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Note: Before reading the Case Studies, it would be helpful to review the Stakeholder Analysis aspect of designing a quality Learning and Development solution ...

"A Full Stakeholder Analysis Forms the Basis for Excellence in the Program Design Process"

The Impact program design process begins with a full analysis of the situation. Impact seeks input from all people who have a stake in the outcome of the learning and development program. This is used to provide a sound basis for the design of relevant courses and other activities.

Who are Stakeholders?

Stakeholders include potential participants, managers, those who provided Impact with the initial briefing, suppliers, customers, plus members of the organisation who may have an interest or stake in the outcome of the program.

How do they provide input?

An Impact consultant will spend time associating with and observing a potential program participant's job, including days on the road and in the office. From this, valuable insights into real life workplace issues and situations can directly affect the design of the tailored learning program.

Interviews (phone or face-to-face), focus groups and surveys are typical methods by which Impact discovers the information valuable to course design. Other more advanced processes are also used, including Critical Incident Technique, Force Field Analysis and Nominal Grouping.

How is Stakeholder analysis more than a traditional training needs analysis?

A stakeholder analysis takes a holistic view of a client's business. Impact assesses the economic, technical, procedural and social pressures apparent in a workplace and then overlays the brief and the outcomes required. Using Socio-Technical Systems as a methodology, critical information is gathered that produces a highly targeted, 100% relevant program design fitting an individual business' scenarios and culture

5 Reasons to use an Impact Stakeholder Analysis

1. No other learning and development consultancy uses Socio-Technical Systems in the way Impact does to guarantee widespread results across an entire business.
2. Impact uses an individual organisation's examples, scenarios, jargon and culture to 100% target its program design.
3. Impact uncovers the micro skills required to facilitate behavioural change and turns them into a learning and development program.
4. Participation begins during the Stakeholder Analysis, the change program starts here!
5. Because Impact first seeks to understand the issues, solid trust and rapport is built between our consultants and client participants and support is generated for the program from other key stakeholders.

Case Study 1: Impact Produce Sales Results

It couldn't be denied now. It was there in black and white...

For the sixth month in a row, Kiera Johns stared at the monthly sales report and sighed. For the past half year the sales figures had been falling; nothing dramatic, just a gradual slide from good to mediocre.

But this report was different. And she knew she had a big problem on her hands. She took a long sip from her coffee mug, noting with irony the words 'Hang in there, baby' printed on its side.

As the sales manager, Kiera knew her staff well. They were a good bunch of people and she'd given them all the training necessary to sell their product in a competitive marketplace. Her team was efficient and motivated and the sales figures of the first year had reflected that.

Yet as she gazed through the glass partition in her office, trying not to look at the sales graph lying on her desk, Kiera knew she had to act. This wasn't a hiccup in the figures; this slide wasn't going away. It was her job to find the cause and eliminate it.

Another sip of coffee and she considered the problem...

Maybe it was just motivation. Maybe the troops were tired and un-enthused. Maybe all they needed was some inspiration...

Hang in there, baby.

She flicked open her filofax and pulled out a business card - Impact - for results.

Kiera shook hands with the Impact consultant and smiled as she ushered him into the lift. Kiera felt a little overwhelmed at all the new information, but it had been a good meeting.

She'd thought her sales team was just a little tired and in need of some motivation... but that wasn't the whole story.

Impact had sent a consultant out on the road with a few of her sales people and then presented her with the report. Motivation wasn't the problem. Apparently her team was having a hard time differentiating their product from the competition's. It wasn't as if they didn't have the technical knowledge, Kiera had put them through all the usual 'features and benefits' training, but they weren't translating that knowledge into good sales technique.

Plus they were bagging the competitor.

If ever there was a sign that a sales team was struggling it was when they started attacking the competition.

From her own time on the road, Kiera knew that was fatal. All it did was make the customer feel sorry for or even defend the competition. The last thing a salesperson needed.

She looked down at the Impact report. Loss of motivation was a simple problem compared to what she actually faced.

So she'd given the go-ahead and asked Impact to design a training program to help her out. She hoped it was enough, in her experience, problems like these were very difficult to sort out...

