Advertisement |
 |
Would you like to advertise in this space? Contact marketing@ispi.org
February 2008
Negotiate Your Way to the Executive Table Without Losing Yourself in the Process
You have five minutes to get the attention of the executive team. If you cannot get the attention of your organization’s senior leaders within these five minutes, you face an uphill battle.
Is this fair? No.
Is it reality? In these days of “do more with less,” it is often what we as human resource development professionals face.
What are these five minutes that matter so much? It is the amount of time you have to make a good impression on the people who control access to the executive “table” where the big decisions are made.
What big decisions? Things like your budget, your future with the organization, sometimes even your career.
High enough stakes for you?
So what is this article about? It is about how you can apply sound academic theory in a practical way to negotiate access to that executive table where those key decisions are made.
The approach I recommend is interest-based negotiation. I first encountered it at Harvard Law School. It really came in handy later, though, when I had to gain the ear—and trust—of senior executives in Fortune 500 companies.
How so? Turns out if you want to become a trusted adviser and long-term participant at the executive table, you must understand the interests, or needs, of those already at the table. In practical terms, you must do three things.
First, you must speak the language of those at the executive table. No one cares about your subject matter expertise if you cannot communicate in a manner that those with power understand. Simply put, use their lingo, not your own. (Speak of net present value [or NPV], not terminal objectives.) By doing so, you are not “dumbing down” your expertise; you are communicating effectively.
Second, you must make yourself indispensable to those with power by showing that your unique expertise and skills help the organization meet its core business objectives. (I use business in the broadest sense of the word. Whether you are in a corporation, governmental entity, or nonprofit, the idea is the same—you must align your work with the organization’s core objectives and demonstrate how you help the organization meet those objectives.) Those at the executive table generally do not care about human performance technology; they care about meeting core objectives. If you can make the connection between the two, you will have the attention of senior leaders.
Third, you must leverage your successes on specific assignments for a “permanent” seat at the executive table. (OK, in this dog-eat-dog world, nothing may seem permanent. But we are talking about gaining a seat on equal terms with the other leaders and power brokers in the organization.) When senior leaders come to you for help in a crisis, have the courage to negotiate up front for an opportunity to participate in future decision making that may help avert such crises in the first place. If the organization is only as good as its people, and you can demonstrate an ability to improve people’s performance, then you should be at the executive table.
When you negotiate access to the executive table in a principled way, you are not selling out, and you will retain your core values. In a world that so often asks us to make uncomfortable choices between our principles and the short-term objectives of our organizations, what could be more desirable! You should be at that executive table on your own terms. You deserve it. Your people need it. Go negotiate for what is rightly yours!
Note: Article is adapted from Negotiate Your Way to the Executive Table Without Losing Yourself in the Process by John G. Shulman.
John G. Shulman, JD, is President and CEO of Alignor. He will be presenting a one-day workshop at ISPI’s upcoming conference, Strategically Negotiating Your Way to the Executive Table. John may reached at jshulman@alignor.com.
Would you like to advertise in this space? Contact marketing@ispi.org |
|||
TrendSpotters: ROI Job Aid
We welcome Ken Silber, CPT, PhD, to TrendSpotters this month. As president of Silber Performance Consulting, Ken, wiseoldken@aol.com, is focused on using the HPT process to identify opportunities and problems related to the client organization’s business strategy and solving them collaboratively with the client. An active member of ISPI for many years, Ken won the coveted Outstanding Publication award for his book Writing Training Materials that Work. He is also a coeditor for the Instructional Design and Training Delivery section of the upcoming Handbook of Training and Improving Workplace Performance. Ken is currently on the faculty for the well-regarded Principles & Practices of Performance Improvement Institute, teaching in both live and online workshops, where his ROI Job Aid is an included resource.
