TechLearn 2005

A Case for Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) in the

Post-Training Era

Lou RobertsPrincipalChristensen/Roberts Solutions

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Tell Us About You

What attracted you to this session? Rate your background with EPSS

1. Novice2. Know enough to be dangerous3. Experienced, but not quite expert4. Expert

How many people come from a traditional training background?

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Food for Thought

What do studies show to be the percentage of formal learning that an employee can recall two weeks after the training?

a) 80%b) 50%c) 30%

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Food for Thought

What do studies show to be the percentage of formal learning that an employee can recall two weeks after the training?

a) 80%b) 60%c) 30%

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Food for Thought

How much time does the typical knowledge worker spend searching for knowledge needed to do his/her job?

a) Two hours per monthb) Two hours per weekc) Two hours per day

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Food for Thought

How much time does the typical knowledge worker spend searching for knowledge needed to do his/her job?

a) One hour per monthb) One hour per weekc) Two hours per day

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Food for Thought

Which represents the greater expense when using formal learning events to achieve competency?

a) The cost of developing and delivering the training

b) The cost of employee time spent in non-productive training activities

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Food for Thought

Which represents the greater expense when using formal learning events to achieve competency?

a) The cost of developing and delivering the training

b) The cost of employee time spent in non-productive training activities

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The Opportunity

Make more informed business decisions when formulating your performance improvement solutions that take into account:

a) Costs of sending employees to training (Opportunity Cost)

b) Costs associated with inefficiencies of traditional training

• Transfer / recall• Access to knowledge/information at the point-

of-performance

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So, what’s an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS)?

Technology-mediated solutions to support any task or process, using a

performance-centered design approach

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Bridging the Gaps through Performance-Centered Design

Three Principles of Performance-Centered Design

1. Learning takes place in the context of the work that needs to be done

3. Determine whether learning should be an outcome at all

2. Learning happens as close to the point of performance as possible

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Performance Centered Design – Paradigm Shift

Learning is a prerequisite to doing

Consider learning and performance as one process

Focus on the worker’s skills/knowledge gap

Focus on the process (workflow)

Provide reference tools as adjuncts to traditional training

Integrate task-enabling tools and learning activities into the workflow

Before After

Primary focus is on what needs to be learned

Consider what, where, and when to learn

Engage learners through artificial motivation

Take advantage of moment of greatest receptivity

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Demos

IRS 1099r Real Estate Application Training Toolkit Salesforce.com Performance Toolkits

– Weather4Sailors – Selling Business Value– Training Toolkit

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New EPSS Tools

Quickly capture the workflow (if computer-mediated)

Efficiently create rich learning assets Deploy solutions within the live application Monitor user interaction within the live application

to provide the right support at the right moment Evaluate user inputs and therefore prevent

mistakes from being made All with minimal intervention from the IT

department

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ActiveGuide by RocketTools

No player, plug-ins or downloads Easily retrofits to existing web-based

applications and websites No need for re-engineering

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epiPlex by Epiance

Best Capture technology Cross-platform Cross-application

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How do you get started? – Best Candidates for EPSS

Processes that are largely computer-mediated

Processes for which best practices and expertise is readily available

Processes where best practices or consistency is preferred over creativity and personal style.

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Summary

Which is the more important goal for your organization?

a) Having highly-trained employeesb) Having employees who perform with a

high level of competence and productivity

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Summary

Which is the more important goal for your organization?

a) Having highly-trained employeesb) Having employees who perform with a

high level of competence and productivity

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Summary

Which represents a better investment for your organization:

a) Finding ways to create as much training as possible for the least amount of training investment?

b) Finding ways to enable employees to perform competently in as little training time as possible?

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Summary

Which represents a better investment for your organization:

a) Finding ways to create as much training as possible for the least amount of training investment?

b) Finding ways to enable employees to perform competently in as little training time as possible?

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Summary

As we go forward, where should we be looking to aim our interventions:

a) Formal learning events?b) The Point of Performance?c) Into the work itself?

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Summary

As we go forward, where should we be looking to aim our interventions:

a) Formal learning events?b) The Point of Performance?c) Into the work itself?

TechLearn 2005

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”

(Herbert Spenser)

Lou Roberts

Christensen/Roberts Solutionslroberts@crsol.com

TechLearn 2005

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EXTRA SLIDES

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Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is Becoming Standard Task Modeling Language

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What is the value of cost-cutting?

Companies spend .5 to 1 percent of their operating budget on training

If you reduce the budget by 10%, you can cut the operating budget by .05 to .1 percent.

Companies spend 70 percent of their operating budget on labor costs.

If you increase workforce performance by 5%, the top-line value increases by 5%.

Where will you get best value? Squeezing costs out of 1% of the operating budget, or increasing performance of the 70% of operating budget that goes to labor?

Source: ASTD’s 2004 State of the Industry report, Heidi Spirgi, CLO Magazine, September 2005

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Organizational Economic Climate

05

1015202530354045

Focused on CostControl

Focused on Growth

12 Months Ago

12 Months fromNow

Source: Conference Board surveyHeidi Spirgi, CLO Magazine, September, 2005

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Doing

Learning

Point of Performance

Before Performance

Wizards

Job Aids

Simulations

Manuals

Training Courses

Interactive Coaches

Workflow-based knowledge assets

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Doing

Learning

Point of Performance

Before Performance

Wizards

Job Aids

Simulations

Manuals

Training Courses

Interactive Coaches

Workflow-based knowledge assets

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Performance Hurdles

Workers in most American factories spend just 20 percent of their time making things.

Supervisors spend no more than 20 percent of their time doing things that appear in their job descriptions.

Knowledge workers spend just 20 percent of their time adding core value…

Jay Cross and Tony O’Driscoll “Workflow Learning Gets Real,” Training Magazine