Senior Management and Optimization

Senior managers know that oftentimes a phenomenally low rate of learning from WLP interventions transfers from the initial intervention to the workforce. Senior managers have much experience with different types of interventions. Most have learned the hard way to expect only a 10 to 20 percent transfer rate, with the payback being gained from a relatively small number of people.

But, Senior managers also know that even a very small transfer rate can generate incredibly high ROI numbers . As one Senior manager points out, ‚“The top 10 percent of my people are going to get it anyway. I ‚ m going to get a really good return from the whole program if just those people perform better. ‚½ A good one-time ROI number did not impress this Senior manager. For him, a good one-time ROI number was a given. He knew he was going to get that anyway.

Senior managers are responsible for broad-scale change. They know that their WLP interventions must constantly be optimized through ever-increasing effectiveness and efficiency. In chapter 9, effectiveness was defined as creating new or additional impact on an organization ‚ s financial measures or financial statements such that the impact makes a significant or sizable difference to the success of the organization.

Three Components of Effectiveness

Effectiveness hinges on three critical components: penetration, sustainability, and speed. Penetration is the total number of WLP attendees or intervention participants who successfully applied the intervention on the job. Penetration describes the characteristics of the adopting participants , such as their number of years of experience, location, or salary level. Senior managers know that they can see a high ROI produced by a small number of people. Senior managers are looking for results from a broad population; therefore, comparing an ROI to the percentage of participants who apply the WLP intervention back on the job raises your credibility.

Sustainability is the length of time participants who apply the WLP intervention continue to do so. Many WLP professionals know that their interventions may be initially applied on the job, but behavior will often drop rapidly without proper reinforcement. When application and behavior drop, the benefits to the organization are not sustained. It ‚ s possible to measure a one-time ROI before application and behavior drops . This can make the intervention look really good on paper. Senior managers know this. Senior managers are looking for long- term , sustained benefits, thereby demonstrating more than a one-time ROI or, in other words, showing the permanency or sustainability of the WLP intervention.

Speed refers to how quickly the benefits of the WLP intervention can be obtained for the entire target population. If the full population has not yet applied the intervention, Senior managers want to know how quickly you can increase effectiveness when addressing additional segments of the target population. In other words, can you do whatever you did to get excellent results even faster in your next go-around?

Efficiency means delivering the same level of benefit as has been had previously but at a lower cost. No matter how much effectiveness you ‚ ve achieved, Senior managers want to know how you can provide the same benefits for less cost in the future.

So What Did the Senior Manager Want to Know?

In the case of the Senior manager who pointed out that ‚“his top 10 percent were going to get it anyway, ‚½ what he wanted to know was if the WLP intervention could ensure that:

• the impacts of the intervention went far beyond the top 10 of his people (penetration)

• the effects of that intervention created long-term change (sustainability)

• those numbers were created and collected as fast as possible (speed).

That kind of broad-scale change can take years to implement and sustain, which is exactly the timeframe that a Senior-level manager is responsible for in his or her financial statements. That kind of information requires more than a one-time ROI study; it requires a continuous value management approach. This Senior manager needed proof that a continuous pattern of broader and deeper ROI was consistently being achieved. He didn ‚ t want to waste time on discussions that didn ‚ t give him the answers he was looking for.

Important ‚  

The problem with many WLP professionals ‚ approach to ROI is that they view it as a one-time proof of their ability to deliver financial results. As was discussed in chapter 8 , if they can prove that they ‚ ve achieved a great ROI at least once, then the inference is that they know what they are doing and should be supported and nurtured in doing whatever it is that they do indefinitely. This approach means that the WLP professional is not analyzing, or, to use the term in a slightly different context than in many WLP discussions, this means that the WLP professional is not evaluating his or her performance from a Senior executive ‚ s point of view. This can cause many a promising career to run into major bumps.