Neon Elephant Award 2010

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22nd December 2010

Neon Elephant Award Announcement

Dr. Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, announces the winner of the 2010 Neon Elephant Award, given this year to Richard Clark for his many years in leading the workplace learning-and-performance field by bridging the gap between academic research and practical application.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

2010 Award Winner – Richard E. Clark

Richard E. Clark is Professor Of Educational Psychology and Technology at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. He is also director of the Center for Cognitive Technology. Richard Clark is currently focusing on the design and practical application of research to the areas of complex learning, performance motivation and the use of technology in instruction. He teaches courses in adult learning theory, motivation research, and instructional design.

His most recent books include:  

  • Handling Complexity in Learning Environments: Theory and Research
    (2006, Elsevier, with Jan Elen;  
  • Turning Research Into Results: A Guide to Selecting the Right Performance Solutions
    (2002, CEP Press, with Fred Estes) which received the 2003 International Society for Performance Improvement Award of Excellence and
  • Learning from Media: Arguments, Analysis and Evidence
    (2001, Information Age Publishers).

In 2002, he won the Thomas F. Gilbert distinguished professional achievement award from the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) and in 2003 he received the Socrates award for excellence in teaching in the Rossier School of Education. He is an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 15, Educational Psychology), a Fellow in the Association of Applied Psychology and a Founding Fellow of the American Psychological Society.

Richard Clark is honored this year for (1) his lifetime of research and (2) for his exhaustive efforts over the years in bringing research to practice (especially as represented in his association with ISPI and his book (Turning Research Into Results – A Guide to Selecting the Right Performance Solutions )

Dick’s 1983 research review of media effects has become a classic.

Clark, R. E. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research, 53(4), 445-459.

With this one article, Dr. Clark brought a profound insight to the forefront: When two different types of instructional media (for example Video and PowerPoint) use the same learning method (in other words present the learning material in the same way), learning results will be equivalent. In other words, it’s not the media that matters, it’s the learning methods that matter. Of course, when different media utilize different learning methods, then results will not be equivalent. Dick’s grand insight helped pave the way for hundreds of thousands of instructional designers (and other learning professionals) to have intelligent conversations about learning media. While people will still ask us, “is e-learning better than classroom instruction?” we now know to counter their simplistic query with wisdom about how learning really works.

In 2006, Richard Clark contributed to another classic research review.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86.

Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) argue that learners do better when instructional designers help provide appropriate guidance during instruction.This article launched a thousand ships—spurring research, discussion, and changes in practice.

And just last year, in 2009, Dr. Clark contributed to the enormously important book, Constructivist Instruction: Success or Failure?, a book that pits researchers arguing each side of the issue to get to the bottom of this essential debate.

And here’s one little known fact: Dick worked as an Associate Producer for Television News and Public Affairs, WHYY-TV and WFIL-TV Philadelphia, PA back in 1964-1965, when I was a youngster in the Philadelphia area. So that I don’t flatter Dick too much, I’ll have to tell him that Gene London (a Philadelphia Mr. Rogers) was much higher on my radar back then. Still, I often wonder whether such practical experience is what allows some researchers to bridge the gap to practice, while other’s ideas lay dormant within the ivory tower.

For his lifetime of work and for his ability to speak practicality from the academy, we owe Richard Clark our most grateful thanks.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

Note: Because researchers pride themselves on precision, let me note that yesterday was the actual winter solstice, when the Neon Elephant Award is typically released. Something came up.

