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As commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command from 2000 through 2003, Franks faced and overcame some of America's greatest challenges, from the attack on the USS Cole, to the devastation of September 11th, to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A highly decorated four-star general, Tommy Franks led a coalition of more than 60 nations - and 250,000 troops - to victory in Afghanistan and Iraq, winning respect and admiration at home and abroad.
Franks has always been a student of leadership recognizing that the military environment presents some of the greatest challenges for leaders. Acknowledging that, "no one hates war like a soldier hates war," Franks - the "soldier's soldier" - recognizes the challenges facing military leaders in motivating and encouraging their troops during these disturbing times. Franks illustrates how the challenges facing his military leaders are similar in many ways to the challenges we face in motivating our own "troops" in our companies and organizations.
Likewise, leadership - in whatever arena - requires flexibility and confidence. As Franks likes to quote, "No plan ever survived first contact with the enemy." As leaders, it's not enough that we plan. Franks suggests that we must plan for "first contact" when our flexibility, creativity, and ability to regroup and redirect our troops is most important. In today's chaotic marketplace, effective leaders demonstrate this flexibility along with conviction and confidence.
Importantly, leadership isn't about grandstanding or hype. Tommy Franks -unlike his predecessor, "Stormin'" Norman Schwartzkopf - has been called "reclusive" and "a quiet warrior". However, Franks ISN'T shy; he simply doesn't believe that showboating and flamboyant leadership is effective nor does it have a place at the top. Effective leadership comes from seeing it like it is - from the front lines - and telling it like it is - from the heart.
Tommy Franks recently authored American Soldier, (HarperCollins, Aug 2004) in which Franks retraces his journey from small-town boyhood to his role as one of history's most effective commanders. Drawing on his own memories and newly declassified records, Franks offers the first true insider's account of the war on terrorism. He speaks frankly of intelligence shortcomings and of the WMD threats that shaped each battle plan. And, while he writes candidly of the war's aftermath, Franks shows that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq remain heroic victories - wars of liberation won by troops "unequalled," he writes, "by anything in the annals of war."
The book - and the man - is more than simply a recounting of military history; it/he is a study of leadership at its best. Some Franks-isms include:
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You don't manage a group of soldiers up a hill under fire; you
lead them. (Tommy Franks on the difference between management and leadership.)
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During my months in combat, I'd come to understand that a soldier owes loyalty to his unit and to his boss. A leader must be able to count on the complete support of his subordinates. …however, loyalty not only flows up the chain of command: it [must] flow down as well.
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…being in charge doesn't automatically mean you know what's going on.
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(Speaking to his officers) If a trooper comes to you with a problem, remember this: It's
your problem, and it's my problem. We're not going to lose good soldiers because we don't give a rat's ass about them as people.
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In war, it is necessary that commanders be able to delay their emotions until they can afford them.
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(Speaking to the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Look, you guys have a three-star who commands a service component for me, and represents the service expertise we need to put together a joint plan. It's best to let those guys know your ideas. And then trust them to work for all of us to build a cohesive approach, rather than a patchwork of service interests.
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I defer to no man in my love of troopers; I still consider myself a soldier. But it's often been necessary in our nation's history to fight for our freedoms, and it's never been more necessary than today. It seems to me that fighting terrorism has more to do with our kids and grandkids than with us.
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Haul ass and bypass. (Strategy attributed to General George Patton recognizing that the ultimate objective of any campaign is the enemy's center of gravity. This same strategy served as Franks' basis for the invasion of Iraq.)
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If we had to do it all over again - armed with what we know today - I'm sure some of the decisions would be different. I am not at all sure, however, that all the different decisions would be better. (Tommy Franks reflecting on postwar Iraq.)
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Ain't this a great country. (Tommy Franks reflecting on the opportunity afforded everyone in the U.S.)
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Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. (Eugene S. Wilson - featured on the Tommy Franks website:
www.tommyfranks.com)
For more information on Linkage Distance Learning/Broadcasts, visit
http://www.linkage-inc.com/learning_events/distance_learning/default.aspx. For help in creating training materials that you - like General Franks - can be proud of, contact me directly at
ttraut@unlockit.com.
Practical Design and Development Tips:
DESIGN
Introduction
This is the second in a five-part series that provides tips and shortcuts for creating exceptional training. In the first part, we introduced ADDIE, the industry-standard model for designing and developing training; we also provided Analysis tips and shortcuts. In this second installment, we provide Design tips and shortcuts.
Design Overview
Purpose: Verify the desired performances, the learning tasks, and the appropriate testing strategies.
Procedures: The main procedures that are carried out during the Design phase are:
Product: The main deliverable at the conclusion of the Design
phase is the Design Brief.
Synopsis: In this phase, we ask the questions:
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What are your objectives?
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What skills, knowledge and attitudes are you trying to develop?
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What resources and strategies will you use in your instruction?
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Teaching resources and activities should be chosen to complement the learning outcomes.
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Select the most appropriate environment by examining the kinds of cognitive skills required to achieve your goal.
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Write the instructional objectives; select an overall approach and the program's look and feel; outline units, lessons, and modules.
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Design course content specifically for use with the medium.
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How will you structure the content of your learning material?