If you had shares in the PostIt note company, 3M, you would be happy to observe a meeting of Impact consultants. Squares of yellow, pink and blue stuck to the wall like a multicoloured chequer board; each with a single word or idea emblazoned in bold writing across it.

The three consultants were discussing Kiera's situation. Every new thought and idea was thrown down onto a PostIt note and plastered up on the wall.

Dreamer, Realist, Critic. That was the process Impact chose to design Kiera's solution.

First, all the wild ideas about how Kiera's sales problems could be solved. While in Dreamer mode, no idea is too weird, no solution too difficult, anything is possible. Some problems require innovative solutions and you need to have the freedom to chart all possibilities.

Then comes the Realist. That's when all ideas are grouped and what is realistically achievable is explored. This is where solutions start to take form.

Finally; the Critic. This is the evaluation phase. Are the solutions practical? Would they work? Would they get the customer the results required?

The consultants knew Kiera's problems would take some work, but they also knew Kiera needed some immediate results if she was to arrest the slow downward turn of her sales figures and the loss of morale they generated.

"Let's give her the world's best sales line..." It was a suggestion to give her an easy way to begin the process of improving her sales team.

The other consultants nodded. The World's Best Sales Line... it was a good place to start.

Kiera's team listened attentively as the consultant said the World's Best Sales Line again...

And again.

It didn't seem like the World's Best Sales Line but...

Once he'd said it you really wanted to know more.

Kiera's sales team smiled to each other as they sat in a circle, the Impact consultant explaining the exercise to them. It seemed simple enough; the group broke up into pairs, one person being a customer, the other a salesperson.

A consultant then briefed each group separately. All the 'customers' had to do was note their response to the salesperson's approach. The salesperson was then told to use different approaches to make the sale. First up; really bag the competition... And the results were pretty universal. Each pair reported that attacking the competition made the salesperson look aggressive, hostile and unprofessional.

Then the pair swapped roles and Impact consultant asked the salesperson to throw in the World's Best Sales Line...

Once again the results were universal. Each person playing a customer reported that they felt the salesperson was authoritative and compelling without being aggressive... And not one of them even recognised that the line had been used.

Kiera watched the game and nodded: this was something she could use, something her team could take on the road, something that was going to make a real difference.

She'd thought all they needed motivation; but advanced knowledge, quality skills and renewed enthusiasm were motivation enough.

Kiera smiled as the Impact consultant sat down at her desk. He pushed the report over to her but she really didn't need to read it. It was six months since the training course and he'd just spent some time out on the road with her sales team, checking to see how it was going.

As far as Kiera was concerned the sales figures spoke louder than anything, but she was interested to read Impact's follow-up report and recommendations for further reinforcement and deepening of the skills learned.

She offered him a coffee as she stood to fill up her mug at the office urn - Hang in there, baby. Kiera smiled... Didn't she always?

What Can We Learn From Case Study 1? ...

"Use Custom-built Programs to Transfer Skills and Change Behaviours"

5 Reasons to use Impact for Design and Development

1. Layering of skills-transfer from a program designed using Generative Learning™ methodologies always gets results.
2. A thorough custom-built program adds value to a client's business. Off-the-shelf products add to an expense budget. By contrast, Impact only delivers tailor-made learning for clients and guarantees results.
3. Use of enjoyable and challenging activities containing real rehearsal and practice of the new behaviours leads to participants being well versed in the application of new skills.
4. Activity after activity after activity. Impact maximises hands-on learning and minimises teacher-centric lectures.
5. Relevancy. The design contains only what you need. Impact throws out what others keep. Why? Because the Stakeholder Analysis lets us specifically target what the program needs to do to achieve your outcomes.

Assembling the raw material

Information from the Stakeholder Analysis is prepared for use in the Outcome Generation phase of Impact's Program Development process. The desired behavioural outcomes are identified, showing what the participants will be doing differently once they have completed the program.

From reaction to results

The next process involves charting the Path of Success from the present to the desired state and defining the gap between the two.

Using Impact's design expertise, the objective is to plot the easiest success path to the outcome.

This means progression of content, thorough design of the process, and the client's own resourcing issues are all taken into account. The path is broken down into steps with learning objectives set for each.

