Developing Executive Skills Using the Lights! Camera! Action! method

Developing Executive Skills Using the Lights!Camera!Action!

Method By Francis Wade

High –Stake Interventions

These materials may not be reproduced, publicly displayed, or used to create derivate products in any form without prior written permission from: Framework Consulting Inc. 3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood, FL 33021, USA 954-323-2552 www.fwconsulting.com

Lights!Camera!Action!

Introduction The latest communication technologies such as Blackberries and cell-phones, have enabled Caribbean executives to stay in closer touch with their operations than ever before. While this has radically improved the speed with which business crises are dealt with, it has left executives more sensitive than ever to how their time is spent, and more demanding that they spend their time well.

It has therefore never been more difficult to convince them to spend time to attend training classes in the skills they need to do their jobs. Traditional classroom training looks to them to be slow, pedantic and pedestrian, and while they may make it to a session or two, they constantly have at least one eye on what is happening back at the office, and are using one or more of the latest tools to manage the office remotely.

At the same time, CEO’s and other executives are constantly on the lookout for attention-keeping training that imparts new skills quickly.

Traditional classroom lectures looks to them (executives) to be slow, pedantic and pedestrian.

In this paper we describe the challenge, and a possible solution to the dilemma of delivering training that engages leaders who manage from minute to minute.

We recommend The Lights!Camera!Action!

Methodology as a way to engage executives in practical skills training. It uses recently developed video technology combined with group feedback to deliver interventions that are unforgettable.

These flexible principles can be used to design any training in which critical skills must be imparted, and in which time is of the essence. With the right trainers and infrastructure, any company can deliver training that gets the job done in record time to some of its toughest internal customers.

Training Caribbean Executives – The Challenge There is a very good reason that the BlackBerry device is known as the “Crackberry” among executives. Their addiction to the gadget and the instant, portable email and telephony it provides is nothing short of addictive. It has helped to shorten attention spans dramatically, as executives use them to get very, very close to what is happening in each minute of their operations.

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Without Blackberries they use other devices such as wireless PDA’s, laptops, email and cell-phones to accomplish the same result – the BlackBerry is just the most recent invention to combine several of these functions into one.

Caribbean executives using these new technologies are both blessed, and cursed by having them at their fingertips. They are specifically designed to interrupt executives in mid-sentence with a ring, beep or buzz while they are in meetings, on the phone, in face-to-face conversations and even when they are giving speeches!

Convincing them to spend 2-3 days in training, even to learn critical skills, is becoming near impossible.

Even when top managers are convinced that the need exists, in their minds, spending long periods of time away from day-to-day business could spell disaster. Very few are eager to take the risk.

In a recent study by Watson Wyatt cited in the book “The Future of Executive Development,” only 32% of U.S. managers rated the performance of training and development as “good”… even though 81% of managers rated the importance of training and development to be “high.”

In the Caribbean, research plus our direct experience suggest that a top executive must be involved in more of an operation’s critical decisions than his/her counterpart in developed countries. We attribute this in part to a willingness by Caribbean workers to defer to executives to make even routine decisions. An executive in the region therefore plays a pivotal role in what happens in the business, making the pressure to stay on top of things even more intense.

Their wariness to take time to attend training is therefore somewhat justified. In addition, they tend to be very smart people who assimilate information rapidly.

Most of what exists in the area of skill-building, they have already heard. They get bored quickly when they sense that they are spending time hearing ideas they already know. They are probably preaching these same principles to their staff, day in and day out.

The result is that those who champion executive training do so warily, knowing that they must deliver a high quality intervention to justify the time spent. The search for a well-designed event is often an arduous one.

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At the same time, the Caribbean executive is a professional who is eager to learn, and most are eager for the end-result – better skills that allow them to be more effective in their communication with people, and management of critical human resources. Furthermore, CEO’s across the region are eager to develop their bench-strength of managerial talent, and are looking for ways to develop the right skills quickly.

They know what they want – just not the way to get it.

An Elegant Solution The Lights!Camera!Action! Method was developed as an economical away to develop very smart, competent and highly trained professionals.

Its genesis lies in one of the top management consulting firms in the world.

Over a period of 2 years in the mid 1990’s, the firm chartered the development of a hybrid methodology for training consultants in key coaching skills through its Toronto and New York offices. The development team was lead by Harvard PhD, Grady McGonagill, a top designer of training to the firm.

As the course was being perfected, the firm kept pushing the designers to compress the agenda to suit the busy commitments of the consultants. Given the fact that the firm bills its clients at hourly rates that are among the highest in the world, time indeed meant real money.

