Chapter 15: Conclusion: The Courage to Begin

With knowledge as the driver for economic success, the people who have the best knowledge and who perform most effectively with that knowledge create huge competitive advantage. One cannot simply hope that the WLP interventions for an organization ‚ s people will be valuable . And, one cannot hope that the value of these interventions is obvious. Too much is at stake.

As WLP professionals we tend to focus on the goal of the job ‚ excellence in performance at specific tasks . Behind every job, however, is the reason for its existence. As stewards of their organizations, executives focus on the goal behind the job ‚ excellence in financial performance. Many of us have grown up hoping that if we focus on the goal of our job, it will be valuable and the value will be obvious.

As a profession, we are learning slowly, sometimes painfully, that hope is not a strategy. Our executives are telling us more and more forcefully that it is not their job to find value for us or to tell us what our value is. Like general managers and salespeople, managing, understanding, and communicating value is our job. We must do more than hope if we want a seat at the table with the stewards of our organizations.

It is out of character for WLP professionals to rely on mere hope. As WLP professionals, we know that one of the most difficult undertakings for anyone in any profession is to get people to adopt and apply learning and change. We don ‚ t hope that when we apply a WLP intervention that the intervention will be what the performance problem needs. As professionals, we have invested countless hours in performance analysis to ensure that we know exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it. We don ‚ t hope that our interventions will be designed with the most advanced performance and instructional theory and delivered to exacting standards.

We have invested the genius of our best in developing methodologies, tools, and techniques to ensure that we aren ‚ t just hoping that what we do will be acceptable. We are a profession that works with pride and honor . We strive for excellence. As a group , we do not accept that the best we can do is to throw something out there and ‚ hope.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, ‚“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ‚½ There was a time when conventional wisdom said that ROI measurement for workplace learning or performance could not be done. I am grateful for the courage of the unreasonable men and women who stepped forward and refused to accept conventional wisdom about WLP measurement and evaluation. Because of their courage and example, the profession as a whole moved forward again, not with hope but with knowledge and assurance.

Yet, ROI measurement is not enough. For many in our profession, ROI measurement is applied as a one-time reaction to executives ‚ demands to demonstrate our value. What our executives are really looking for is a keen awareness and a proactive, continuous approach to value management.

The Information Age has sped up life for all of us. By the time the results of many ROI studies are known, the gains are already factored into the financial statements and have become a given. To be sure, we must validate our results. Validation earns us trust, credibility, and insight into how we can do even better next time. But, to communicate value, the WLP professional needs something more. He or she needs the ability to continuously scan the financial horizon, the courage to propose new initiatives in terms of their contribution to the bottom line, and the tenacity to drive that contribution to reality.

There may be those who believe that keeping up with the financial issues of an organization, figuring out how to create and update a financial imperatives scorecard, staying mindful of organizational perceptions and context, and creating 30-second value statements is unreasonable. Perhaps they think, ‚“Who has the time? You ‚ d never get any real work done! ‚½ Or possibly, ‚“I ‚ ve tried this and it didn ‚ t work. All this talk must be for someone else, not me. ‚½

To those who think this way, I offer the following: First, it is your executives who are telling you to make the time. Translation from the language of performance to the language of finance is your job, not theirs. Second, even for the most successful salespeople who use similar concepts, this approach is not a magic potion that suddenly caused them to win every deal every time. But, with persistence and consistency, every one of them had the opportunity to win bigger and better than before.

Finally, it matters how much you are willing to fight for what you want. We all have personal stories of courage and determination. For example, I nearly died after childbirth and knew that the doctors did not give me much chance of survival. I am here today to write this book, so obviously I was determined to prove everyone in the hospital wrong. So fight for it if not for yourself, then for the ones you love. When it comes to communicating your value in terms that your audience appreciates and applauds, hope is not a strategy. Workplace learning and performance is a profession of pride, honor, and determination; it is not a profession that merely hopes.

The people in your organizations depend on you to get the support you need so you can equip them with what they need not just for performance on the job, but also for performance and satisfaction in every aspect of their lives. As a steward of your people, I call you and compel you to accept the same challenge as your peers at the table. Accept the challenge of leadership and change. Lead others to an understanding of the power of developing people. Change their understanding of the numbers to an understanding of the immense potential in performance. For this, courage is essential. As Goethe said, ‚“What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. ‚½

All that is left is for you to begin. Enjoy your journey. Let it call to your soul as you communicate the genius, power, and magic of your people. May such courage bring you a life well spent in the service of others.