There was a time when large companies would spend thousands of dollars onboarding and persistently training their people. I was a recipient of this approach. It was still a mainframe world. Higher education was not producing technology adept, process driven, and empathic-approachable “sales” consultants. My company chose to create a corporate “university” that lasted 6 months during which we received lecture-based and experiential learning. We received points based on our performance. And our class of 25 people eventually would be ranked from 1-25. In exchange, we would be life-long employees with a strong identification and loyalty to the company, ultimately receiving a pension.
It was a different time.
I meet few people that experienced the rapid change that technology presented in the 80’s and 90’s. It changed how people were managed and motivated. It also changed our relationship with work.
Chris Shaffer was with Microsoft for over three decades. He experienced 3 models of CEO leadership during this period. The Technology Driven Innovator, the Technology Driven Sales Leader, and the Technology Driven Human Performance Leader attempting to align the soul of its people with Microsoft’s soul. (See “Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone”)
We enter the mind of the data informed leader, as Shaffer walks through his approach to corporate learning at Microsoft.
We define “learning” as a lasting change in behavior. (not an activity like training). This is critical to our understanding of the motivation towards change and the environment needed to foster it.
Shaffer walks us through his own experiential learning experiences as he ultimately creates a data acquisition method that could inform the stakeholders where they stood, built guides to help them interpret the data, resources to help them improve, and persistent feedback to encourage the results.
The epiphany came from having them share their learnings with others. This sharing or story of learning became an anchoring tool for long term personal and professional growth.
At the end of our great conversation, Shaffer shared how this extensive learning time at Microsoft leveraged the future innovations that are now occurring at his new home WiLD Leaders.
They have built a 10-minute assessment on personal, team, and organizational trust that is acting as a map for individuals and teams to assess where they are, what strengths or “bright spots” they can leverage, and where opportunities for growth may be in the future. And then the magic begins. You begin to build the map to a whole and trusted organization leveraging precision tools that meet you in the moments that matter.
This truly is a Map to Better in human and organizational flourishing.
Enjoy this Great Conversation with a man who has a passion for human development and a gift for leading it.