Why 'learning new behaviours' is much more than simply education

Drawing on a vast storehouse of well-researched content - previous experience, role plays, simulations, activities, scenarios, games and processes - Impact will assemble the TOTES (or micro-skills) required in the program to ensure the outcome behaviours are practised and rehearsed during the sessions. More than mechanical role-plays, these activities consciously and unconsciously reinforce and install easy paths to desired behaviours. Real skills are transferred in the most efficient and resilient manner.

Creating ownership

By orchestrating an individual program design, Impact ensures that new behaviours are revisited many times by layering in deeper activities that ensure continual practice and rehearsal. Different aspects of the same skill are honed and enhanced. Impact's objective is to repeatedly lay down new Mental Maps that become the new default operation, thereby avoiding ineffective rote-style learning.

This means that a program is an enjoyable and cumulative process for participants, whose own BFOs (or Blinding Flashes of the Obvious) are facilitated and encouraged.

And no one argues with their own insights. In fact the ownership of a BFO is automatic... the learning lasts.

Case Study 2: Impact Create Customer Service Results

After the fourth call in ten minutes Natalie knew she had a problem. For the third time this quarter Natalie stood up from behind her partition and asked of her staff - "Is everyone taking these calls?"

And for the third time this quarter she was answered by a forest of raised hands.

Natalie prided herself on managing the Call Centre. As far as she was concerned this room was the sharp end of her company's corporate image. When customers called here they expected fast, efficient and courteous service... And Natalie made sure they got it - unless...

Marketing and Sales had started a product promotion that Natalie thought was due in two months. She and her staff had been told a full briefing would be given to them before the launch.

She looked up at the calendar on her wall and noted with grim satisfaction the date circled seven weeks from today. But being right did little to solve her problem.

Her Call Centre was taking enquiries about a promotion she had no idea about.

At first Natalie had told her staff to refer such customers to her, but the row of blinking red lights across her phone quickly showed her how impossible that was going to be. Everyone makes mistakes, that much she could forgive. But this was the third time in as many months and Natalie knew something had to be done.

And selective abuse of Marketing Managers, while fun and stress relieving, was proving ineffective.

Natalie put down the headphones and shook her head. She looked up at the Impact consultant and a tight smile stretched across her face. "They're not usually like that."

The consultant nodded, "Of course not, but they're stressed and they're being asked questions they have no way of answering."

Natalie had just listened to a selection of customer enquiries being monitored by the Impact consultants as part of the initial phase of their assignment.

She'd heard every rule in the book being broken, every mistake being made and every customer going away without their problem being solved. Marketing had been blamed, management had been blamed, and even she'd been blamed by her staff because they couldn't answer the customer's questions.

As far as she was concerned she'd trained her staff as best she could, but her techniques were for best case scenarios and this kind of problem left her staff out in the rain. She looked up at the consultant.

"What do we do?"

Toothpicks.

This was the exercise the consultants had decided would be the best to illustrate the situation at Natalie's Call Centre. They knew this activity would help reflect the behaviours for the team to adopt and those to leave behind. With expert facilitation, these sorts of exercises were powerful reflections of real-world situations.

It was a simple enough premise - sixteen toothpicks arranged into five boxes. You could move three toothpicks to make four boxes.

Everyone had their own set of toothpicks to work with. A toothpick could not be moved without the approval of a Manager. At first only the Impact consultants were acting as Managers. Communication was reduced to two hand signals to indicate whether the toothpick being moved was appropriate or inappropriate to the solution.

Once you solved the puzzle you became qualified to give feedback to others.

The idea was deceptively simple. Yet this was one of Impact's most explosive exercises.

Some HR managers questioned its usefulness until they had experienced it for themselves. Because, like a lot of Impact's sessions, it wasn't only the exercise itself that was effective, it was the combination of the exercise, the experience and the debrief afterwards.

The Call Centre staff sat over their tables, gazing down at toothpick geometry. Everyone approached the problem differently...

Some sat and thought, trying to work it out alone.

Only one went for the obvious solution; grabbing a Manager and touching every toothpick until the best choices were identified. In school they would have called it cheating... Here, taking action was the best option.

Occasionally, some would refuse to play the game at all...

Deny, Justify, Blame, Quit. Those were the usual reactions to problem stress:

Natalie realised how her staff hated taking ownership of a problem.

