Octalysis Level 2 Certificate - Colin Hahn - Leadership Engine

Leader Development Experience Analysis
Colin J. Hahn
Octalysis Level 2 Submission
Submitted 21 April 2021

Douglas Dynamics Proprietary Information
Slide 2 Revised 21 April 2021
Executive Summary and Recommendations
The new leader experience at Douglas Dynamics is inconsistent and ad hoc, creating a significant opportunity for the new Leadership Engine program to
improve labor productivity, engagement, and turnover.
The recommendations below stem from applying a Level 2 Octalysis analysis to the current and proposed experience.
Key Recommendations Rationale
• Systematics represent 62% of Douglas Dynamics employees—by far the most
prevalent employee type
• Even non-systematic leaders will benefit from seeing models of good
development for systematic employees
• Accomplishment core drive creates structure desired by systematics in a white
hat manner
• Empowerment core drive is critical for an engaging, intrinsically motivating
long-term experience
• Office 365 tools enable personalization and self-directed learning at scale
• However, there are short-term barriers to adoption and development
Prioritize the systematic
player type
Emphasize accomplishment and
empowerment core drives
Build into Office 365 technology
for feedback triggers

Leadership Engine is a program to develop new leaders at Douglas Dynamics
Douglas Dynamics (“DD”) is a publicly traded
manufacturing company.
The company produces work truck attachments and
installs (or “upfits”) attachments onto work truck
chasses.
Over 200 employees are first-level leaders
230 of DD’s 1,750 employees are in first-level leadership roles:
• Team leads, who supervise shop floor associates
• Operations managers, who are the first level of formal leaders on the
operations side
• Office managers, or non-production employees who manage
individual contributors
Leadership Engine addresses a leader development gap
Previously, new DD leaders have had inconsistent support:
• Select leaders received external training
• Some leaders were mentored by their manager
• Many leaders had no formal preparation
Leadership Engine is a leader development program to provide consistent
training & preparation to all first-level leaders.

The Strategy Dashboard uses the business metrics, player type, and desired actions to
design feedback mechanics and incentives
Player
Desired
Actions
Feedback
Mechanics
Win State
Business
Metrics
Incentives
Triggers
Results
Embedded
Experience Design
User Behavior
Business Constraints

Business Metrics

Systematic leaders are primarily motivated by Accomplishment, Empowerment, and
Avoidance; Social Influence is the lowest core drive (CD)
High CD 2 Accomplishment
• Enjoy mastering skills
• Prefer objective markers of success
• Appreciate clear roadmaps/processes
High CD 3 Empowerment
• Enjoy analyzing problems into smaller parts
• Apply problem-solving techniques for
continuous improvement
• Appreciate objective feedback, especially when
dealing with ambiguous issues
Medium CD 4 Ownership
• Feel a sense of ownership over processes and
solutions
• Identify based on their skills (“I’m a great
engineer”)
Low CD 5 Social Influence
• Appreciate being recognized for domain
expertise
• Prefer to focus on tasks rather than people
Medium CD 6 Scarcity
• Find lack of data painful
• Find time pressure stressful
Medium CD 7 Unpredictability
• Curious; want to have the answers and
understand why
• Motivated to minimize variance
• Prefer consistent & predictable processes
Medium CD 1 Meaning
• Take pride in making great products
• Anti-CD1 from seeing leadership as overhead
(shop floor does real work)
High CD 8 Avoidance
• Work to avoid being unprepared; research
thoroughly and plan for all contingencies
• Motivated to reduce waste via continuous
improvement
• Vulnerable to sunk costs due to depth of
research/analysis
Epic Meaning
Empowerment
Social Influence
Unpredictability
Avoidance
Scarcity
Ownership
Accomplishment

The Leadership Engine Desired Actions progress through four phases
• Starts with general awareness
• Transitions upon program
enrollment
• Lasts <1 month from
hire/promotion date
• Starts with enrollment
• Transitions after completing
orientation modules
• Lasts 1-2 months
• Starts with foundational skills
courses
• Transitions after completing
core curriculum and electives
• Lasts 8-10 months • Starts with comprehensive
simulation
• Sustains through ongoing
continuing education
• Lasts through remainder of
employee lifecycle
Discovery
Onboarding
Scaffolding
Endgame
Time in Program

