Elearning blog: Learning re-imagined

Keys to High Performing, Swift-Starting Teams

By Shawn Hunter

Next time you’re standing at the gate waiting to get on a flight and the crew shows up, watch how they interact with each other. It will tell you a lot about how effective as a team they are going to be up in the sky shortly.

Mary Waller, a researcher at York University in Toronto, has been studying swift-starting teams – and flight crews in particular. Swift-starting teams of experts are everywhere – TV news crews comprised of journalists, camera, lighting, audio and transmission engineers who come together to cover a media event. The doctors, nurses, technicians in hospitals who assemble for an ER shift to work together…or the engineers that may run a nuclear power plant. In many cases these teams are comprised of highly-specialized professionals who assemble as a team for a specific job or task, and sometimes have little or no prior interaction with each other.

Specifically, members of swift-forming expert teams are:

• Competent and familiar with their complex work environments.
• Working quickly under situations of very evident time pressure.
• Have a stable role on the team but ad hoc team membership.
• Have complex, interdependent tasks that rely on interactions with team mates during the performance to yield coordinated execution of well-trained skills.

It turns out that how they interact with one another during just the first 15-20 minutes is highly predictive of how they will perform as a team for the duration of the job. The reason is that interaction patterns are established early in these relationships, and those patterns usually persist throughout the job.

Key #1: simple and consistent communication

Waller and her colleagues tracked each piece of dialogue uttered and identified the patterns in which they develop. For example, “Input the coordinates” is a command. “We have good weather today” is an observation. “Maybe we should ask tower control” is a suggestion and “What should our heading be?” is an inquiry…and so on to include disagreement, humor, anger or small-talk, etc. What they discovered is that patterns of interaction often emerge quickly and persist throughout the relationship. And the highest-performing teams established those patterns early, keep them simple, consistent, and reciprocal and balanced with one another. The lowest-performing teams had greater variety of conversational patterns, more unique communication patterns, and members who showed lack of reliance on other team members.

Key #2: short and targeted communication

While big locker room pep-talks or command-center speeches look good on television (think Ed Harris playing flight director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13), they aren’t terribly effective in driving team excellence. The most effective teams kept their communication short, precise and targeted to a specific task or job sequence.

Key #3: balanced communication

In the study, the researchers measured what they called “reciprocity.” That is, to what extent the team members relied on each other and balanced the participation of communication, as well as the reliance on one another for information and expertise. For example, if a team member showed “mono-actor” behavior of asking and answering their own questions, they showed less reliance, and less reciprocity on other team members. As a result, their study showed an overall decreased team performance when team members showed a lack of reliance on others and lack of reciprocity of expertise.

Here’s an interesting twist in the study. The researchers hypothesized that any “mono-acting” behavior (when someone asks and answers their own questions) would be on that part of the pilot currently in control. They thought that the person with command of the airplane would be the one offering the least reciprocity. Nope, it was the PNF (pilot not flying), who lacked control of the plane who exhibited the greatest amount of mono-acting behavior – in other words, was the least team player.

The best swift-forming teams of experts keep their communication simple, targeted and balanced.

2013 Global Skillsoft Perspectives is Around the Corner

Skillsoft Perspectives is next week in Orlando, Florida! Learn why Lynda Cribari, Executive Director of Performance Excellence, Davenport University, rates Perspectives as “top notch.”

Davenport University Rates Perspectives as "Top-Notch" from Skillsoft on Vimeo.

Counting Down to Skillsoft Perspectives

We're just seven business days away from 2013 Global Skillsoft Perspectives! Watch how an attendee from Dollar Tree benefited from this networking opportunity. 

Dollar Tree Shares and Networks at Skillsoft Perspectives from Skillsoft on Vimeo.

Forrester Research Analyst Discusses Social Media and Social Networks

Organizations can leverage social media to foster discussions among learners. Groups can rate content similar to consumer websites, helping employees find targeted and relevant resources. Watch Claire Schooley, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research discuss trends around social media and social networks with respect to learning.

Conventional office environment—not the simple definition it used to be

By Glenn Nott

It’s been little surprise to see the international backlash surrounding Yahoo Chief, Marissa Mayer’s decision to abolish work from home. Business heavyweights including Sir Richard Branson, have refuted Ms. Mayer’s archaic views of flexible working and I am also disappointed.

Dismissing options for staff to work remotely from home in 2013 is like holding back the tide. While there continues to be debate, the side that sits on the “negative” are either those that have never tried remote working or have not implemented successful strategies when making the shift from a corporate office to a home office. For over a decade, Skillsoft Asia Pacific has promoted and successfully made working from home the cultural norm for existing and new employees. In fact, if we asked our employees to show up to a corporate office everyday there would be a revolt. We have proven year in and out that in our environment, working from home increases employee productivity, drives a more positive attitude from staff and makes for a more efficient workforce.

Mobile learning: Increased personalization?