Genesis of this Tool
The ROI Job Aid explains the many possible ways to calculate return on investment in an accessible format that performance improvement practitioners can easily adapt for use with their clients. Ken developed the ROI Job Aid to help his clients who were investing in expensive multiday workshops and books that could be replaced with a short job aid and one hour of coaching. With a special thank you to Lyle Spencer, who developed the original techniques for calculating benefits, Ken shares this valuable tool that does double duty as an HPT solution.
Tool Description
The ROI Job Aid has several valuable components:
ROI Job Aid
Calculating benefits is the most difficult and controversial part of the ROI process and is the one component of the Job Aid included here. Remember that this is not a precise process and that it is not research. It is based on what decision makers consider to be benefits, rather than on any objective reality of what benefits are. Underlying what follows are some basic principles to remember:
Formula for Calculating Benefits
Postintervention productivity level |
– Preintervention productivity level |
= Gain |
X Dollar value of a unit of performance or individual salary over a time period |
X Percentage of time on job spent performing tasks impacted by the intervention |
X Percentage of productivity improvement attributable to the intervention |
X Number of participants involved in the intervention |
= Benefit of intervention |
© 2008 Kenneth Silber. Used with permission.
For more formulas, details, and a worked example, please access Ken’s article Calculating ROI.
How to Use the ROI Job AidSuccess Story
A telecommunications training manager wanted to calculate ROI for new hire sales training. The ROI Job Aid helped in five ways:
Advice to Users of the ROI Job Aid
Links to the Performance Technology Landscape
The ROI Job Aid supports these principles of performance technology:
| R | Focus on Results: Ties to the organization’s key strategies and metrics |
| S | Take a System view: Requires end-to-end data collection for every project |
| V | Add Value: Speaks to the organization’s key strategies |
| P | Establish Partnerships: Enables collaboration with client |
Application Exercise
Take your client organization’s finance person to lunch and find out
Then, before your next project begins, take out the ROI Job Aid and do it!
TrendSpotters Open Toolkit
Visit the TOT to view a valuable array of tools and models that you can download for your use. In addition, you may browse all the past TrendSpotters interviews published since March 2002.
You may contact Carol Haig at carolhaig@earthlink.net or at http://home.mindspring.com/~carolhaig; and you may contact Roger Addison at roger@ispi.org.
Take Charge of Your Career
Today’s work world is full of uncertainty. Every day we hear about another corporation or organization going out of business, downsizing, rightsizing, and on and on. To prepare for these uncertain times, we must take charge of our own careers.
Whether you are in a job search now or thinking about making a career change in the near future, it’s time to discover what makes work satisfying for you.
Here are a few tips to help you survive in today’s changing world of work:
Be self-managing. Think of yourself as working for yourself. You are the person in control of your own career and have to manage it. No one else can do it for you. Put a marketing plan together for you and just do it!
Know what you have to offer. It is imperative in today’s competitive job market to know you. Know what you have to offer and then market yourself as the person with that information. This will help to separate you from your competition. Your marketability will depend on your ability to demonstrate, on paper and verbally, your skills (even if within the same organization). What do you bring to the table in the way of assets, strengths, and values?
Keep on learning. I would encourage you to look beyond your current skill set and look at developing the additional benefits of “marketing you.” By asking yourself the following questions (and discussing with your peers, friends, family or “board of advisers”), you should be able to come up with specific ways you might want to work on improving your product—you—in the next six months.
Understand business trends. Read industry papers, keep track of the fast-changing economic and social landscape, and understand your competition. Stay current in your field(s).
Prepare yourself for areas of competence, not jobs. Focus on developing core competencies that your association or another association is likely to require in the future. Define yourself by what you do and how to get it done, not by your job title.
Find a mentor. Find someone who will provide honest and effective feedback to you; someone who takes an interest in your development and will support you in your career progression.
Build financial independence. When your finances are in good shape, you can make career (and life) decisions based on what is really important to you. You will not feel like “I really have to take this job because I need the money.” To manage your career effectively, you must also be able to manage your personal finances.
