Outsourced Employee Training Options in the Biotech Industry - A Case Study

"I just wanted to let you know how pleased I am with how the project went. The end product is wonderful! LSA has been great to work with. I really appreciate all the flexibility and the high quality."

Laurie Torres | Vice President of Human Resources | PDL BioPharma, Inc.

Background:
PDL BioPharma, a rapidly growing Biotech company that pioneered the humanization of monoclonal antibodies, had grown to over 2,500 employees. They had no internal learning and development department/function to support the increased demands of their growing employee base.

Goal:

Quickly and cost effectively establish a:

• Performance-based learning culture
• Learning and development department with an outsourced partner who could provide a turn key/one-call-access for their organizational learning and development needs
• Common baseline of “foundational” new manager and employee skills across the organization

Challenges:

• Desired a broad curriculum for all employees and all levels
• A lack of consistency combined with considerable redundancy in current “training opportunities” with contradictory and often competing models and language

Approach:

• Assess & Design
• Identified “foundation skills” across the organization to strengthen employee satisfaction and retention
• Designed company-specific role plays and case studies
• Created a simple and clear marketing and registration system that automated training setup, delivery, tracking, reporting, billing, measurement, and follow-up

Pilot:

• Successfully implemented a core group of 10 customized skill-based programs focused on: communication skills training, coaching, retention of top talent, performance management, delegation and influence, goal setting and smart objectives, teamwork, transitioning to management, conflict management, and career development
• Provided a clear picture of Learning and Development expenditures, activity, and results across the company

Results:

• Training Outsourcing Scale: Delivered over 100 customized programs across North America to over 2,000 employees
• Training Outsourcing Client Satisfaction: Overall satisfaction score 96%
• Training Outsourcing Consistency: Created consistency of language, competency, process, values, and approach across all locations

Training Outsourcing Efficiency, Time, and Money Savings:

• Created a simple and clear marketing, registration, setup, delivery, tracking, reporting, billing, measurement, and follow-up system for both participants and the HR department that “ran by itself”
• Saved time and money with one point of contact, one invoice, and one contract
• Provided access to unmatched quality and expertise through LSA’s proven portfolio of over 2,500 experts in the areas of Leadership, Management, Sales, Customer Loyalty, Project Management, Assessment, and Measurement
• Estimated outsourcing cost savings of $375k over 3 years

Compelling / Interesting Design Features:

• 100% turn-key learning and development outsource partner
• Dedicated external account team with a combined 40+ years of experience to handle outsourcing of strategy, planning, and day-to-day operations
• Only weeks to design and implement proven curriculum/solutions
• Designed client-specific role plays and case studies with tailored approach to fit seamlessly with the company’s leadership practices and values
• Custom Learning & Development Portal to market programs, register participants in workshops, and track attendance
• Provided all reporting, logistics, tracking, and administration

Sales Leaders Create Performance

Are You Building a High Performance Sales Environment?

It is the Sales Leader’s challenge to create the circumstances that stimulate improved sales performance and strategy execution from their sales force.

Of course having the right sales and customer service people is critical, but once “on the bus” how does a sales leader create a sales environment that improves the performance of the sales force? That is the sales leader’s challenge and, when it is not done, it will matter little if you have the right people or not. An ineffective sales leader can greatly hinder sales employee retention. Like a great coach improves the performance of an athlete, effective leadership can improve the performance of the sales force.

Research has indicated that 46% of organizations cite creating a high performance sales culture as one of their top 3 talent management priorities and yet 61% of executives do not feel that the talent and management training processes they have today are driving greater performance from the business.

So the question is not whether you should do it but rather HOW.

How do sales leaders drive improved execution and individual contribution? How can sales leaders consistently make the right move to stimulate performance improvement? How can sales leaders ensure that performance improvement scales throughout an entire sales organization? The answer is to create and maintain a High Performance Sales Environment.

People Change When Their Environment Changes
It has long being held that people will adapt to their environment. Physically, mentally, emotionally people will make subtle and sometimes significant shifts in their behavior based upon the environmental circumstances. Driven by this presupposition our research project has been investigating the specific environmental circumstances that stimulate improved performance in people.