Neon Elephant Award 2009

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21st December 2009

Neon Elephant Award Announcement

Dr. Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, announces the winner of the 2009 Neon Elephant Award, given this year to Ruth Clark for her many years in leading the workplace learning-and-performance field with research-based insights and recommendations, and—by so doing—helping to professionalize our field.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

 

2009 Award Winner – Ruth Clark

Ruth Clark, EdD, a recognized specialist in instructional design and technical training, holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology from the University of Southern California. Prior to founding CLARK Training & Consulting, Dr. Clark served as training manager for Southern California Edison. She is past president of the International Society for Performance Improvement and author of six books and numerous articles. Dr. Clark is the 2006 recipient of the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award from ISPI. Ruth is the author of numerous books, searchable at Amazon.com under her full name Ruth Colvin Clark, including:

  • The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning,
  • Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load,
  • e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning,
  • Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing, and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials,
  • Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-based Instructional Materials,
  • Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement. Click to purchase it here: Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement

In addition to her lifetime of work, she is honored this year for the 3rd edition of her excellent book, published just a little over a year ago, Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement. Although this is said to be the 3rd edition, the research cited is fresh and up-to-date. This book may be Ruth’s masterwork. It covers a wide swath of the learning research. It’s written by a research translator at the height of her powers. It’s a must-read (and must-study) for everyone in the field of workplace learning-and-performance.

It’s not easy to examine learning research from refereed scientific journals and compile it so that it is practical for others. The time commitment is incredible, the research skills must be of the highest caliber—and it requires guts and gusto. Some of what the research reveals cuts against the common wisdom. Sometimes it chaffs and brings angst and heat. Ruth’s continuing perseverance over the last three decades is testament to her passion and tenacity. Her work itself is testament to her integrity and skills.

I would imagine that over the last two decades there is no one in our field who has improved the work of as many instructional designers, trainers, and e-learning developers as Ruth Clark. For me, she continues to be a beacon—proof that research-based work is valued by our profession. For our field, Ruth’s work is simply indispensible.

Using evidence-based reasoning and recommendations is not just useful in practice. It is what respected, successful professions are based on. We owe Ruth Clark our most grateful thanks.

 

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

Neon Elephant Award 2008

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20th December 2008

Neon Elephant Award Announcement

Dr. Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, announces the winner of the 2008 Neon Elephant Award, given this year to Robert Brinkerhoff for developing the Success Case evaluation method and for advocating that learning professionals play a more “courageous” role in their organizations.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

2008 Award Winner – Robert Brinkerhoff

Robert O. Brinkerhoff, EdD, professor emeritus, Western Michigan University is planning his retirement from his full-time work as a principal consultant and partner at Advantage Performance Group, where he has worked since 2005. His clients include Anglo-American Corp., Bank of America, Pitney Bowes, the Federal Aviation Administration, Dell, and the World Bank. He is the author of numerous books, including Courageous Training (with Tim Mooney), Success Case Method, High Impact Learning, and Telling Training’s Story.

In addition to his lifetime of work, he is honored this year for the development of the Success-Case Method and for his advocacy that learning professionals play a more “courageous” and integral part in organizational performance. Too many of us play order-taker roles when we should be partners in helping our organization/business get results. Brinkerhoff’s insight that overly-complex methodologies are generally ineffective because they can’t be understood easily by stakeholders is one that more thought leaders should embrace.

The Success Case Method, while it can’t provide a complete picture of the training-impact landscape, is an important tool in any training-evaluation toolkit. It embodies two key insights. First, training doesn’t have to prompt all trainees to utilize training successfully to have a major impact on the organization. If one person implements one insight that nets the organization millions of dollars, the overall impact of the training may hinge on that one result—not the average or median result from all the learners. The second key insight embodied in the Success Case Method is the understanding that we ought to be diagnosing the cause of training failures and then working to fix those failures. By diving into deep case analyses of failure instances, we can uncover obstacles and forces that are limiting training impact. To learn about the Success Case Method, see Brinkerhoff’s book “Telling Training’s Story: Evaluation Made Simple, Credible, and Effective.” You can purchase it by clicking here: Telling Training’s Story: Evaluation Made Simple, Credible, and Effective