Network, network, network! Even if you are not looking for a new job or career right now, develop your network. Now is the time to do it, not when you decide to look (or have to look). Join an association, networking groups, and so forth, and get involved.
Keep your resume up-to-date. Do not wait until you get a call asking for your resume right away. That is the worst time to develop it. You will be anxious, stressed, and might not be able to remember some of your significant accomplishments. Add your new expertise, skills, and memberships as you have accomplished them and do it on a regular basis.
Create a vision. Picture yourself doing what you would like to be doing. Think, and verbalize it in I am statements: “I am an association marketing professional. I am selling my services to associations.” Vision what you want to be doing and put it out there! What do you have to lose?
The old ways of thinking about how and why we work are no longer useful. To survive in today’s world of work, each of us must know what we have to offer, realize our potential, and take charge of our own careers. As stated in the Talmud, “If not now, when?” Wishing you much happiness and success!!
Career Center
During ISPI’s upcoming The Performance Improvement Conference, April 5–8, the Career Center, hosted by Marshall Brown & Associates, is offering programs and services designed to meet the career needs of all conference attendees, whether you are actively seeking a new position or finding ways to enhance a current position.
Complimentary Career Coaching
Would you like to discuss your career goals with a professional coach? Do you want to have your resume reviewed? Want to practice your interviewing skills and get immediate feedback? Don’t miss an opportunity to meet with a career coach one on one. Space is limited. Contact Francis George at francis@ispi.org or 301.587.8570 x110 to reserve a time slot.
Marshall Brown, a certified career and executive coach, has always had a passion for helping people find ways to live more fulfilling lives. He found that a personalized, no-nonsense approach to coaching was the most efficient and effective way to get people on a successful life course. As a coach, Marshall helps individuals to find their passions and encourages them to move ahead in reaching their goals. His book, High Level Resumes, reflects his successful work with hundreds of job candidates. For more information, you may reach him at marshall@mbrownassociates.com or visit www.mbrownassociates.com.
Would you like to advertise in this space? Contact marketing@ispi.org |
|||
HPT Connections
The Performance Improvement Conference 2008 promises to be like none other. You have already heard about the exciting New York City location and the amazing speakers, but there is so much more! For instance, the improved Community Center explodes out into the conference foyer itself. It will be at the epicenter of all the action and will definitely be the place to be. Mixing together old favorites and fresh new features, the Community Center offers something for everyone. Network Breaks will continue to provide the caffeinated fuel powering more of us than we are willing to admit. Yet the buzz around the Community Center is all about the new Connection Corner.
The Connection Corner is your interface to connecting with new people both inside and outside the conference:
Yet why wait for the opening session for the New York Conference to begin? The all-new ISPI social network community (HPT Connections) has launched so your conference experience will begin when you join the community. Create a profile and collaborate with colleagues in ways never before possible.
Looking for someone to share a Marriott hotel room with? Want to sign up for Dinner Connections to avoid the rush? Want to discuss conference speakers and events? Just join HPT Connections (community.ispi.org) and visit the 2008 New York Conference Group. If you still have not joined by April, there will be a station in the Connection Corner where we will help you create your HPT Connections profile. Now the conference does not have to end with the closing banquet. It continues on in our new social network community.
Get Connected
As an ISPI member, to access the HPT Connections network, you will be required to enter your ISPI member ID as both your username and password. Your member ID is available on your ISPI website profile page, which is different from the HPT Connections web site (and login). To find your member ID, please go to www.ispi.org and login. Your member ID will be located under your name on the left menu.
What’s New Online?
Visit the conference website to view the educational sessions or listen to a sample of the content from 2007 through an audio download.
There simply is not enough space here to describe all the dazzling possibilities at the New York Conference. You will just have to attend and see it for yourself.