The Consultants debriefed the game to illustrate responsibility and effective crisis management through a positive call coaching seminar.

Natalie could see during the debrief just how effective the 'game' had been as a wake-up call - she could see the changes on her team's faces. It gave her the confidence that they were now equipped to deal with problem situations far more effectively.

Natalie smiled as she listened in on a complaint call from the Impact consultant. Her staff member was unaware the call was fake and handled it quickly and efficiently.

The communication breakdown between the Call Centre and Marketing was still a problem that needed addressing, but at least her staff had the skills to cope with it now. Impact had helped here - Impact coaching sessions and an ongoing schedule of facilitated meetings had improved communication with the Marketing Department.

Natalie sat back at her desk and slowly pulled open the drawer. She'd snagged an Impact pamphlet at the last seminar and was keen to try her mind at another brainteaser.

"Maybe I'll answer this one quickly..." Or maybe not.

What Can We Learn From Case Study 2? ...

"Generative Learning Facilitates Best Practice Program Delivery"

All Impact facilitators are skilled in the application of Generative Learning. From the participant's point of view, this means that open expression and challenge is always valid. And as they will be asked to think for themselves, they'll also learn for themselves.

Generative Learning models the human learning experience. It incorporates the innovative research of specialists such as Bernice McCarthy (4-MAT); methodology geniuses - Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Robert Dilts and Michael Grinder as well as processes such as Generative Learning Strategies (Marvin Oka) and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). These methodologies allow our facilitators to easily transfer mental maps, skills and behaviours without the programs becoming teacher-centric or simply data dumps.

The value of the debrief

Many chalk-and-talk style trainers pay lip service to debriefing. In Impact's experience, the debrief is the most valuable part of each session. After every new piece of Impact content there is a debrief. From the participant's point of view these appear as open-forum discussions about the last activity. They are, actually, the means by which the facilitator completes mental loops left open after the session; re-promotes curiosity and open-mindedness; subtly corrects poor interpretation and most importantly, integrates and generalises the learned behaviour to other contexts.

Ownership gets transferred in the debrief

Through the debrief the participant completes full understanding of the new behaviour or skill, reinforces the 'why this can help you' aspect of learning and attaches the behaviours and skill to future workplace situations. BFOs are generated as participants create their own connections by generalising a specific learning into their own individual context. For instance, the learned skill of Projecting Charisma in Advanced Presentation Skills can also be useful in other contexts such as Leadership Confidence or Positive Negotiation Outcomes.

The quality of the facilitation is everything

In designing a learning program it is the quality of the facilitation that will guarantee the difference. Impact's world's best practice facilitators know how to transfer learning, facilitate growth and understanding plus ensure that the participants enjoy a memorable program and leave thirsty for more learning.

5 Reasons to use Impact for Delivery

1. Impact's world-class facilitators are able to communicate a high quality Generative approach.
2. "BFOs." It's only when Impact helps individuals create their own learning that skills are fully transferred. Because, while no one likes to be told, everyone believes their own 'flashes of inspiration'.
3. Debriefs are thorough, planned, have outcomes and all facilitators are trained in Impact's unique process. The results? Learning that sticks.
4. Fun. No matter how conservative the audience; enjoyment of the process is central to quality learning. In fact if they aren't enjoying it, learning becomes a chore. Challenge, stretch and debate can all be very enjoyable... when professionally facilitated.
5. Your workplace examples are used. Your jargon is used. Your issues are facilitated. Our facilitator will know your business.

Case Study 3: Impact Develop Communication Results

Graham watched his door slam shut for the second time that day and thought to himself - "Enough is enough."

The polished metal balls of the executive toy clicked against each other metronomically on Graham's desk as he nervously twisted his gold wedding band around and around his finger.

He looked at the Chief Executive Officer sign sitting on his desk and not for the first time wished he wasn't sitting at the top of the pecking order. Life would be so much easier without having to make all the tough decisions.

He remembered when the company was smaller and he and the other three founding members were the managers and work force all rolled into one. But as they'd expanded and employed more people, management roles had diversified and intensified. At first it was great to be at the top of the heap. But that soon stopped.

The company had outgrown the control of the founding few and the executive team that had started out as friends now hardly communicated in civil tones.

