Know, that’s not exactly Nobel Prize winning commentary, is it.
But for many, it is.

First off, how does one actually describe an engaged organization? What is an engaged employee?

Let’s start with what it’s not.

Buzz word bingo.

Organizations that sound the trumpet of annual, quarterly or weekly engagement gimmicks are somewhere between daft and imbecilic. You may trick me with cotton candy once, but I’m eventually going to figure out it’s only made of sugar and fancy food colouring.

Richard Axelrod refers to it as plug ‘n play activities.

Successful employee-engagement practice is not about plugging in a set of tools and techniques that you just read about in some hotshot guru’s latest book—and then expecting engaged employees to magically appear.

I couldn’t agree more, but to many, employee engagement seems unnecessary and even nebulous.
Why is that?

In my opinion, engagement needs to be taken very seriously in an organization. Trying to fake out your employees with gimmicks may in fact create a disengaged workforce. Furthermore, not thinking about engagement in terms of an opportunity to increase overall organizational productivity is naïve if not foolish.

Want proof?

Yes, yes you do.

In what I would refer to as landmark research this past May 2011, Azka Ghafoor, Tahir Masood Qureshi, M. Aslam Khan and Syed Tahir Hijazi from the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan published “Transformational leadership, employee engagement and performance: Mediating effect of psychological ownership“.

They sought to prove that an employee is engaged when they demonstrate what they refer to as “psychological ownership”. More specifically, when backed by transformational leadership (and leaders), employees will thrive on the basis of “self-identity, belongingness, self-efficacy and responsible attitude”.

What they proved was astounding:

Employee engagement makes employees more accountable and enhances the sense of belongingness. Employee engagement practiced under transformational leadership develops the positivity in behavior that leads to trust and satisfaction that enhances sense of belongingness. The sense of ownership is supported by the perception of citizenship of employees. Once employees feel themselves as part of the organization their self-identity with organization improves.

In summary, when an employee feels part of something, when there is unequivocal trust in the workplace and when backed by an environment that is positive and coupled by inclusive leadership, that employee will become engaged.

Want more?

“This identity and association with the organization develops commitment in employees and their performance increases.
That’s right. These researchers proved that an engaged employee is committed to the cause and with commitment comes an increase in performance.

So to recap, this isn’t rocket science. And yes, I know, it’s but one piece of research.

There is no need, however, to introduce buzz word bingo or “plug ‘n play” options to improve engagement and performance in your organization.

It’s not cotton candy.

Common sense is a good start.

Next time, I’ll share my specific thoughts on some must-have components to achieve the engaged (and therefore productive) organization.

Thereafter, I’ll share some thoughts on the link between customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

Everyone now… “Bingo”.

In addition to clarifying the new employee’s roles and goals, it is important to communicate the overall company goals, philosophy, and culture in a consistent manner. In the past this has been accomplished with a standard company manual, however this practice is now outdated, boring, uninteresting and not interactive. This method also does not guarantee that the material will ever reach the new hire. Online training and Elearning solutions provide an intriguing an interactive way to introduce new employees to their job positions and the company as a whole. Elearning also gives managers the ability to track an employee’s movement through the material and how much information was retained by including knowledge checks and quizzes. Successful on-boarding will also involve gaining feedback from new hires to better understand where they are coming from and receive their opinions on the employee transition. Gaining participation through these channels is a great measure of performance and success.

Managers may want to see a comparison of the ROI for the Elearning On-boarding course compared with the standard classroom training and training manual. A better measure of ROI can be calculated by comparing the development cost of the Elearning with a measurement of increased productivity or contribution to the company bottom-line after the On-boarding process is complete. An Elearning program is a cost-effective on-boarding tool that not only can provide employees with a consistent way to get important information as they start their new positions, but can also provide managers with information about the employee and confirmation the employee has received and understands company rules and culture. In these unsure economic times, companies can’t afford to take the risk that employees are unprepared for new positions nor can they afford the costs associated with high turnover. Successful organizations will make sure every employee is on-boarded in a systematic and dynamic way through trackable Elearning programs.

“This award represents what Knowledge Anywhere was intended for, to bring information and training to our clients in an effective and efficient manner while remaining focused on high quality learning” said Knowledge Anywhere CEO Charlie Gillette. Knowledge Anywhere’s Interactive Training  Flipbook was developed to meet the needs of a variety of clients with many features built in, such as employee progress tracking. These features allow managers to monitor their employees’ status in the training program and how well they are performing.