Discovery Phase Desired Actions focus on building awareness of the program through
manager conversations and independent exploration
Potential participants should
understand why the program exists
• Before enrolling, potential participants should
learn that DD offers this program to support our
leaders (CD 1, 2, 4)
• Selected candidates should discuss with their
manager how the program fits with their
development plans (CD 2, 4, with some
CD5/CD7 from relationship-building and
removing uncertainty)
Source: Douglas Dynamics University Workbench (Intranet page)
Discovery Phase Desired Actions
• Orientation discovery: Newly promoted/hired leaders should read about the program in
their transition process.
• Manager conversation: Newly promoted/hired leaders should ask their manager how this
program fits with their 30/60/90 day plan
• Independent exploration: Leaders who are eligible for the program should read about the
program structure on the DD Workbench (intranet)
• Legacy selection: Leaders currently in these roles should ask their manager to advocate for a
slot in an upcoming cohort (and discuss other ways to grow leadership skills in the meantime)
• Post-selection goal-setting: Selected leaders should discuss with their manager what they
should focus on through this experience

Over 60% of DD employees are “systematics”, motivated by objectivity and accuracy
Systematic players are low assertiveness/low
expressiveness on the HRDQ personality model
• Low assertiveness: Prefer to think and gather data
• Low expressiveness: Logically focus on tasks
Sources: HRDQ, What’s My Leadership Style; HRDQ, What’s My Time Style
Systematic personality types are analytical, prizing
objectivity and accuracy
❶ Structured: building plans, models, and processes to deliver consistent,
accurate results
❷ Data-driven: analyzing data to make decisions, sometimes to the
neglect of feelings or relationships
❸ Thorough: researching details and contingencies in order to avoid
surprises, even if it takes longer
At DD, systematic employees are also technical experts
• Take pride in manufacturing great products
• Committed to continuous improvement and problem-solving
9%
29% 31% 31%
13%
5%
20%
62%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Direct Spirited Considerate Systematic
Systematics are the
most common player type at DD
General Population Douglas Dynamics
Double the general
population

Endgame Desired Actions support ongoing leadership development and mentorship of
future participants
Endgame goal is to transition
participants from a formal learning
path to lifelong learning
• Participants should graduate with the capability
to develop their own future development plans
• Value of future leadership growth should be
clear from seeing skills improve performance
and avoid problems (CD 2, 8)
• Participants stay engaged because of white hat
intrinsic drives: creatively solving interpersonal
problems (CD 3, 5), supported by status within
the DD leader community and accomplishments
from this program (CD 2, 4, 5)
Endgame Phase Desired Actions
• Initiate development conversation with manager: Participants should engage their manager
to review their growth and set future goals, including participating in other programs
• Attend comprehensive simulation: Participants should complete the graduation simulation
experience to practice integrating their leadership skills
• Apply leader skills: Graduates should continue to demonstrate key leader behaviors with
their teams and colleagues
• Become a peer mentor: Graduates should stay engaged with future Leadership Engine
cohorts by taking on the role of a peer mentor
• Complete remaining electives: Graduates should take outstanding electives in order to round
out their skills
• Attend classes as refreshers: Graduates should sign up for future classes to further practice
skills
• Attend office hours: Graduates should continue to attend office hours to problem-solve
specific situations and to share advice with peers
• Become a Leadership Engine ambassador: Graduates should advocate for the program to
other DD leaders by sharing their experiences and encouraging others to take advantage of
the opportunity
Draft Your
Blueprint
Procure
Your Chassis
Upfit Your
Vehicle
Final Stage
Certification
Included program stages

Leadership Engine should leverage manager and email tools as feedback vehicles;
future development can include automation tools for personalization-at-scale
One-to-One
• Program manager conversations
• Regular 1:1 manager check-ins
• Cohort partner
• Peer mentor
Push Tools
Small Group
Pull Tools
Human
Electronic
• Program office hours
• Instructor-led classes
• Peer group coaching
• Email
• MS Teams notifications
• Power Automate
• MS Teams channels
• Learning management system
• Intranet
Manager interaction is most engaging
• Manager can give
adaptive and personalized
feedback (CD 3, 4) and link
to overall development (CD 2)
Email is most visible
• Email is the top communication
channel in the organization and
is key to reaching participants
Office 365 tools have greatest
future potential
• Capable of personalized, just-in-time
feedback (CD 3, 4, 6) and progress
tracking (CD 2) at scale
• Adoption hurdles in short-term from
employee unfamiliarity and
development complexity
Trigger Types Trigger Examples Recommendations

