| Most managers will, at some time or other, have sat through some form
of formal management training course. At the time of the course they
will have been inspired (hopefully) to take what they have learned and
apply it back in the workplace. In theory then, organisations should be
seeing their investment in the training translated into new and improved
management practices, which should improve the bottom line through
increased productivity.
This improvement in productivity should be realised through better
people skills producing a more motivated workforce; new negotiating
skills to build better customer and supplier relations; sales skills
increasing customer base; a better understanding of systems and
processes increasing throughput and reducing waste. So why is it that so
often this potential is not delivered?
The main reason is what I call "management course
syndrome". We have all been there. Our manager has been on some
training course and comes back keen to try out the latest fad, model or
tool on an unsuspecting workforce. The usual response to this enthusiasm
is, "He / she has just been on a course, give them a couple of
weeks and everything will get back to normal."
The manager then gets frustrated that their newfound skills don't
seem to be working. They may even start to feel conned; was it just that
smooth talking instructor, their ideas are great in theory, but they
don't work in the "real" world. Eventually the manager puts
the ideas on the shelf along with all the other training manuals they
have collected and, just as their team expected, everything gets back to
"normal".
Clearly training must have some benefits, because industry is
collectively spending billions of pounds on it. We can see directly the
benefit of training manufacturing workers through improved quality,
safety, and productivity. You wouldn't use a doctor or dentist that had
no training and you expect your accountants and solicitors to be
properly qualified. And yet some organisations expect managers to absorb
the skills and knowledge they need through osmosis or experience, or as
it is better known learning from your mistakes.
So more enlightened organisations provide formal management training,
but as I said earlier, the organisation does not always get full value
from that training. Let us assume that you have chosen a good trainer,
who delivers sound management principles that have been proven over the
years in a user-friendly manner and enjoyable course. It can't be their
fault then can it? Possibly! It is not enough to deliver the material.
They need to help managers to apply the material in a way that prevents
"management course syndrome".
This is where coaching comes into its own. Anne Scoular of Meyler
Campbell researched 'The Impact of Coaching' which looked at what
research there is on the impact of coaching on performance. She quoted a
1997 U.S. study which found that training alone increased productivity
by 22.4% but training combined with eight sessions of one-to-one
follow-up coaching over three months increased productivity by 88%.
This seems incredible, but when you think about it, makes perfect
sense. The trainer is not allowed to just deliver and leave. They have
to help deliver the results in the workplace. They therefore need to be
sure that what they are delivering does work in the "real
world".
You expect on-going support from your equipment suppliers, so why not
from your management development expert? In order to supply this support
your trainer must also be able to coach - and there is a huge difference
between the two. Coaching is not about giving advice; it is not
consultancy. It is about helping managers to work through their
situations and discover their own solutions. Occasionally, this may
require the application of a model or tool, but these are not the
solution - they provide a new perspective on the problem.
This brings us back to "management course syndrome".
Managers no longer suffer it because they no longer extol the virtues of
this latest model to an unresponsive audience. Instead they use their
newfound skills to look at the workplace with fresh eyes. If they also
adopt a coaching approach with their staff (with the help of their
coach) new ideas can be extracted from the staff that would have blocked
any initiatives under a "tell" style of management.
The whole team becomes responsible for any changes in the workplace,
and the organisation finally gets full value out of its training
investment. If you no longer want to sit through a training course
telling you how to motivate and communicate with your staff, just to
find that it is harder in the real world, get a coach not just a
trainer. Neural Pathways is one company that helps to combine the best
of both worlds.
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