The Field Guide to the 6Ds

How to Use the Six Disciplines to Transform Learning into Business Results

Andy Jefferson, Roy V. H. Pollock, Calhoun W. Wick, Andrew McK. Jefferson

• Publisher: Pfeiffer
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781118648131
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781118677148
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Practical guidelines for implementing the six disciplines of breakthrough learning

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning has become a standard for companies serious about increasing the return on their investment in learning and development. Now the authors help workplace learning professionals apply the concepts of their bestselling book. With real-world applications, case studies, how-to guidelines, and practical advice and examples for implementing the 6Ds, The 6Ds Fieldbook: Beyond ADDIE will help organizations substantially increase the return on investment and decrease "learning scrap," the potential value that goes unrealized in many learning and development initiatives.

• Helps OD professionals apply the concepts of the bestselling Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning
• Includes all new case studies, examples, tools, and best practices in use by organizations that have successfully used the 6Ds
• Taps into the experience and expertise of 6Ds practitioners

Linking to social media to enhance the lessons of the book, The 6Ds Fieldbook is an easy-to-use and widely-applicable guide to getting the most from learning and development.

PART I
The Six Disciplines

1. D1: Define Business Outcomes
2. D2: Design the Complete Experience
3. D3: Deliver for Application
4. D4: Drive Learning Transfer
5. D5: Deploy Performance Support
6. D6: Document Results

D1
Define Business Outcomes

In her book, Strategic Learning Alignment, Rita Smith (2010) succinctly summarized the core concept of D1: “The only reason that learning organizations exist is to drive business outcomes” (p. 10). In other words, organizations invest in training and development with the goal of improving performance in areas critical to their strategy and objectives. Thus, training is valued to the extent to which it visibly and convincingly contributes to improved performance. When training consumes resources (time and money), but fails to demonstrably improve performance, it is seen as wasteful and expendable.

Therefore, the first and most critical discipline is to truly understand what the business needs to accomplish. As Patricia Gregory, senior director, and Steve Akram, director, North American Sales Force Development at Oracle explain in Case D1.1, focusing on business outcomes repositions training and development professionals from mere order takers to strategic business partners.

Conversely, failing to clearly define the business outcomes dramatically increases the risk of pouring time, effort, and money into a training program that won’t actually scratch the itch. In Case D1.2, Sujaya Banerjee, chief talent officer and senior vice president, and her colleagues of the Essar Group, explain how investing the time to truly understand the business needs helped their Corporate Training Group avoid creating another “feel good” training program. By focusing on business outcomes, she and her colleagues were able to make a significant contribution to business transformation and produce results that the CEO recognized and applauded.

Key steps in the practice of D1 include:

• Understanding the business you support
• Talking to your stakeholders
• Deciding whether training is appropriate
• Completing the performance-gap analysis
• Differentiating learning objectives from business objectives
• Using business outcomes to explain the benefits

Understand the Business You Support

A core principle of the 6Ds is that training is a business function. It follows that the better that training professionals understand the organization they serve—its goals, vision, mission, and operations—the better they are able to contribute, and the greater the respect they command. Training departments that are viewed by business leaders as truly aligned with their businesses enjoy much greater support than those that are seen as “doing their own thing” (Bersin, 2008, p. 82).

Use Quick Check D1.1 to evaluate your alignment with the business and to identify actions to take that will improve this important skill set.

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QUICK CHECK D1.1: BUSINESS ALIGNMENT

1. Can you succinctly explain how your organization makes money (or for nonprofits, fulfills its mission) and the key challenges it faces in doing so?

   Yes

   No

   Congratulations. Understanding the business you are part of is essential for you to become a trusted advisor rather than simply an order-taker.

   You will increase your contribution and your value to your organization by deepening your knowledge of the business. Greater business savvy will allow you to design more relevant and more effective programs. Suggested actions include: Find a mentor in the business who can help by explaining key terms and concepts. Review the business plans for the units you support. Ask to sit in on business reviews and planning sessions; ask your mentor about any aspect you don’t understand.

2. How would the business leaders rate the alignment of your training department with their business needs?

   Good to Excellent	Fair to Poor	I Don’t Know
   Terrific. Training departments that are seen as aligned to the business’s needs receive greater support and, interestingly, less scrutiny.	This is a problem. If Training is not seen as fully aligned with the business, then it will have to produce more data to justify its value and it is more likely to have its budget cut. Suggested actions include: Interview business managers to find out where they feel there is misalignment. Require a clear understanding of business needs before beginning any design work. Interview business leaders using the Planning Wheel (page 173) to identify the real business needs and criteria for success.	You need to address this gap in your knowledge, as it could prove fatal for your department. If Training is not seen as aligned with the business, then it is likely to be viewed as expendable. Suggested actions include: Survey or interview training’s business clients to assess their perceptions of training’s alignment with their needs. Take appropriate action to rectify the situation based on the results.

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Talk to Your Stakeholders

The business is training’s customer. Directly or indirectly, the business pays for the cost of providing training and, in the end, decides whether or not the resulting value justified the expense. What the business “buys” from training is the expectation of improved performance; courses and programs are only a means to this end. Whether the training department stays in business depends on whether its customers feel they “got their money’s worth” and are therefore willin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Title
• Copyright
• About This Book
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Part I: The Six Disciplines
• Part II: Tools: Maps, Planners, Scorecards, and Checklists
• Part III: Case Histories (“How We”)
• Part IV: How-to Guides
• References
• Index
• About the Authors
• About the 6Ds Company
• End User License Agreement