The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development Into Business Results (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Roy V. H. Pollock (Author), Andrew McK. Jefferson (Author), Richard D. Flanagan (Author), Kevin D. Wilde (Foreword) "IN AN EVERMORE performance-driven world, corporate education is increasingly being asked to define, commit to, and then deliver relevant business outcomes..." (more)
Key Phrases: Home Depot, Ray Vigil, David Brennan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A succinct, extremely valuable, and proven set of disciplines to drive learning in organizations. This breakthrough book is a must for anyone involved in corporate training and development."
—Rod Magee, Ph.D., vice president and chief learning officer, Honeywell International

"­­­­­­­­­­The Six Disciplines describes and illustrates six principles practiced by companies that earn the highest returns by efficiently converting learning into business results. A truly valuable book!"
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor, The One Minute Manager® and The Secret

"The Holy Grail for every corporate learning department today—and for the CEOs who critically depend on them—is sustained learning that drives performance.  In this thorough and timely book, the authors show step-by-step how genuine learning can, at last, be found."
—John Alexander, president, Center for Creative Leadership

"This book is a must-read for anyone who is serious about delivering learning experiences that lead to performance and business results. Filled with case studies, tools, and job aids, this book could not be more practical!"
—Dana Gaines Robinson, founder and president, Partners in Change, Inc., and coauthor, Performance Consulting and Strategic Business Partner

"Billions have been spent on classroom programs and next to nothing on supporting participants in applying what they learn on the job. Apply The Six Disciplines and you’ll achieve the intended business results of your learning and development investments."
—James F. Bolt, chairman, Executive Development Associates, Inc.

"Here’s a business book that should be read at every organizational level.  Senior leaders, line managers, instructional designers, HR professionals, and learners themselves will all find guidance on maximizing their investment of time and resources in any learning initiative."
—Beverly Kaye, CEO and founder, Career System International, coauthor, Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em, and author, Up is Not the Only Way

"The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning is the clearest roadmap I have ever seen for getting from well-conceived and executed learning activities to measurable business results. This book is a breakthrough!  It will be required reading for my entire staff of learning professionals."
—Edwin H. Boswell, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, The Forum Corporation

"Integrating work and development is critical in today’s competitive environment. This book is a breakthrough by pathfinders in ensuring application and results from any learning experience."
—Teresa Roche, vice president Global Learning and Leadership Development, Agilent Technologies

"Finally, a definitive resource on the disciplines required to build learning and development that increases business capability and capacity. This is an essential guide for anyone who believes workforce development is about producing workplace results."
—Susan Burnett, senior vice President and chief talent officer, Gap Inc.

"Finally a book that effectively links training and development to business results and shows us how to make strategy happen. A classic in the making."
—Al Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University; President, Vicere Associates, Inc.

"Six Disciplines is a timely book written by experienced authors to help learning and development professionals deliver results. With proven methods, presented in a logical style, this book is a must read for anyone interested in improving the impact of training and development."
—Jack J. Phillips, chairman, ROI Institute, author of thirty books

"All the training in the world does not mean a thing, unless there is true transfer! The Six Disciplines is a jewel, loaded with practical perspectives on creating true ROI from learning investments."
—Elliott Masie, CEO, The MASIE Center's Learning CONSORTIUM

"The pundits all talk about breakthrough learning. But until now, no one has provided clear, concise coaching about how to attain it. This vital and must-read book should affect the way every thinking person looks at learning."
—Richard J. Leider, founder, The Inventure Group, author, The Power of Purpose and Claiming Your Place At The Fire

"Nothing matters without results. The Six Disciplines offers a straightforward but profound methodology for achieving extraordinary results, time after time."
—Leo Burke, associate dean and director of executive education, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame

"The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning shows the complete process needed to achieve the holy grail of business education, documentable results. In it you will learn why excellent education is not enough, in fact you will fail to produce the results you need unless you address the critical steps both before land after the ‘education’ itself."
—Gifford Pinchot III, president, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, author,   Intrapreneuring

Product Description

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning presents an innovative approach that accelerates the transfer and application of corporate learning. The Six Disciplines provides the definitive road map and tools for optimizing the business impact of leadership and management training, sales, quality, performance improvement, and individual development programs. This important book presents the theories and techniques behind the approach and includes expert advice for bridging the “learning-doing” gap. The authors’ recommendations are illustrated with dozens of real-life examples from successful companies on the cutting edge of results-driven educational performance.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (April 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787982547
• ISBN-13: 978-0787982546
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,983 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #15 in

  Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Learning

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Holy Grail of corporate learning strategy , October 22, 2006

By	Hagop A. Emrazian "Learn to learn" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I couldn't stop reading this book, it is a must for all people involved in corporate education. The simplified 6 D's set the tone/workframe for a compatible learning strategy that enbales organizations to maximize the value of their training investments. Full of useful tips, mine was the Impact Map where they explain how to follow up on the learning activities. The 6 D's are:

1- Define Outcomes in Business Terms
2- Design the Complete Experience
3- Deliver for Application
4- Drive Follow-Through
5- Deploy Active Support
6- Document Results

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for most trainers, March 19, 2009

By	Jeremy D. Dwyer (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After using this book in a 6 week internal training I've come to greatly dislike it. There's probably 50 pages of good material that are fluffed out to 200 pages with platitudes, repetition, and meanderings. It's badly organized with massive overlap between sections. And it has no summary of key points (the "learning points" at the end of each chapter are nearly worthless), forcing us to build our own summary to create follow up material. In other words, they ignore their own "plan for follow up" rule.

