Talent Development: Impossible?
If you’re familiar with Chef Robert Irvine you’ve probably seen his restaurant make-over show “Restaurant Impossible.” The show is a bit of a mash up of Dr. Phil, Extreme Makeover and Restaurant 101 for the restaurants and owners they help. Over the past few years I’ve met a few organizations, particularly the Learning and Talent teams, that could benefit from an intervention of this type. I’m not saying I’m the Robert Irvine of Learning and Development, but many organizations could stand to have an outsider opinion to truly break out of their comfort zones and make desperately needed changes to confront the HR Perfect Storm.
The sequence of events for each show is essentially the same. In the beginning, Chef Irvine meets the restaurant owner and assesses the décor, quality of the service and of course, the food. Later in the show he analyzes the P&L to see how and why the restaurants are managing their cash flow. The whole process from mess to amazing happens in 24 hours with only ten thousand dollars.
Many HR and Talent Development programs are operating in similar circumstances and in need of an intervention. Of course, in today’s HR Perfect Storm the need is greater than ever to have a sober look in the mirror and be open to making changes. What are your “customers” telling you? Are they able to find the information and content they desire? Is the content “fresh” and relevant. Look to find channels of feedback that can provide an honest reaction to what is being offered.
Having a bit of fun, and mixing metaphors below, let’s look at the criteria for change mentioned that Chef Irvine reviews:
Décor / Landing Page – What does your site look like? What is the Employee Experience? Could it use a make-over? If you’ve heard feedback that your site(s) are confusing, too busy or just not intuitive, it may be time for a makeover. Employee Experience / Consumer Tendencies have made the job all that much harder for HR Systems to get by with a poor interface. If you’ve heard a regular stream of complaints, it’s time to find a way to revamp, re-design or purchase a new platform. Keep in mind the 24 hr / ten thousand dollar budget for the show. There’s not necessarily a need to have a huge expense from outside or even replace a system, look internally, there’s probably someone already on your team or in your organization just waiting for the change to redesign the site.
Service / Career Development– Similar to Employee Experience, what is the expectation or reality of getting help, advising or guidance for employees? Employee Expectations today are much different than just a few years ago. Employees want to feel a purpose and are looking for coaching / mentoring / advice. They need to see a path for them in an organization or they’ll leave. What resources can be allocated / re-aligned or developed to help support Learners needs or Career Aspirations. Hint, it won’t be the LMS Admin.
P &L – I’m surprised, much like Chef Irvine, at how little some organizations understand their costs when it comes to their budget for Talent Development programs. One of the questions asked up front is “what is your food cost?” Shockingly, many do not have a clear idea of how much they are losing per menu item. A similar parallel to ask organizations is what is their annual spend for each employee. Training Magazine’s 2018 Industry Survey indicates the following:
Overall, on average, companies spent $986 per learner this year compared with $1,075 per learner in 2017. Government/ military organizations spent the most per learner this year ($1,433), followed by nonprofit organizations ($1,360). Midsize companies spent less ($858) than large ($1,046) and small ($1,096) companies. This should be at least a benchmark / baseline when it comes to determining the spend for many Learning & Talent Development programs.
Food / Content – What are you serving? Is it stale day old bread or just bland and boring? Content operates the same way. Too often I see a buffet of flavorless content with a few dishes/courses being consumed while the rest languish. Consider your own tastes and expectations. Would you frequent a restaurant that had a plentiful, but poor selection of dishes or do you want to go somewhere where the dishes and content are inspired. Right-size purchased content and retire outdated content. Again, I’m mixing metaphors but this is the approach that should be considered in this current environment.
The Owner – This is often the most difficult part of the makeover, getting the buy in of the person at the heart of the problem. Pride, money, lack of knowledge, or a perfect storm of events are many of the reasons the restaurants are in their current state. The same applies to Talent Development departments. Of course, as a department within a larger organization more environmental factors may be at play, but there’s usually a considerable amount of room to make changes if desired. This is where Vice Presidents, Directors or Managers over these programs need the tough love to make a change. It’s not easy, and unfortunately can’t be done in 24 hrs.
The point to all this is change can and should be done. I know because I’ve done this through my own Learning Impossible situation a few years back. The show actually inspired me to take many of the steps above to confront a dwindling program. Following a similar approach as Chef Irvine, with some creativity and adjustment, I was able to turn around a platform and program that many had come to dislike. Changing the perception of a Learning and Talent Development Program is not easy, but in today’s HR Perfect Storm it is imperative to have a program that, much like each show’s reveal, will get everyone excited and energized. If you can take away anything from this, it’s that you don’t need a ton of money, consultants or a new platform to make the change, just the will to take the first step.