Leveraging Manager Involvement for Learning Transfer

3 Tips to Pull Learning Through Your Organization—A Blueprint for Success

By Michael Leimbach, Ph.D. and Carl Eidson, Ph.D., Wilson Learning

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Conventional wisdom and practical application support the notion that “no job is too big with the right tool.”

From our numerous in-depth conversations and best practice sessions with CLOs and training and development directors over the past few decades, we are convinced that “giving managers coaching skills, along with the right tools at the right time, will yield the greatest learning impact.”

This collective wisdom holds some powerful implications for organizations wanting to pull learning from a learning event into positive, productive, supported learner application in the workplace.

We all agree that learning transfer is vital—making newly acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes not just stick around, but also translate into improved performance and bottom line ROI results is not a new concept. We also know that without well-engineered organizational alignment, the “use it or lose it” syndrome sets in. So how can we best leverage (busy) managers’ involvement in maximizing learning transfer throughout the learning initiative in a way that’s efficient and wildly effective? We’ve honed it down to three practical ways. Please read on …

1. EQUIP MANAGERS WITH COACHING SKILLS

Regardless of the training’s focus, equipping participants’ managers with a structured, methodical approach for learning coaching skills—something as straightforward as an easy-to-remember coaching process—greatly increases the likelihood of managers providing coaching that recognizes, reinforces, and/or redirects desired behaviors.

Our research shows that after training the managers in coaching skills, the average performance improvement of direct reports is 18%. Not bad—18%. However, when you compare that to studies in which you train managers in both general coaching skills and how to coach to the specific skills their employees are learning, you get a different picture. Performance improves 42%—or two and a half times more than with coaching skills alone. This brings us to our next point.

2. ENLIGHTEN MANAGERS WITH KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT LEARNERS ARE LEARNING

A great example of a highly effective coach is James (Doc) Counsilman—a former college swim coach with the best win record in history. Yes, he had great coaching skills, but what set him apart was his knowledge of swimming; he studied, researched, and wrote about swimming.

While not every coach needs the depth of a Doc Counsilman, every effective coach needs to understand the skills he or she is coaching to. Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced and busy work world, we often act as if a “quick overview” of the skills is enough to prepare managers to coach effectively.

Of course, the best case scenario is providing the very opportunity for managers to participate in the learning experience along with their direct reports. That being said, if time, place, or practicality doesn’t allow for managers to complete the very same training, there are several other ways to enlighten and involve busy managers.

Consider the spectrum of engaging options for involving managers:

• Concise e-Learning modules delivered to managers’ desktops, taken when and where they are able.
• Training content embedded into the coaching skills development program.
• A hands-on role at a learning workshop in which managers act as “table discussion leaders” during skill practice and application exercises.
• A front-of-the room role at a learning session in which managers act as a co-facilitator and assist the professional facilitator, especially in the area of guiding and debriefing application exercises.
• A thorough program overview delivered face-to-face or via webcast, conference call, or video, at a minimum.

3. ENABLE MANAGERS WITH ACCESSIBLE, TIMELY COACHING TIPS AND TOOLS

The number one reason managers give for not coaching more is, “I don’t have the time!” Being ever mindful of the time crunch faced by overloaded managers, as well as providing tips and tools that solve these time crunches, can boost the amount and effectiveness of their coaching.

Best practices we have learned from organizations to address time issues include:

• Provide managers with “coaching sessions in a box” playbooks that include everything from e-mail invitations to scripts, key coaching questions, and worksheets. This way, managers do not have to create the coaching activity; they just have to deliver it.
• Focus managers on frequent, short coaching conversations rather than long coaching sessions. It is easier for a manager to find time to coach six employees for 10 minutes each rather than find time for a 60-minute coaching session.
• Push out weekly reminders to coach—make coaching not something they do, but who they are.
• Provide video models of short coaching conversations; a major reason managers hold back from coaching is the fear they will do it incorrectly. Modeling videos help overcome that fear.

Consider the message and the media. Send the right message at the right time. Keep content chunks small, digestible, and actionable. Provide easy access to planners, behavior checklists, mobile apps, and other tools.

ASSESSING MANAGERIAL INVOLVEMENT

So, are your managers prepared for this critical role?

We have captured a handful of the most important actions organizations need to take to leverage managerial involvement and organized them into a Manager Involvement Audit. This provides a quick assessment of your managers’ readiness to support learning.

NEVER ATTEMPTED? SOME ATTEMPTS? STANDARD PRACTICE?

Did this quick checkup reveal a vital, robust learning transfer approach that fully leverages manager involvement in your organization? If so, bravo! If the job seems too big, consider the three practices we described and begin the process of increasing manager coaching, increasing learning transfer, and maximizing the ROI of your training efforts by effectively involving managers in learning. After all, no job is too big with the right tools.

If you would like to take the complete Manager Involvement Audit and put some quantifiable numbers around your assessment, contact us to receive a complimentary copy, along with the interpretation of what your score indicates from the Manager Involvement Scorecard.

更多信息请洽021-23571788。

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作者介绍

Michael Leimbach

Michael Leimbach博士，担任Wilson Learning全球研究和设计副总裁。Leimbach博士拥有超过25年的专业经验，带领团队进行诊断、学习和绩效提升等方面的研究和设计。他曾带领研究销售、领导力和组织有效性；并制定了Wilson Learning的影响力评估和投资回报模型。Leimbach博士曾为多家全球公司担任研究顾问，曾在ADHR专业杂志担任主辑，并曾在ISO技术委员会TC232担任领导角色 — 制定学习服务供应商的标准。他有四本合著书籍并发表了大量的专业文章，也经常在美国和全球会议中发表演讲。

阅读更多， Michael Leimbach

Carl Eidson

Carl Eidson博士，Wilson Learning业务发展和经销商网络的副总裁。他领导和辅导着一个由100多家独立分销商组成的虚拟团队，从多伦多延伸到布宜诺斯艾利斯。为了远程影响结果，他利用创新的通信技术和虚拟领导技能为销售能力发展、营销活动和以客户为中心的推广活动创建系统。他拥有工业和组织心理学博士学位，并在《应用心理学杂志》、《绩效表现》、《国际挑选与评估杂志》、《商业与心理学杂志》等学术期刊上发表过关于选拔顶尖人才的论文。他经常在专业会议上发表关于绩效改善的研究和实践的演讲。

阅读更多， Carl Eidson