Guide: Development Matters

Introduction

Developing To be skillful in the competency “Developing Direct Reports and

Direct Others,” one of our key manager competencies, you should be able
Reports and to:
Others
ƒ Provide challenging and stretching tasks and assignments
ƒ Hold frequent development discussions
ƒ Construct compelling development plans and execute them
ƒ Push people to accept developmental moves
ƒ Take on those who need help and further development

These actions are required of managers to make sure we can build

the talent we need to achieve the components of our company
strategy.

What’s in this The focus of this guide is to help you develop what’s important to you and to
Guide Tyco Electronics. It’s meant to be used by individual contributors and
managers.
ƒ How can you be more effective in your current job?
ƒ What skills should you develop to prepare yourself to meet current
responsibilities?
ƒ What new skills and knowledge do you need to be ready to take on new
challenges within the organization?
ƒ What are the right competencies to focus attention on?
ƒ How do you acquire the skills and knowledge you need?
If you are interested in advancing in your own career, how do you acquire
the new skills? If you’re a manager, how do you coach your employees to
develop the skills needed for their success in their jobs? In short, how do
you develop yourself and your direct reports?
Performance matters…and so does development. So, to continue to add
value, leverage your strengths and improve your development in areas that
are most meaningful to your job.
ƒ As an individual contributor you’ll learn what you can do to develop your
professional skills to further your career or to improve what and how
you’re currently working.
ƒ As a manager, you will be able to use the information for yourself as well
as to guide your direct reports.

Global Talent Management—Organization Development & Learning

Topics

The Performance Management Process 3

The Process
Performance Partners

Assess Strengths and Development Needs 6

What are Competencies
What’s Important to your Success
Gaining Additional Perspectives
If you are asked to give feedback to others

Choosing Development Opportunities 13

Identify Development Opportunities
Choosing Learning Strategies

Support and Reinforce 15

Your Role as Coach
Coaching Readiness Self-Assessment
Feedback vs. Coaching
Behaviors vs. Inferences of Behavior
Common Mistakes for Giving Feedback
Coaching Approaches
Learning from Experience
Reinforce Learning with Encouragement and Practice
Support Formal Opportunities

When Development isn’t the Answer…Cautions for Managers 31

Other Performance Enablers

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The Performance Management Process

The Process Our performance management system is a three-step process.

Step 1: setting individual goals for the year. Individual goals

align with the manager’s goals and cascade through segments,
business units, and departments.

Step 2: ensuring that employees get feedback on their

performance throughout the year.

Step 3: documenting how well you met your goals. In addition,

during the collaborative discussion, when you met with your
manager or your direct report you addressed development:
identifying development needs and creating a development
plan, either to develop skills in your current job and/or those to
prepare for the next best opportunity.

Move through a cycle that begins with assessment. Although

you may begin anywhere in the cycle below, we’ll take you
through the process: (1) start with assessment, (2) select
opportunities to help you develop, (3) implement the plan, and
(4) identify appropriate support to help you achieve your
development goals.

ƒ Assess: What competencies are important to you in your

position? Where do you stand relative to those competencies?
ƒ Identify Development Challenges: What kinds of development
opportunities can you identify that will help you achieve your
development goals?
ƒ Implement: Where can you find opportunities you need?
ƒ Reinforce Learning: How can you support your own
development and how can you find others to help you?

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Performance Who is responsible for development? It’s not a responsibility for managers
Partners only, nor employees only, nor only for Tyco Electronics. Here is what each
is expected to do, working in concert with one another.

Development of employees is a
shared responsibility among the
company, employees, and managers.
All are active players. This may be a
change from how development/
learning was viewed in the past.

Traditionally, the employee looked to

the manager in a dependent mode for
his/her development and especially for
career planning. The questions were,
“What’s next for me in my career?
What can you do to help me?”

Today the questions are, “Here’s what I see as my strengths and

areas for development; how do you see it? I think it makes sense for
me to… What do you see?”

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 The chart below outlines the responsibilities of all three partners. It’s
everyone’s responsibility to:

ƒ Understand their role in the partnership

ƒ Make sure the support that’s needed is available and find out
how to get it if it’s missing.

