Page 295 - The extraordinary leader

272 • The Extraordinary Leader

Make clear, public commitments. The likelihood that a desired action
will occur increases when participants make oral and written commitments
to others. Research has shown that the more near-term those goals are, the
more likely it is that they’ll be implemented. Good intentions aren’t nearly as
effective as written commitments.
Evaluate. Most learning and development processes include a fair amount
of evaluation. Feedback instruments often rate the “Fs”—food, faculty, facilities,
and fun. Noticeably missing from the typical evaluation is any assessment of what
participants have done with what they learned. Learning and development must
involve rigorous implementation accountability or it is to no avail. The great
bulk of that accountability can only take place when participants leave the learn-
ing experience and know they’ll be asked to report back with their results.
Plan the next phase. When participants return from a learning event,
they’re cast back into the maelstrom that is work. One of the real benefits of
a formal learning and development process is that it protects participants from
their jobs for a short amount of time and allows them to focus on learning.
But in Phase 3, that shield is gone. Commitments are diluted, and partici-
pants are distracted. Some mechanism has to remind them of the learning
commitments they made, force them to assess their progress periodically, and
help them plan their next steps. Those reminders may be self-generated or
come from external sources.
Prevent relapse. Returning to a job inevitably brings the dilution of many
other activities and the strong temptation to revert to previous behaviors.
Relapse prevention can be effective. Just taking the time to predict barriers
and distractions and deciding in advance how to react to those pressures can
be an important first step.
Monitor individual and group progress. Seldom have organizations built in
effective mechanisms by which to obtain any kind of granular analysis regard-
ing the individual and group outcomes of a learning and development process.
Who is taking action? What new behavior are they implementing? Where are
they having greatest success? Where are the biggest challenges? How much
effort are they putting forth? And how much progress has been made?

The Influence of Follow-Up Activities

To further measure the impact of follow-up activities, 1,165 managers partic-
ipated in an employee survey. Each manager was given a feedback report that