I’ve been looking for someone to double the size of the training team, currently made up of me.  My boss and I have worked hard to make this an objective and transparent process.  We’ve learned a number of lessons from the experience.  I heard one of them when I met to get acquainted with a candidate over lunch.  It was eye-opening to learn that our effort to be candid and open about the current state of the organization created the impression that we were underselling the job.

This is a great job

Corallary:  The challenges that are so present to you are not disincentives to new folks; they’re  the real reason to work here.

Let’s face it.  Interesting skill development and organizational development are beset by inertia, doubters, authority-wielders, cultural drag, and competing visions of the future.  It’s tough going some days.  But you come to work every day and go at it like a happy warrior.  You, too, have a vision for the future and it is still conceivable that you’ll achieve it.  That way, that future is possible.  You who are considering taking the job, you could be a part of it.  That’s what makes this a great job.

Fit is made not found

Corallary:  I’m convinced the fit questionis not, “Do they fit?” but, “Could they fit?”

The only perfect-fit candidate is the one that you, managers, adapt to.  Just like your manager did.  So, if you can’t hire the person who is going to school you in every facet of this work and bring deep experience in every facet of the business, select people with plenty of intelligence and ability.  Then explore the best ways to manage the person so that they’re as free as they can be to succeed.  Make the most of the fact that they don’t fit perfectly.  Learn from their perspective.

Still learning…

Dear job candidates and instructional designer/trainers,

As you know, we’ve been looking for an instructional designer and trainer who, I can see more clearly, needs to be an “intrapreneur.”  They are hard to find.  Thank you for all the things I’ve learned about current state of your skills and experience.   Or maybe what I have really learned is that instructional designers value the product of their work but find it very difficult to describe the skills they exercise.  As a result, I see that I’d want to develop a set of skills and abilities in the talented person we find.  I don’t think a lead instructional designer or trainer is really capable without them.

Focus on results

You have undoubtedly created great training for some proprietary software, the performance management system, some internal training function or [fill in the program here]. It’s complete, well-designed, and a great-looking final product. What did that training do for the business? Any other successes you think you achieved are irrelevant without an answer to that question.  Around here, we aim at that goal every day and deal with reality as we must.

Focus on needs

Nobody needs training programs, or meetings, or to be educated about what you can do for them. They need to be able to do their work. You are here to equip people to do their work. Your colleagues and I need to clearly see that your efforts are leading to that result. If you are not focusing on others’ needs, you’re not doing the right work.

Ask questions

I can see that when you’re given a design and development project, you ask a lot of questions. Good questions. Don’t wait for the assignment. Take nothing for granted. You don’t know the way the organization works.  You don’t understand enough about the business.  You cannot extrapolate more than a little using past experience. Start by asking people their perspectives and use them to form a set of hypotheses about how the organization works. I haven’t even mentioned training or performance yet. Neither should you.

Move the work ahead…

…by solving problems and trying different approaches. Past and current obstacles serve to illustrate one thing: how you reframe relationships and adapt your approach so that you get results. Is momentum flagging? You should recognize it, identify the source, and try to change the dynamic. This is the most important use of your imagination at work. Sure, I can advise you about culture and context, but interpreting where you are and influencing those with whom you work is a critical job skill.

Do the things that matter

Quick, what did you accomplish this week? Why does that matter? Can we measure it or can others tell you did it? If not, you probably spent too much time on that. Sure we all have bad weeks. Don’t allow yourself to have two of them in a row.

Strive to make sense of things…

…and confirm it with those you work with. See, “Ask questions,” above. Then reflect what you’re learning to stakeholders.  For perspective, see if you conception of how things work here is accurate and practical with those around you who are effective and successful.

You’re succeeding when people respect your work

And that means that people are not going to like everything you say or propose to do. (I’m not talking about being a jerk for a higher purpose. Don’t make me stop this car….) But if it addresses their needs (see “Focus on needs”), they’ll forgive you for making them uncomfortable for a time or engaging in work that stretches them and you.

Are you interviewing for a job in the next few weeks? Hmmm. Wouldn’t it be super if you described – in a planned, concrete, and specific anecdote – how you’d demonstrated some of these abilities? Yes! Yes it would be super.