Company Employee Manager

Provide access to development
opportunities
Support human resources
systems and practices
Remove obstacles that impede
learning
Provide processes, systems,
tools and practices to support
performance and development
Take ownership and
responsibility for actively
participating in self-development
Assess strengths objectively and
check your perceptions with
others. (This will result from the
feedback process.)
Identify all avenues for learning
and expand preferred ways to
learn
Coach and develop others
Provide candid feedback and
communication about their
performance and their aspirations
Demonstrate commitment to
learning and development:
ƒ actively participate in the
development of employees
ƒ commit to self-development
ƒ ask for feedback for yourself

Provide funding and other Hold self accountable for Clarify what is expected of
resources as needed deliverables employees

Communicate employee and
manager development roles and
responsibilities
Be open to asking for and
receiving additional feedback and
guidance from your manager and
others
Be accessible (make time to answer
questions, provide feedback, review
ideas, etc.)
Provide meaningful practice
opportunities and allow for risk of
learning (and failing)

Hold self and others accountable for

deliverables

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Assess your Strengths and Development Needs

What are By definition competencies are more than skills or knowledge; here
Competencies we limit “competencies” to mean those knowledge, skills, and
behavioral elements that are changeable and teachable.

A competency model is a set of competencies that are required for

successful performance in a job, job family, function, or
organization (as in “core competency”).

Competencies are used to help with the following people processes

and should be aligned:

ƒ Selection
ƒ Talent deployment
ƒ Performance management
ƒ Career development
ƒ Training and development

What’s As you assess your strengths and development needs, ask:

Important to
your Success ƒ Do I have the courage to ask for and act on candid, constructive
feedback?
ƒ Can I be honest with myself when evaluating my potential as
well the limitations that I impose on myself?

If you answer “yes”, then the process starts with assessment.

You need to identify the skills that are most important for you in your
current and/or future position. Different positions require different
skill sets to achieve results, as shown on the following graph.
Depending on your aspirations you might choose to develop
functional skills (i.e., technical expertise) or people skills for a
management position.

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It’s important to carefully assess against the right set of
competencies because employees at different levels of the
organization will be held to different standards of performance. So,
you might want to first engage in conversations with your manager
about the competencies that are critical today to your success and
what will be critical in the future as the organization’s—and your—
needs change.

Some competencies are easier to develop than others. When you

are determining which competencies to tackle for development,
consider how difficult the competency may be to develop or how
long it may take to develop it. Don’t be so overly ambitious that you
are then frustrated by your efforts.

If you are a manager and you are helping a direct report develop the
skill, recognize how difficult the competency may be to develop and
consider what other goals she/he is working on.

In addition, if you are helping an employee find a development

assignment, don’t choose one that is so challenging in and of itself
that developing a new skill at the same time will overwhelm the
employee. (Be ready to support and coach as appropriate.)

Use the competencies as a guide to manage your own

performance, plan your career, and to create a meaningful
development plan. Not all competencies are equally important and
no one has the time or resources to develop every competency.
Managers can help employees identify important competencies by
starting with the Tyco Electronics Strategy Map.

How do you determine the critical competencies to develop? What

are the priorities?

Example: The illustration below is an example of how a manager

of customer service reps might identify the most important skills
and behaviors for his/her group that are aligned with this manager’s
company’s strategy.

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 l

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Worksheet for Identifying Most Critical Competencies

Strategic Goals
What are your department strategic goals that align to company strategy?

Business Objectives
How is your target audience (direct reports or you) going to achieve the strategic
goals?

Job Success Indicators

What are the important and measurable goals for each job that the job that job
behaviors are intended to produce?

Job Behaviors
What are the critical tasks that people are expected to perform?

New Knowledge and Skills

What knowledge/skills are needed to perform the tasks?

What are the possible avenues you have to increase these knowledge/skill needs?

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Gaining You may be self-aware and know your strengths and areas of
Additional attention; you may have heard it from others either directly or
Perspectives through a 360-degree feedback process. (Contact Organization
Development & Learning to learn about this tool.)

How can you get other perspectives? Ask for it! But there are
usually two obstacles that prevent us from getting feedback from
others:

1. Our own ego and the natural desire to defend it.

2. Reluctance on the part of others to give honest face-to-face
feedback (because they, too, want to defend your ego).

If you ask for and receive feedback from others, recognize that it’s
possible the person giving you feedback may not be skilled in
giving it. So, you might hear feedback that isn’t specific or it could
be inflammatory, labeling, or judgmental. No matter how you feel
about the feedback and what you plan to do with it, accept what
you hear and don’t become defensive. Remember that how you
respond to feedback will signal to others how receptive you really
are to receiving it!
Follow these four steps. It’s cyclical so once you get around the
circle, you will want to continue the process of getting feedback.

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1. Ask. Be sure you’re ready to receive it. Be honest: don’t seek
feedback if you have no intention of changing. Approach feedback
with an “I want to learn about myself” attitude. Feedback
represents the other person’s experience; therefore, it is neither
right nor wrong.

