The Elephant in the Room: Sadly There Are 9!
For decades we’ve talked about talent development, training, coaching, learning portals, LMS systems, video-based training, etc. We talk so much about the delivery and overall methods of training but rarely do we talk about the reception and those who receive such services. During our course of work at Progress Coaching we provide a coach the coach service and we provide this service across various industries, types of organizations, etc. The unique thing that we’ve uncovered is that managers continue to bring up nine factors that are affecting their employees reception of coaching. We call them the nine elephants of coaching.
The nine elephants of coaching are attributes that must be successfully addressed or training or coaching will not be as successful as they could be. An employee/adult learner has a specific responsibility unique to the reception of training and coaching. For example, let’s say a trainer is delivering a high-impact session that’s been well prepared, designed flawlessly, and delivered with passion. On the other hand, two of the participants or employees who are not happy that they have to go to the training and present a negative attitude and low motivation levels associated with the training? This is the typical situation when the employee goes back to work and will be critical of the training but not look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable. The manager of the employees have a unique responsibility to decipher truly what’s occurred but often due to the classic cliché I don’t have time to coach will often accept this type of feedback at face value, sadly.
The nine elephants are those attributes if a manager was skilled and addressed successfully would have high performing talent that would not only perform at optimal levels but become true adult learners and receivers of training and coaching. Here’s a list of those nine elephants:
1. Attitude
2. Motivation
3. Feedback
4. Self-development
5. Confidence
6. Relationships
7. Connectivity
8. Progress
9. Engagement
I have always found it funny managers send people to training when performance is not good and then when they have poor behavior employees they send those employees to the Human Resource department. They have no time to do coaching cause they are too busy so how can they honestly do the end of the year reviews? I wonder what employees think? Actually I think we all know what they think but often we find out at their exit interviews.
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Sr Learning Manager, Talent Enablement, Motivational Leader, Strategic Talent Development, Team Builder, Coach, Facilitator, Consultant
8 年Well said Jana.
Compliance Officer at AbbaCare Pregnancy Resource Center
8 年Great perspective!
Sr Learning Manager, Talent Enablement, Motivational Leader, Strategic Talent Development, Team Builder, Coach, Facilitator, Consultant
8 年In my 20+ years of managing people and teams, getting the privilege to influence these 9 elephants has always come back to the strength of the relationship I build both with individual teammates and the team as a whole (the dynamics are necessarily different). Starting with the heart of the matter, comfortable or not, has always proven to either help individuals and teams hold the mirror up and make changes, or make the choice that what is important to the organization and team doesn't match their values and seek other opportunities that do (an equally healthy choice at times). When my teammates know I care about what is right for them as well as the organization equally, I have rarely encountered an elephant that couldn't be managed and improved if the job fit is right. Also, I do not support/recommend sending teammates to training or HR (at least initially) to fix a problem that isn't a skill issue. Heart issues have to be brought to the table and agreed upon before investment should be made to give missing skill sets (usually soft skills) to help the teammate help themselves.