Brinkerhoff’s latest book, entitled “Courageous Training: Bold Actions for Business Results,” and written with Tim Mooney, build’s on Brinkerhoff’s years of experience in evaluating learning. He has seen how training succeeds and how it fails. He uses wisdom gained from these evaluations to lay out a comprehensive and practical process for going from needs-identification to results. Mooney and Brinkerhoff’s book challenges us as learning professionals to go outside our comfort zones to make true performance impacts. It is an important book in the mold of Wick, Pollock, Jefferson, and Flanagan’s “Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning.” You can purchase it by clicking here: Courageous Training: Bold Actions for Business Results (Bk Business)

 

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

Neon Elephant Award 2007

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22nd December 2007

Neon Elephant Award Announcement

Dr. Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, announces the winners of the 2007 Neon Elephant Award, given this year to Sharon Shrock and Bill Coscarelli for advocating against the use of memorization-level questions in learning measurement and for the use of authentic assessment items, including scenario-based questions, simulations, and real-world skills tests.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

 

2007 Award Winners – Sharon Shrock, Bill Coscarelli

Sharon Shrock and Bill Coscarelli have worked together for over 25 years building world-class expertise in the area of learning measurement and criterion-referenced test development. Their lifetime of work embodies the values of the Neon Elephant Award.

The third edition of their book Criterion-Referenced Test Development: Technical and Legal Guidelines for Corporate Training, released late this year, is a standard reference in the learning-and-performance field, having won two professional society awards as the year’s outstanding publication. Their workshops and consulting on Level 2 Assessment and Certification are based on sound methodology and real-world expertise.

In addition to their lifetime of work, they are honored this year for their paradigm-altering recommendation that memorization-level questions are inadequate for use in measuring learning as it relates to workplace competence. This recommendation is absolutely stunning given that current practice in evaluating learning relies, almost without exception, on memorization-level questions. That the most highly-regarded text on criterion-referenced testing advocates for this change—especially given its focus on legal liabilities—should send shockwaves through our industry.

Bios and more information about Sharon and Bill can be found on their website at www.shrockandcoscarelli.com.

You can read a review of Sharon and Bill’s book on Will Thalheimer’s blog at this link.

You can purchase their book through Amazon.com by clicking on this link: Criterion-referenced Test Development: Technical and Legal Guidelines for Corporate Training

 

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

Neon Elephant Award 2006

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22nd December 2006

Neon Elephant Award Announcement

Dr. Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, announces the inaugural edition of the Neon Elephant Award, awarded for 2006 to Cal Wick of the Fort Hill Company for leading the development of the first commercially-viable training-follow-through e-learning software and his work as co-author of the book, The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results.

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

 

2006 Award Winner – Cal Wick

Cal Wick embodies the values of the Neon Elephant Award. In 1999, he founded the Fort Hill Company because of his frustration with the way typical management-training programs produced virtually no impact when the learners returned to their jobs. Cal’s answer to this problem was the development of Friday5s—an e-learning platform that enables training results to be channeled to on-the-job implementation. By tracking learners’ progress toward goals and connecting the learners’ managers and learning administrators to the progress of implementation, Friday5s enables a revolution in how we think about training. No longer is training about information. No longer is it an event. With an online training-follow-through platform, implementation can become part of the training contract. Since the 1980’s the field has moved from training to performance improvement. Cal and his team’s invention provides a bridge between training and performance. It’s not one or the other. The goal is on-the-job performance. Now training can be outfitted to support that performance.

Cal and his team at the Fort Hill Company do more than create and market their products and services. By utilizing results from both research and practice and by honestly evaluating their own on-the-job results, they have been able to build a continuing cycle of improvement in their own work efforts. They’ve also compiled their own learning in The Six Disciplines book, published this past April (2006), making it easy for the rest of us to improve what we’re doing. In the book, which I’ve previously reviewed as “nothing short of revolutionary,” they’ve laid out a coherent and well-tested system for getting training results. It’s not just about training-follow-through software. It’s about an attitude and a complete methodology for getting business results. To get the 2nd edition of the book, click here: The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results (Pfeiffer Essential Resources for Training and HR Professionals)

 

Click here to learn more about the Neon Elephant Award…

Neon Elephant Award

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The Neon Elephant Award

The Neon Elephant Award is awarded to a person, team, or organization exemplifying enlightenment, integrity, and innovation in the field of workplace learning and performance. Announced in December—during the time of year when the northern hemisphere turns away from darkness toward the light and hope of warmer days to come—the Neon Elephant Award honors those who have truly changed the way we think about the practice of learning and performance improvement. Award winners are selected for demonstrated success in pushing the field forward in significant paradigm-altering ways while maintaining the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. 