Separate yourself from your behavior. Keep a sense of your

personal worth and view the feedback as a description of your
behavior as it affects another person. As a person, you are OK. If
your behavior creates a problem for others, then that is what you
need to choose to change…or not. Remember, what you do with
the feedback rests with you.
2. Listen and reflect. Listen to understand and do not evaluate.
Monitor your nonverbal behavior while you listen. Be careful that
your tone of voice conveys a need for understanding rather than
defensiveness.
3. Thank the provider and confirm understanding. It’s hard to
accept feedback and it can be just as hard to give it, so thank the
person for giving you the feedback.
Confirm understanding. If you disagree, bite your tongue and just
listen. Don’t give reasons, causes, or excuses. Avoid explaining
your behavior. Accept opinions as perceptions.
Then summarize what you heard. Use open-ended questions to
probe for additional information if you are not getting specifics.
Your questions should be asked to learn more, not to confront or
challenge.
You could ask, “Specifically, what am I doing that leads you to that
perception?” “What could I do to do this more/less often?”
4. Act on feedback as appropriate. Change what makes sense. If it
fits, then you decide whether or not you want to change or modify
the behavior. If it doesn’t fit, you can reject it. But don’t be too
quick to dismiss it. If you intend to change in response to the
feedback, agree with what you have heard and state what you
expect to do differently. Ask for whatever assistance you think is
appropriate and realistic from the other person—perhaps getting
feedback again could help.

Look for feedback on the same behavior from several people so that
you can better understand how others see the behavior.

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If you are You can minimize resistance by ensuring that when you give
asked to give constructive feedback it:
feedback to
others … ƒ Is motivated by an honest attempt to help both the employee and
the organization
ƒ Is based on dialogue, not monologue—talk to the individual, not
at him/her
ƒ Is given at time/place individual is ready to receive
ƒ Results in a consensus about the problem
ƒ Focuses on behavior/performance, not personality

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Choosing Development Opportunities

Identify How can a given competency be developed? What options exist to

Development help the individual develop skill? Be creative in identifying
Opportuni- opportunities for learning and practice.
ties—Think
beyond the Some of these questions may spark ideas for development.
Usual

ƒ How might others assist in the employee’s development?

ƒ Are there company events or initiatives in which the employee
could participate; e.g., Six Sigma projects, special assignments?
ƒ Where could this individual practice this behavior, particularly in a
nonthreatening or not risky environment; e.g., professional
organizations?
ƒ Who else can provide feedback and coaching to this individual
and whose feedback would be most valued as the individual
practices the new behaviors?
ƒ Are there opportunities to embed development in the job? Are
there opportunities that the person may not realize already exist
and that you can point out?
ƒ Are there company capabilities (such as intranet) that can be
tapped to help?

Choosing Choose the opportunities that will help you achieve your goals
Learning quickly, inexpensively, and effectively. A variety of options can
Challenges probably best meet your needs.

However, when choosing a developmental opportunity note that your

preferred approach to learning may not be the most effective.
Consider and explore other avenues. You can increase your ability to
learn by expanding the variety of learning skills or tactics you’re most
comfortable with.

Consider opportunities such as these listed below.

Structured Learning Experiences

ˆ Classroom workshops (refer to LMS)
ˆ Brown bag lunches
ˆ Self-study such as elearning (refer to LMS)
ˆ Conference participation with goals for focused attention and
learning

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Job Assignments
ˆ Current assignments
ˆ Team membership
ˆ Temporary job assignments
ˆ Job rotation
ˆ Action learning
ˆ On-the-job activities
ˆ Cross-functional task force
ˆ Lead a team
ˆ Fill in for boss or colleague
ˆ Do parts of the manager’s job
ˆ Debriefing with a team after a task
ˆ Participate in a stretch assignment
ˆ Cross moves (e.g,. to different business units, functions, regions)
ˆ Fix-its/Turnarounds
ˆ Influencing without authority
ˆ Line to staff switch
ˆ Projects/task forces
ˆ Scale (increased responsibilities in the same area)
ˆ Scope change
ˆ Significant people demands
ˆ Start-ups
ˆ Rotation in another region/country
ˆ Heavy strategic demands

Off-the-job Opportunities
ˆ Assume leadership in a professional organization
ˆ Serve with a community agency
ˆ Participate in a volunteer organization
ˆ Join a community board
ˆ Serve as a consultant to a volunteer organization
ˆ Coach children’s group
ˆ Work with a charity

Other
ˆ Coach or ask for coaching
ˆ Interview others about their expertise
ˆ Mentor or be mentored
ˆ Conduct informational interview to learn about business
ˆ Observe others

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Support and Reinforce

Your Role as You should be available and able to coach the individual as
Coach needed. Even if a person has identified formal training
opportunities as a way to develop skill, you should be ready to
coach because formal training rarely, if ever, is sufficient to
address all needs. Coaching can be formal (an agreed-upon
intervention) or informal actions that help someone work
through a problem, learn a new skill, or prepare for a
challenging situation.