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How will you assess the learners' understanding and whether or not they have met the objectives of the instruction?
See Entelechy's Practical Design and Development Tips eGuide at
http://unlockit.com/eguides.htm
for more information about ADDIE.
The following tips help make a good model (ADDIE) more practical and usable and come from
Entelechy's Practical Design and Development Tips eGuide:
Conduct a Task Inventory
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If you have reliable SMEs (exemplary performers or managers), have them provide you with the tasks that people need to perform, the skills they need to perform them, and the knowledge that supports their efforts. |
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Even if you don't have SMEs to rely on, don't go nuts! Watch and document a couple of exemplary performers or talk to a manager. Most of the time, there are certain fairly obvious tasks that exemplary performers do that others don't; focus your attention on those tasks. |
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Another opinion on task inventory: "An accurate and complete task analysis is, in my estimation, the key to effective and efficient training. Weaknesses in the task analysis can result in wasted time, wasted money, and poor worker performance. Task analysis is not the place to cut corners! Training programs that fail, usually have roots in erroneous or "fuzzily-worded" tasks and performance standards." |
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It would certainly be nice to dictate prerequisites, but the real world doesn't usually work that way. Instead you are often working with a predefined audience. However, just because you can't dictate prerequisites doesn't mean that you can't do anything about them. Identify prerequisites (in terms of tasks or qualifications) and suggest ways participants can build their skills before training. |
Compose Objectives
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DO go nuts here. Spend time on the performance objectives to make sure that everyone agrees that these are the things that are to result from the training. (See Bloom's Taxonomy of Objectives in the appendix for more information.) |
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Make sure to use performance-based objectives - objectives that describe what learners should be able to do after the training. Ideally, on the job. |
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For each objective, figure out exactly HOW you're going to tell whether your learners can demonstrate their achievement of that objective. (See Generate Testing Strategies below.) |
Generate Testing Strategies
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DO go nuts here, too! In fact, compose the objectives AND the testing strategy at the same time. Sometimes the testing strategy will require that you modify your objectives. |
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Make sure that your testing strategy matches your objectives. If an objective states that "participants should be able to calm an angry customer" then your testing strategy MUST include an opportunity for participants to demonstrate their skills in a fairly realistic environment. Having participants simply recite the four steps to calming a customer is NOT ENOUGH!!! |
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Most jobs have some type of feedback sheet or quality check. These make great checklists for your training. If a checklist DOESN'T exist for the task, ask the manager/client to create one. This becomes your test/performance check. If the checklist doesn't exist and the manager/client won't or can't make one, make one for training and provide it to the manager/client to reinforce skills learned in training (and to win some brownie points). |
Calculate Return on Investment
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Again, be realistic. Attributing a potential savings of $5M with a 1-hour time management class would probably be met with some healthy skepticism. |
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Calculate the ROI of options (larger class sizes, WBT versus ILT versus manager-led training). |
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Use Entelechy's
Return on Training Investment Calculator to include all costs and possible return. Contact us at
info@unlockit.com. |
Design Brief
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Make your design brief/document as detailed as you can. It's faster and much easier to implement something once you have already done the major portion of the creative thinking. And, it's faster and of better quality to do the creative thinking at the design document phase. (Joanne Casino, Entelechy) |
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DO NOT shortcut this document or the opportunity to discuss it with your client. Do not analyze or develop more until you've gotten input from the client or stakeholders. Doing so is likely a waste of time. |
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The only exception to the above tip is that you may want to (or have to) provide a development timeline, which, according to ADDIE, is created in the Development phase. Clients and stakeholders typically want to see how long it will take to develop this training. |
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Try to produce items for client sign-off that are part of the final product rather than "review-able stuff" only. That is, the less time you spend creating stuff that is "just for clients to review and sign-off", the better. Usually, this means less project documentation time and more time on final result. Also, it may mean additional, smaller reviews rather than 'really big deal' milestones. Get sign-offs along the way. (Lynne Hayden, Salescape) |
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Don't be afraid to "throw your work over the fence". A fresh eye can save so much time. (Pam Martin, Entelechy) |
More information about objectives can be found in
Entelechy's Practical Design and Development Tips eGuide, which provides over 100 tips using ADDIE as the basis for our suggestions. Check out
http://unlockit.com/eguides.htm
for information on this and other eGuides.
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As many of you know, Entelechy's eGuides represent some of the most practical and usable training tips and techniques ever. We've honed these skills and best practices over the years and have compiled them in our eGuide collection. In our eGuides, we share tips and techniques that result in people like General Tommy Franks gushing (okay, maybe not GUSHING) "I'm proud of the training Entelechy created." (Or maybe, you simply want your participants to state, "The training was specific to us and exactly what we do, not 'general sales' training" - a representative comment from a student in this past Monday's High Performance Training class - a course customized using the techniques outlined in Entelechy's training eGuides.)
Hundreds of thousands of professionals have used Entelechy's eGuides to improve their own training. With a click of the mouse, you can download one of seven outstanding eGuides that will help you increase your effectiveness, and the effectiveness of the people you work with.
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Entelechy's Approach to Performance
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Entelechy's Designing Training Based on Five Content Types
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Entelechy's Famous Icebreakers, Energizers, and Activity Ideas
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