INSTRUCTIONALDESIGN
Research illustrates that engaged and inspired employees are exponentially more productive than their uninspired and satisfied counterparts. Inspired employees are two and a quarter times more productive than satisfied employees; this means it takes two and a quarter satisfied employees to match the productivity of one inspired employee (Bain Research). Research further illustrates the importance of employers taking a strengthbased approach to performance management because employees are significantly more engaged with their work when their managers focus on their strengths.
The paradox for learning and development (L&D) business partners is that we are often asked to develop curricula designed to narrow gaps in specific employee competencies. In addition, we are challenged to get others to consider ways to elevate their “strengths.”
Here are some possible questions that L&D can incorporate into a needs analysis dialogue.
What changes do you anticipate in the coming year or two that we should address today?
What are some key competency strengths of your team? Why do you consider these strengths important? What would be the benefit of enhancing these competencies — moving from good to great? What percentage of your team would you classify as “great” in these competencies?
How can we incorporate emotional intelligence into a competency that you consider a team strength?
As it relates to your team, how do you want to balance strengths with ongoing skills development? How can L&D support you with this endeavor?
Which strength can we tie into a workshop that is focused on narrowing a gap?
What aspects of leadership do your most successful team members possess? How can L&D further support you?
How do you stay current with industry trends and innovations and encourage your team to do the same?
How often have we heard, “My team is tenured. They don’t need to be ‘trained’ on those competencies.” In other words, these competencies are their strengths. This places L&D in a dilemma because we are often asked to concentrate on the commercial teams’ perceived “weaknesses” and not their “strengths.” We may presume that we should avoid taking a strength-based approach for much of what we develop. It is no wonder many of our deliverables are uninspiring to those we support.
L&D business partners are leaders within the organization. As such, we must strive to provide deliverables that help employees feel engaged and inspired, leading to increased productivity. To effectively create deliverables that lead to engaged and inspired employees, we need to be aware that direction from and information provided by key decision-makers may be influenced by “bounded rationality” (a human behavior theory coined by Herbert A. Simon).
It is theorized that when this behavior occurs, our brains are exposed to taking mental shortcuts while processing information. This can cause our brains to filter out specific details while neglecting other relevant information, leading to biased judgments or decisions. As a result of these limiting factors, rational individuals are at risk of selecting a path or making a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal. This decision-making process spills over to L&D curricula and our deliverables.
To address issues that may hinder our ability to create inspired deliverables that foster engagement, L&D business partners must continuously practice and develop two essential skills:
To ask productive discovery questions that foster meaningful dialogue, going beyond surface responses that lead to optimal (and not satisfactory) decision-making, deliverables and curricula. (Assume those decision-makers with whom you are in dialogue don’t have complete knowledge of their alternatives and consequences.)
To take appropriate actions before, during and after the needs analysis and evaluation phases to help others feel heard, helping them understand that you have their best interest at heart.
L&D business partners can consistently home in on these skills. We must design intelligent and well-prepared questions during the analysis, design, development and evaluation phases of deliverable construction, while also being aware of cognitive bias and bounded rationality. Wellplanned questions can fill the gaps created by biases. It starts with awareness.
Learning programs designed for first-line leaders and their field sales teams are often grounded in cognitive biases. These are the mental shortcuts of human behavior. Thus, L&D should consider cognitive biases when analyzing needs, designing, developing and implementing curricula and deliverables.
Here’s why: Cognitive bias, a term introduced by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1972, is a tendency to make systematic errors in thinking or reasoning. In other words, it is a systematic thought process caused by the human brain’s inclination to streamline information through a filter of personal experience and preferences. Think of it as an information processing limitation of the brain. Some refer to this as “bounded rationality.”
Experts suggest that while it may not be possible to eliminate the brain’s tendency to take shortcuts, being aware of these biases can aid in formulating productive questions and making critical decisions. From the perspective of an L&D business partner, remember that cognitive bias can arise in almost all forms of thinking and reasoning, including quantitative judgment, decision analysis, moral thinking and social dilemmas.
Why is this important to note?
L&D business partners must account for how others interpret, think, process information and reason as they align with adult learning principles when designing and executing engaging deliverables and curricula. A keen awareness of the various cognitive biases is also essential for L&D business partners when striving to influence and guide various stakeholders out of their comfort zones to try something new, leading to expanded skill sets.
For example, can you design a program that implicitly focuses on further developing a competency that leadership considers a team’s strength while (in tandem) explicitly focusing on developing a competency that leadership considers a weakness? This approach will address the need to create engaging deliverables because it is “strength-based” and addresses leadership’s request for deliverables that narrow a competency gap.
In other words, this approach is designed to create a deliverable that uses their strengths to address their gaps. I have coined this as a “strength-based, gap-narrowing” strategy. Let’s go through one example of a cognitive bias and how L&D might consider it with the objective of elevating competencies and engagement using this strategy. Keep in mind that there are many cognitive biases from which to choose.
For this article and time constraints, we will review just one: the IKEA effect.
The IKEA effect bias can be summed up with the adage “having skin in the game.” Let’s review the relevancy. In this expression, “skin” is a synecdoche for the person involved, and “game” is the metaphor for “actions on the field of play.” We are more inclined to exert effort and value the results when we are engaged in the process.
The good news is that the IKEA effect bias is a cognitive bias that L&D business partners have likely experienced; however, they may not know how they leverage it — for example, assigning prework to aid the participants in preparing (or “priming”) for an upcoming national sales meeting (NSM) workshop. As those who identified this bias described, “Labor alone can be sufficient to induce greater liking for the fruits of one’s labor.”
To get better acquainted with the IKEA effect, think about something you have labored to write, build, assemble or create from scratch. For example, we will use building a ready-to-assemble (RTA) table you purchased from an IKEA.
You started by organizing the assortment of wood, screws, bolts and instructions onto the floor. If you are like me, you made multiple attempts at assembling, disassembling, constructing and deconstructing the table because you didn’t get it right with the first or second attempt. Through this trial and error and multiple iterations, you finally complete your task.
The table, in this example, is properly assembled; it has all four legs positioned correctly. You did it! There is a certain feeling of pride that goes into that finished product. It may be a simple table, but you labored and learned how to assemble it successfully. It leads you to say to yourself, “Great job. I did it!”
How did you complete this task? You relied on your strengths, which included mental sharpness, physical strength and a solid understanding of tools. But, simultaneously, you had to work through a weakness: unfamiliarity or lack of knowledge of assembling said table.
Let’s explore an L&D example that focuses on enhancing a strength while simultaneously addressing a perceived weakness.
In this case, the team’s strength lies in their ability to ask insightful discovery questions about the disease state, while their identified weakness is their listening skills. We can design a workshop with pre-work requirements to leverage the IKEA effect and strategy. Participants will need to prepare two discovery questions as part of their pre-work.
By recognizing the team’s strength in crafting these questions, we can utilize them in a listening skills workshop they will present live at the national sales meeting. While we won’t delve into the details of the workshop here, with proper workshop design and facilitation, it’s easy to see how participants can develop multiple skills through this format, effectively enhancing their strengths and narrowing their gaps.
Additionally, those who find it challenging to create discovery questions will benefit from observing and learning from their more proficient peers in this area. The strategy is meant to not only reskill participants but also be engaging because it includes a strength-based approach.
Peter W. Carbone is founder of Mindset Effect Consulting and author of The RISE (Rare Disease) Leadership Framework and The RISE (Rare Disease) Selling Framework. Email Peter at Carbone@MindsetEffectConsulting.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/peter-w-carbone-6165464a.