SkillCast: Learning Without Leaving Your Desk
Are you finding it a challenge to keep up, professionally? Got a stack of books and articles you keep meaning to get to? Let ISPI provide that vital professional boost with our new SkillCast series. Designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of the performance improvement professional, each month ISPI will feature the latest thinking from the experts you rely on for your continued professional development. In just an hour a month, you’ll come away with new ideas, perspectives, and tools that you can put to work immediately. Put your focus on your own results, for a change, and join us online!
2008 Schedule of Events
For more information, or to register, visit www.ispi.org/webcasts.
Change, Choices, and Consequences:
What Do You Choose?
Our field is currently awash in suggested tools, techniques, frameworks, dogma, and just plain junk. There are also some good concepts, tools, and guides. Arguments abound about whether or not ISD, HPT, training, e-learning, learning objects, expert systems, balanced score card, Six Sigma, quality management, or constructivism is the way to go. Arguments are usually based on biases about means and not upon research and the pragmatic feedback from sensible application. We must do what is right, not just do things right.
People are often—too often—looking for quick fixes, magic checklists, and comfortable ways to make a living without risk and without problems. We look at conventional ways of doing things rather than selecting the appropriate tools and concepts to go with actual realities. This will not work, at least not for long. As professionals, we are responsible for what we use, do, produce, and deliver in terms of the value we add or subtract from our internal and external clients.
Since all of us face change, have to make the choices relative to the change, and are responsible for the consequences of these choices, why not make justifiable and sensible—not just conventional and temporarily safe—choices? Will we be the masters of change or the victims of it? Should we not be able to tell any client, internal or external, that we can show him or her how to be successful and prove it?
There are some sensible and sensitive guides that we can choose. These are based on both applied research and successful practice:
All of this is possible. And ethical. And professional. And we know how to do it.
Roger Kaufman, CPT, PhD, is professor emeritus, Florida State University, and Director of Roger Kaufman & Associates as well as Distinguished Research Professor at the Sonora Institute of Technology (Mexico). He consults with public and private organizations in the United States and around the globe. Roger is a founding member of ISPI as well as a past president. He has been awarded ISPI’s top two honors: Member for Life and the Thomas F. Gilbert Award. Roger has published 39 books and over 250 articles. He will be presenting a one-day workshop at ISPI’s upcoming conference, Change, Choices, and Consequences: How to Define, Justify, and Achieve Measurable Success. Roger may be reached at rkaufman@nettally.com.
CPT News from Around the World
New CPTs
Please join me in congratulating our newest CPTs:
Special Work by CPTs
Barbara Gough, CPT, volunteered to analyze the CPT recertification applications to determine where they went for professional development. She analyzed 449 applications. Here is a brief overview of what was learned:
What was insightful was the number of CPTs attending university classes, taking classes on the web, and going to local ISPI chapter programs. Stay tuned as we learn more.
Upcoming Practice Analysis of the Profession
In an effort to better understand what practitioners do, whether they are CPTs or not, ISPI will conduct a major study of the profession this month. The study is in two phases. Phase I is a detailed review of the current standards. CPTs and managers will be asked to give the current standards a hard look in terms of whether or not they still reflect best practice and the needs of customers. Phase II is a practice analysis. A survey will be sent to international and chapter members and CPTs. It contains questions about what we do, and how often we do specific tasks. The results will be used to update ISPI’s Standards of Performance Technology and the requirements to be a CPT.
Your Story
If you have a story to tell that you think others would value, send it to judy@ispi.org.
It Is Time That “We Teach a Man to Fish”
There is an old Chinese proverb that most of us are familiar with: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” All too many of us have been giving HPT to managers and supervisors when we should be teaching HPT to them.
One of the critical roles that managers and supervisors have is that of improving the performance of their divisions, departments, and workgroups. They routinely assess the present level of performance and compare it to a desired or planned level of performance. They then identify the potential causes for performance shortfalls and come up with solutions that they implement. They then evaluate the results to see if the difference between where they are and where they want to be has been closed. Sound familiar? This is the systematic approach that is defined by the last six Standards of Performance Technology.
