Rating:

In a hurry?  Recommendation    Product Preview/Demo

For an online demo of this product, use the "Product Preview/Demo" link to the left of the review.

While the title or even the concept of Positive Discipline may draw reactions ranging from a pained cringe of recognition to raging cynicism, this release from CRM Learning is worth your strong consideration as a linchpin for changing the performance culture of your organization.

In giving managers at all levels a structured, well-thought-out plan of action for dealing with performance that requires discipline, CRM has produced a concise, easy-to-execute, customizable product that brings the message home.

Not new, but important
The concept of nonconfrontational discipline with a purpose is not new, but this material is among the best I have seen in balancing the conceptual and the practical. Realistic and believable scenarios are crucial to the latter. At the beginning, the 25-minute video explains the importance of positive discipline by demonstrating, in a very uncondescending way, how a punishment approach to discipline is counter-productive.

I found myself wishing I had this program 10 years ago when I had to step into disciplinary situations that departmental managers hadn’t dealt with properly—mostly due to a fear of confrontation. The video alone would have served many of those managers well.

CRM has done a good job of making the video flexible enough that you can show the entire presentation all at once or individual segments. The segments can easily be used as stand-alone units without losing anything contextually—this video is not the cut-and-paste job I have seen all too often. Having the full three-hour workshop experience and related takeaways could be invaluable to your organization.

And not just a video
At $995, the program seems reasonably priced for most any sized organization. It includes a well-designed leader guide, 10 participant workbooks, and the book Positive Discipline: How to Resolve Tough Performance Problems Quickly... and Permanently by Eric Harvey and Paul Sims.

Both the leader and participant versions have realistic, hands-on guidance for resolving performance issues. Neither gets bogged down in a lot of theory. The PowerPoint presentation follows the video well and provides source material for customizable handouts.

In addition, each kit contains a set of 10 reminder cards. Again, they aren't a new concept, but they are better executed than many. The cards are not a full page, but are larger than a wallet card, which typically is too small to convey all the key points or condenses too much information into a small space. I found the CRM card fit nicely in my planner. 

I was pleased with all the aspects of the production of the video. The office segments looked like they were filmed in a real office and feature real people; the same is true of the factory scenarios. That is no small feat, as I recently sat through video presentations that lost credibility from the start due to their amateurish production qualities.

CRM also does a nice job of balancing scenarios between a white collar office environment and a manufacturing setting, while keeping both situations grounded in realities that I found to be cross-cultural and easily believable. The cast was racially diverse, and the relationships credible; there is nothing here that provokes eye rolling.

Recommendation
Positive Discipline is a strong program that could help drive some big changes in your organization by making discipline not only positive but also productive.

Positive Discipline Rating