The result was a 6 hour skills-training course that remains the highest ranked programme in the firm. This is no mean feat, given that the average consultant spends several weeks in training each year.

A Partner from Framework Consulting attended the initial pilot, and has been a member of the faculty delivering the programme since its inception. Confida FL Inc and Framework partnered to use these principles for a multi-company, crossregional Caribbean company, using the essential principles that have made the training a success in the global firm.

Sessions can be adapted in countless ways to meet specific training needs, for any industry or any company.

The Lights!Camera!Action! Method consists of a set of design principles that can be used as the basis for any skills training. It involves a combination of video-based feedback, group coaching and individual training to provide executives with an intense practice session in critical skills.

These sessions can be adapted in countless ways to meet specific training needs, for any industry and any company as the

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case content is derived solely from the organization itself. Some typical skills that can be developed include listening, coaching, feedback, presentation, selling, customer service, project management, training, facilitation and more.

Using the Principles of Lights!Camera!Action!

Once the overall training needs are established, and the particular skills to be honed are well defined, the design process can begin.

Design Process The design process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the materials being used.

1) The first step is to lay out the entire workshop. A typical session includes a short plenary session in which general principles are presented, followed by extensive practice and coaching breakout sessions. While the plenary may be conducted in a large group, the breakout sessions include no more than 6 participants.

2) The second step is to develop the materials to be presented. A series of interviews are conducted with executives to understand some of the real-life issues that they are dealing with as they work towards the company’s business goals.

3) The data from the interviews is then combined with the training needs, to produce a series of customized cases that involve 2 participants. The first role, the protagonist, is that of an individual trying to accomplish a particular goal in the conversation. An example of a protagonist is: a manager who is trying to convince an employee that he/she has what it takes to undertake a difficult project.

The second role, the player, is designed for someone to provide the protagonist with a challenge, and they generally play the part of a difficult individual. The player is essentially acting.

In the actual training, both are given a one page outline with the role they are to play, and some secret facts about the case at hand that are hidden from the other person. The player is expected to follow the outline, only. The protagonist’s job is to accomplish a given result using the best approach they can.

Each case needs to present enough difficulty to provoke a failure, unless the protagonist uses the most effective techniques.

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Programme Description The programme can be broken down into the following sections : • Introductions and Set-Up • Concept Presentation in Plenary • Break-Out Sessions of Alternated Taping and Debriefing • Closing At the start of the workshop, the participants and facilitators are introduced, and the purpose, agenda and time limits of the training are detailed.

Then, the basic principles underlying the skills being practiced are presented in a short lecturette. The assumption here is that a group of executives would have already been exposed to these concepts, and they are provided for them as reference material for the debrief discussion and coaching that occurs later in the session.

During the next section of the workshop, participants break into groups of 5-6 with a single facilitator, in a room equipped with video-recording and playback equipment. Two participants are assigned to each case. One-page descriptions of the protagonist and player roles are handed to each person for them to prepare for the role-play.

For each case, a conversation between the two participants is recorded on video tape for 5-6 minutes. After the taping is completed, the tape is extensively debriefed by the entire group. The debrief lasts from 30-60 minutes.

The program ends after all the participants have concluded their role-plays, and the facilitator leads a closing discussion.

Debriefing the Video Role-Play The goal of the debriefs is two-fold. Each protagonist has a unique opportunity to get specific feedback on what actions succeeded or failed in the role-play.

Also, in the process of coaching the protagonist, and examining the experience of the player, the group is able to see what underlying principles related to the skills being learned actually work in practice, and how. These two goals are accomplished through observation and discussion – the facilitator need hardly press the point as it becomes quite obvious which approaches are more effective than not.

The debrief discussion is where the course comes alive.

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After the protagonist explains what his/her goals were during the interaction, the tape is started and the group is encouraged to call out “Pause” when an important learning moment, comment, piece of feedback or question is noticed by any member. The tape is stopped, re-started, rewound and fast-forwarded to the most salient moments recorded.

The debrief discussion is where the course comes alive.

The discussion that ensues includes an honest and open discovery of what is working, or not working at different points.

Varying points of view are shared. The protagonist is asked to reflect on them.

The player shares what his/her feelings were at that precise moment in the roleplay. Suggestions are made for better approaches. The protagonist tries some of the suggestions in 1 minute, unrecorded “replays.” The group gives further feedback. Underlying concepts are discussed using content from the lecturette presented earlier. The conversation ends when time runs out and the protagonist shares what he/she has learned.

The facilitator works to shape the discussion into useful learning content for the group, emphasizing the concepts and skills that the training is meant to teach, demonstrate and reinforce.

