“He taught me to teach myself, which is the greatest thing a teacher can do.”  Isaac Stern (famous violinist)

Over the last few decades, there has been much talk about “learning organization” both in the business press and the academia. One criticism that the concept of “Learning Organization” gets is that it too much top down. The objective of this article is to highlight how Developmental Coaching model can actually promote the concept of “learning organizations” from ground-up.

Let’s face it, the job for which an employee was hired yesterday is not the same job that he is doing today. With the business landscape evolving at break-neck speed, the need to support the employees so they can continuously deliver superior performance is not an option but a basic business requirement.

The current paradigm in the business world is that the responsibility of employee development lies with the learning & development function. A direct outcome of this thought process is that the learning & development function has been given the sole responsibility of this task.

As part of employee development, the one kind of training which the L&D function organizes more than any other is class-room training. Class room training is ideal for building foundational skills especially technical skills. Using class room as a medium large number of participants can be covered in a relatively short period of time. The other benefit of this option is that it gives the participants the opportunity to learn and practice in a safe environment-an important and necessary part of the process.

It is well known that class room training cannot deliver all the development needs of employees. First and foremost, not every company has a full-fledged training department. Secondly, the ones who have trainers find that gathering everyone in the classroom is an expensive proposition. The travel costs and the loss of productive work-time can make it very difficult to convince people. Since adults learn in small increments without the follow-up all the momentum is lost. Self paced on-line learning has helped but only marginally.

Last but not the least; the range of topics which can be covered in a class room is limited. When personal skills are the focus; for example, topics such as assertiveness, resourcefulness, self reliance, commitment to grow, emotional intelligence and cognitive skills (to name a few) we need to explore other options.

In companies where Developmental Coaching model is in place, if the trainer is unavailable, the immediate manager can ensure that employee growth continues. Secondly, when the learning & development function and the immediate manager jointly take up the responsibility of employee growth, follow-up to the class room training is seamless. Further, for the learner to internalize the new concepts he needs an opportunity to practice and receive feedback. Both of these issues can be addressed with the involvement of the immediate manager. The class room trainer cannot provide such a platform.

What are your views on the advantages and limitations of class room training?



A Guide to Development Coaching

Recently Deccan Herald carried an article which was originally printed in the New York Times, titled “Google’s quest to build a better boss.” The article talked about “Project Oxygen” an initiative at Google where the people analytics team analysed performance reviews, feedback surveys and nominations for top-manager awards enterprise-wide. The purpose of this exercise was to identify traits that employees found of value in their managers. In the order of priority employees wanted bosses who were even-keeled, made time for one-on-one meetings, helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and took interest in employees’ lives and career. In the ranking order the technical ability of the boss came dead last.

These findings are a reflection of the traditional manager-supervisor relationship at work place where the focus is on results and outcomes only. The business world is changing rapidly but unfortunately the management style has not kept pace with the changing attitudes and expectations of the workforce.

For Google rewiring their managers in the soft skills will be as complex as writing new software codes, but there is hope. The solution is in skilling managers in “Developmental Coaching.”

What is Developmental Coaching? Developmental-Coaching is a management tool, a powerful leadership skill, in the hands of the managers which promotes self-directed learning in the employees. A word of caution, in order to implement “Developmental Coaching” a certain mindset and environment is essential. However, creation of this environment will automatically address some of the wants of the employees which were highlighted in the Google survey.

Developmental-Coaching has one of the highest success rates, compares well in terms of cost and complements the existing methods. It has to be kept in mind that Developmental-Coaching is a distinct skill and does not come automatically with the “title”; it is learnt like any other skill.

In organizations where Developmental-Coaching is used as a way of work-life, benefits flow all-around. The employee exhibits greater sense of job satisfaction as he is learning and experiencing growth; the manager learns a very important leadership skill of improving the performance of his team; and the organization benefits by getting improved productivity, retention and customer service. Finally, with Developmental-Coaching in place year-end Performance Management exercise is not the beginning of an attrition cycle but a normal event of the year.

We will cover the entire topic of “How to introduce Developmental-Coaching” at workplace in these pages over the next several months. Keep reading and commenting!