Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Work

Beyond Work is our line of resources for people and community leaders looking for something new and innovative outside, be it a new job, career change, or personal development outside of work.

3 Ways to Create Insights for Learning Transfer

“Mom, I made a connection!” we hear our son say quite frequently now.

We didn’t teach him about “connections” so someone at school must be talking about paying attention to be able to make connections between information and learning.

For example, a couple of weeks ago they read a book about Rosie an Engineer and then “engineered” a plane to see if it would fly. He loved it- the building the plane part, not the reading ☺

This past weekend, he was playing in the front yard and came running in. “Mom, Mom! Come outside, I need to show you something.”

I walked outside with him and he showed me how a nerf plane flew better if he threw it from one direction better than the other direction.

I asked him, “What do you think caused it to fly better that way instead of the other?”

He said, “It’s like my Rosie plane, the wind direction affected it.”

Lightbulb moment. A connection.

I love watching the lightbulb go off for him. Really, I love watching the lightbulb go off for anyone. It is one of the joys of training people.

What he calls a connection and what I call a lightbulb moment is what two speakers at the 2019 SHRM Talent Management conference call insight.

Dan Heath talked about creating moments of insight is a key driver in creating moments.

David Rock, Founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, discussed how insights are a critical thing that has to happen in order to create habits that can help transform organizational culture.

Insights change our world and our opinions and help us make sense of things in order to apply that learning to other things. It happens when your unconscious is solving the problem. The moment something comes together, it generates the motivation to change.

In other words, because my son learned in one context, he turned to face the other direction in throwing his nerf plane. He changed his behavior.

In a training example, it comes when a manager sits through two days of DiSC training to learn how to better understand himself and others. He goes back to the office and three days later is discussing a “problem” employee with the HR Manager. There he says, “You know, I’ve always thought Jim was just a jerk, but now I see it might just be that his personality is a C style. Let’s talk about how the DiSC model could be applied to me helping him.”

Lightbulb.

So how do you create insights in learning and in life?

1. Identify one or two critical insights you want to transfer.

My son’s teacher may have identified that she wanted the students to understand that 1) a structure’s design and 2) the external environment affects a product’s ability to perform. Based on that, she designed activities to help the students realize this for themselves.

In training, I want people to have a lightbulb moment that we are all more similar than we think we are. I want to transfer that we are more the same than we are different, all with the goal to establish empathy. I use a Tell Your Story activity to do this, and then I get all participants to share the 3-5 critical stories that have shaped their lives. Undoubtedly, this starts off as very difficult, but in the end, connections are formed that would haven’t ever been expected. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Blend storytelling and science.

We internalize stories more than we do facts, but we need facts to convince people. Especially logical business people. The most effective speakers and trainers blend both. They use a story to support the science they are trying to get across. Case in point, I attempt to start most of my blog posts with a story to illustrate a point that is grounded in some research. (Sorry if I’m continually boring you with stories about my kids to make a point).

If you want the science behind insights, read this. (You will have to join to access it.)

3. Allow for Quiet

Insights come from a quiet brain (see the research). If you are training, ask a question, and then pause for three minutes before getting responses. Give people time to create insights through a quiet brain.

I think this also extends to simply allowing for margins in our life in order to create the quiet brain we need for insights to take place.

Maybe we all need some time to play in the front yard without pressure to be somewhere next or get something done.

When have the greatest insights in your life occurred for you? How has your behavior changed as a result of it?

April 23, 2019
Is Your Organization Prepared for the Future?
“Before companies can start to think about their succession plans, they have to understand their jobs.” – Sharlyn Lauby, President of ITM Group, Inc.

For the past few weeks I’ve been focused on helping a client complete a People Review of their top talent and outline their succession plan. Each April they complete the People Review, evaluating their top talent on the areas of performance and potential, risk of leaving the organization, and mobility within the organization.

In working through this process with them, I’ve discovered that for most of their key employees, they don’t have a good succession plan in place. Both in regards to what would be the next step for the employee as well as who could step into the role should the employee leave the organization. Given the tight talent market right now, this is very concerning to them, and to me.

