Nuts and Bolts: Opportunity Knocks?

We talk a lot in this businessabout client requests, stakeholder needs, and formal design processes. But sometimesa performance issue is so glaring and has such a simple and obvious remedy, thatwe could just skip all the rigmarole. Sometimes we don’t need a needs analysisor storyboards or a committee to review it all. And sometimes, when it isn’tdirectly related to a specific work task or role, or happens so often itbecomes white noise, we may miss a glaringly obvious opportunity to fix aproblem.

Coffee, anyone?

To wit: There’s a new coffeemachine at the office, a brewer that uses small coffee pods. You pop a pod in,press “brew,” and the coffee brews in about 15 seconds. Seems easy enough to me,but then, I have one at home. But many of the participants who come to ourbuilding for training don’t think so. I was at my desk one recent morning whenI heard, for the forty-eleventh irritating time, the receptionist walkingsomeone back to the break room while explaining how to work the coffee maker.

I Googled around to see if a jobaid already existed, but nothing turned up. So I walked to the break room, usedmy iPhone to take a few pictures (lift brewer lid, insert coffee pod, closelid, press “brew”), walked back to my desk, and made a quick job aid in PowerPoint.I printed it out, slipped it into a plastic sleeve, and taped it to thecounter. Done. DONE. It took maybe 15 minutes. Performance problem eliminated. Receptionistthanked me. Not one more trip down the hall for her since. In the day-to-dayactivity flurry, it just never occurred to anyone that there was a simple fix. Andprobably, because of the location of my office, no one else realized how oftenthe receptionist was doing this. Moral? Don’t get mad: Make a job aid.

It’s not about what you want

And: We talk a lot in this businessabout “getting people to” – adopt, or try, or use, or embrace, or incorporate. Oftenthis is in regard to a new technology, device, tool, method, approach, or process.This comes up in many of my conversations about incorporating social media intothe workplace: “I can’t get them touse wikis….” “I can’t get them topost to Twitter….” (Note: You really can’t getanyone to do anything, but that’s another column.)

My own work involves finding waysto use social tools for learning, but that isn’t at the exclusion of using themfor anything else. Watch for opportunities to solve someone’s problem using thetool or approach you’re trying to sell, and be aware it may have nothing to do withsome training project you’re working on. Stop thinking about what you want, and consider what they need.

Case in point: My boss was headingup a large committee (of which I was a member) to evaluate a large softwarepurchase. After a meeting she sent an e-mail: “Attached is an Excel sheet withthe criteria we discussed today. Everyone please take a last look and send meyour edits.” What would she have gotten back? Fifteen iterations of the same document. I went to her office andsaid, “I think I can make compiling that information easier for you.” I satdown at her computer, uploaded the Excel sheet as a Google doc, and showed herhow to share it. It rocked her world! She re-sent her message and ended up withone final document to edit. We did not convene committees or discuss best practicesin using collaborative documents. I didn’t show her 33 other things Google Docscould do. She got it! Done. DONE. Now? She is my strongest advocate among thesenior managers in encouraging use of better, new approaches, and has latelycaught fire about other tools like Doodle and iTunesU.

Doesn’t “wiki” mean “fast”?

A friend reported a similarexperience in trying to “get” her colleagues to use wikis. After severaldiscouraging false starts, she overheard them struggling with the logistics ofplanning a baby shower for a coworker. She set up a wiki with separate pagesfor guest list, decorations, food, and logistics, and gave them all editing access.Problem solved. Done. DONE. The colleagues loved it, used it, and are now happilyusing wikis in their work.

Git ’er done!

I’ve said it before – InstructionalDesigner is a job title; “performance consultant” is a mindset. Not everythingrequires “instruction.” Many of us are involved in work that doesn’t start andend in a day or two, but sometimes we can just solve something right then.

DONE.

Want More?

Job Aids: Rossett, A. and Schafer, L. (2006). Job Aids and Performance Support. Pfeiffer.

Implementing change: There arehundreds of resources on change management, and everyone tends to have theirfavorite flavor among the choices. Something different: look at the literatureon Positive Deviance. Start with Pascale, R., Sternin, J. & Sternin, M. (2010).The Power of Positive Deviance: HowUnlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems. Harvard BusinessReview Press. Also check out the Positive Deviance Initiative at: https://www.positivedeviance.org/.