Books cannot be all things to all people but be aware that this book is heavily focused on running a corporate training department. It is not meant to be a book on training design. There is zero information (even in the "deliver for application" chapter) on training design. If you run a training department definately read it. If you just do training, then I'd bet there are better books out there.

There are some reviews here with good summaries of the key points. Read them first and see if you need the book. And don't expect the book to do much useful elaboration on the summary.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a road map for optimizing the business impact of leadership and management training. , January 17, 2008

By	Sahra Badou "Bibliophile" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

"What if we train our employees and they leave?" To which noted leadership consultant Mark Sanborn replies, "What if we don't and they stay?" Learning agility (the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn rapidly) has become one of the most critical survival skills for both individuals and companies.

Based on years of research, this book identifies the six disciplines that characterize breakthrough learning. The book provides a road map for optimizing the business impact of leadership and management training. The authors say that the essential goal of every training program should always emphasize improved performance. Learning creates value only when it is transferred and applied to the participant's work environment. Ultimately, every program must produce a positive financial return, directly or indirectly. The organization as a whole will benefit more if its employees exit the program doing several things well instead of a number of things poorly. Thus, trainees must be given the opportunity to practice their newly acquired skills. It is not sufficient for the instructor to simply talk about them. A hand on approach is more beneficial and enduring than merely lecturing. The authors suggest allowing participants time to practice their new knowledge, reflect on lessons learned, and write down how they intend to apply their new knowledge. "New insights and skills must be recalled before they can be adapted and applied," the authors say. "We are able to remember new information when it is associated with or linked to existing ideas, patterns and knowledge already stored in long-term memory. To forge these links, participants must be given sufficient guidance and enough time to reflect on what they have learned." Fred Harburg, senior vice president of leadership and management development at Fidelity Investments, puts it this way: "We are not in the business of providing classes, learning tools or even learning itself. We are in the business of facilitating improved business results."

In a nutshell, here are the six disciplines of breakthrough learning:

1. Define Business Outcomes: Agree on definition of success. Define what participants will do differently and better. Always ask yourself, "what is the benefit of this training program to the company? Be proactive in areas in which learning and development could contribute.
2. Design Complete Experience: Include what happens before and after the classroom. Redefine the finish line from the end of class to the generation of results. Be vigilant for mixed messages--where what is taught in the program and what is practiced in the business are inconsistent or where one phase does not support another. Such inconsistencies discourage participants from trying to transfer their knowledge and, if glaring, lead to cynicism. Devise systems to hold line managers accountable for their role in getting results from learning and development. Be certain that what management say, what managers do, and what the system rewards are in alignment. If not, you are wasting the time and money being invested in learning and development.
3. Deliver for Application: Show how the content relates to current business issues. Give participants time to reflect on how they will apply what they have learnt. Review the objectives that participants set for themselves. Include questions on the end-of-course evaluations to assess the extent to which participants understand the relevance, utility, and value of what they learned and whether they feel confident that they know how to use the course content in their work. Ask two fundamental questions about each program component: Will the value be obvious to participants? Will they know how and when to use what they learn?
4. Drive Follow-Through: Actively manage the process. What is your organization doing to drive learning transfer? Are managers actively involved in supporting learning transfer? Work with management to ensure that follow-through happens. Ensure accountability. Either you are part of the solution or you are part of the problem.
5. Deploy Active Support: Provide ongoing support from facilitators, coaches, managers. Provide practical "how-to" guides to facilitate transfer. Compare where you are spending resources to where the most value is created. Are they proportional? Interview a sample of participants three months after a learning or development program. Find out where they have achieved success and what factors supported their efforts. Maximize these in subsequent iterations. Identify the barriers that impeded their progress or worked against learning transfer and application. Present your findings to management with a plan for how to address them.
6. Document results: This is critical to demonstrate the value of all the effort and investment that has gone before. Report results to management and use to market the program. Review the evidence you have currently to illustrate that learning and development contributes to business success. Can you make a compelling case for the economic value added that learning and development provides? Can you convincingly demonstrate why reducing the investment will hurt the company's long-term performance? Be proactive. Begin to build multiple lines of evidence of value. If you wait until you are asked, it will be too late. If you have a great story to tell about the value you create, you cannot be shy and hope people will notice. If you believe it, you have to sell it.

Leaders who don't follow up don't improve! The major challenge faced by managers is not understanding the practice of leadership, it is practicing their understanding of leadership. One golden nugget the authors convey is that the last item on most agendas reads "Program Ends" or "Adjourn." A better ending would be: "Begin Transfer and Application."