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Technology Awards are presented by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. The Learning Technology Awards program showcases innovations in the products in the marketplace for creating and managing learning, talent, and performance.

Founded in 1998, Knowledge Anywhere, Inc. (http://www.knowledgeanywhere.com) is an award-winning company that has emerged as a leader in the specialized arena of building technology-based learning solutions and performance support systems that provide tangible results. The company uses innovative technology to offer a broad base of products and services, including custom and mobile content development, and virtual classrooms. Its clients use its solutions to facilitate the delivery of proprietary knowledge, employee instruction and product training to dispersed audiences via the Web.

Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the ground-breaking “Web-Based Training Cookbook.” Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts Awards programs each year to recognize the best in innovative learning.

• First, there is the asynchronous online training, an online course taken at a time chosen by the learner.
• Webinars are similar, but that are taken at scheduled times and typically attended by a (virtual) group. Typically, a webinar consists of a subject matter expert talking to a PowerPoint presentation.
• A webinar can be saved as an archived webinar and then viewed asynchronously later.
• Instructor-led training (ILT) is classic classroom training.
• Peer-to-peer training (or mentoring) often occurs on the job.
• Self study is a solo activity – perhaps reading a book or an instruction guide or doing a Google search.
• Video conferencing is increasingly being used to conduct virtual meetings.
• Application sharing allows workers who are not in the same location to view the same screen. It’s sort of a virtual form on-the-job training.

These are some of the common ways that training types can be distinguished:

• Is the activity synchronous or asynchronous, meaning is it a scheduled activity where learner(s) participate at the same time, or can learners participate in the activity when they want to?
• Is the activity online or face to face (meaning in person)?
• Is it a group or individual activity?
• Is it a formal interaction (e.g., based on a script or prepared training materials) or an informal interaction?

The table shows how these training types can be distinguished along these lines.  In some cases the distinction isn’t clear-cut (for example, on-the-job training could be a group as well as an individual activity), but this is one way to look at the different types of training activities, and a good reminder that there are many different ways to support learners.

Training

Your list would probably differ from mine, and maybe you would distinguish among them differently than I have. That’s fine, because the important point is that there are many different ways to train, and all of them have a place in the work environment. Classroom training has the potential to offer the best training experience, but is expensive and doesn’t scale. Online training is a great way to conveniently reach a large audience with a consistent message. Webinars can be a great just-in-time alternative to online training, as they are inexpensive to produce, but interactivity is low and quality is highly dependent on the presenter. Peer-to-peer mentoring and on-the-job training occur all the time in the workplace, and for good reason. In fact, wikis, blogs, and other user-generated content are an extension of this, allowing mentoring to occur on a larger scale.

Ideally, you are drawing on all these training modes: using classroom training for key subjects that need to be covered in person, using online training to extend the reach of your training program throughout your organization, using webinars to inexpensively and quickly provide training on targeted topics, and supporting the various forms of informal training that are key on a day-to-day basis.

According to a similar study, the ASTD 2009 State of the Industry Report, organizations must contribute to the development of their employees “with more formal learning opportunities while using fewer resources.”[1] This means that companies have to be careful with their decisions and investments made in company learning. One example of this type of substitution is online training in the workplace, which can offer supplemental training in a quick and cost effective delivery. The New Learner Survey explores the importance and differences between online training, instructor-led training, industry conferences, and social media in the work place.

One of the questions asked on The New Learner Survey was on predictions of where traditional instructor-led training will move in 2010 compared to 2009. The majority of the surveyed professionals thought that ILT would either stay the same, decrease, or decrease greatly in the next year. This suggests that with ILT already low in 2009, there will be even less investment in class room training in 2010. This directly correlates to the idea of organizations being able to accomplish more with fewer resources available. The companies that realize the opportunity that online training can bring them will be significantly superior to the ones who don’t search for ways to replace their company training programs. These prepared companies will have a better chance to remain successful throughout the end of recession.

Another question from The New Learner Survey inquired if the recent popularity of social media is here to stay. It appears that business leaders understand how to leverage social media for the benefit of their organization as they believe this trend will remain useful. Although some business leaders consider social media outlets to be useless, others see these tools as new ways to reach their customers and engage conversations between them and the organization.