Coaching How ready are you to coach? What do you need to prepare
Readiness yourself? To coach well you will need skills to:
Self-
Assessment ƒ Give helpful feedback
ƒ Use questioning techniques to promote exploration and
discovery of ideas
ƒ Modify your coaching style to address different needs of
different individuals

What is your ability and willingness to serve as a coach? Once you

know your strengths and areas for attention, gain the skills you need
so that you can partner with the individual who can find value from a
coaching relationship.

The assessment on the next page asks you to think about how
ready—willing and able—you are to coach. It will help point to areas
where you need to do some preliminary “work” yourself to ensure that
you can coach successfully.

In addition to having skill to coach well, provide a supportive

environment and a have a willingness to devote time and attention to
coaching.

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Self-Assessment Worksheet

Instructions:

1. Consider a particular coaching opportunity. Be honest about your capabilities,

capacity, and interest. Consider the person being coached (including your
relationship with that person), the goal/purpose of the coaching assignment,
and your other job responsibilities.

2. Score and interpret the assessment.

3. Develop a plan to address where more attention is needed to ensure a

successful coaching outcome. (These are the areas indicated by the red and
yellow column.)

Self-Assessment of Current
Coaching Readiness
Unlikely Not
Probably Definitely
(potential Sure
True True
concern) Yet
I will allocate sufficient time
I will be accessible to him/her
I have sufficient skill to modify my coaching
approach with this person; that is, to switch among
the variety of coaching styles
I can and will model the right behaviors/thinking
I am very interested in helping this person succeed
I am respected by the person being coached
I respect the person being coached
I understand the person’s needs/goals
I possess the necessary job expertise
I have the coaching skills I’ll need
I will be viewed as “safe” enough to provide
coaching
I can challenge and provide feedback to this person
A good level of trust” exists between the two of us.

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Given your self-assessment, how ready are you to coach this person?

What are the biggest challenges to your success as a coach in this case?

What actions can you take to: a) answer any unknowns, b) become better
prepared to coach this person, or c) find a better coach for this person?

Am I Ready to Coach?

Coaches are more effective when they...

Š Allocate sufficient time to prepare for, work with, and follow-up with the
person they are coaching
Š Are willingly accessible at least some time beyond scheduled meetings
Š Model or show the types of behaviors expect from the person she/is coaching
Š Are genuinely interested in helping the other person succeed
Š Are respected by the person s/he will be coaching
Š Respect the person s/he will be coaching
Š Understand the needs/goals of the person being coached and can modify
the coaching approach to meet those unique needs
Š Possess the necessary expertise for the particular coaching need (which
may or may not require specific job expertise/knowledge)

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Š Are viewed as “safe” – someone with whom the person can be open and
honest (note: can be difficult when coaching someone you also evaluate)
Š Can challenge and provide feedback to the person they will be coaching
(note: can be difficult when coaching someone senior to you)
Š Enjoy a trusting relationship with the person being coached. When
individuals have a trusting relationship, they have a belief in the other
person’s:
‰ Candor
‰ Credibility
‰ Compassion
‰ Communication
‰ Consistency
‰ Contribution
‰ Clarity
‰ Competence
‰ Commitment to the partnership
‰ Commitment to keeping agreements
Š Know how to coach (e.g., questions to ask and ways to engage the person
being co ached)
Š Can modify their approach to coach individuals and begin the relationship by
meeting them where they are and taking them to another state of
accountability

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Feedback vs. What is feedback? What is coaching?
Coaching
Feedback answers, “What did I do?” Coaching answers, “How can I
improve?”

You don’t always have to provide coaching after you give feedback.
Sometimes the answer to “How can I improve?” is obvious to the
individual.

Example: Your feedback is, “Your presentation went over the

agenda’s allotted time by 15 minutes this morning. That caused the
others who followed you to modify their presentations and shorten their
Q&A session.”