Wouldn’t it be better if, instead of personally applying HPT at a tactical level, we teach managers and supervisors to do this, leaving us time to apply HPT on strategic problems? Imagine a workforce where all managers and supervisors have a consistent approach to identifying performance gaps; determining causes; selecting, designing, and developing a range of solutions; implementing those solutions; and then evaluating the results.
A starting point for developing the performance improvement skills of your managers and supervisors is gap and cause analysis. At the supervisor level, gap analysis can be described as the difference between the present and desired levels of performance in measurable terms for quantity, quality, time, and cost. Once this is done, the supervisor needs to set a reasonable goal that can be accomplished in a relatively short time that will serve as a milestone for measuring progress in closing the performance gap.
Once the performance gap has been described, the causes for the present level of performance can be described with driving forces and restraining forces, those environmental and individual factors working for and against closing the gap. These can be displayed and weighted using Kurt Lewin’s force field analysis methodology.
Further structure can be added to this analysis by presenting a means for identifying environmental and individual causes of performance shortfalls. Solutions are found by strengthening or adding driving forces and by weakening or removing restraining forces. Evaluation is done by measuring progress toward the reasonable goal and closing the performance gap.
Part of any HPT implementation strategy should include embedding the Standards of Performance Technology throughout the organizations we serve. It is not enough that a select few know and use HPT. Line managers and supervisors are the ones ultimately responsible for improving performance, and it is time that we focused on delivering our systematic HPT approach to them. It is time that we teach them how to fish.
Just before The Performance Improvement Conference in New York this April, Roger will present a one-day preconference workshop, A Manager’s Guide to Improving Workplace Performance, which will reflect his new book of the same name. This workshop may be the excuse you need to invite one of your managers to the conference.
In addition, Roger will host a SkillCast on Wednesday, March 12, at 1:00 pm ET. During this educational program, he will provide you with a performance aid for managers and supervisors to define a performance gap; set a reasonable goal; and systematically determine, weight, and display the causes.
ISPI Invites Chapter Contest Winners to New York City
The International Society for Performance Improvement wants to thank our chapters and their members for participating in the annual drawing for a free registration to attend The Performance Improvement Conference. We received over 300 contest forms from 15 chapters. We hope the chapters found this to be a beneficial tool for generating new chapter members and promoting ISPI’s conference. Congratulations to the chapter members who won this year’s contest.
Chapter Drawing Winners
Performance Technology Makeovers
Proofreading with Invisible Ink
Graduate students in Allison Rossett’s Performance Technology class at San Diego State University were tasked with creating short papers called PT Makeovers. ISPI has been publishing these papers in PerformanceXpress over the past two years. We are happy to bring you the latest by Aaron Zachmeier.
What I Did
It was the year 2000, and I was a proofreader at the online division of the second biggest advertising agency in
New York. A few weeks after taking the job, I realized that I was doing very little work. So, I found other things to do. I read a lot. I took long walks at lunchtime. I learned French. I also used my free time to create a style guide. Nobody asked me to do it, but I saw a need, and I wanted to do something useful. It felt strange to get paid to do next to nothing.
Why I Did It
The web was new, as a medium and a subject. The copy I read was inconsistent in its use of new terminology and concepts. No one seemed to know how to punctuate or whether to capitalize. It seemed to me that a leading web agency needed a consistent style.
I had other reasons. There were several errors that popped up regularly in copy from different writers. A style guide would be an easy way to eliminate those errors. Many of the writers appeared to be hurt when I gave them my corrections. I suspect they found the red marks insulting. If they had a tool for checking their own work, they would make fewer errors, and there would be less cause for resentment.
