Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020 - 15

SAM SHRIVER AND MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

BUILDING
LEADERS

RECOGNIZING, REGROUPING
AND RESPONDING TO CHANGE

It is not uncommon to try to make sense
of change by drawing parallels between
the shifts occurring around you and
natural disasters. For instance, we know
a lot about hurricanes and earthquakes
these days (why they happen and,
often, where and when they will hit).
Unfortunately, we have no idea how to
stop them!

AT ITS CORE,
TRAINING IS CHANGE.
It is much the same with organizational
change. We know it is coming, but
we struggle to identify when it will
arrive or how disruptive it will be.
That notwithstanding, when change
does hit, your experience as a training
professional can be leveraged almost
immediately to help your organization
recognize, regroup and respond.
RECOGNIZE
Simply stated, there are layers to
change. Everyone within the epicenter
of an earthquake can feel the vibrations,
but the true impact of those tremors
on structural integrity, quality of life
and the potential for aftershocks is
not immediately apparent. Similarly,
when change hits, most of us grasp
that things are about to become very
different, but the particulars associated
with those changes are the primary
drivers of fear and uncertainty. The
quicker an organization can accurately
assess the impact of disruption, the
more responsive it can be. The process
associated with that assessment mirrors

what effective training departments
have been doing during discovery since
their inception.
REGROUP
At its core, training is change (and
always has been). People attend training
to learn something new and accelerate
their effectiveness. Under the umbrella
of all that is disruptive change, targeted
training is a visible mechanism of
reformation. On a webinar approximately
two weeks into the pandemic, Elliott
Masie, an educational technology expert,
reported the most common comment he
heard as people across industries came
to grips with a drastically different reality
was, "Will somebody please just tell me
how to do my job?"
The higher the "earthquake registers
on the Richter scale," the more
receptive learners become to learning.
Perhaps, the most practical way to view
the role training plays in this context is
to say that, when change occurs, the
readiness of employees to perform
shifts. People who generally knew
what they were doing, and enjoyed
doing it, are thrust into circumstances
where their accumulated base of
experiences and skills may no longer
be relevant.
In many respects, the people who
develop and deliver targeted training
take on the role of first responders. They
provide structure, reinforcement and
hope. In so doing, training tells people
what they should be doing and how they
will not only survive but prosper.

RESPOND
The training department has long
been the epicenter of feedback.
Employees' ability to provide and
receive constructive feedback can be
a contributing factor in establishing and
maintaining a competitive advantage.
This reality is accentuated amid
disruptive change.
Managing change is an iterative
process. You think you know what you
are doing after you regroup, so you
take action. Then, you find yourself
confronting an obstacle that you did not
account for that throws you off track.
If this sounds familiar, it is probably
because it is the precise challenge
training professionals have been facing
since the beginning of time (or so
it seems).
How do you take "what you know" and
translate it into "what to do" in a manner
that advances your purpose and
organization? The short answer here
is feedback - understanding the shortterm impact of your actions - coupled
with feedforward - understanding how
future actions need to be calibrated in
service of alignment and progress.
We add, in conclusion, that none of this
is easy, but - with increasing regularity -
it is becoming undeniably necessary.
Marshall Goldsmith is the world
authority in helping successful leaders
get even better. Sam Shriver is the
executive vice president at The Center
for Leadership Studies. Email Marshall
and Sam.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - L& D'S ROLE IN CHANGE MANAGE ME NT I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020

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