin to recognize how they are dependent on one another. This process works because it is visual, verbal, requires people to think to make the association, and is repeated week after week.
Weeks 4 - 6
Once people have the routine of choosing co-workers and declaring how they work together, "step it up" by having them add something about the other role that is frustrating, confusing or that they always wondered about. This might sound like, "I'm Susan Jones. I schedule the demo-rooms for the sales group. Sean Rhodes is one of my internal customers; he frequently meets with prospective clients in the demo rooms. Sean, I've wondered how far in advance you schedule meetings with prospects that need a demo. Is it usually the same-week or do you have more notice?"
What Susan is really getting at is, "I am tired of Sean always yelling at me that he has a client arriving within the hour and no where to put them." But perhaps Susan doesn't realize that Sean gets little advance notice himself. Or perhaps she just made Sean aware that he needs to schedule the demo rooms with more notice than he has been giving.
Further conversation can happen after your 1-hour meeting, allowing Susan and Sean to come to a solution so that neither of them regularly feels frustrated by the other (without your meeting, and this process, the chance of this conversation happening at all is slim and perhaps the whole "issue" would lead to a major blow-up down the road).
Weeks 7 - 12
Time to step it up again. Now that you've got your team regularly focusing on the way they work with and are dependent upon one another, start bringing in "guests" from other departments (directly upstream and downstream are easiest at the start). Stretch their knowledge of and accountability for other roles and departments. The same process is used, but now each speaker must include someone (the guest) outside your immediate group.
Let's assume you invited a mechanic from the maintenance group. This might sound like, "I'm Susan Jones. I schedule the demo-rooms for the sales group. I also issue a monthly report to maintenance for each machine, which logs how many hours each machine was used during the month."
Susan may or may not know that the hours-used report allows maintenance to conduct preventative maintenance on the demo-machines which are otherwise out-of-sight, out-of-mind for them. Preventative maintenance ensures that a salesperson isn't embarrassed by a demo-machine that fails during a client presentation. If Susan doesn't know that's what her report is used for, she'll learn it during your monthly meeting (by asking "I've often wondered what that report is used for,") and will understand the value and utility of it.
If Susan does know and declares the purpose of her report, the rest of the group will come to learn that this maintenance occurs unbeknownst to them in order to ensure the sales group has the equipment they need to be successful.
In addition to your current group of workers becoming more knowledgeable about, and accountable to, their co-workers and the larger organization, this is a great process for bringing new hires into the fold. They will quickly understand the work processes and outputs of your department and how they are interrelated, which is crucial to doing their own job well and knowing who to ask for help.
In just 12 short weeks you'll have the most highly functioning department in your organization, guaranteed.
Drop us a line and tell us how it went. And don't be stingy! When other managers ask how you created such a high-functioning team - share the process, like we just did for you.
Are You A Slow Thinker? Good for you!
First, a quick tutorial on Fast and Slow thinking – or System 1 and System 2 Thinking as popularized by Nobel Prize winner Danny Kahneman - in case you are not familiar.
Fast / System 1 Thinking
System 1 thinking can be thought of as our “immediate response” to something. When the alarm goes off in the morning – we get up. We don’t stop and ponder – what is that noise? what does it mean? should I get up right now? There is an immediate understanding of the information coming in and an immediate and knowledgeable response to that information. (Caution! This sometimes leads us to applying bias to situations that do in fact require more thought, and System 1 can be manipulated through the use of priming and anchoring.)
System 1 also enables us to do several things at once so long as they are easy and undemanding. System 1 thinking is in charge of what we do most of the time.
However, you want system 2 to be in control.
Slow / System 2 Thinking
System 2 thinking is the kind of thinking that requires you to struggle a bit. In this short (4:22) video featuring Kahneman, he gives the example of being able to answer 2x2 vs. 17x24.
The latter causes you to pause and put more mental energy in to arriving at the answer. If you’d like to try a fun activity to test your slow thinking ability, click here. Or watch the famous Invisible Gorilla video which illustrates that when System 2 is concentrating on one thing (counting the number of passes) it cannot concentrate on another (seeing a gorilla walk through the frame).
With practice System 2 can turn in to System 1 thinking, as in the case of a firefighter or airline pilot. Once sufficient application of System 2 thinking has occurred over an extended period of time and in varying circumstances, it becomes “easy.”
System 1 is all about “knowing” with little effort – as an expert is able to.
System 2 Thinking in Learning
What does System 2 Thinking mean for learning in organizations? Quite a lot, actually.
In a recent blog post by Karl Kapp, in which he describes purposefully causing his students to struggle, he states, “Unfortunately most learning is designed to avoid struggle, to spoon feed learners. This is not good… The act of struggling and manipulating and engaging with content makes it more meaningful and more memorable.”
Another important job of System 2 thinking is that it is in charge of self-control. This is an important skill / quality in the workplace. It allows us to measure the information coming at us and respond appropriately (which means, sometimes, not responding at all). Controlling thoughts and behaviors is difficult and tiring. Unfortunately many people find cognitive effort unpleasant and avoid it as much as possible (so says Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow).
Because of this tendency, we need to make teaching thinking skills a priority in workplace learning and development. This could be a challenge. Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, says that older Americans may be better equipped for serious thinking because they didn’t grow up with smartphones and can “stand to be bored or more than a second.”
And a study conducted at Florida State University determined that a single notification on your phone weakens one’s ability to focus on a task. The ability to focus is crucial not only in completing tasks but in learning new things as well. The ability to focus without distraction and to perform cognitively demanding tasks is THE job skill of the future.