How I Did It
Before I got to work on the style guide, I asked my supervisor (who was in charge of the production department) and the creative director (who was in charge of the writers and artists) for permission and input. They were not enthusiastic about my idea, but neither were they opposed to it.
I gathered data from several sources. I had been keeping track of errors for a few months and had a solid list of common problems. I consulted print and web style guides, discussion boards, listservs, and other proofreaders and editors. I asked the copywriters for their input, deciding to partner with them, rather than imposing the style guide on them.
After testing the style guide out with a few copywriters and tweaking the layout, I emailed it to all concerned parties. It was a success on two levels. First, the copywriters said they liked it and thanked me for my efforts. Second, and more important, it reduced errors and induced consistency.
How It Got Worse
But the style guide made my problem worse. It was so effective that my workload was smaller than ever. Days went by when I made nary a red mark. I ran out of books. My lunchtime walks lasted for hours. My French got much better.
It was clear to anyone who cared to look that I did almost nothing. I, like everyone else at the agency, had to log my hours for the work I did on each account, and I logged very few hours. In fact, I logged very few minutes. I expected that I would soon be dismissed.
But I was not dismissed. I was forgotten. I was invisible. I was unhappy. For months I sat alone in an office at the end of a quiet hallway. Then, inexplicably, I was moved to a cubicle hidden behind two unoccupied cubicles where unused chairs were stored.
How I Tried to Fix It
I made a few attempts at changing things: I asked about the possibility of telecommuting. Dismissed. I suggested that my job could be combined with another job. Ignored. I proposed that the agency lay me off and use me on a contract basis. Spurned. After a year at the agency, I resigned. The proofreader I had been hired to replace was rehired to replace me.
Why It Did Not Work
I realize now that my ideas were mostly good, but my methods were not consistently so. What I did with the style guide resembled performance technology, but my attempts to remedy my invisibility and unhappiness were lacking. I was unsystematic, I failed to analyze my situation thoroughly or consult multiple sources to arrive at a solution, I paid little attention to outcomes that did not affect me directly, and I neglected valuable data.
How I Would Do It Now
The first step to solving a problem is not just to define the problem, but to define the context. I knew what my immediate problem was, but I did not know how it or I fit into the big picture. I did not even know what my job description was.
And that is where I would start, with the question, “What does the proofreader do?” I would ask all of the stakeholders at the agency (my supervisor, her boss, the vice president, the producers, the copywriters, and the coders) what I did for them, what I ought to do for them, whether my role was useful, and whether my duties could be carried out by someone else (Robertson & Smith, as cited in Encarnación, 2004).
The answers to these questions, along with the data about my productivity, would give me an idea of what to do with my atrophying position, whether it should be amputated (outsourced), absorbed (folded into another position), or augmented (beefed up with additional responsibilities). I can only guess at how the questions would be answered, so I cannot say what the best solution would be. I can, however, propose a few solutions that possible answers would lead me to.
I suspect that the logical choice would be to augment the position for the following reasons:
Supposing that I had the authority to choose augmentation I would take the following steps to enhance the job for the proofreader and to make the proofreader more accessible and more productive (Mani, 2007):
What Would (or Would Not) Have Happened
It is not terribly likely that I could have effected a change in my workplace or my position, even with the magic of performance technology. I was only a lowly proofreader. But had I known then what I know now, I might at least have had some direction.
Aaron Zachmeier is a graduate student in educational technology at San Diego State University, a freelance editor, writer, and graphic designer, and an occasional musician. This paper was completed as partial fulfillment for a fall 2007 course in Human Performance Technology taught by Dr. Allison Rossett. Aaron may be reached at zachmeier@zachmeier.net.
All Crossed-Up in Cross-Functional Relationships: Learning Matrix Management Skills
The boundaries between groups within an organization are both formally defined and psychologically defended. Working near these borders has always been recognized in social research as psychologically hazardous. Helping managers learn to do this hazardous work is one of the most urgent HPT challenges.