An article from Chief Learning Officer publication asks the question, “Does Employee Education Build Loyalty?”[2] The article weighs the consequences of turnover rates and the benefits of investing in employee knowledge. The conclusion was that encouraging employees to continue learning can increase confidence and increase employee performance. The cost of investing in these benefits should be clear to employers, but there is always a risk of employees leaving the company after completing their training. Organizations can put contracts in place to reduce this as well as implement incentives for performance to encourage high effort levels in the workplace. There will always be a risk of investment when implementing new training programs, but the potential benefits far outweigh these risks.

The findings of The New Learner’s Trends Survey ultimately suggest that training in the workforce will increase slightly during the 2010 year with the main learning medium straying away from industry-wide conferences and being replaced by alternative online solutions. To see the final results of the survey please see the link below:

http://thenewlearner.com/2010/03/01/the-results-of-the-new-learner-2010-industry-trends-survey/

http://www1.astd.org/Blog/post/ASTD-Releases-2009-State-of-the-Industry-Report.aspx

[2] Does Employee Education Build Loyalty?, Fevruary 2009; Alan A. Malinchak

http://www.clomedia.com/talent.php?pt=a&aid=2850

Framework

E-learning design is not like other instructional design. It typically lacks the emotional punch of a gifted trainer, and the motivational component of most personally guided learning. Consequently careful attention has to be paid to achieve our learning goals. To do this, we use frameworks to help guide us in our learning. This section discusses these frameworks. We will then derive principles and practices from this framework. Our two main learning goals are:

• Retention of knowledge until the opportunity to apply the learning occurs
• Transfer of knowledge to all appropriate application situations, regardless
of whether the situation was seen in the learning experience.
To accomplish these goals, we apply frameworks derived from

learning theory.  The
frameworks guide us, and from them we derive specific principles that dictate content, interactivity, technology.

Three major frameworks are important:
• The first is cognitive–understanding how people learn.
• The second is emotional–understanding what makes people want to learn.
• The third deals with the individual expectations for learning–what are learner’s rights and responsibilities?

Cognitive
What is the best way for people to learn? We believe that a theory known as Cognitive Apprenticeship1 (with some modifications, discussed below) serves as the best model to guide learning. Others agree with this approach. There are different elearning theories, but they are “converging” into what can be described as Cognitive Apprenticeship.

1 Collins, A., Brown, J.S., and Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Thinking Visible.
American Educator, 6-11, 38-46.

Cognitive Apprenticeship includes these key elements:
• Modeling the desired behavior for learners, by an expert, and explaining the underlying thought processes (i.e., the expert says, “This is what I do and this is why I do it”).
• Scaffolded practice, where the learner performs with initial support that is gradually removed
• Reflection where the learner links their performance to the appropriate framework. We want to help the learner understand what they’ve accomplished, and more, help them keep the knowledge active between practice and application, and point them in further directions. Focused on cognitive skill acquisition, this is a powerful framework for learning. As we apply these elements, we need to remember that people think in terms of mental models of the world.2 Models are the basis for the way we understand the world. It turns out that if we learn in terms of models, that information is more robust in the face of problems and over time than rote information. We can apply the information in a broader range of situations. Consequently, our content presentation needs to rely on models with mnemonics (to assist learners remember) as opposed to rote learning. (Technically, this is an addition to the Cognitive Apprenticeship
theory.)
Emotional
In addition to understanding the cognitive reasons for how we learn, we need to consider what makes us want to learn. It is useful to consider the following:
• Affective elements–those personality characteristics or preferences that determine our learning style, or how we prefer to learn.
• Conative elements–those motivational elements that make us want to learn.
Affective

Affective are individual personality characteristics or preferences. These are often measured with tests or frameworks such as Myers-Briggs, Kolb, or Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Personality psychology is mapping many to a “Big 5” set of characteristics. This plays out, in learning, to learning styles. While the literature is, frankly, a mess (to use the technical term), individual learning characteristics can be important. Basically, if you have certain particular biases in your audience, you should be sensitive to them. This should be balanced with an emphasis on approaches that are known to be most effective. If a learner’s culture reflects “bad habits,” such as pervasive skimming rather than reading, you want to scaffold (gradually move) them from that culture to one that’s based upon the best principles. (One way to do this might be to use frequent tests to force them to review short chunks of material.) Finally, the best learning design is appropriate for all learning styles, as the principles for successful learning include elements that cover a variety of representations, with an emphasis on presenting information different ways (e.g., visual and auditory). (This will assist with accessibility issues as well.)