Through a process of interviews and analysis, we have spent the last 16 years researching human high performance and the factors that shape a high performance environment. Research subjects include: Nelson Mandela, Carl Lewis, Sir Edmund Hilary, military generals, leaders of NASA, MIT, Harvard Business School, the Juilliard School of Music, and CEOs of leading corporations among a bank of over 7,500 research participants.

Every performance population has a primary comparison. Leaders need to ensure that this comparison drives performance.

The Key to Building a High Performance Sales Environment
The key to implementing high performance in a sales organization is:

1. Clarity,
2. Effectiveness

Not only does a sales environment need concepts defining direction, performance status, and motivation, those concepts must be clear and effective if a performance management outcome is desired. It is the Sales Leaders’ job to provide this clarity and ensure effective implementation throughout a sales organization.

Many sales environments have goals and objectives that are not stimulating performance. Equally many sales forces have consequence systems that don’t motivate the population to perform or appraisal systems that are viewed as a bureaucratic process not a tool for performance exposure. Each concept has a set of “effectiveness criteria” that need to be met in order to stimulate improved performance in a sales force. This issue, a lack of clarity and effectiveness in one, some, or all of the nine components of the High Performance Environmental Structure®, is the cause of many of the problems with driving improved execution and enhanced productivity in sales forces today. Sales Leaders believe they have provided goals and training measurement and rewards and have engaged employees, but they are merely ticking the boxes not making those concepts “clear and effective” in stimulating sales performance.

Management Training - Coaching

Do Managers Really Make a Difference?

How do we get managers and senior executives more involved in management training and leadership development initiatives? With tightened budgets and increased pressure to perform, we are getting asked this question more than ever before.

The Answer:

1. Relevance: Ensure that the training and development initiative is relevant to the participant, their boss, and the company.
2. Make the Value Visible: Show the value in terms of behavior change and business impact.

While we have believed in Training RAI™: Relevance. Adoption. Impact for years, our recent study of 121 professionals and their managers at a major North American financial services firm, amplifies the impact of new manager involvement on the transfer of training.

Notice the extreme differences associated with manager involvement.

Insight #1: Coaching is linked to skill application. Are you providing reinforcement coaching for your critical initiatives? It could make a 20% difference.

Specifics:

1. Comparison Groups:people who received individual coaching conversations versus those who did not
2. Control Group: 47 participants who did NOT get individual coaching
3. Coached Group: 61 participants who received individual and executive coaching – Note that the Coached Group scores were nearly 20% higher.
4. Skill Scores: Each person’s average score for 38 individual skills, placed on a scale from 0-100%.

Insight #2: Coaching is linked to revenue. Are your sales managers coaching their direct reports to help meet revenue targets? It could double your revenue.


Specifics:

1. Measurement: Each participant was asked for one example of how “coaching conversations with your manager have made a significant difference in a sales situation.” These were verified to include the situation, specific coaching, and results over the last three months.
2. Significant Results: The Coached Group created 2x more new revenue over the same time period as the Control Group

Insight #3: Coaching is strongly linked to success. Is it worth a manager’s time? Just ask.


Specifics:
We asked, “What difference did the coaching conversations with your manager make in your success?
Significant Results: Participants in the coached group said their manager “made a significant difference” (72%) compared to “a little difference” (33%) for the noncoached group.

In Conclusion
So what?

With the majority of training programs failing to “move the needle” in terms of increased revenue, decreased costs, or increased productivity, it is imperative that companies focus on Relevant Skills and invest in Adoption to get results. Targeted coaching is certainly one of the keys to successful adoption.

These results clearly show that coaching conversations are linked to changes in leading indicators (skills) and lagging indicators (new revenue). Every change effort, training initiative, or development program must include more than the “training” of new knowledge and skills. Manager involvement is a key link to getting measurable results.

Virtual Team Collaboration at Verisign - A Case Study

Business Need
As a global provider of Internet services, having experienced rapid growth, vast market and organizational change, VeriSign recognized in late 2005 that innovation and operations were suffering from reduced collaboration due to growth and the need to have teams work virtually. With major functions in India, Washington D.C., San Jose, and many individual acquisitions in other areas, sales revenue growth increased but service suffered.

