Paul McKey - Synergistic Design

Congratulations! Your e/online/innovative learning program has been given the nod but now you have been assigned a project manager from Finance or Operations. Or even worse they just made you the project manager and provided four ring binders of processes to follow before you can start. Immediately you feel the left hemisphere sucking up all the blood supply to your brain while the right hemisphere goes into hibernation along with your creativity, passion and enthusiasm. Yes, processes and software such as Microsoft Project, designed for building linear/parallel complex structures such as bridges and power stations, are now dominating your program.

Bridges are complex. Yet they are linear. And once the designer/engineer has applied the creative bit it gets down to A goes into B goes into C. We have been building these things for several thousand years.

Implementation of new learning and performance programs on the other hand are not only complex but also complicated with multiple unknowns. Why? Because they involve people. And even harder, they involve changing people. Unfortunately we can’t apply the laws of physics to humans (except perhaps in car accidents…) and so we can’t predict the outcomes of our efforts with any great surety. In addition to individuals being unpredictable in the face of change, so too are teams, divisions and even whole organisations as they take on the attributes of the people who make up their numbers. That is organisational culture is also unpredictable. Some new technology, process or programs succeed. Many fail or don’t deliver expected outcomes. Often we can’t predict which will occur. This is why I have been applying Synergistic Design to organisational change. To try and reduce the number of failures and provide increased confidence about the chance for success. It doesn’t mean I have all the answers. Though there is one thing I am zeroing in on. That is the evidence that Project management will not improve your chance of success in complicated organisational change projects. And that means virtually any learning, process or cultural initiative one carries out inside an organisation. All learning produces change. All change is about learning.

In a recent learning program I implemented for a client Change Management was a one line item in the task list of the project manager’s to do list. When I questioned how that would happen she replied that someone from HR would do that. There was a date by when this magical event had to be completed. (I was hoping for a wizard with a wand but instead we just got someone from HR).

The process for allowing people to accept the need for change, investigate how to and then finally shift their beliefs, behaviours and actions to accommodate change is always complex yet it can be a wonderful and exhilirating event. It can also be an unmitigated disaster if dominated by timelines, budget and organisational convenience. Flexibility, compassion and support are the required ingredients for successful change. You may want to use project management as the hard chocolate in the centre. But it must have a soft marshmallow coating if you are going to entice the population to ’suck it and see’.

And there are alternatives to the rigid nature of project management. Instead of following linear algorithmns think heuristically in pursuit of your goals. Give people the communication and the time to change. Use newer methods for management such as Agile Project Management which is based around a collaborative approach as is Synergistic Design. You may just find that people want and enjoy change. Yet I bet they will want to feel in control of their change rather than being part of some project manager’s chronological, budget-centric megalomania!

Some more information on Agile Project techniques� is here on Scott Ambler’s site. Scott Ambler - Agile Project Planning

ELearning has a high failure rate. Quality issues aside one of the main failure points is poor implementation. Learners left alone in the new environment of eLearning often find themselves wondering what to do to succeed. Face to face communication is sometimes hard enough yet how do you get the most out of online discussions or engage in team projects at a distance? Time management, dealing with the technology and tackling tricky quizzes are all skills the learner must now manage alone. Many just give up in frustration.

One sure way to improve implementation for learners new to eLearning is to use the classroom. Using a facilitator to introduce people to the methods and techniques of self-paced and collaborative learning will quickly develop capability and confidence. Learning new skills in a social setting improves learning and helps them concentrate on the task. Others and the facilitator are nearby to help or discuss tactics. They are learning about learning. While a classroom and facilitator may be more expensive to begin with the return on that initial investment will be repaid many times over through confident and engaged learners who can then succeed with eLearning.

The People component of Synergistic Design is affected by all perspectives and equally affects all perspectives. Yet who looks out for the people? The shift in thinking of people as a resource to people as an asset has taken place over the last 50 years. When manual skills were dominant and labour costs low people were treated as a fixed price commodity. The information age reverses that view and attitude and we now consider human capital instead of resources.
The human related disciplines have spread from the narrow personnel payroll view to spawn over thirty disciplines concerned with some aspect of the recruitment, retention and improvement of people. Shareholder management, customer service and the myriad of HR services (such as remuneration, downsizing, learning and development) all recognise the new importance of people in all parts of the organisation.
For example in the insurance sector, for years dominated by price, has prompted Roger Bell, CEO of Vero New Zealand, to say “we get our growth from the strength of our brand and better people” (Insurance and Risk Professional, December 2005).
Organisational change, business improvement or transformation, and performance management are all growth industries as organisations seek that elusive competitive advantage. They all have people at their core.
The People category will accumulate the ideas and practices affecting people in organisations.

Once we have clear guidelines on what is required to satisfy the business and purpose needs we can now address the technology which is capable of delivering those needs. The science here is well known where people discuss technology innovations and design, operating systems and hosting regimes etc. The art of technology selection and implementation is less well known and includes the careful matching of the business procedures with the product and software design or application selection.

