Question:
In the July Learning Alert, you talked about getting participants to tell an Achievement Story about putting their learning to work. Can you explain why and give an example?
Answer:
There are three reasons it is valuable to ask participants to tell their Achievement Stories.
- It gives participants a concrete finish line to shoot for. If they know that by a specific date, they will be expected to tell an Achievement Story, then they will need to have achieved something to talk about. If they know their manager will be included, that provides additional incentive.
- It also gives participants a way to communicate and get credit for their efforts and results.
- Lastly, achievement stories are powerful ways for the learning organization to communicate the value of training programs, both to management and to future attendees.
What Goes Into an Achievement Story?
The following questions will help participants frame their Achievement Story:
- What learning did you apply?
- What achievements/results are you most proud of?
- What has been the impact/benefit for you and the business?
- What advice do you have for others about how to use their learning to achieve results?
An Example
The following example is an achievement story told by a sales team leader following a program on holding more productive and authentic conversations:
- We recently lost a key $20 million/year client. After attending the course, we decided to put what we learned to work by scheduling a site visit to our recently departed customer to thank them for their past business and to have an authentic conversation about where we and our company had gone wrong.
- We called our client to ask if a team of us could come to talk with them about where we had failed them as a company. We applied our listening skills and avoided defending the past. As a result, we discovered what was wrong in the relationship between our two companies. We would never have reached this level of understanding had we not learned and used new and more effective communication skills.
- The impact was tremendous. Shortly after we met with them, they called us to say that they were going to give the business back and even expected it to increase.
- Our advice is “Don’t Wait!” Be bold in trying out what you’ve learned. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. In this case, we tried a new (and admittedly less comfortable) approach, and we got a different—and much better—result.
Next Steps
Choose a strategically important course where it is vital for participants to apply what they learn.
Inform them that they will be expected to tell their Achievement Story and when. Include their managers and other key stakeholders. Consider using ResultsEngine® to help keep them on track and to automate the capture and dissemination of stories.
Select the most compelling stories, verify them, and tell them frequently to communicate the value of the program to the business sponsors and the value of learning transfer to participants.
To learn more, attend my upcoming complimentary webinar, “Using an Achievement Roadmap™ to Create Valuable Business Results,” on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11:00am EST, where details on using the Achievement Roadmap™ will be given to help participants get great Achievement Stories as well as using ResultsEngine as a GPS to create even greater learning value.