 

Why “Neon Elephant?”

The elephant represents learning, power, strength, and the importance of nurturing the community. The glow of neon represents enlightenment, illumination, and a spark of something unique and alluring.

 

Selection Methodology

The award is based purely on merit and the criteria detailed above. Proposals are not accepted, nor are any entrance fees solicited or accepted. While advice on the selection is sought from industry thought leaders, Dr. Will Thalheimer of Work-Learning Research is the final arbiter. Awards will only be made in years when exceptional contributions to the workplace learning and performance field are apparent.

 

Winners

The 2025 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Matt Beane for writing the book, The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in the Age of Intelligent Machines—and for his many years researching how humans do work interacting with machines and the people with whom they work.

The 2024 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Mary C. Murphy and Julie Dirksen—Mary for writing the book, Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations; and for Julie for writing the book, Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change—and for their many contribution to research and research translation.

The 2023 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Annie Murphy Paul for writing the book The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain—and for her lifetime of work bringing research wisdom to light through her books, journalism, writing, and speaking.

The 2022 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Donald Clark for writing the book Learning Experience Design: How to Create Effective Learning that Works and for the Great Minds On Learning webcast and podcast done in collaboration with John Helmer—and for his tireless work of many years advocating for research-based learning designs and effective innovations in learning technology.

The 2021 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Clark Quinn and Patti Shank—to Clark Quinn for writing the book, Learning Science for Instructional Designers and Patti Shank for writing the book Write Better Multiple-Choice Questions to Assess Learning—and for their many years translating learning research into practical recommendations.

The 2020 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Mirjam Neelen and Paul Kirschner for writing the book, Evidence-Informed Learning Design: Use Evidence to Create Training Which Improves Performance—and for their many years publishing their blog 3-Star Learning Experiences.

The 2019 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to David Epstein for writing the book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, and for his many years as a journalist and science-inspired truth teller.

The 2018 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Clark Quinn for writing a book debunking the learning myths, Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions: Debunking Learning Myths and Superstitions—and for his many years advocating for research-based practices in the workplace learning field.

The 2017 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Patti Shank for writing and publishing two research-to-practice books this year, Write and Organize for Deeper Learning and Practice and Feedback for Deeper Learning—and for her many years advocating for research-based practices in the workplace learning field.

The 2016 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Pedro De Bruyckere, Paul A. Kirschner, and Casper D. Hulshof for their book Urban Myths about Learning and Education—a book that provides a research-based reality check on the myths and misinformation that float around the learning field.

The 2015 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Julie Dirksen for her book, Design for How People Learn—a book that wonderfully conveys practical, research-based wisdom through the authentic voice of an experienced instructional designer and strategist.

The 2014 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel for their book, Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning—a book that brilliantly conveys scientific principles of learning in prose that is easy to digest, comprehensive and true in its recommendations, highly-credible, and impossible to ignore or forget.

The 2013 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Gary Klein for his many years doing research and practice in naturalistic decision making, cognitive task analysis, and insight learning–and for reminding us that real-world explorations of human behavior are essential in enabling us to distill key insights.

The 2012 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to K. Anders Ericsson for his many years conducting research on expertise and creating a body of knowledge that has inspired many others to translate his research into recommendations for use by performance-improvement professionals.

The 2011 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Jeroen van Merriënboer for his many years conducting research on learning and translating that research into practical models for use by learning professionals.