2 See Gentner, D. & Stevens, A. L.(1983). Mental Models. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Conative
The other component, conative, is another matter. This component has to do with motivation and intention. Simply put, motivated (and less anxious) individuals learn better. Mentors can assess and address motivation and anxiety face to face, but is harder in online learning, and is very difficult in an asynchronous and independent environment. Consequently, extra steps need to be taken.

Managing the learners’ motivation is important; we need to hook the learner in emotionally before they are ready to begin learning. Helping them understand the importance of the outcomes in ways that connect to their goals and priorities is important (e.g., tell them in advance how what they are about to learn will help them do their job). Similarly, the examples and practice contexts need to be ones they recognize as valid and real. We also need to manage the learners’ anxiety. We don’t want them to be anxious about the learning, so we need to ensure that their experience is what they expect (no unpleasant surprises), and that they recognize that their learning is in a safe environment. We’d like to set the learner’s expectations and tell them what they’ll be experiencing, acknowledging when some components may be tough, and helping them understand and maintaining their commitment through those parts, and celebrating when they’ve completed.

Overall, we want to consider the learners’ emotional reaction. We want wry recognition of how this learning’s important at the beginning, and some anticipation that’s both eager but slightly uncertain about the upcoming experience. Then we want thoughtful engagement and a growing feeling of competence and confidence, followed up with the experience of closure and completion. Creating an experience that engages them in the learning in this manner is the goal. Note that one of the component parts of emotional appeal is humor, which can minimize anxiety, as well as provide relief that helps maintain a positive attitude. Humor is hard to do well, but when done well is superior to presentations without it. Consequently, humor is recommended in appropriate doses to the audience and topics. Internationalization should always be considered when humor is used.

Individual
A final framework is adopted from the interface design concept of user-centered. In this case, however, it’s not learner-centered, but learning-centered. This means that we put the emphasis on the process of learning, as well as the product. However, that does not preclude putting an emphasis on a process that is respectful of the learner.

One way to show respect for the learner is to just present the information they need. John Carroll‘s landmark book The Nurnberg Funnel,3 is the standard-bearer for minimalist instruction. Under minimalist instruction, we respect the learner’s prior knowledge about the world, and use that to the learner’s benefit. Consequently, we provide the minimal amount of information necessary to support them in performing. Any more than that is not respectful of the learner.

Here are some other rights and responsibilities.

Learner’s Rights
• To know where they are going: Learners have a right to know what their goals are, and what they’ll be able to do differently when they are done with the training.
• To know where they are: Learners have a right to know how far along they are, and how they’re doing.
• To be guided: Learners have a right to support in learning, both process and emotion.
• To take control: Learners can choose to take control of the learning process, going where they want, starting and stopping when they want, and failing safely.
• To not have their time wasted: Learners have a right to the most effective and efficient learning possible, and the minimum necessary, without unnecessary content or activity.
• To the right media: Learners have a right to have the most effective media matched to the content, and to the right level of interaction for their practice.
• To be together: Learners should have access to an expert, as no content can anticipate all confusions, and they should also have access to their peers.

Learner’s Responsibilities
• To do the work: Learners have a responsibility to seriously engage in the
content and activities, make conscious choices, and review feedback.
• To be selective: Learners have a responsibility to be selective in their activities, before committing to a serious and targeted response to questions.
• To ask questions: Learners have a responsibility to take control of their own
understanding, and ask questions if the answers they get don’t suffice.

3 Carroll, J. M. (1990). The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical Computer
Skill. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

The main objective is to help organizations solve one of the most common errors in strategy execution – poor communication, and the failure by organization leaders to translate the strategy to people who do the work.  Translating the overarching corporate strategy to employee’s activities allows the organization to fulfill its highest potential.  The Clarion Group – Knowledge Anywhere alliance allows an action plan format to cascade through the organization, thus ensuring everyone is working from the same overall goals and strategy while still allowing employees flexibility in designing their individual responsibilities.

When asked about the timing of the partnership, Charlie Gillette, President and CEO of Knowledge Anywhere Inc. stated “Clarion has a great industry position and this was a perfect chance to team up and have our business solutions seen together with their strategies.”