By Margot Cook, Skillsoft Learning Strategist and Program Manager

I was amazed this morning as I watched my 5-year old daughter use my smartphone. She happily sat down, played a math game and when she was done, found a video to watch. I’ve had conversations with colleagues and friends, marveling about how our children would rather watch a video on a smartphone screen than on the big screen. Growing up in a world of ever increasing TV screen sizes, I’ve always wondered what the appeal is. Five minutes later, I had my answer when my 3-year old son attempted to sit with his sister to watch the video, and the screaming started. Watching the video and learning from the mobile device was her experience, and, at that time, not one she wanted to share. The small screen provides a more intimate setting, and is targeted just at her. It was highly personal.

That being said, mobile learning can also be collaborative. The night before, when we were discovering how to cut a pineapple, the 3 of us huddled around the small screen together. While I was cutting, my daughter re-watched the video and my son gave me other pointers and ensured I followed all of the steps. We were truly collaborating in the battle of the pineapple, and eating the yummy pineapple together was our reward.  

Global Foundries gains great insight at Global Skillsoft Perspectives

Registrations are flowing in for 2013 Global Skillsoft Perspectives in Orlando, Florida, May 13-16. Don't miss your chance to attend. Hear how a 2012 attendee benefited from last year's conference.

 

Global Foundries: Gets best-in-class insight at Skillsoft Perspectives from Skillsoft on Vimeo.

Skillsoft Perspectives helps Suncorp reinvigorate learning strategy

Don't miss the opportunity to attend 2013 Skillsoft Perspectives Global, May 13-16 in Orlando, Florida! Registration is open for the conference and we're accepting nominations for the Skillsoft Innovation Awards. For more information and to register visit: http://perspectives.skillsoft.com/2013/

Hear how Suncorp benefited by attending 2012 Skillsoft Perspectives.

Suncorp Business Services gets inspired at Skillsoft Perspectives Global from Skillsoft on Vimeo.

Surprising lessons in motivation

Over five years ago my cycling partner and friend Erich contacted me and suggested we should ride in the three-day, 180-mile Trek Across Maine. It seemed like a reasonable and fun challenge, and all for a good cause to fight lung cancer. I was in. Then he added, “We’re taking the boys.”

He had two boys just about the same age as our two boys (five and seven years old at the time) and I realized immediately this whole expedition had multiplied in complexity. Understand that Erich is a friend whose intensity and drive is higher than most people I know. When invited to ride with him I learned early on a “ride” often meant about twice as far and twice as intense as I was envisioning. I learned to calibrate expectations to Erich’s world, but this audacious challenge was something new.

We rigged up bicycle contraptions featuring a tandem bicycle, plus a “tag-along” (pictured) to accommodate the three of us. The machine, plus the bicycle bags, known as panniers – loaded with rain gear, snacks, water, and probably a few miscellaneous things the kids claimed to need, all weighed in at over 400 pounds with us on board. This was our “triple-bike.”

My mental orientation going into this venture was that it was my job to do the work, and make sure the kids were safe, fed, dry, and hopefully having fun on this expedition. But over sixty miles per day throughout the hills across Maine it became quickly clear that their effort was valuable indeed. While small, when they chose to work and push the pedals over, from my seat I could definitely feel a difference. So while in my mind the journey started on the strength of my efforts alone, it quickly became clear that the difference in not only speed and energy conservation, but also camaraderie and real teamwork, came down to how well we worked as a team to push through hill after hill on these three days.

For example, if approaching a hill, as my son Will was back there throwing water on his brother and generally goofing off, I could say sternly, “If you don’t pedal now, then at the top of this hill I’m going to put you in the Sag wagon and you can ride the rest of the say in the wagon of shame!” (“Sag” is as in “sagging behind.”)  In events with lots of non-professionals, the sag wagon picks up people who have fallen behind or are dropping out. This terse warning got him to pedal harder for perhaps thirty or sixty seconds. Or inversely, I could urge my son Charlie on by saying, “Buddy, if you pedal really hard we’ll get to the top quicker and I think they are serving ice cream at the next rest stop.” And this might bring about an energetic minute or so of focused pedaling.

Neither negative or positive immediate encouragement yielded any long term motivation. It became clear as the hours went by and the ride went on that there were a number of much more powerful motivators that were much more effective, and fun.

Drop anchors carefully

By Shawn Hunter

A few years ago at a Sioux Falls, ID supermarket, the owners experimented with marketing labels next to cans of soup. Some days the label said “10% off regular price, limit 10 per customer,” and on other days it said “10% off regular price, no limit per customer.” Shoppers purchased twice as many on the days with limitations. The sense of scarcity set an anchoring effect, and the number 10 set a mental anchor of the amount of cans they should buy. So, those presented with the limited availability felt a mental urge to buy more.

Similarly, if I ask you, “Is the oldest dog in the world older or younger than 60 years?” and then I ask you, “How old is the oldest dog?” Your answer will be higher than if I just ask you “How old is the oldest dog in the world?” You know instinctively that a 60-year old dog is completely nuts, but it will still have a psychological priming effect and sway your guess upwards. Significantly upwards it turns out. Your dog-age guess will be over a decade above your guess without the suggestion of a 60-year old dog.