Years ago, a dear friend of mine asked me what my biggest disappointment was with my career. That thoughtful question motivated some real self-reflection. I realized that what bothered me most was that while my books were widely read and our learning and development programs were used around the world, people were not following through on the concepts and using them consistently in their day-to-day work.
Why not? I wondered.
Where learning programs fall short
It’s not that people didn’t care or weren’t motivated to apply the learning. It’s just that, despite their most sincere efforts, what they were learning simply wasn’t sticking.
People would attend an expensive learning session, get inspired and vow to apply the learning when they return to the office. But, in time, their notes from the session end up buried under a pile of work.
Perhaps they did try to apply some of the learning, but because they were not yet good at the required skills, the outcome of their efforts would be neutral or even negative. The newly trained people didn’t really have time to figure out why, so they would write off the learning and go back to their old, not-so-great way of doing things.
It bothered us that the investments organizations were making in L&D were going down the drain.
Bridging the knowing-doing gap
We realized that to bridge the gap between what people knew — all the good advice and tools they had learned — and what they did with this knowledge, people needed more support.
We have found that the best way to help people retain and apply what they learn is to integrate coaching with learning experiences. We recommend enrolling participants into a minimum of three coaching sessions after a training or workshop. In each session, the coach has focused conversations with the participant to help them tailor their new knowledge to their own work scenarios.
Madeleine Blanchard, co-founder of Blanchard Coaching Services, recalled working with the president of a company who had just taken our SLII® leadership training. The program teaches leaders how to diagnose the development level of their direct reports on each goal and task and apply the appropriate leadership style.
The president was eager to become a role model for SLII® leadership — someone who knew exactly what each person on his team needed to succeed.
“Do you have clear goals and tasks for each direct report?” Madeleine asked the president during her first session with him.
The answer was no. In his eagerness to master all the other content, the president had forgotten the first step: goal-setting. That kind of oversight is common — and is exactly why coaches can be invaluable in helping people apply what they’ve learned.
The limits of artificial intelligence in L&D
Lately, artificial intelligence has been making a big splash in the L&D industry. Although AI technology offers a number of benefits, when it comes to making learning stick, there’s nothing as effective as working with another warm-blooded, breathing human being.
There’s no big mystery as to why. If you’ve ever done a physical fitness or weight loss program, you know how much more effective it is to answer to a personal trainer or classroom instructor than an unfeeling, computer-generated coach.
No matter how sophisticated AI becomes, a virtual coach can’t prepare people for all the variables they will encounter when they try to put their learning into practice in the workplace. It can’t hold people accountable to their commitment to apply the learning. And there’s no way a virtual coach can take the place of a human when it comes to acknowledging, praising or celebrating progress.
It’s human nature to be motivated by positive feedback from others. “After our coaching sessions, people often get back to me about how they’re applying the training,” Madeleine says. “A common email I get is, ‘You are going to be so proud of me.’”
Investing for the long term
The investments organizations make in L&D are not intended to end when people leave the classroom. In fact, that is just the beginning. The hope is that the benefits will accrue to the bottom line over the long term.
A small additional expenditure in follow-up coaching assures that an organization’s investment in L&D will pay dividends well into the future. If the cost of one-on-one coaching is prohibitive, small group coaching can also be effective. So, start integrating follow-up coaching with your learning initiatives. You’ll be amazed at the results!
Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and co-author of “Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster.” To comment, email editor@clomedia.com.
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