So how can companies evaluate their employees for succession planning and what steps do they need to take to ensure they have options?
1. Conduct an assessment annually of your key positions. Notice I said positions and not employees. What positions within your organization are critical to the success and sustainability of your organization? What are the responsibilities of those positions? Is there a logical promotion track from one key position to another?
2. Evaluate your current staff. Once you’ve identified those key positions, then take a look at the employees who currently fill those roles. Assess them on their current performance and their potential. As I’ve told each of the managers I’ve met with, just because someone ranks lower on performance and potential doesn’t mean they are a bad employee, it may just mean that they haven’t been in their current role long enough to gain the full scope of knowledge needed to be a high performer or have high potential.
3. Communicate. Once you’ve assessed your key employees and determined those who could move up within your key positions if needed, have a conversation with them. There is nothing worse than creating a succession plan only to find out when the time comes that the employee doesn’t want to move up into the position you’ve designated them for. Find out where they see themselves going in the organization and make sure it aligns with the plan you created. If it doesn’t, you may need to reevaluate your plan.
4. Provide training and support. After you assess the key employee’s current performance and potential and ensured that your vision and theirs match, you need to create an action plan to help them get to that next level. What areas of performance or potential do they need to strengthen in order to be successful in a new role if and when the time comes? The client I’m working with conducts Individual Development Reviews each September, but they do not tie those IDRs back to the information they gleaned through their People Review, so they are not creating an action plan or setting goals that are aimed at helping those key employees be prepared for the next level.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” -Benjamin Franklin

If your organization were to lose a key employee tomorrow, do you have a plan in place to respond and minimize the impact to the organization?
April 18, 2019
5 Things To Consider in Pursuing Passion in Work
I always seem to get the best insights into my children’s minds from the front seat of the car when they don’t think I’m listening. It usually comes in the form of backseat dialogue between themselves and a friend.

One particular day driving to baseball practice, a friend of my son’s was with us and he out of the blue stated, “I want to be a lawyer when I grow up.”

My son responded, “Why?”

“So I can make a bunch of money,” he said.

I guess my son saw this as an invitation to declare what he wanted to be when he grew up as well.

“Well, I want to be a Pokemon collector when I grow up,” he said. “And, also, I’ll work at Target where I can help people find Pokemon cards they like.”

I resisted the urge from the front seat to insert myself and say, “What?!?” Then, I realized, he’s eight. No need to argue about his current passion being his career. It will change (his passion and his career choice) I’m sure, no less than a dozen times before he is really old enough to be employed.

But it does beg the question, should we pursue passion in our work? And should we encourage our kids and others to do so?

Does our passion lead us to work or does work lead us to our passion?

Passion is one of our values at Horizon Point, so you might find me hard pressed to argue against pursuing passion at work, but some recent reading and listening have provided some context for these questions.

The Passion Paradox and Adam Grant’s WorkLife Podcast: The Perils of Following Your Passion are both great things to check out on the subject.

I think I can sum up both the book and the podcast best with the thought Angela Duckworth shared on Adam’s podcast and that is this: We often use “follow” your passion when it should really be “develop” your passion if we want passion to guide us in a healthy way. It’s not the noun “passion” we get wrong, it is usually the verb we put with it. Fleshing this out means:
1. Following seems to convey that passion is already inside us and we know exactly what our passion is. Most of us are unsure of our passions and how they can or should translate into work.
2. Following also seems to convey something that we do with blind devotion. As The Passion Paradoxpoints out, this kind of myopic thinking can lead us to do really bad things. There is a dark side to passion whether it is in work or in any aspect of our lives.
3. Developing your passion, instead leads us to seek out opportunities for exposure and learning where we can grow and discern what we like and don’t like.
4. Developing leads to growth and expertise. In order for passion to be something we can make a living at doing, we most likely have to be somewhat good at it.
5. Developing emphasizes the journey, not the destination. When we are only focused on the destination number two above, the dark side can kick in.
As was pointed out on the WorkLife Podcast episode, it makes sense that passion is also a word used to relate to relationships.

Is passion a component of dating and marriage? Yes, it usually is a spark that starts things and hopefully shows and sustains itself over the course of a lasting marriage. But is it present all the time? If you’ve been married for any length of time, my guess is you would easily answer, “No”.   And if a relationship is only about passion, my guess is your response would also be “No” if I asked you if that relationship is sustainable.