Feedback should trigger desired actions; Leadership Engine should prioritize feedback
mechanics around the core game loop
Possible Mechanics
• Visual dashboard: Create visual dashboard that shows progress through the program and
available training classes
• Class reminder/calendar event: Send participants reminders to attend classes that they have
registered for
• Dripped email sequence: Prompt participants to practice or reflect on skills on a scheduled
cadence
• Manager 1:1 conversation: Discuss learnings and reflections with the participant’s manager
• Self-reflection: Use self-reflections to evaluate success at a specific leadership skill or task
• Instructor feedback: Give feedback to participants in class as they role play specific situations
• Peer feedback: Provide feedback according to pre-defined criteria when practicing a skill
• Progress indicator: Show overall program completion as a reminder to continue progressing
• Badges: Earn digital badges to incentivize completion of activity clusters
• Recommended next actions: Identify ideal next actions for participants based on progress and
personality elements
• Streak counter: Track how consistently participants complete on-the-job practice or reflection in
order to build momentum
• Social anchor: Show progress rates or achievements of other participants in order to normalize
consistent practice and reflection out of class
Learn
Practice
Reflect
Mechanics should reinforce the core
game loop
The core game loop cycles through three types of
actions:
• Learn new leadership skills and techniques,
• Practice the techniques in learning
environments or on the job, and
• Reflect on the results and identify the next
learning opportunity

Onboarding Phase Desired Actions aim to build enthusiasm and skills for the coaching
model
Selected participants should become
excited while preparing for the
experience
• The goal of this phase is to create a strong start
for participants
• Participants should develop coaching skills to
enable dynamic feedback and personalized
learning paths (CD 2, 3, 4)
• The experience should transmute participant
worries about avoiding poor performance into
excitement through clear roadmaps and
milestones (CD 2, 8)
Onboarding Phase Desired Actions
• Accept calendar invitations for live sessions: Participants should add the scheduled sessions
to their Outlook calendar and reschedule other commitments as necessary
• Participate in cohort introduction: Participants should attend the introduction session, meet
other members of their cohort, and hear how our cohort model is set up
• Visit program materials in tech tools: Participants should learn how to access materials in
the LMS and MS Teams team
• Read program welcome materials: Participants should review orientation materials, program
explanations, and senior leader welcome materials
• Attend Coaching Quick-Start class: Participants should engage in this class to develop
coaching skills, including participating in exercises and practicing with a peer coaching small
group
• Discuss coaching skills with manager: Participants should review what they learned with
their manager and plan how to continue practicing these skills
• Complete self-assessments: Participants should complete leader behavior and style
assessments to learn more about their strengths and tendencies
• Review self-assessments with manager: Participants should discuss their self-assessment
results with their manager to get additional insight into their tendencies
• Attend office hours: Participants should attend Leadership Engine-specific office hours to
address specific challenges or questions with the Organizational Development team
Draft Your
Blueprint
Procure
Your Chassis
Upfit Your
Vehicle
Final Stage
Certification