Results With the proper design, setup and facilitation, the debrief session can be remarkable. What makes it not just remarkable, but memorable are the following: • replaying the videotape gives the coaching a basis that is generally missing in daily performance management. The detailed viewing of the 56 minute tape allows for very specific, fact-based observations and coaching • the bulk of the feedback given is coming from other participants (rather than the facilitator,) which allows participants to build on their working relationships with each other, and knowledge of the company’s issues • individual learning occurs that is specific to the needs of each participant • concepts are learned, and then immediately used in the replays, rather than just in theory • the facilitator coaches participants in how to coach each other, in real time By the end of the session, each participant has received multiple sources of direct feedback, and has had an opportunity to join in the coaching of each of the other participants. This unique give and take allows for quick, and incisive

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By the end of the session, each participant has received multiple sources of direct feedback

learning. For the first time they are able to learn what is working or not working in specific detail, helping them to make immediate behaviour changes.

The most reliable demonstration of the success of the workshop are the individual shifts that participants are able to make, from their first performance on videotape and subsequent, coached replays.

Participants can see a difference being made in front of their eyes, that gives them confidence in their ability to effectively coach changes in behaviour with the right approach. They are also able to prove to themselves that certain approaches work better than others in the majority of cases.

In our experience, even the reluctant participant benefits greatly, and in the rare case in which observers are permitted, even they benefit from the quality of the coaching that is provided.

Case Studies In one case, a protagonist who had no idea that he dominated conversations was able to see for the first time his own behaviour on videotape. This executive essentially delivered a “speech� to a player who was only allowed to speak for a mere ten seconds of a 5 minute dialogue. He was finally able to see what others had been telling him for years, giving him the impetus he had never had to try other alternatives. This single insight told him more about himself than he expected to learn, effectively shedding light on a significant blind-spot in his own development and upward mobility.

In a second case, a protagonist was able to take 6 attempts to have a successful, direct conversation demonstrating sound technique.

She had always felt that people preferred an indirect approach, only to learn that it aroused unwanted suspicion and fear. While the new direct approach felt uncomfortable, repeated feedback from her group taught her that it was much more effective in practice.

He was finally able to see for himself what others had been telling for years

Another participant was astounded to see the extent to which he missed simple cues, due to his weak listening skills. On the video-tape, he could see clearly that the player was saying the things he wanted to hear, but he was so focused on his own words that he did not hear them, further alienating the player in the conversation. He only began to notice these cues when he was able to practice

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one of the critical skills, after he had convinced himself that this was a significant area of needed improvement.

Lastly, a participant was able to see the effect of her overly blunt style when the player shut down and withdrew from the conversation. She could not see what she had done wrong, until the tape was replayed slowly and debriefed in detail.

Only then was her aggression laid plain and open for all to see – and most importantly, she could see it.

Facilitator Training Key to the success of the workshop is a unique combination of skills that need to be used simultaneously to enable the workshop to be effective. Facilitators must have a sound grasp of techniques of group management, facilitation, coaching and listening skills to assist the participants in the break-outs to give and receive feedback that may be difficult to hear.

If the training is custom-made, then designers of the workshop content must be able to convert everyday conflicts into training material that brings out the need for the skills being trained. The more realism they can inject into the role-plays, the better.

Where full-time video-camera professionals are not on hand, then video-tape recording skills are required to do the necessary recording and playback.

We recommend that facilitators interested in learning the critical skills required to deliver the programme, take a 2-3 day Train the Trainer. The Train-the-Trainer uses the Lights!Camera!Action! Method to train facilitators to lead a mock session that covers each step of an average programme.

For Further Assistance We are willing to share with you more information on how you can design your own in-house version of Lights! Camera! Action!

1) Teleclass The Introductory Lights!Camera!Action! Teleclass is designed for companies that have an interest in conducting the programme using some of the course’s principles. We will cover the basic contents of this paper, and spend most of the class answering questions and giving insights into how to make the approach work.

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To register, send email to FWC-LCAIntro@aweber.com. Space is quite limited on each call, so please email us soon. The call may be subject to international, long-distance charges.

2) Implementation Case Study For a more detailed description of Lights!Camera!Action! we have a free paper available that is due to be published in 2007. The Case Study describes the implementation of Lights!Camera!Action! in a multinational Caribbean company to the top 80 executives in three countries. We can send you a link to the paper if you send email to FWC-LCAcase@aweber.com.

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3389 Sheridan Street #434 Hollywood, FL 33021 954-323-2552 www.fwconsulting.com