The 2010 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Richard E. Clark for his many years in leading the workplace learning-and-performance field by bridging the gap between academic research and practical application.

The 2009 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Ruth Clark for her many years in leading the workplace learning-and-performance field with research-based insights and recommendations, and—by so doing—helping to professionalize our field.

The 2008 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Robert Brinkerhoff for developing the Success Case evaluation method and for advocating that learning professionals play a more “courageous” role in their organizations.

The 2007 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Sharon Shrock and Bill Coscarelli for advocating against the use of memorization-level questions in learning measurement and for the use of authentic assessment items, including scenario-based questions, simulations, and real-world skills tests.

The 2006 Neon Elephant Award was awarded to Cal Wick of the Fort Hill Company for his work developing methodologies and software to support learning transfer.

Acknowledging Annie’s Career — A Thank You Note

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It’s not every day that a valued client “retires” from a
company to which she has devoted a good part of her career. I’ve known Annie
Laures for almost half a decade in my role as an outside consultant and
work-learning auditor. I’d like to take a moment and acknowledge her work at
Walgreens—and wish her well as she begins a new adventure as a consultant to
chief learning officers, training directors, and learning professionals.

Annie retired as Walgreens Director of Learning Services
after a 32-year career helping Walgreens’ pharmacists, store managers, service
clerks, corporate managers and others learn and succeed in their jobs. 

Here's Annie's picture from a relaxed informal moment.

AnnieLaures

Annie’s accomplishments are too many and varied to recite
here. Here’s a short list. In her learning-executive role heading up learning
services, Annie directed the overall learning strategy for Walgreens, led
multiple teams and units of learning professionals, and worked closely with
business management and operations. Annie has also led the Performance
Development and Training and Development units at Walgreens. She’s led
leadership development. She led the transition from classroom-only training to
an integrated e-learning system. She’s created customer-service initiatives, developed
videos, done executive coaching, managed instructional design, built 360-degree
instruments, and helped Walgreens as it merged with other corporations.

Annie has long been active in the International Society of
Performance Improvement, won an award, and earned her Certified Performance
Technology designation. Annie has presented at various industry conferences,
including a presentation she and I did together titled “Is Your Learning Organization Healthy?”

Annie’s colleagues remember her as a person of integrity,
wisdom, and a deep and practical knowledge of learning. They also remember her
as someone with a quirky sense of humor. “Often
she would tell you a story that was off-the-wall but she would do it with such
a straight face that you believe her. One time she mentioned that the new hire
missed her dog so much that we agreed she could take it to work.”

For me, Annie represented the best kind of client. She
wanted to do the right thing and create learning interventions that really
worked. She was politically savvy enough know what would fly and what would be
derailed by management. She worked within the system to get the best results
possible. Annie was also just a joy to work with—friendly, open, direct, personable,
and caring. She also had great instincts about learning and performance. Her
recommendations and thinking were almost always aligned with research and best
practices. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Annie was her
willingness to be open to new ideas and improvement in learning-and-performance
design. Her inquisitive non-defensive nature helped her and Walgreens Learning
to continue moving forward in continuing cycles of improvement. Annie just
seemed to want to do what was right for the learners of Walgreens. It never
appeared to be about her.

When a person has a passion to make things better, when they
are focused on the general good (and not themselves so much), when they are
skilled at getting things done, and when they are open—truly open—to learning,
the world will become a better place because of their actions. To me, that
seems the story of Annie Laures career at Walgreens.

I want to acknowledge Annie’s Walgreens work and also thank
Annie for hiring me when my research-and-consulting practice really needed the
work. I also want to wish Annie the best as she opens up her consulting
practice. If you’d like to inquire about Annie’s consulting services, contact
her at this email.

Thanks Annie!!