Goals

• Bring a fragmented, global team together.
• Assist in transitioning a highly technical workforce into a more consultative, collaborative high performance organization.
• Change in how the technical, global teams functioned and work together—from silos to teams.
• Improve customer loyalty and satisfaction for the IT Infrastructure and Product Development Groups

Solution
We were engaged initially in early 2006 to help build consensus within the leadership team (including the CTO and CEO) for what came to be known as the Customer Focus Program. We developed a mechanism to communicate the change, why it was important, and how it would impact each discipline. We created education, leadership development workshops and coaching prior to rolling out a series of Consultative Partnering workshops. Approximately 1,200 people in the Infrastructure and Product Development Groups attended these workshops over a two-year period using real life scenarios and business cases to examine different approaches and attitudes. We advised VeriSign on changing organizational and operational elements that presented obstacles to customer service strategy execution and focus, and provided coaching to existing and new managers in how to work with staff to reinforce skills and drive the needed behavioral changes.

Results
At the completion of our engagement at the end of 2007 the teams were working more collaboratively and the organization was more unified and focused on building customer loyalty.
Some specific examples included:

• The Network Operations Center utilized three of our Consultative Partnering tools to understand common systemic issues and build alignment around their solutions. These call center best practices contributed to a reduction in call center volume on systemic issues by 50%.
• After attending the customized virtual teaming workshop the leadership team realized that the primary issue was not an inability to be strategic, as they had thought, but was an inability to execute well. This changed their management training and strategy significantly.
• Several teams reported significant reductions in rework after using the Consultative Partnering tools to establish greater rapport with their internal customers, understand their needs better, and build responsive technology solutions.

Leading for Employee Engagement - A Case Study

Background

A large, highly respected global technology manufacturer changed its strategy to remain competitive in its market segment and financially viable as an ongoing entity. The new strategy fundamentally repositioned the company from commoditized offerings to value-added services and high margin products.

Challenge

After two years, major functional groups in the company had yet to adopt the new philosophy or implement enabling strategies. People were also highly skeptical about the new strategy succeeding. Finally, implementation would require substantial effort throughout the company with significant change in the following functions:

• Product development needed to completely revamp their R&D focus
• Manufacturing had to retool much of their production operations
• Sales needed to redefine the sales process and target audience

Approach

The company embarked on a comprehensive, structured process working with intact teams to create implementation plans and actions. The process, supported by training and consulting, was cascaded down through the organization with the following objectives:

• Align all organizational efforts and design around the achievement of the new strategy
• Engage each group and individual in a process to create ownership around goals and objectives need to successfully implement the strategy
• Develop capacity for change within the workforce to facilitate the transition from old to new ways of doing business

Results

As a result of this process the company achieved significantly improved and sustained business results as well as higher levels of employee engagement. Specific results include:

• A 22.6% increase in Q4 revenue over the prior year
• Gross margin improved to 61.4 %, up from 54.7 % in the prior year
• Developed and launched over 150 new products supporting the new model
• Significant measurable increases in commitment/action to the new strategy
• Measurable increases in virtually every dimension of engagement

Growing Customer Satisfaction & Issue Resolution - A Case Study

Background - Major Telecommunications Company

Business Goals

• Increase data unit sales to 50% of revenue
• Build strong, long-term customer relationships
• Drive business within existing customer base

Performance Challenges and Needs

• Inconsistent approach to the customer across regions
• Disconnect between the Sales and Service organizational designs in terms of role and process
• Need to enable consultants to own the customer relationships, manage expectations, handle demands, make recommendations, differentiate the value of the service delivered, and take a consistent approach for customer service

The Solution

• Predisposition and alignment of service consultants
• Service training for representatives; Coaching for managers
• Reinforcement via an intensive field application program and weekly coaching
• Measurement using online surveys and comparison of performance

The Details

• Basis for Comparison: Each participant was classified as a “high” or “higher applier” based on frequency of use and level of confidence for 8 key service skills measured using an online
• Time Frame: Monthly/quarterly CSAT and Individual Resolved metrics from October - June; 3,570 surveys total
• Population: 122 phone and email consultants; dedicated to specific accounts as well as to open queue
• Statistical Significance: For the difference between “high” and “higher” appliers of CSA and Resolved metrics, p < .35 (CSAT) and p < .05 (Resolved)

Personal Value of Service Program
“I have gained the confidence to be able to talk to any client in any given situation, whether the issue is an escalated scenario or a pleasant one.” Service Consultant

"Our customers are telling us that the program is working! Our future is bright because both our path and our progress are clear.” Service Leadership Team

Learn more about LSA Global's Training, Coaching, Consulting and Change Management expertise in the areas of Sales Strategy & Account Planning, Inside Sales, Sales Communication and Presentation, Executive Selling, Sales Negotiation, and Customer Loyalty.