Scaffolding Desired Actions target personalized skill gaps and on-the-job practice
Scaffolding is designed around a learn-
practice-reflect game loop
• Participants should learn new skills, practice
those skills with peers or on-the-job, then
reflect on what to develop next based on their
unique needs
• This phase introduces electives and self-
selected challenges to enable personalized
curriculum (CD 2, 4)
• Desired actions should generate lots of small
milestones to create a sense of progress (CD 2)
• Peer and manager feedback is critical for
creating personalized discoveries (CD 3, 4) and
addressing unpredictable situations (CD 7)
Scaffolding Phase Desired Actions
• Implement new skills on the job: Participants should apply their leader skills and behaviors
in relevant job situations
• Conduct 60 day check-in with manager: Participants should discuss their progress with their
manager and identify specific electives/topics to pursue
• Choose classes based on needs: Participants should sign up for electives based on the
development needs identified in assessments, personal reflection, and manager
conversations
• Attend classes: Participants should participate and engage with cohort learning experiences
• Attend office hours: Participants should attend Leadership Engine office hours to review
challenges with Organizational Development staff
• Select on-the-job challenges: Participants should take on OTJ challenges that are relevant for
their development goals
• Complete on-the-job challenges: Participants should follow through with OTJ challenges by
completing 10 minute weekly exercises and reflecting on their skill development
• Participate in post-experience manager discussions: Participants should engage their
managers to discuss learning points and future practice opportunities after each experience
• Hold regular 1:1 manager check-ins: Participants should continue to regularly check in with
their manager to review development and link to their performance goals
• Partner with peers: Participants should identify peers who are working on similar challenges
in order to share ideas and support
• Ask for peer coaching: Participants should ask members of their cohort for advice and
feedback on relevant development challenges
Draft Your
Blueprint
Procure
Your Chassis
Upfit Your
Vehicle
Final Stage
Certification

Experience Analysis

Feedback and Rewards

Wireframe #1: Leader blueprint visual dashboard
❶ Progress bar
❷ Phase movement
❸ Locked courses
❹ Badge achievements

The current experience is undefined, creating a poor experience for new leaders
There is no consistent new leader experience
DD has not implemented a standard new leader transition. The new
leader’s manager and division independently determine a transition path.
There are three general approaches:
• External training: Some divisions sent new leaders to external training;
no common curriculum or leadership model because providers were
region-specific
• Manager coaching: Some managers personally coached and mentored
their new leader; inconsistent results due to differences in manager
skill and lack of shared leadership philosophy
• Sink or swim: Most new leaders were expected to figure out the job on
their own; no support for skill development, and only accountability
was to business results (“what”) rather than leadership techniques
(“how”)
These differences were amplified by a lack of common organizational
history. Several divisions were acquired in the last ten years. These new
acquisitions brought drastically different implicit ideals of leadership.
This experience analysis contrasts the potential future
state with the best possible version of a current transition
In the current state, the best possible transition for a new leader includes
three elements:
• Actively involved manager: The new leader’s manager is engaged in
their leader’s development. They check in on the leader’s skills, treat
daily challenges as development opportunities, and refer the leader to
other resources for specific skills.
• Leader skills training: The leader also gets formal training in leadership
skills from a subject matter expert. This training recognizes that
leadership is its own skillset, and that technical expertise doesnot
directly translate to leadership success.
• Self-directed learning: The leader supplements their formal resources
with informal development. They read leadership books, seek out
mentors, and learn about their own preferences and tendencies.

The best version of the current experience is overly heavy on Black Hat drives, resulting
in a stressful career transition
Medium CD 2 Accomplishment
• Leaders have objective business metrics to
demonstrate their success on the “what” of
leadership
• External classes have defined curriculum of
leader skills
• Little objective confirmation of “how” of
leadership
Medium CD 3 Empowerment
• Manager conversations provide personalized
feedback
• Performance metrics are assessed infrequently
(annual review process)
Low CD 4 Ownership
• New role is announced to the organization
• Leaders have increased salary bands
• Personalization of leader style is ad hoc
Low CD 5 Social Influence
• Managers/mentors can support new leaders
• Leaders lose previous social group (former
peers are now their direct reports)
Medium CD 6 Scarcity
• Leaders overwhelmed by lack of time for new
responsibilities
• Leaders must manage workforce limits (lack of
cross-training, attendance issues, etc.)
High CD 7 Unpredictability
• Leaders face new challenges each day (distinct
from typical line work)
• Key leader skills vary based on manager or class
preferences (no consistent answers for how to
handle problems)
Medium CD 1 Meaning
• Company mission and purpose reinforce why
our work matters
• Company “Winning Behaviors” define why
effective leadership matters
High CD 8 Avoidance
• Motivation to avoid getting called out for poor
performance
• Most manager attention is negative attention
(I’m checking in because you are
underperforming)
Epic Meaning
Empowerment
Social Influence
Unpredictability
Avoidance
Scarcity
Ownership
Accomplishment