Congrats to Hilary Wilder on her Fulbright Scholarship

Back in the early 1990's I was involved in a project which we ended up calling the Classroom, Inc. project. It was a joint venture between Teachers College, Columbia University (where I was a doctoral student); Morgan Stanley, the Mariposa Foundation led by Morgan Stanley's COO Lewis Bernard, and the New York City Public Schools. The project was designed to help at-risk kids in Brooklyn learn about business and to empower them to think like business leaders. It was a great project and has blossomed into a full not-for-profit organization that continues to do great work—taking it way beyond what we were able to do.

I was the project leader on the learning-development simulation-development side of the project. We built two computer-based simulations and accompanying learning materials. The programming wizard and educational technology guru on the project was Hilary Wilder, who played many other roles as well. It has been a pleasure to see her career unfold over the years since then.

Recently Hilary won a Fulbright scholarship to do educational technology work in Namibia, where she has been involved for years.

WP Perspective, a publication of William Paterson University, where Dr. Wilder is an Associate Professor, published the following article about Hilary's Fulbright. I couldn't be more proud. Congratulations Hilary!!

Hilary Wilder, associate professor in the educational leadership
and professional studies department, has been named a Fulbright Scholar for the
spring 2010 semester. She will be lecturing and conducting research at the
University of Namibia (UNAM). The university, with an enrollment of 10,000 students,
is the sparsely populated, African country’s only comprehensive four-year
institution of higher education.

Wilder will also be establishing Namibia’s first and only
master’s program in educational technology, her area of expertise.

“The people of Namibia are very open to new ideas,” Wilder
says. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to develop an educational
technology master’s degree program, in a country which so desperately needs it.
I’m hoping this program will help create a solid cadre of local expertise in educational
technology.”

Her work dovetails with a national development plan established
by the Namibian government called Vision 2030, which calls for a shift to a
knowledge-based economy by 2030. “Before independence in 1990, Namibia’s
education system was based on apartheid practices and the majority of its children
were taught through low-level rote-learning, often in rural bush schools with
no resources. Today they are eager to move forward and ensure that their
children will be successful and productive twenty-first century global
citizens. The government, private sector, non-governmental organizations and
international organizations such as the World Bank are all committed to making
this happen“ she says.

Wilder will be working with teachers who will go on to become
educational technology experts in their schools— helping their peers integrate
technology literacy into the curriculum and their teaching. “There will be a
trickle-down effect,” Wilder says. “My students will learn the technology
integration skills, and take that back to their fellow teachers. The idea is
that by 2030 the students who are then taught by those teachers will have acquired
the technological literacy skills necessary to be a part of the knowledge-based
economy.”

  
WP Perspectives, Vol.7 No. 1 April 2009, p. 7

One of the things that sets Hilary apart is that she is able to bring together a background in learning and educational theory and research (as a graduate of both Teachers College Columbia AND Harvard schools of education) WHILE at the same time bringing practical wisdom to her work (with her real-world experience as programmer, instructional designer, and educational technology specialist). The ability to bridge the theory/research side and the practice side is fundamental to making on-the-ground improvement in the learning field. We can all aspire to follow Hilary's path.

Geary Rummler Tribute at ISPI. Will’s Notes and Reflections.

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Tonight at the ISPI conference in Orlando, I attended a tribute to Geary Rummler, who recently died after a long and distinguished career in the “Performance-Improvement Field.”

I didn’t know Geary, so I didn’t know how I would react or how long I would stay. I brought my laptop to do emails while I listened. I sat in the back of the cavernous ballroom.

I became transfixed as speaker after speaker who had worked closely with Geary talked about his work and the contributions he made to the field.

The following is my stream of consciousness note-taking with some later annotations. Not worthy of a tribute, but perhaps enough to help me remember some of Geary’s work—and perhaps enough to encourage YOU to take a look at his books and writings.

Notes and Annotations

Entrepreneurial experimentation. Science and sweat. Learning through trial and error.
Creating one-week program on programmed instruction. Didn’t have time to tell, to present objectives, etc. Showed them, had them practice. Curiosity, interested in what did NOT work, not just what DID work. Pre-Testing then Programmed Instruction then Maintenance of Behavior. Annotation: Even way back in the 1960’s and 1970’s someone was thinking about maintaining performance after training, and we are still struggling to get most of the field to do this.