Since the late 1940s, organizations have recognized the need for better cooperation between its functional divisions (i.e., between its groupings of technical specialists). Organizations have attempted to address the problem with matrix management. The common practice of matrix management is to set up an organization in which project managers try to push the development of products across the functional divisions. The question always comes down to, “Who controls the money: the product managers or the functional divisions?” Or to put it more bluntly, “Who is the beggar?”
Sixty years of warfare between the project and functional managers has not yielded an acceptable answer. Organizational performance continues to suffer. For instance, product-development projects have a high mortality rate. They are often cancelled after significant operational costs have already been incurred, and disappointed customers are often lost. Even those projects that get completed are still averaging nearly 80% scheduling and budget overruns!
Furthermore, the problem has gotten more complicated. It is no longer just a two-way conflict between concerns for product and concerns for technical quality. Because of globalization and increased competition, two new substructures have joined the fray: site management and customer management. Matrix management is now a struggle for resources involving four equally important management structures. The relationships between these structures are so complex that you cannot represent them with an organization chart!
The key management concepts you have to learn become the basic assumptions of the organizational culture. For instance: Seek common goals and align your priorities. Share resources. Accept overwhelming complexity. Know what you know and also what you do not know. Stop trying to be the master of the universe and accept interdependence. Be as transparent and trustworthy as you know how to be. Keep deciding, noticing the feedback, and deciding again. Express your frustrations through problem solving. You cannot get a piece of the pie until you have baked a whole pie; and you cannot bake a pie one piece at a time.
However, learning to manage in a highly matrixed organization cannot be taught simply as a set of concepts. The concepts have to be expressed in behaviors, specifically the behaviors required for good group work. In fact, the only way to even think about a four-way matrixed organization is to think of it as a system of meetings. The organization design comes down to getting the right people to talk to each other about the right things at the right time. It is the sort of learning objective that is perfect for the use of an action-learning simulation!
Here are the design constraints for such a simulation:
Fifteen years ago, this assignment was given to me as a management development consultant. Six years later, we finally had a simulation that met all of these requirements. Thousands of managers have been put through the simulation. They say it is as challenging and stressful as the real world—but exhilarating as they begin to succeed. They also say that they will never again ignore the importance of management meetings. “You have to get focused on some common outputs and priorities and get on with making the necessary decisions, and that has to be done in meetings.”
Though the simulation stands alone as a learning experience, it is often used on one of the last days of a multiday, in-residence management academy. It is used as an integrated practice of all the management skills taught earlier in the program. For this reason, it has become know as the “dress rehearsal”—it is the last practice before doing the real performance.
I am very proud of this piece of work and am pleased to offer it to ISPI members and nonmembers as a one-day, preconference workshop in New York in April. We offered Matrix Management: Key Management Practices for Maximizing Cross-Functional Cooperation for the first time in San Francisco last year. The participants in that workshop enthusiastically recommended it for an encore. It is an intense and satisfying experience of learning. It is also a good demonstration of how to design and use an active-learning simulation.
Joys of a Visit to NYC
One of the joys of a visit to New York City is the chance to take in a Broadway show. For those of you not familiar with the Broadway scene, here are some helpful tips on shows, tickets, and making the most of your Broadway experience.
My favorites are Broadway musicals. There is a great selection on stage from which to choose. For tickets and a full listing of shows, go to www.telecharge.com. This website will give you links for reviews and descriptions plus is the best place to buy tickets without a broker markup. If you have no idea what you would like to see, I will give you a quick overview and my picks for must-see shows.
If you like rock and roll, past or present, you will really enjoy Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Grease, or Rent. Mamma Mia and Hairspray are essentially comedies with lots of energy, dancing, and fun. Jersey Boys tells the story of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Rent is more of a drama and is roughly based on the opera La Boheme—but the music is modern and fabulous. And Grease—well unless you have been under a rock for the last 30 years, you know all about Grease.