Passion is the pursuit of that which fulfills and sustains in a way that is more often than not, bigger than ourselves. It is unselfish at its core.

So, although my son thinks that he can make a living working at Target selling Pokeman cards to others, at least he isn’t picking it for the money.   As his interests and passions develop, I hope doing something greater than helping himself stays core to what he wants to be when he grows up.

Like this post? You may also like:

More from Adam Grant: Stop Asking Kids What They Want to Be When They Grow Up

The Point Blog Posts on Passion
April 16, 2019
Secrets of the Job Search for Recent Graduates

This time of year is always crazy busy with upcoming graduation and new beginnings for recent grads. Job search is on the top of their lists. I often get inquiries about resumes, cover letters & job search strategies in the spring. So, I thought a blog post addressing secrets for the job search would be timely.

But first, I want to share a quick story. A couple of months ago, I worked with a client who was approaching college graduation. She was a treat to work with; she had a wonderful attitude, great education background as well as impressive internship and work experience, which made my job super easy. We focused on 3 things: resume, LinkedIn and catering both to the specific job she was interested in. Within a week of focusing on these 3 things, she had a job interview with her employer of choice, and within 2 weeks, she received a job offer.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work that way. I’ve worked with several others who weren’t fortunate enough to quickly obtain their top job choice. If you are in that boat, here are 3 secrets for the job search:

1. Networking. Network like it’s your job! Essentially, networking should be your job until you have one. College career centers are a great starting point and have a plethora of knowledge and tips. You should also focus on networking online – especially via LinkedIn. With the tight job market, employers are always searching for candidates (including passive ones) on LinkedIn. Check out: How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile as a Recent College Grad to help you get started.

2. Develop a master resume. You should always have a good master resume and work to cater your resume for each job you are applying for. Jobscan.co is a great tool for determining how close of a match you are to a job opening. Check out Can you really triple your interviews with Jobscan? to find out more about Jobscan.

3. Research your target companies. This is important in all stages of the job search including determining your ideal employer(s), preparing for an interview and preparing for your first day after landing the job. Glassdoor.com is a great tool to do this. You can even see an interview question from previous candidates.

Are you ready for your job search? Read more job search articles from The Point Blog.

April 4, 2019
The Most Popular Emerging Employee Benefit is…

I remember thinking, how am I going to do this?

I had just started my first full-time job out of college, and I was getting married that year. I had been given two weeks of vacation for my first year that I had to earn throughout the year.

If I wanted to take a honeymoon and be off a day or two before the wedding, I really had almost no time left to take off. And a couple of my good friends were getting married that summer too, and I was in their weddings out of town.

Was I going to have to lie and fake sick to be able to take enough time off to be in attendance for these events (since sick time was a separate time off bank at the time), or was I going to have to choose and miss something in order to be at work?

And these decisions did not take into account whether I even needed to be present to get work done. I could actually report to work missing something important to me, and quite possibly not have much work if any, to get accomplished if I was wise with my time and worked efficiently.

According to a survey out by MetLife (click to download the full survey for this information), the most coveted emerging employee benefit is unlimited time off.

Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said that unlimited time off is the emerging benefit they are most interested in.

I could understand this in my early twenties when a benefit like this would have been unheard of, and I can certainly understand it now with my life involving time off needs that don’t just revolve around me but also the needs of a growing family.

The survey states: “Emerging benefits help employers create the kind of culture that demonstrates a deeper level of care for employees, communicating that their needs are valued and their employer is committed to their success.”

In addition, and possibly more importantly, unlimited time off communicates trust to employees. Trust that they know when and how much is appropriate to take off and for the right reasons.

It also demonstrates a level of trust in leaders who are managing employees’ time to be able to utilize this benefit in a way that leads to company and individual success.

So in a day and age where unlimited time off is an actually possibility, would it be your most coveted benefit offering?

And if you are an employer with the ability to provide this benefit, what keeps you from doing so?

Full disclaimer: We offer unlimited time off at Horizon Point, and I have found that our people have never abused it. If anything, there is not enough time taken off when needed.

April 2, 2019