After the initial workshop was developed and deployed, then Management of Behavior Change Workshop. Then General Systems theory workshop. Started small and specific—built up to systems.
During 1960’s Geary and colleagues wouldn’t do training without a thorough front-end needs analysis. 

Annotation: Hmmm. With today’s pressures, many are eschewing FEA.

Geary rebuffed a man who insulted one of his woman colleagues by telling him, “Shut up, she knows more than you do.”

Praxis (a Geary company) had a mission (we didn’t earn that much money speaker said)—to make the world a better place by improving the place where people worked. Annotation:

One of Geary’s former colleagues sang a song in tribute (a tear-inducing moment).

Geary was an engineer. Geary worked with Tom Gilbert. Helped plan Motorola University. Did coaching of functional managers of manufacturing curriculum. One of nice things about Geary is that as a consultant as he learned—he would even tell about the mistakes he made.

Quote from Geary (paraphrased): “Beware of false prophets, the HR people, who would rank and rate you, but don’t really understand the organization.”

Article: “You want performance, not just training.”

Did Situation analysis. Asked these questions: (1) What is happening now? (2) What should be happening?, THEN Define desired outputs. “As-is” “To-Be”

This all become six-sigma, etc. Annotation: Several people said Geary’s work became basis for the Six-Sigma movement, TQM, etc.

Geary said: You’ve got a lot of white space on the org chart you need to manage.

Annotation: People like Geary and his colleagues have been doing very valuable stuff for years (For example, they got cycle time from 17 weeks to 5 days), but why hasn’t this spread? Why hasn’t this performance-based approach gradually knocked-out the dominant training-based approach?

Rummler stuff got repackaged into 6-sigma stuff. Motorola bought license from Geary Rummler’s stuff into 6-sigma and TQM.

Geary’s true legacy: Changed the lens we all look through, moving from training to performance improvement.

Provided a common language:
White space, disconnects, organization as a system, cross-functional processes.

Geary Rummler: Managing the whitespace:

Performance Design Lab (Came out of retirement and started/joined this company).
Geary retired, but had to come back and knew the world didn’t get it and had to get back in the game, forming Performance Design Lab in 2000, where they were focusing on performance management systems (maintaining  improvement after the performance improvement).

Serious Performance Consulting. A Geary Book.

Geary always had to have a vehicle for packaging  his insights into his workshops and his books in ways that would make sense for people.

A speaker said, “He believed that it could be possible to create a prosperous society by construction a good system that will hold successful organizations and generate superior results.”

Two places that Geary touched, who seem to want to use Geary’s work to improve the world. Performance Improvement Institute in Cd. Obregon. Sonora Inst of Tehcnol and norwest of Mexico.

Geary Quote: “We cannot continue working the way we are expecting to get different results.”
Speaker quote (paraphrased): “Geary would share his materials more than anyone I know, I think because he was a learner, he wanted us all to know enough so that he could  discuss with us and we could learn together.”

Drinking alcohol and developing relationships with good discussions was a recurring theme. Many stories about drinks being drunk.

“If you put a good performer in a bad system the system wins every time.” Quote from Geary Rummler.

One speaker, quieted by tears, haltingly spoke about imagining Geary becoming a star in the sky…

Annotation: I really didn’t know that much about Geary’s work, but now I am motivated to learn more. Also, I’m glad I went because it gave me nice perspective on the field, even knowing that this “history” was filtered through the lens of tribute protocol.

Bottom line: I was touched and I’m motivated to learn more. Thanks to ISPI for providing this, for all the speakers (who I apologize for failing to capture their names), and for all the people who came to Orlando especially for the tribute.

Here are two of Geary's most popular books:

Report on Learning Management Systems

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Training Media Review, a hearteningly unbiased source, just releases its 2009 report on Learning Management Systems.

Click to learn more…