The greatest gaps between the current experience and the core player motivations are in
Accomplishment, Empowerment, and Ownership
Systematic players are motivated more by CD 2, CD 3,
and CD 4 than the current experience satisfies
Epic Meaning
Empowerment
Social Influence
Unpredictability
Avoidance
Scarcity
Ownership
Accomplishment
Systematic Player Motivation Current Experience
Implications
Structure is a key tool for increasing Accomplishment
Systematic players appreciate clear structures and logical progressions; a
common curriculum with objective milestones will engage these players.
Empowerment and Ownership can be jointly improved through
personalization
Personalization directly connects to CD 4 Empowerment; it also creates
opportunities for creativity and choice (CD 3) and empowers leaders to
manage their own development.
Improving Accomplishment and Empowerment can mitigate the
overemphasis of Black Hat drives
Shared leadership skills, expectations, and development pathways with
clear feedback on performance standards can manage the stressful aspects
of Scarcity, Unpredictability, and Avoidance in the current experience.

Recommendations

The following features can strengthen the Leadership Engine experience
Feature Description Core Drive(s)
Leader blueprint Visual dashboard that shows movement through program phases, locked/unlocked
courses, progress bar, and badge achievements
CD 2
Leadership diagnostics Assessment of leadership tendencies and style defaults, accompanied by
recommendations for how to relate to others with different styles
CD 4, 3
Preventative maintenance streak Streak counter for number of consecutive weeks that the leader holds 1:1 conversations
with direct reports
CD 2, 8
Leveled badges Leaders opt-in to higher difficulty challenges to earn gold/silver/bronze versions of
achievement badges
CD 2, 3
Personalized recommendations Recommendation engine that suggests next courses based on participant’s role,
assessment results, and self-assessment feedback
CD 4, 3
Technique toolkit Leaders earn virtual “tools” for demonstrating competence with concrete leader skills or
tactics; evaluation can range from self-assessed rubric to peer review to
manager/facilitator sign-off
CD 3, 2, 4
Smart tools Leaders equip one of their earned virtual “tools” to receive daily prompts for how to use
the skill effectively
CD 3, 4
Note: Features include manufacturing/truck language to resonate with the program audience

The following features can strengthen the Leadership Engine experience
Feature Description Core Drive(s)
Instant job instructions Popup prompts to remember specific concepts/steps when using specific leadership skills CD 7, 3
Quality control forms Checklists for specific leadership tasks (e.g., how to start a difficult conversation); leaders
can reference these or customize them and share for additional recognition
CD 2, 3, 5
All hands on deck Group quest where leaders take on an on-the-job skill challenge simultaneously, share
feedback, and earn special recognition
CD 2, 3, 5
Waste walk swap Leaders swap work areas with a partner and identify areas of waste in their “new”
location, practicing their continuous improvement skills
CD 3, 5, 8
Leader prototyping Leaders participate in a group simulation that requires them to integrate all their
leadership skills and see the outcome of their decisions
CD 2, 5, 3
Graduate mentorship Program graduates are invited to serve as peer mentors to current program participants,
giving feedback and coaching
CD 5, 3, 2
Note: Features include manufacturing/truck language to resonate with the program audience

Wireframe #2: Personalized recommendations
Personalization sources
• Learning management system
completion data
• Assessment results
• Job title/department information
• Performance reviews
• Development plans
• Self-evaluations
• Manager feedback

Wireframe #3: Smart tools
Microsoft Teams
Bot
What smart tool would you like to activate? Type the tool
name, the name of the skill, or TOOLS to see your
collection of tools.
Feedback
Bot
Congratulations on activating your Feedback smart tool.
Do you want to work on reinforcing feedback or corrective
feedback? Type an option, or SURPRISE for a random
challenge!
Reinforcing
Bot Ok, let’s work on reinforcing feedback! I’m going to check
in with you sometime in the next two hours. When I do,
you need to tell me which team member you gave
reinforcing feedback to!
John
Bot
When you gave John reinforcing feedback, did you cover
all four elements of the STICC model? Type the letters you
met, or ALL if you did them all. (Or REMIND if you need a
reminder for what those letters stand for.)
Bot Time’s up! Which team member did you reinforce?
TCC
Continued in next column

Octalysis Level 2 Certificate - Colin Hahn - Leadership Engine

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