WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Three Steps to Learning Programs That Engage, Inspire, and Connect
By Sara Wildberger R
obert Richman is a former culture strategist and was the co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative
program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture. Richman built Zappos Insights from a small website to a thriving multimillion-dollar business teaching over 25,000 students per year. Through his work, he has been helpful for improving the em- ployee culture at hundreds of companies. At the Senior Living Executive Conference
& Expo, The Official Meeting of Argentum, held in September, he shared some insights into his innovative techniques to build cul- ture. He is the author of The Culture Blueprint and has taught culture at companies such as Google, Toyota, and Eli Lilly. As part of a longer interview, he shared
his top three pieces of guidance on creating learning programs that employees want to participate in and that have an effect on performance.
1. It must serve a want or a need. “The first principle needs to be in place before the program even begins: Make sure that this is something people either want or need,” Richman says. And for that to happen, the trainer or learning developer needs to ensure this from the start. Want and need are the two entry points that make a learning program effective. It’s easier if you’re offering something
workers want, Richman says—that’s pretty obvious. But if it’s learning that they may not want but do need, your next step is explain- ing the “why.” Why do they need to learn this? Explain it to yourself, and to them. “If they don't know the why, they tune
out,” Richman says. “The why needs to be explained such that they can really under-
stand the importance of learning and why they should pay attention.”
2. It must be co-created. To improve engagement, Richman supports an interactive, Socratic style of teaching, in which the entire group collaborates on solv- ing a problem or determining what needs to be learned. Questioning basic assumptions and allowing for alternative views is part of the process, while the leader brings the group toward the goal. “It should be an experience where they are participating—the whole time, ideally. Rath- er than just shooting information at them, it’s done in more of a Q-and-A process,” he says. “For example, if we’re talking about great
service: First, let’s ask why great service is important. Then they contribute their an- swers, and then the trainer will fill in any holes that were missed. It’s making people think, rather than just giving them answers. “Then you can ask, what’s really bad service?
Let’s talk about that. That can even be kind of fun, with some stories and even jokes in there. “Then you ask for some examples of
great service. The trainer can add in other parts to it and keep it going. “After this, you might go over the ideas
with the group to sort out what can we do immediately to get great service, versus what additional help and resources is need- ed to do that. The core concept is that it’s co-created,”
Richman says. “They’re engaging the whole time. They’re interacting—it’s not just in- formation getting delivered.”
3. Know your Standard of Success. The third essential piece is something Rich- man calls the SOS: Standard of Success.
42 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
Though Leader Profile
Robert Richman Former culture strategist Zappos
Before getting started, determine what this will be. How will you know the training worked? What’s the result you’re looking for? How will you measure it? For instance, to measure the success and
quality of the course itself, you can use an internal rating scale, such as a pulse survey asking how likely are you to recommend this learn- ing session to other co-workers? “Another measure is to look at what comes
out of the session. At the end of the session, you decide the actions the group is going to take and set a time to meet to see the results.” The first measure, Richman says, is “sub-
jective, experiential-level feedback: Did they like it, would they recommend it? “The second is when you say, now that
we’ve come out of this, we’re going to do these things. We’ll check back in three weeks and see how we did; did it work? Did something unexpected happen? That gives a deadline to the feedback process.” Involving the group in measuring the
SOS, learning results, and sharing feedback helps ensure staff can make a connection between what they’re learning and the real world of their jobs—which is very import- ant for learning engagement. And after the feedback, a new cycle of
learning can begin that concentrates on a want or need that surfaced in the process.
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