The key is to ensure the technology is playing an enabling role and not hindering the business procedures. Accurate scoping of the functionality of the system versus requirements is the key to estimating and containing costs and avoiding the ill-fated technology for technology’s sake.

Innovation in technical processes are also important to consider here. Technology can provide substantial competitive advantage by providing one or more of the better, cheaper, faster triumvirate. However most organisations have neither the skills or methods to evaluate and recognise poor technology leaving them to buy whatever the vendor is selling. The mismatch of technology to need is a major point of failure of online learning programs.

Typical learning management systems lock the customer into outmoded administration practices and content and teaching based on page-turning, read and regurgitate methods. eLearning is possibly one of the most despised practices inflicted upon corporate staff in the past ten years. Yet it is mainly the result of poor implementation and ignorance of what makes a successful learning program rather than a fault of technology.

This category will accumulate the latest innovations in ideas and practices that technology can provide to the success of learning and performance support.

The Purpose of any organisation relates directly to the industry sector, product or service which defines what it does. Bankers bank and bakers bake. Each satisfies a demand. Competitive advantage usually rests on satisfying that demand by doing it cheaper, better, faster. Each develops specific processes, services and products. Business describes their strategy and provides the resources while technology supports the how it is done.

While business and technology are both fairly generic their application to a particular purpose is normally unique. Critical technology for a baker is an oven and for an airline it is aircraft.
Consequently certain purposes require specific processes and business practices which have no, or limited use, for any other purpose.

Learning and development programs require a complex mix of learning environments, content, administration and promotional needs in addition to teaching and learning methods.

This category will accumulate the latest innovations, ideas and practices which affect the methods and processes of learning and performance support. This includes such topics as system design, instructional design, teaching and learning theory and practice, content and web design/development and learning environments,

Critical to the design, and in particular the scope, of any organisation is the clear articulation of the business objectives and requirements, the metrics to allow us to know when they are met and the value they will bring the organisation when they are met.

Learning plays an important role in business. Yet to date business has taken little interest in learning other than as a cost. Innovative organisations however have always seen learning as an investment offering unique competitive advantage.

Various business models exist both across and within industry sectors. These models have differing structures and strategies. Business strategy in particular needs to be cognisant of the synergies and conflict afforded by the other organisational perspectives. For example if we change our distribution channel because of new technology then how does that affect our core purpose and business models? Will something such as a direct selling model cannibalise our current channels and perhaps ruin our smaller resellers? How can our people cope with a shift in business model, new processes or changing technology particularly if they occur simultaneously?

This category will accumulate the latest business innovations, ideas and practices and analyse them using Synergistic Design. In particular we will look at the business of learning and performance support.

Creating successful organisations with innovative online learning and performance support.

Synergistic Design is the process of designing and developing improved outcomes for any organisation, project or team by analysing and managing the naturally competing forces and perspectives that provide synergistic outcomes instead of conflict.

Resources, people and projects in conflict create waste, increase costs and reduce profit. The same elements in synergy create a whole greater than the sum of the parts. It is within this framework that we evaluate how learning and performance support systems can contribute positively to the well being and success of organisations. Whether for profit, or non-profit we show that by replacing the training-as-a-cost, with a learning-as-an-investment ethos you can deliver not only competitive advantage yet also increased efficiency and improved outcomes. This is good business.

Previously I have identified three competing priorities, or perspectives, influencing any organisation - the business (why), purpose (what) and technology (how). I contend that these three perspectives, in addition to people, form a synergistic relationship where changes in one will directly influence the other two perspectives. By continually evaluating any organisational change, and in particular learning and development programs, from these perspectives ensures change programs can remain responsive and current to the organisational needs.

In addition Learning and Performance Support Systems (LPSS) and processes have the capability to revolutionise the way organisations manage their people. Yet the failure rate of technology related change programs in organisations is notoriously high. For example the current wave of Learning and Content Management Systems fail for numerous reasons, including poor requirements, ad hoc implementation and under-funded content development. Online learning programs are no different. The failure rate of most eLearning or technology assisted programs is high for many of the same reasons. Roger Schank recently summed this up perfectly:

“What is being offered by the e-Learning companies is text on screen followed by a test. Worthless junk. No simulations. No doing. No mentoring. No figuring things out for yourself. No practice. In short, no learning”. (Schank, 2005, p254, Lessons in Learning, eLearning and Training”, Pfeiffer.)

So what makes some learning and development programs succeed? Why do some organisations competing in the same sector far outperform their counterparts in the implementation of new technology assisted processes? What are the critical factors leading to success in online learning and performance support programs? How can we improve eLearning? How can we be assured of not only engaging learning environments and quality content and but also successful implementation which meets all our business, purpose, technology and people goals?

This blog will discuss in detail each of the specific elements that make successful synergistic learning organisations as well as the overall process for developing synergistic outcomes and instigating this ethos into organisations, large and small. We will look at innovations in ideas and practices in each of the key categories of Synergistic Design - Business, Purpose, Technolgy and People.