© Acclivus

Training RAI (TM) - Raising the Bar through Assessments & Coaching

By Tris Brown, President & CEO
Even in this climate of tightened belts and increased analysis, more than 90% of training initiatives continue to fail.

If that sounds surprising, try to remember the last training session that resulted in measurable and sustainable behavior change. Then try to remember a session that quantifiably impacted revenue, costs, or productivity. Does the fact that the great majority of training initiatives fail still seem so far fetched?

When we ask leaders about behavior change and impact related to training, we typically get a long pause and then a pensive and pained look. Then we usually get a long answer that would make many politicians proud for the lack of clarity and specifics.

Unfortunately, the training bar is still too low. Most people continue to consider training successful” simply when participants get a few “Aha’s” and feel that it was not a waste of time. We can’t think of another business process that gets less scrutiny or has lower expectations than training. The training bar needs to be raised.

To help raise expectations and quality, our recent Q3 Poll highlights 4 critical success levers behind impactful learning initiatives and a positive Training RAI™: Results.Adoption.Impact.

1. Strategic Business Link: An urgent business relevance
2. Skill Gap Assessment: The strong understanding of individual skill gaps
3. Performance Coaching and Support: The consistent and timely performance coaching of participants by their bosses
4. Training Measurement: The impact on the business

We define Training RAI™ as a solution with 3 key characteristics.

1. Relevance: The solution needs to be relevant to the (1) Business, (2) Leadership Development Strategy, (3) Target Audience, and (4) Audience Supervisors. Without relevance, you would be better off buying books on the subject – you’ll get the same result.

2. Adoption: The new skills, knowledge, and behaviors must be consistently adopted. Without on-the-job application, a disconnect will occur between learning objectives (skills and knowledge) and performance objectives (desired results).

3. Impact: The business impact needs to be measured. Contrary to popular belief, this can be one quickly and easily. Measurement is a key component to driving accountability for execution and providing actionable feedback for follow-on coaching. Read more about training measurement.

In this article, we will tackle one of the major impediments to obtaining a positive Training RAI™: a Lack of Individual Skill Gap Assessments and Coaching Profiles.

In our experience over the last 15 years, we have seen that the lack of proper individual training needs assessments and coaching plans causes a disproportionate amount of training failure. The majority of corporate learning initiatives continue to bypass individual skill assessments prior to designing or delivering new training programs. Skipping over the first step of assessing skill gaps is one of the root causes behind the 90%+ failure rate.

What if doctors prescribed the same medication and the same dosage to all patients before an individual diagnosis? Training practitioners who continue to sell, buy, and facilitate training with little regard to ensuring that the prescribed solution is the best fit for each participant could similarly be accused of “malpractice.” And even if you have diagnosed correctly, each participant has different strengths and weaknesses that need individualized attention before behavior can change and performance be improved. Not many problems get solved without a detailed, carefully considered plan.

When asked, most training practitioners mistakenly identify attributes such as participant materials, length of program, location, facilitator personality, content, and instructional design as the culprits behind failed learning. If only it were that easy. Changing behavior is a process, not an event. With the assumption that a clear and thorough business case must precede any individual skill assessment, this article outlines the top 6 assessment questions that you should ask to ensure a successful Training RAI™.

1. Does Leadership Agree Upon a Clear Direction?

While this seems like common sense, we continue to be surprised at how many seemingly experienced learning consultants and practitioners fail to answer two fundamental questions with key stakeholders before designing and implementing learning solutions:

- Barrier: What are the skills that are holding us back from achieving our goals?
- Focus: Where should we focus our efforts for the greatest impact?

An effective skill assessment should clearly identify the key “money making” skills for your initiative.

