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California Teamin': Training Leadership Summit Wrap-Up
June 02, 2008
By Lorri Freifeld
Although the sun played least in sight for most
of the Training Leadership Summit held last month, the atmosphere at San Diego's Rancho Bernardo Inn was warm and collaborative as participants connected to discuss challenges share best practices, and network. In addition to two symposia—Kirkpatrick Evaluation and 3-D Virtual Learning—attendees had the opportunity to participate in a Disney Talent Management Workshop and arrange their own agenda and meetings in Training magazine Events' first-ever Open Space session (see sidebar on p. 70). Training also honored the 2008 Top Young Trainers with an awards program, where the winners received their certificates. It wasn't all work, though, as attendees enjoyed three themed cocktail receptions (Zen, fiesta, and jungle—complete with exotic animals). Here, some tips and insights drawn from the conference:
• "Businesspeople are obsessed with great product ideas," said keynoter Mark Thompson, coauthor of "Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters." "But I'd rather have a leadership team that can invest in those ideas and deliver on them. I'm talking about sustainable success, not just organizational success because leadership is more personal today. It's knocking on people's hearts and getting them involved, so it lasts a lifetime." Thompson offered some tips for success he garnered from interviews with training executives, including:
• Be clear about the strategic problem you’re solving and clearly tie your initiatives to large business objectives. — Brent Bloom, KLA-Tencor
• Get the right ROI data. —Diana Bing, IBM
• Embrace the skeptics. —Lou Tedrick, Verizon Wireless
• Speak the CEO's language. —Marilyn Figlar, Lockheed Martin
• Managing expectations is almost as critical to success as the results you deliver. —Bret Skousen, Black & Decker
 "Don't ever assume someone else shares your definition of success," Thompson added. "There are, however, three key elements to success: Purpose (why does your team matter? What's your legacy? How do your vision and values impact others?); Performance your actionstyle, measuring goals and getting them done); and Passion (your thoughtstyle, your portfolio of passions)."
• Keynoter Ed O'Boyle, senior strategic consultant at The Gallup Organization, explained that there's an emotional underpinning to all the decisions we make at work and at home. "HumanSigma was born out of Six Sigma and the human value chain," he explained. "Value is created when an employee meets and interacts with a customer in a service economy. HumanSigma is a holistic approach to optimizing the vital signs of a company's human systems. There's a focus on reducing variability and improving organizational performance." O'Boyle further discussed the 12 Elements of Great Managing:
• Knowing what's expected.
• Materials and equipment
• Opportunity to do what you do best
• Recognition and praise
• Someone you work with cares about you as a person
• Someone you work with encourages your development
• Your opinions seem to count
• A connection with the company's mission
• Co-workers committed to doing quality work
• A best friend at work
• Talking about progress
• Opportunities to learn and grow
 • At Booz Allen Hamilton, "leadership development is driven as a campaign focused on defined workstreams supporting our total leader goal through focus on connection, accountability, recognition, and training," according to speakers Vince Gonzalez, senior manager of employee development, and Aimee George-Leary, director of learning and development, Booz Allen Hamilton.
Connection: Drive equity and fairness; promote career progression; deploy staff based on skills, development and business needs, and employee aspirations; assess performance and provide continuous feedback as you guide staff through the assessment process; ensure staff alignment; communicate your vision, create buy-in to it, and empower staff to own it; Take 5 (take 5 minutes to have a career conversation); detail best practices on the leadership i-share site.
Accountability: Everyone has to make a Personal Commitment Statement (PCS) that details how they will connect with their delivery team this year.
Assessment: Weigh leadership, people development, and client/market development competencies more heavily.
Recognition: There are different criteria for recognition in each category of employee.
Training: The approach is focused on a TOTAL leader concept outlining how to drive and direct staff and build the necessary skills (institutional impact, people development, operational excellence, and client service).
Sidebar: Opening Up in Open Space
Most did not know what to expect from the Open Space session held on the second day of the Training Leadership Summit. There was a room full of training professionals sitting in two concentric circles with no set agenda, and a facilitator wearing a cowboy hat who said he’d explain the concept, then probably go take a nap.
"Each of you has the chance to identify an issue or question about the future of training that you are passionate about and want to discuss today," explained Harrison Owen, author, "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide." "Write it down and put it up on the wall with a time and place for your meeting. During the day, if you're not learning or contributing, move on to the next meeting or go to the bar or the pool or wherever you want to go." After several moments of silence and an absence of movement, the room suddenly buzzed with activity. Some 26 issues were pinned to the wall, including: how to deal with training different generations; face-to-face interaction versus technology; and how to foster leadership development when executives don't want to do it.
When all was said and done, and the group reconvened at 4 p.m., Owen asked participants to describe their day in one word. Their responses included: insightful, tiring, enlightening, progressive, and priceless.
To read the notes from the Open Space meetings, visit www.TrainingSummit.com and click on "Summit Social Networking.” After logging in, click on "Topics" and scroll to Tuesday, May 6, session K03. Download the PDF at the bottom of the page.
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