Coaching may not be needed; most likely the individual knows what to
avoid the problem in the future; if she doesn’t, then coaching may be
needed. If the person says, “I knew I was in trouble. I often have
trouble figuring out how much time to allow for questions and how much
content to include. I’m not sure where to cut valuable content,” then
you may offer coaching.

Behaviors vs. It’s important to differentiate between descriptions of behavior and

Inferences of interpretations of behavior when you give feedback. This will help
Behavior you give meaningful and helpful performance feedback directed at
behavior the performer can change and avoid defensiveness from
the receiver of the feedback.

Inferences of behavior are often substituted for descriptions of

behavior. Give feedback that is descriptive and specific. Example:
You observe first-line manager Joe meeting with his direct reports on
the shop floor. Your inferences about what you observe are
underscored. The specific behaviors (or Joe’s actions) are in italics.

Joe showed up 10 minutes after everyone else. Joe seemed

unprepared and disorganized because his notes were falling off the
clipboard and they were out of order. You saw him start to read a
note, then interrupt himself to pull out another note and start reading
that one only to interrupt himself again, and pull another note. His
notes were sloppily written; there were cross-offs on the paper and
they were written around the edges of the notes and upside down.
His presentation was a mess.

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Specific behavioral statements tell the person what he did, not how
you evaluated or assessed what he did. In the example above, Joe’s
presentation was a mess is an inference. That notes were upside
down is a behavior.

Compare these two statements:

General: I'm glad to see that your work is getting better.

Specific: I’m happy to see that you’ve met every deadline in the
last month.

General: "Your work is so inconsistent; sometimes it's great and

sometimes it's not good at all."
Specific: "Last week everything you produced for the monthly
report was right on target; then just yesterday and today, the
figures were incorrect in three of the four columns."

Inferences are judgments based on behaviors—what you saw or

heard. Inferences are based on our value judgments; they cause
defensiveness and lead to disagreement and argument. Keep your
feedback statements on specific descriptions of behavior. The
statement, "You're being irresponsible" includes value judgment. It’s
a general attack that’s focused on attitudes. Attacks on attitudes
result in defensive reactions.

The more that corrective feedback is cast in specific behavioral

terms, the more it supports problem solving and the easier it is to
control. The more it focuses on attitudes, the more it will be viewed
as a personal attack and more difficult to deal with.

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Common
Mistakes for Common mistakes for giving feedback include the following.
Giving
Feedback Threatening
This could be something simple like “your job depends on this.”
People won’t be focusing on the feedback; they’ll be focused on the
intimindation tactic you’re using.

Question, not a statement

If you make a suggestion in the form of a question, someone may not
realize you’re giving feedback. Saying, “Could you try to get here on
time” isn’t feedback. That’s advice giving, not feedback.

Psychoanalyzing
Don’t justify behaviors based on something you know about the
person. Sometimes managers say things like, “I know you think
you’ve been overlooked for that promotion” because they want to
excuse or minimize the behavior they’re addressing. Managers
aren’t counselors and they don’t know what’s causing the behavior.

Sugarcoating the Message

Avoiding the message; telling what the receiver wants to hear rather
than what she needs to know.

Personal Attacks
Addressing the person, not the issue.

Using a Sandwich Technique

The sandwich technique is to give positive feedback, then negative
feedback, then good feedback—the negative is like the meat
between the two pieces of bread; in this case, the good feedback.
The idea sounds good, but the problem is that people soon figure out
that when you give them positive feedback, they’re going to soon
hear negative feedback. It doesn’t take long for people not to hear
the good feedback at all because they’re waiting for the bad.

Exaggerating
Eliminate “never,” “always” or “everyone”. The person hearing these
words is going to argue with you by pointing out the times when he
didn’t do what you claim he did.

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Too much, too long
Sometimes the person giving feedback doesn’t know when to stop,
so they start giving advice, telling stories, describing personal
experiences, or trying to solve the other person’s problems. When
you are giving feedback, you’re telling the person what he did, not
telling him what to do. Giving advice is a kind of coaching.

Inappropriate humor
Sometimes sarcasm is used when someone is uncomfortable giving
feedback. If someone is late for a meeting, a comment like, “Glad
you could make it” is sarcastic and not appropriate feedback. Attacks
llike this not only inflames people, but makes a judgment about the
person without knowing what’s going on. The person may have a
legitimate reason for being late.

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Coaching A variety of coaching approaches are available. Six approaches are
Approaches offered for you in the Toolbox, Guide, “Coaching”. Choose an
approach based on what you know about the person you are
coaching, as well as the approach you may have agreed to during
the coaching agreement discussion. A brief summary of these
approaches follows. Refer to the Toolbox for more information.
(Refer to Toolbox, Worksheet, “Coaching Agreement”.)

