Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
In the Design the Webinar Experience post, I said breakout rooms take longer. It’s not just breakout rooms. Everything online takes longer. People need time to synch online that differs from in-person synchronization. (I’ll talk more about this when I talk about designing interactions.) That’s why I think differently about what I want in each …
When I think of a training experience, I separate the training into these parts: The content I hope people will learn. This includes setting the context. The various interactions that will illuminate and reinforce the learning. How to wrap the experience so people get the most of it. I then need to think about which …
Continue reading “Rework Online Training Part 3: Design the Webinar Experience”
When I design any form of training, I ask this question: What actions do I want people to take after the training? Do I want to offer principles? A vision of the future? Some possible actions? Maybe a blueprint for the future? How about practice with feedback? When I want to offer principles or a …
Continue reading “Rework Online Training Part 2: Outcomes Drive Overall Design”
I bet you’ve been in a class or a workshop over the past few weeks. You were a “participant” in a class that ranged from 20-2000 people. You didn’t find the class organization helpful. First, the trainer/leader lectured at you for an hour or more. Then, you got broken into working groups with too many …
Continue reading “Rework Online Training Part 1: What Training Is”
As we move to more remote work, especially in these pandemic times, how do we integrate people so they can succeed? See Hiring Geeks That Fit for all the new employee checklists and how to use them. (Want to preview the checklists and templates? Download the HiringGeeksThatFitTemplates for yourself.) I updated the checklists with a …
I’ve had the pleasure—and displeasure—of many remote meetings over the past few weeks. The difficult meetings had a common root cause: the meeting leaders attempted to do a direct transfer of how they lead an in-person meeting to remote/WFH meetings. When that occurs, they miss the ability to optimize on our separation by choosing how …
I’ve worked with several managers and team leaders over the past few weeks as everyone is suddenly remote. Every single person in a leadership position struggles with (agile) team transparency. These leaders think the team members work alone. (I think they’re correct.) The leaders worry that the team won’t finish the team’s work. (Correct again.) …
I’m rewriting/reorganizing the Lead an Innovative Organization book. I realized I have 7 innovation principles: Clarify the organization’s purpose. Manage for effectiveness. Seek outcomes, not outputs. Flow efficiency at all levels. Encourage small-world networks of relationships. Organizational integrity. Encourage change and experiments. Anytime I’ve seen a successful innovation culture, I’ve seen these principles. (I’m trying …
Continue reading “Want Business Agility? Use These Seven Innovation Principles”
I wrote a number of posts and newsletters over the past few weeks to help you see alternatives in this age of uncertainty. I hope you use these ideas to generate other ideas or ask more questions and create more experiments. The posts on this blog: 7 Tool Tips for Your Newly Distributed or Remote …
Continue reading “Collection of My Rapidly Remote and Managing in Uncertainty Writing”
Many people talk about “going back to normal.” We aren’t going to return to normal. That old normal is gone, at least for a year, if not longer. (I suspect we will cycle between remote work and office work for the foreseeable future.) What we can do is discover a new normal. Discovery requires different …
Continue reading “We Won’t Return to Normal; We Will Discover Normal”