You need to know the critical few “A,” “B,” and “C” skills and invest your resources and efforts accordingly. For example, a recent client called us to help significantly increase revenue. This global technology company had seen revenue decrease consistently for the last 8 quarters. With other initiatives in place to focus on product quality, competitive positioning, and service, they wanted to significantly increase the capabilities and performance of their team when selling solutions, value selling and executive selling. After our initial meeting, it was clear that the President, SVP of Sales, VP of Sales, and Senior Account Reps all had different ideas about how to solve the problem based upon their past experiences. We knew that a lack of agreed-upon direction among the leadership team and supporting cast was a death knell for meeting their goal. To clarify the direction to take, we designed and conducted an online assessment covering 93 key skills related to selling successfully and strategic account planning in their industry. 10 specific skill areas and 35 “Must Have” skills rose to the top. The assessment and the accompanying process to align sales executives started the initiative off on the right foot.

Alignment can also occur through interviews and focus groups; however, an assessment backed by (in this case) a research bank of 150+ proven behaviorally-based questions and scenarios provides a data-driven approach to ensure that your project is set up to succeed. A thorough approach also underlines the fact that you and your company are taking the initiative seriously. In this case, perception is indeed reality.

2. Are Leaders and Employees Aligned?

Once you have clear direction and executive alignment, your next step is to get your target and supporting audiences on the same page. This is accomplished by sharing the Leader Assessment results with the target audience and reviewing the 3 skill buckets:

A – “must have”
B – “good to have”
C – “nice to have”

Necessary adjustments that increase focus and buy-in can then be made based upon input, discussion, and analysis. This alignment process is a critical step in achieving any behavior change.

3. Do You Know the Specific Skill Gaps of Your Target Audience?

Once you have direction and alignment, it is time to pinpoint individual, group, and company skill gaps against a proven standard. The skill assessment should be online, take approximately 20 minutes, and be based upon researched and behaviorally-based questions and scenarios that have been agreed upon by your key stakeholders. The results will give you a clear picture of individual, group, and company:

- Strengths / Opportunities
- Differences between high and low performers
- Barriers to success
- Coaching / Development priorities
- Customization needs

With this detailed skill gap analysis, you have the data required to both plan and act intelligently.

Remember, this is about creating Training RAI™: Results.Adoption.Impact™, not about learning for the sake of learning.

4. Do Your Participants Have a Game Plan?

From a participant’s perspective, it seems a little crazy to go into an important training program without a clearly presented game plan. It is hard to improve your performance without knowing where you stand, what is expected of you, and what options you have at your disposal.

Customized profiles are excellent tools to help drive individual performance management from the beginning.

5. Are Your Coaches Set Up to Succeed?

There is an incredible amount of data correlating the value of ongoing performance management, coaching, training, and behavior change. In a nut shell, if you do not coach your target audience, the majority of them will not change their behavior. Without behavior change, you will not get the performance or business results that you desire. Without the results that you desire, you would be better off buying participants books, saving your money, or going golfing.

Training, by itself, is typically a waste of both time and money.

The same data that is used to provide participants with a game plan should also be used to create a targeted and individualized coaching plan with their new manager. The amount of involvement and support from the learner’s manager has direct impact upon their success.

In fact a recent study at a Fortune 500 Financial Services comparing a “Coached Group” vs. “Non-Coached Control Group” showed:

- 20.3% higher overall skill scores for the coached group
- 5.9% to 65.6% higher individual skill scores for ALL 38 skills
- 10% net increase in skill levels pre/post compared to control group
- 3 times the skill improvement attributed directly to their manager
- 2 times the success story results attributed directly to coaching

Additionally, of the 61 participants who received individual coaching, 9 out of 10 improved their scores in the critical areas measured. Of the 47 participants who did NOT receive coaching, their scores decreased in 9 out of 10 areas measured.

- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- By Key competency
- Individual Development Plan

This is not a fluke. It has been proven repeatedly that in order to change behavior and performance management results you need two things:

1. Plan & Action: A plan and immediate action to begin applying new skills on the job
2. New Manager Coaching: Involvement and support from the learner’s manager

If the outcomes are important to you, important to the participants, important to their boss, and important to the company, then you owe it to yourself to do it right.