A Summary of Coaching Approaches

In these approaches you will be:
1. Encouraging Self-discovery. You might use this approach to
help the individual discover the “answer” himself, especially if
you are hoping that the person can gain increased problem
solving skill as he works to gain the skill you are specifically
coaching for. Coaching via self-discovery can be a powerful
learning approach because individuals usually prefer the
solutions they discover themselves rather than those solutions
imposed on them.

2. Facilitating Learning from Experience and Feedback. Most

learning takes place on the job rather than in classrooms; but
unfortunately, people can have on-the-job “experiences” without
much learning taking place or the “wrong” lessons are learned.
This approach involves facilitating learning from experience and
feedback.

3. Teaching/Showing. Sometimes it is helpful to share your

expertise with individuals directly by telling them or showing
them what to do. This is a common approach that can be
particularly useful for technical skills; when there is limited time;
when the consequences of a mistake are severe; when the
person is unlikely to reach an effective conclusion without
guidance; the individual doesn’t have enough background to
form a methodology, approach, or provide a suggestion himself;
or other times when self-discovery or learning by doing may be
risky.

4. Focusing Attention on the Goal. Helping someone clarify

what she needs to learn or accomplish and guiding her to
focus on those things that are within her control or influence
can be a useful starting point for fostering efficient learning
and improvement.

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 5. Challenging. A beneficial way to encourage growth is to
question the person diplomatically by pointing out
inconsistencies, challenging questionable assumptions or
conclusions, or confronting unwillingness to change. This
approach requires courage and tact, particularly if you are
coaching someone more senior than you.

6. Motivating and Encouraging. You can take actions that

motivate and encourage ongoing growth, development, and a
willingness to try things that at first may be uncomfortable.

Learning from Some people have the experience and miss the meaning” (T. S. Elliott).
Experience Much of our learning came from our experiences. Experiential learning is
an excellent learning opportunity, but keep in mind:

“Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lesson afterward”
(Anonymous).

Experiences can be painful and may lead to failure. But failure is a

legitimate learning experience if you learn from it.

For example, one manager encourages learning and risk taking by

beginning each monthly staff meeting by asking, “Who made a mistake
this month and what did you learn from it?” Employees who share their
experience and explain how to avoid the mistake in the future and/or
what they put in place to “foolproof” the task/process are rewarded. This
manager rewards each “teacher” with lunch certificates. Of course, the
purpose is to share knowledge and learning so that mistakes can be
avoided. Repeated mistakes are never rewarded!

If you choose a coaching style of “facilitating learning from

experience”, provide the most value from the learning experience by
following a cyclical model that includes four activities or “stages.”
The individual can start with the experience, then cycle through the
remaining stages and then apply the learning with a new experience,
beginning the cycle again. Or he or she may start at any point in the
cycle.

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 You can use the model when you are coaching someone,
and you can also use the model when you are
experimenting and learning something yourself whether
through experience or more formal opportunities such as
classroom training or elearning.

Hint

Stage: Experience
Engage in a development activity or experience, such as leading a
problem solving session, facilitating a meeting, resolving a conflict
situation, making a presentation, and so on. The experience must be
followed by the remaining stages for learning to take place.

Stage: Process/Publish the Experience

Follow the experience by engaging in discussion with the individual.
Asking the individual to seek feedback from others can help. For
example, let’s say you are helping the individual develop skill in
leading more effective meetings. After a meeting you might
suggest that he seek feedback from the group by asking questions
from the group such as:

ƒ What was your reaction to the meeting?

ƒ What were your observations?
ƒ How did your doing X impact others? How did it impact the
results you were looking for?
ƒ How was that positive/negative?

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ƒ What should you continue doing? Stop doing? Start doing
to improve your meeting process?

Modify the questions to address the particular learning need.

Stage: Generalize the Learning to Other Applications

Reflect on the experience. The following questions can help
start to make sense of the experience, to acquire knowledge, to
develop ideas, or to create new thinking. Questions you might
ask the learner:

ƒ So what happened? What’s going on?

ƒ What does that mean?
ƒ What can you infer/conclude from that?
ƒ What did you learn?
ƒ What does that suggest to you about leading meetings in
general?
ƒ How does this relate to something else?

Stage: Apply Learning

Now can the learner do with what was learned? The application
stage helps to apply the new knowledge and ideas. Questions to ask
to help the learner “apply” what was learned to similar experiences
are:

ƒ What do you do with what you learned? How can you use it?
ƒ What’s the value of this learning to your worklife?
ƒ What would be the consequences of doing/not doing this the
same way or a new way?
ƒ What change can you make so that it will be better next time?
ƒ What options do you have for next time?