The Clarion Group was founded in 1994 to help business leaders find integrated solutions to support organizational transformation and address complex challenges. Over the past years many Fortune 500 companies have used Clarion to accelerate their business performance.  Clarion is helping all sizes in industries as far ranging as technology, financial services, retail, manufacturing, consumer products, construction and advertising to transform its performance engine – the life blood of any organizations growth, viability and alignment. http://www.theclariongroup.com

Knowledge Anywhere was founded in 1998 as an elearning solutions provider for business. They have pioneered the field of custom, results-driven elearning that helps companies reach their business goals faster. Knowledge Anywhere brings over 10 years of experience in elearning solutions with strong communication and execution throughout the organization. http://www.knowledgeanywhere.com

2)      Gain Visibility. Vendor channel managers gain better visibility into whether the channel is absorbing and retaining the correct messages which is essential for successful go-to-market strategies.  Furthermore, vendors can see which messages are easy for its partners to digest and where the channel may run into problems.  For instance, imagine if Microsoft is rolling out a host of new products all with their own unique selling propositions.  With online programs, channel managers can see which products are easier for their partners to understand and how accurately they are absorbing key messages.

3)      Stop Guessing. Online channel programs allow a vendor to remove the variables when things are not going well.  For instance, when a channel partner is having trouble moving a product, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem.  There an array of reasons the product might not be selling.  Maybe the product is wrong, maybe the channel is targeting the wrong decision maker, or maybe they’re positioning the product incorrectly.  With online quizzes a vendor can quickly and easily determine if channel partners are targeting the right person and verify they are communicating the right messages about key features and benefits.

4)      Predict the Future. Online channel programs can also provide managers with an early indication of success around the channel’s ability to grasp key messages and engagement.  This is important to ensure a lot of money and time is not focused on education around messages that ultimately will not resonate with resellers and their customers.

5)      Capture Mindshare. Online channel programs let you capture mindshare more quickly than your competitors – especially, if the competition is relying on traditional methods for reaching the channel. Also, it is important to recognize that nearly one in five vendors merged or acquired another company in 2003.  With this consolidation taking place, it’s critical to capture the mindshare of new partners.

6)      Speak Another Language. Online channel programs and training let channel managers obtain a global reach much more effectively than traditional methods.  Translation and localization of material can be done much more quickly and easily when an e-learning system is in place.

7)      Avoid Misfires. With e-learning you can avoid costly problems of rolling out a product before the channel has been briefed and is up to speed on the new product.  It can be disastrous to get consumers all hyped up about a product only to have forgotten to brief your channel.  With online training managers can ensure they put their leading distribution partners first when it comes to generating interest and demand for product.

8)      Get Senior Management off Your Back. Many channel managers face a tremendous amount of pressure.  Senior management is frequently following up to ask about qualified partners sales.  E-learning and online channel programs provide another measurement tool for the channel manager. He or she can report back and inform senior management the channel is engaged and help management understand how this engagement will correlate to successful sales of the product.  The channel manager can also share hard data around the number of channel partners who have participated in training and are grounded in the particulars of the product.

9)      Give Them the Carrot.  Reward and rebate programs are more equitable with online channel programs and e-learning solutions.  Channel managers find it is important to reward the partners who go the extra mile.  With online programs, subjectivity is eliminated.  Channel managers have a mechanism to determine which partners are dedicated enough to learn about the product and can dole out rewards as appropriate.

10)  Use a Bigger Stick. Online channel programs also provide the channel manager with another point of leverage with his or her partners.  It is not uncommon for a channel manager to receive complaints from resellers about product price and how it is impacting their ability to sell product.  Before entering into negotiations or making concessions about price, e-learning and online channel programs give the manufacturer another point of leverage.  For instance, the channel manager can let the reseller know before having any discussions about price, they expect them to participate in online channel training.  After all, if the channel partner isn’t well versed in the features and benefits of a product, the lowest price in the world might not allow them to move product.  Education is essential.

In this environment, companies are now more than ever looking to save money and cut costs, while remaining competitive. Continuous learning has become a top priority as employers realize it is essential for success. Many organizations have cut back on instructor-led training as travel and other associated costs add up quickly. If companies look for alternative training methods and take advantage of online learning they are able to cost-effectively deliver continuous learning. Online technologies are available to facilitate training at an affordable cost with more effective and efficient methods of delivery and analysis of success when compared to traditional instructor-led training. Online learning can be as effective as or better than instructor-led training. A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, concluded that “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”  It is becoming ever more apparent that online learning must be made a top priority to ease coming out of this recession.

So, as your organization emerges from the recession, it’s a good time to look at how online learning can be of benefit.

Dan Blau is a Marketing Specialist for a top elearning provider, Knowledge Anywhere Inc. He is constantly exploring new methods and technologies that further contribute to the support of online learning. You can contact Dan at danb@knowledgeanywhere.com