Stop asking for Professional Development as a Quick Fix

We live in a time where anything you want can not only be ordered at the click of a button but delivered almost immediately. Hungry? UberEats awaits. Lonely? Just swipe right. Quick fixes and quick solutions have conditioned us to expect “yes” for an answer, whenever we want something. And if we don’t get immediate results, we’re quick to bail and go find it somewhere else.?

It’s an attitude I saw as a psychologist when people expected to be ‘cured’ of their crippling anxiety, after only one or two therapy sessions. Couples who thought that simply the act of being in therapy would “fix” their marriage.??

Easy food, easy dates, easy cures. This mindset has permeated our behavior. Both personal and professional. But call me a stick in the mud, or luddite, or just shout “Ok, Boomer” at me, but I’m going to make a bold statement. Some things just can’t be rushed.??

There’s nothing on Uber Eats that tastes as good as your mom’s home-made baking. A Tinder date doesn’t measure up to being with a partner you’ve cherished for years. And therapy breakthroughs don’t happen on the first session. The difference between all these things and their “easy” counterparts is... work.??

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been finding ways to pay less for work. Robots do it faster, software does not ask for “wellness days” and outsourcing does it cheaper. But what happens when faster work, or cheaper work isn’t going to solve your problem? What do you do when it’s BETTER work that you need???

What we’re seeing more and more of at Present Perfect, where I’m the head of Pedagogical Engineering, is a phenomenon we call “Progrush” (progress + rush).??

Our founder Annabelle Roberts always tells our clients “You can have it fast, you can have it cheap, you can have quality. Choose two.” People still want friendly, efficient, and reliable service (I mean, who doesn’t) - but factors like the global pandemic, changing behavioral trends and technology have raised the bar and thus expectations.???

Clients wanting more for less is nothing new. It’s the element of wanting more for less and then on top of that, demanding a training provider or a personal development professional to hurry up and rush the un-rushable.??

?“I want my commercial team to understand and apply the narrative arcs of storytelling into their pitch, but I only have a 2h hour time slot for it, and it’s 45 min before their big pitch in front of the buyers”???

“I want my leadership to master the complexity of the five pillars of emotional intelligence in just one quick online webinar”??

“I want to bolster trust, get the management acting like coaches so that people want to come back to the office, but my budget for this training is 400€, for the entire team – oh and did I mention we want it in person… this Friday... we really need you to be available.”???

?- Progrush -??

As software gets easier to make, and AI gets smarter, we see that the jobs most resistant to automation; are in fact the most human ones. The last skills that robots will be able to replace, even the smart one, are soft skills. At Present Perfect we call them the 6 C’s :? Communication – Creativity - Compassionate Leadership – Curiosity – Collaboration – and Critical Thinking.??

And progrush be damned, these are things that simply can’t be rushed. Even though we see generative AI’s like Dali.2 or Night Café pop up, the human mind and its creativity are key to art they produce. The computer can imitate Van Gogh, but it can’t imagine painting a vase of sunflowers.??

As soft skill educators and coaches, we feel it our place and even responsibility to come out and say:?

Stop trying to rush personal development at work.??

It’s a process. It’s work. Being a more compassionate leader takes hours of guided self-reflection. Nurturing a team’s creativity means building a psychologically safe space at work and tolerance for failure. These things take time. And since coming out of lockdown, Present Perfect has seen a demand for our trainings soar. But some prospect or clients want it to be cheap and instantaneous. Well, it will be decades before that’s possible if it ever is. So, stop asking.??

Now maybe you’re thinking “Oh dear. As an HR professional, I’ve tried to negotiate my coaching/training with tons of suppliers. Am I a “progrusher!?” Maybe you are (but we wouldn’t blame you, we’ve all succumbed to society’s instant gratification trap). But if you don’t want to be, here are some tips on how to navigate the unique situation we find ourselves in as trainers and HR managers in 2022: the paradox of the workplace needing people to be a lot more human, in a hurry.??

• Start with the objective?

Know what success looks like and accept your training provider’s suggestions of how long it will take to get there. Understand that if success is 100%, and you cut 50% of the time/sessions your soft skills trainers tell you you’ll need, then you’ll only reach 50% of your goal. It’s that simple.??

To find the right solution, you have to understand what you’re looking for. What are your goals? Which part of your business or team is not performing how you’d like? What do you want to change, and why? Identifying the “why” takes your trainer provider closer to proposing the “how”.??

• Trust as ground zero??

Do your research, check references, and then trust and respect your provider.??Trust is a basis for all relationships. Right from the start, it’s important that both you and your provider can be upfront about expectations. Trust is an accumulation of shared experiences and an in-depth understanding of the unique skills everyone brings to the table, it’s not something you build overnight. But starting a project by going through the desired working method, is a great way to accelerate this process.??

And although it’s not always a joy to hear the negatives (remember, instant gratification is all about the “yes”) – receiving direct, and honest feedback can save hours of unnecessary back and forth.??

• Roll with the punches??

It’s not about conceding or compromising, it’s about bouncing back from hurdles along the way and being agile enough to move on. It’s about resilience (as a recovering doormat and people pleaser, I’ve written an entire book on the subject).??

You want quality work (so does your provider) but it’s called “best practices ? for a reason. We practice what we put in place, analyze, and learn from any setbacks so we can move the project forward.???Pain + Reflection = Progress (thanks, Ray Dalio!)?

It’s important to allow for a little flexibility.? Adjusting expectations, and adapting to feedback isn’t a sign of weakness or breaking down boundaries. It’s a true form of collaboration (on both sides).??

Resilience and agility boosts trust, and results in a long-term relationship that can hatch future collaborations.??

Being inflexible and only focusing on your instant gratification, is a one-night stand (and we all know how those work out).?

?TO SUM IT UP?

To navigate through this “new normal” of instant gratification and heightened expectations (AKA progrush) we need to:??

1. analyze the need, before coming up with a realistic solution,?
2. manage expectations by knowing the roles and objectives for each project,?
3. nourish psychological safety and boost collaboration, and?
4. review past achievements (our “f*k yes” projects) to better recognize when a one-off project can turn into a replicable solution??

Much like how working on personal and professional development can be life-changing for those willing to put in the effort, so is building and nourishing a healthy client/provider relationship… it takes time.?