That means treating your learning initiative as a process, not an event. That means investing in accordance with the results that you desire. That means ensuring that in addition to the 6 steps outlined above, you use a well communicated assessment process to also:

- Urgency: Create a sense of urgency and creative tension to get people engaged
- Kickoff: Initiate the change process and predispose participants to get the ball rolling
- Exactness: Customize the training to ensure that it is exactly what you need
- Baseline: Set baseline metrics against which to measure improvement
- Buy-In: Obtain buy-in right from the start

In Conclusion: While many assessments on the market today are statistically invalid and often implemented in a way that inhibits trust, decreases relevance, and wastes time, we believe that the assessment process is an invaluable tool to drive true behavior change and positive results. Interviews, focus groups, and best practices can provide interesting data points to help ensure that your training design is on target. They are key elements to a successful solution. However, the assessment process, combined with an individual coaching plan, allows you to provide both the participant and the coach the tools required for sustainable success.

So the next time you have an important business issue related to skill or knowledge gaps, be sure you can answer “yes” to the following 6 questions before you jump to or initiate a solution. Only then can you be assured that you are on the right path to the success that you seek.

1. Does Leadership Agree Upon a Clear Direction?
2. Are Leaders and Employees Engaged and Aligned?
3. Do You Know the Specific Skill Gaps of Your Target Audience?
4. Do Your Participants Have a Game Plan?
5. Are Your Coaches Set Up to Succeed?
6. Are You Serious About Getting Results?

Rhapsody in Change

by Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D. & Cynthia D. Scott, Ph.D.

Peter Drucker and Max Depree used music metaphors to refer to the complex interdependence and subtle shadings of the interaction between leadership and action. Leadership meets its deepest challenge when it must face up to the need for a deep, major, and rapid shift in the whole fabric of the organization that doesn’t seem to welcome it. The two of us were called in by one of the largest consulting firms to help them manage the dynamics of their major change projects—change projects, they admitted(as have many others), that were failing at a rate of about three out of four.

After studying their most successful and their most problematic companies, we came up with a "score" for change. First of all, a major change has three movements: mobilizing, designing, and transforming. Not exactly hot news, but the fact remains that the activities of the first and last movement—creating a climate for change to happen and taking on the tasks of embedding it in the capability and structure of the organization—are often pushed aside, as the focus is on the “deliverables” of complex and untested “plans.” If you take the time at the start to introduce the themes, bring all the elements into harmony, and preview some of the dramas to come, you will have created the framework for the intense and dramatic creativity of the second design movement.

Just as there are many different classes of instruments to bring together, the score integrates independent activities of four dimensions of the organization:

1. At each stage of change, the leadership has to be engaged: defining parameters, providing resources, and keeping the goal and the inspiration alive. In our initial research, we found that leaders often felt too busy and wanted to delegate change. Some even wanted to outsource it to consultants.
2. At the next level is the change team: the key group of people who navigate, bring pieces together, focus energy, cast a net, and convene many design and learning teams. The team often contains external and internal change navigators who look after the environment in which the change takes place, as well as operational leaders, outside design experts, and up-and-coming talents from many sites and functions. The change team cannot become isolated in an ivory tower. They must be in continual exchange and communication with the multiple layers of employee involvement, continually reminding them, informing them, and engaging them in the processes of change. Many large group events keep the flow of the process alive and real throughout the organization, even as the design is evolving.
3. And finally, organizational structures—reward and performance-management systems, recruiting and training, and links between groups—have to be brought in line with the new imperatives.

The final score of a change rhapsody is complex and multi-featured. It must be extensively choreographed, hence the score, which entails many complex activities over time. But by putting them in a graphic score, rather than a flow chart, we also highlight the community involvement, the interchange, and the public nature of real change. Change is an exchange that evolves as it is designed; it is not controlled by a few or from the top. The graphic markers in the score indicate various community events, times where small or large groups come together and produce a piece of work—a solo if you like. These markers may include communication roll-out plans and redesigns of systems, but the plans are byproducts rather than the actual outcome. If there is a plan or a new design, but people aren’t clear, ready, and prepared for it, then the change will remain a wish rather than a reality.

How well does your company score in the arena of change management?