For big production, classic Broadway musical fare you cannot beat Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line, Legally Blonde (the musical), Spamalot, and Wicked. Phantom of the Opera is the big production musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber that has been around for many years and is wonderful. A Chorus Line played on Broadway for years and years and is a marvelous story about life on stage (amazing music). Legally Blonde is the musical version of the movie and is upbeat and fun. Spamalot is a musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and is fun and zany. Of this group, my favorite is Wicked. Wicked is marvelously staged with fabulous music by Stephen Schwartz, the composer of Godspell and Pippin. It is about the Wicked Witch of the West and tells the “rest of the story.”
For fun, avant-garde, and clever, try Avenue Q (performed with actors plus onstage puppets) or Spring Awakening (last year’s Tony winner for best musical). Of the Disney shows on Broadway—The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Mary Poppins—I recommend The Lion King because the costumes and staging are absolutely amazing.
There are many more shows that I cannot fully review here, but whether you go to a stage play or a musical, I hope you thoroughly enjoy your stay “On Broadway.” If you have questions you cannot easily find the answers to online, contact me at eieubank@embarqmail.com, and I will be glad to help out.
Evelyn Eubank, CPT, is a partner in Momentum Business Group, LLC. Besides presenting at ISPI national conferences and consulting with organizations on improving work engagement, she enjoys the arts, singing, and performing. She gains her musical knowledge from a long-standing love of theater and her husband who produces amazing high school musical productions every year, the latest of which was recently featured nationally on Good Morning America.
Tools You Can Use!
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is offering lecture note, exams, and other resources from more than 1,800 courses spanning MIT’s entire curriculum for free! Visit MIT’s Open Courseware to find courses in the following topics:
Performance Marketplace
Performance Marketplace is a convenient way to exchange information of interest to the performance improvement community. Take a few moments each month to scan the listings for important new events, publications, services, and employment opportunities. To post information for our readers, contact ISPI Director of Marketing, Keith Pew at keithp@ispi.org or 301.587.8570.
Books Conferences,
Seminars, and Workshops Learning/Training Tools |
Education
and Career Resources Magazines,
Newsletters, and Journals Performance Improvement Quarterly is a peer-reviewed journal created to stimulate professional discussion in the field and to advance the discipline of HPT through literature reviews, experimental studies with a scholarly base, and case studies. Subscribe today!
|
ISPI Membership: Join or Renew Today!
Are you working to improve workplace performance?
Then ISPI membership is your key to professional development through
education, certification, networking, and professional affinity programs.
If you are already a member, we thank you for your support. If you have
been considering membership or are about to renew, there is no better
time to join ISPI. To apply for membership or renew, simply click here.
Newsletter Submission Guidelines
ISPI is looking for Human Performance Technology (HPT) articles (approximately 500 words and not previously published) for PerformanceXpress that bridge the gap from research to practice (please, no product or service promotion is permitted). Below are a few examples of the article formats that can be used:
In addition to the article, please include a short bio (2–3 lines) and a contact e-mail address. All submissions should be sent to april@ispi.org. Each article will be reviewed by one of ISPI’s on-staff HPT experts, and the author will be contacted if it is accepted for publication. If you have any further questions, please contact april@ispi.org.
About PerformanceXpress
Feel free to forward ISPI’s PerformanceXpress newsletter to your colleagues or anyone you think may benefit from the information. If you are reading someone else’s PerformanceXpress, send your complete contact information to april@ispi.org, and you will be added to the PerformanceXpress emailing list.
PerformanceXpress is an ISPI member benefit designed to build community, stimulate discussion, and keep you informed of the Society’s activities and events. This newsletter is published monthly and will be emailed to you at the beginning of each month.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact April Davis at april@ispi.org.
ISPI
1400 Spring Street, Suite 260
Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA
Phone: 301.587.8570
Fax: 301.587.8573
info@ispi.org
www.ispi.org