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Reinforce As you implement the development plan, the final step is to get the
Learning with resources you need to support your efforts. Listed below are the actions
Encourage- others can take to support you; but if you’re not getting the support you
ment and need, ask for it! See how you can initiate the request yourself based on
Practice these ideas.

Other ways you can support the individual’s learning efforts include the
following.

ƒ Provide honest feedback when you are asked to assess the

individual’s skills. Give ongoing feedback and coaching.

ƒ Be clear about what is important for development and where

you will and can—and where you will not and cannot—
provide assistance.

ƒ Help people identify development activities and experiences

that will help them develop.

ƒ Provide access to resources and people.

ƒ Keep your eyes open for challenging projects that you can
turn into a “learning laboratory” for the employee or
workgroup.

ƒ Get ideas from others about what they are doing to coach
and develop their direct reports. Ask your direct reports for
their ideas to demonstrate your commitment to learning.

ƒ Identify obstacles that will make it difficult for you and your
team members to learn and develop.

In addition, you can:

ƒ Help your direct reports focus on how, when, and where they
learn best and what methods they may be overlooking. Help
them increase their repertoire of learning tactics.

ƒ Review development systems and programs currently in place

as well as assignments that are or could be used for individual
development.

ƒ Help people find ways to get more regular and more informal
feedback.

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 ƒ Create a learning environment in your organization by
encouraging risk taking and learning.

Support In any situation, if you’ve determined that a training solution—whether

Formal it is classroom training, online training, independent study, on-the-job-
Opportuni- training, or any other option for learning centered around changed
ties behavior—is the right action you need to take to help yourself or
someone else improve performance, you need to support the training
effort.
It’s not just the learning provider or the learner him/herself who is
responsible for successful learning; your participation in the training
process also ensures training success.

Supporting training means paying attention to the many responsibilities

that are part of the learning process and which fall within the pre-training
period, during training, and the post-training timeframe.

The ideas below are included also as a checklist on the ODL

website. Review the list of activities to help you identify what you
need to do to support the learning process when you have chosen a
training intervention as a development solution.

Review the list of activities to help you identify what you need to do
to support the learning process when you have chosen a training
intervention as a development solution.

Before Training Begins. Ensure the training is as successful as

possible by talking with the employee before he or she heads
off to the training event.

Involve employee in development planning and in selecting

training options.

Define the required job skills, performance expectations, and

standards. Clarify these with the employee and get
agreement that the standards are accurate and realistic.

Collect information from the training provider to learn the ideas

and concepts that will be addressed. Determine if the
experience will satisfy your expectations. Contact the provider
to see what other development options might exist.

Make sure the employee/participant understands his role in

meeting his performance needs.

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ƒ What are the benefits of changing the performance?

ƒ What are the consequences for not changing behavior?

Find out what the employee needs from you before she
attends training.

Talk with the employee about the importance of the training,

its application to the job, and the connection to the company’s
strategy and department goals.

Examine the workplace for anything that will prevent optimal

performance; e.g., limited resources, conflicting priorities, etc.
and fix that.

Provide time for employee to complete pre-workshop

assignments.

Let the employees know that you expect feedback on the

training experience. Schedule a post-training meeting with the
employee to discuss and agree on how to apply what was
learned.

Contact the training provider with questions or concerns

specific to your employee’s needs.

During the Training Event. When the employee attends the

training event, make sure he can participate fully and
uninterruptedly.

Prevent office interruptions during the training; e.g., no

business meetings, drop-by visits, phone calls, etc.

Make sure the employee can participate free from distractions;

for example, redistribute work so that the employee will know
her responsibilities will be covered in her absence.

Ask the participant to talk to the trainer if he/she can’t

understand the content, doesn’t understand how to apply the
content to his/her situation, or if he/she is dissatisfied in any
way with the content.

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After the Training Event. Immediately after training:

Meet with the employee to discuss what was learned and how the
content applies to the job. Ask how you can help the employee
use what was learned

Create an environment in which improvement and self-

development are encouraged and supported. Provide an
opportunity for the employee to share what was learned with
the rest of the workgroup.

Minimize risk for practice. Create realistic expectations for

improvement and application of new skills.

Provide employee with opportunities to use and to

demonstrate new skills. Support the learning by encouraging
that others use the same skills.

Allow for mistakes when trying new techniques. Be aware that

the employee may need additional time to complete tasks
when trying something new.