Staff couldn't get answers to important questions, managers blamed each other in an endless circle of recriminations and the countless meetings that they called achieved nothing but wasting precious time.

People were working later and later and achieving less and less.

Graham's own attempts at conflict resolution had only exacerbated the problems and it looked like several important team members were on the verge of resigning.

He knew the problem was too big to deal with internally. Time to call in some help ...

Graham sat down. The Impact consultants had just left his office. They'd helped Graham identify the issues; uncovering new problems and agreeing on existing ones.

"It's a problem that can easily happen for expanding companies," the consultant had begun. "You expand out your administration and management capabilities. Rapid growth pushes you quickly into uncharted waters and you find you're always looking backwards at previous successes rather than planning future directions. Roles become obscured and the culture of the company changes so fast it's hard to keep pace with."

As they discussed solutions, Graham started to remember the reasons he was in business and the successes they had already achieved. For the first time in many months he began to put the issues into perspective. The Impact consulting team were discussing the best course of action for Graham's company.

Some of the solutions were obvious and quickly included in the Impact action plan. What was harder was deciding on a course that might give the client some useful assistance quickly and effectively.

Collaboration and management issues were notoriously difficult to find quick solutions for.

The room was quiet for a moment.

Thinking...

"Roles and Responsibilities," was the phrase that broke the silence.

The other two nodded. It was the right process ... the right choice ...

The executives looked down at the questionnaire, then back at each other. Honest answers to these questions were the starting point for rebuilding the company's communication.

The consultants facilitated the back and forth flow of ideas and opinions. It got a little heated from time to time, but finally the issues were out in the open and being discussed calmly.

Over the next few sessions, the Impact consultants ran a variety of exercises designed especially to promote healthy strategic collaboration and delegation skills.

Special coaching was given to the CEO on how to lead the company's culture. Good meetings were modelled and facilitated. Plus the staff were allowed confidential feedback regarding the company's management processes.

It wasn't easy. The solutions sounded simple but implementation was a challenge and it really made a difference to have Impact there for each step.

Impact's follow-up a few months later identified a few new issues that had arisen but on the whole the company was functioning much more smoothly.

Staff and managers joined focus groups and the resulting reports showed a marked increase in levels of trust and communication.

This pleased Graham, but what really made him smile was the fact that his office no longer had a revolving door bringing angry executives complaining and blaming one another.

Now that working hours had returned to a more acceptable level, some of the executives had taken up twilight sailing, and Graham had more relaxed time with his family and friends.

What Can We Learn From Case Study 1? ...

"The Value of Integrating New Behaviours Back into the Workplace"

5 Reasons to use Impact for Integration

1. Impact believes in integration. It is the key to sustaining new behaviour. Impact works with clients to get results.
2. Flexibility in delivery and follow-up. No organisation is the same, no issue identical. So Impact will design integration activities according to the client's resourcing needs and scenarios.
3. Impact works hard to handover new habits and routines without promoting dependence on Impact to keep solving the same problem.
4. Impact is skilled in integration techniques, not just Training Delivery. In other words, Impact can coach your managers, re-motivate staff in discussion forums or provide custom-built learning newsletters. Impact works creatively and flexibly ... whatever it takes to get the desired results.
5. Money back guarantee. If a client is not completely satisfied with our approach neither are we. Impact will be the best-value-for-money learning consultancy you will ever use.

A training program is only worth the money when it results in changes in the workplace!

The integration of new behaviours is probably the most challenging aspect of any learning and development project. Success depends on reinforcement and recognition of behavioural change plus the chance to practise and learn by mistakes. Encouragement is crucial, involvement of stakeholders vital and awareness of the desired outcomes critical.

Impact partners with its clients in assuming responsibility for integrating and sustaining behavioural change. Programs which integrate new skills are an essential part of a well-formed design. Often they include the following approaches:

• Layered, ongoing sessions over time
• Management coaching of participants
• Impact facilitators coaching managers
• Discussion forums
• Competitions
• Newsletters
• One-on-one coaching
• Individual developmental program design
• Buddy and mentor-based systems
• Assignments
• Debriefing interviews
• Focus groups

Impact's aim is to close the loop and hand over responsibility and processes to sustain a client's new behaviours.

Call us now on 02 9987 2911 for more information - or ask a question on the contacts page.