FOSORÉ: A Case Study
Recent discussions with a number of senior executives from different companies in different sectors revealed a shared concern around the sense that many of their managers seem to lack the commercial acumen required to perform in challenging times.
So, What Are They Doing About It?
It seems that the general approach of their L&D departments to address this concern has been to encourage managers to enroll in external courses along the theme of "Finance for Non-financial Managers" or similar. In many instances, due to workload, managers have been encouraged to choose online courses from sites such as GetSmarter. The rationale is that these are credible courses as they are offered and certified by internationally recognized tertiary institutions.
And The Outcome?
The courses are expensive, but the managers completing the courses seem to enjoy them and value the opportunity to add a prestigious certificate to their resumé. But does the company really get "bang for their buck" from this approach? Many of the executives were not convinced that there was evidence of such.
What Is The Alternative?
Real learning requires specific input and real engagement from the top. If you have this problem or a similar one, try the following approach.
Gather a suitable team of senior executives, including the CEO or MD. Use your preferred facilitation method to identify a series of subjects/learning interventions that will address the problem. Prioritize these and build a series of micro-courses that will address each identified learning opportunity. Then implement the micro-courses one at a time via your company LMS.
How Do We Implement This Approach?
Let's take a real example.
Understanding and applying the concept of "opportunity cost" may be seen as an important aspect of developing improved commercial acumen amongst managers and their teams throughout the organization. Here is an example of a microlearning course developed to address this topic.
The program is loaded onto the company LMS and the CEO/MD sends out a communiqué to all managers via the LMS or via his/her preferred means. Our experience is that a short video clip of the CEO/MD giving a message along the following lines works best:
The CEO/MD greets managers in his/her accustomed style and introduces the program in his/her own words as follows:
"I believe that refreshing and applying the concept of "opportunity cost" is something that our business can benefit hugely from, as can many of us in our private lives. Please do the following:
Complete our new Opportunity Cost course. It should take less than 30 minutes, including completing the MCQ that tests your understanding.
Convene a meeting with your team within the next week. Show them the Opportunity Cost PPT video and facilitate a discussion on the topic of opportunity cost. You can print the learning aid and scan the QR code on it using the QR code app on your smartphone, and you can rewatch the video anytime, anywhere to refresh your memory.
Once you feel that your team has a good grasp of the concept, facilitate a discussion with them as to how this concept can benefit you as a team. This should be documented and submitted to your divisional manager within the next two weeks.
Divisional managers will review these submissions and submit the ones that they feel have the best commercial benefit to the organization to the executive team.
The executive team will choose and publish the best submissions for the benefit of the entire company. And, of course, there will be prizes for the best 3 submissions. I know that we are going to get some incredible outcomes, and we as an executive team look forward to the interesting discussions that will evolve over the next few weeks."
The CEO/MD signs off in his/her preferred style.
Try This Approach, It Really Works
It really works because it actions FOSORÉ. We don't mind if you use our Opportunity Cost course if it can work for your organization. The "bang for the buck" will be tangible, so please try it and measure the results for yourself.
The Opportunity Cost course took us a few hours to develop, and it cost $2000 USD (the same cost as putting two managers through a course on GetSmarter). It is not about the frills or the "bells and whistles." It is about engaging real learning and application that will impact not just two managers, but rather the entire organization. Essentially, this is the concept of "opportunity cost" in action. Developing your own courses builds systemic, institutional capacity that will benefit current and future managers. Importantly, this capacity will not be lost when the managers who have attended external courses move on.
By using the same template and sourcing appropriate YouTube videos presented by relevant experts, you can build similar microlearning courses in a few hours, and at no more cost than the time it takes. You can also convert existing course material into microlearning courses. Then, if you have developed a holistic learning universe for your organization, it can be populated in a logical and cohesive manner so that microlearning courses aggregate into modules and modules into certificated courses. This approach also facilitates easy-search for on-the-job support, as and when required.
Get real, try this approach and take actionable learning to a new level in your organization. Better still, identify SMEs (Subject Matter Experts), teach them and encourage them to build micro-courses, so that their knowledge and expertise become their legacy, which resides and iterates in the organization for the benefit of current and future employees.