Ongoing Application. After some time has passed, be sure to:

Notice any improvements and recognize effort even if the

outcomes or results aren’t as successful as you ultimately expect.

Provide ongoing, open communication on progress and share

any lingering concerns.

Evaluate how training affected job performance; note it in the

performance appraisal.

Model the behavior you want the employee to demonstrate. If

you are unable to model the behavior yourself, own up to your
own weaknesses and take advantage of learning
opportunities. Be willing to be coached as well as to coach
others.

Continue to monitor your workplace to remove barriers to

effective performance.

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When Development isn’t the Answer…Cautions for Managers

Other This guide provides ideas for increasing performance when the
Performance individual needs to acquire new experiences, skills and/or knowledge.
Enablers
However, there are many variables that affect performance or
that may be affecting an individual’s ability to perform as
desired. Although we can assume that increasing skills and
knowledge can almost always help a person perform better,
there are many situations where the ability to perform better—
more efficiently and effectively—can be influenced positively
or negatively by other factors. Don’t always assume that
performance can be improved only through development
opportunities. What else may be needed to improve your own
performance or the performance of others and how can you
help?

Access the LMS to find the elearning module called

“Optimizing Performance with the Behavior Engineering
Model.” This module will present six enablers of
performance, only one of which is about developing skill
or increasing knowledge.

Click myTE—Careers-LMS—Optimizing Performance

with the Behavior Engineering Model.

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Examples Consider these examples and the possible solution that follows.

Examples
1. You apply your talents, skills, and knowledge into producing a great product for no existing
customer. That’s because due to organization changes the organization’s mission changed
and no one told you that this customer group will no longer be served. The efforts you
expended in learning more about that industry, the competition, and customer needs were
wasted. Developing competencies isn’t what’s needed.

2. Your excellent computer skills are helpful in producing a user’s manual. That, plus the extra
time you devoted to getting it completed, helped you meet a deadline. If only you could have
a more powerful computer, your efficiency would be increased. Clearly, developing
competency in this area isn’t what’s needed.

3. Your direct report is highly motivated and hard working. You’re starting to think, however, that
she is in the wrong job. The physical demands are beyond her capability. What you need is a
performer whose physical capacity meets the physical demands of the job. She doesn’t need
to develop competency.

Possible Solution
1. Information. Employees must know what to do and why. Provide a common vision of the
organization’s goals and priorities. By communicating key results, cascading organizational
goals through the company, building awareness of business measures, and encouraging
discussions about the organization’s long-term perspectives, employees can develop a
common understanding of where the organization is headed and who it is trying to serve.
Explain how what individuals do contributes to the overall success of the company. By
supporting individual and group goal setting and defining competencies required to perform the
work, employees understand what is expected of them and how they can contribute.
2. Resources. Necessary resources to get work done include budget, people resources,
equipment, processes, supplies, tools, and time. Consider if the tools and materials are
designed to fit people, if better tools are available and are the optimally arranged and available
for use. Does the equipment aid or impede performance? Is effort optimally used or it is
wasted?
3. Capacity/Capability. Not only must people have the “know-how,” they need the “can do.”
People need the capability and capacity to accomplish the work that needs to be done. A
better selection process can help choose individuals who fit the demands—mental, physical,
and emotional—of the job. If performers aren’t performing as expected because of lack of
capacity, consult HR. Consider assessing your hiring and selection processes.

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Ask these questions before you or those who work for you
commit to any kind of a learning solution:

ƒ To what extent have I communicated the expectations of

performance, in addition to the results? How well do they
understand the measures and standards of performance?
ƒ To what extent have I helped employees value their effort
and their results?
ƒ How well have I selected and matched them to the positions
they hold?
ƒ Do they know when they have performed well and when
improvement is expected?
ƒ Have I communicated the key priorities of the position and
the importance of the competencies in achieving those
priorities? How well would my direct report and I agree on
those priorities and the skills needed for success?
ƒ Have I provided necessary resources including updated
equipment/machinery, efficient and effective processes,
staffing, access to people? Am I rewarding behaviors I want
or inadvertently rewarding behaviors I don’t want (by giving
them less work, etc.)?

Before you identify development opportunities for

yourself or your direct report, determine what would best
enable the performance you are seeking. Assess where
productivity could be increased by analyzing your
performance need and determine what environmental
influences may be impacting performance.

See the ODL--Toolbox website: Checklist for

Facilitating Performance. Access elearning module
“Optimizing Performance with the Behavior Engineering
Model” to learn more about performance diagnosis and
solution.

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