Coaching to Support Learning: 3 Best Practices

Coaching to support learning is a process that gives learners a chance, after training, to go back to their jobs and practice using the concepts they just learned. Providing employees with two or three 1-hour coaching sessions creates an actual learning process instead of just a training event. This extra step is important in today’s…

Leadership Development Training—3 tips for maximum ROI

Back in 2005, one of our clients, American Express, wanted to measure the impact of Situational Leadership II training that they had rolled out in their organization.  The program was delivered via three venues—traditional classroom with people attending in person; completely virtual with people working through self-paced modules; and a third ‘blended approach’ that combined aspects…

Four Leadership Lessons from the NFL’s Fumbled Handling of the Referee Lockout

There was never a question of “if” it would happen. The only was question was “when?” Any NFL football fan knew that sooner or later a “replacement” referee would make an incorrect call that decided the outcome of a game. That time was this past Monday night when the Seattle Seahawks came away with an…

New managers–don’t fall into these common traps

“One of the big challenges for new managers is learning to recognize and appreciate that not everyone approaches work the same way that they do. Some of the most dangerous words for a leader to use are, ‘Well, if it were me, this is what I would do.’ When we do that, it keeps us…

Why Leaders Need to Be Teachers (and 3 tips for getting started)

A lot of leaders are disappointed these days. Even though they work hard to provide clear direction to their people, when they check in on progress at the end of the month, they often find that little has changed. The problem, according to Dr. Vicki Halsey of The Ken Blanchard Companies is that leaders confuse…

Whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning

Close your eyes for a moment.  Place yourself in a traditional learning situation.  What’s happening?  The teacher is at the front of the room, right?  Who is doing the talking?  The teacher, right?  Who is standing, moving around the room?  Who is engaged with the ideas and the information?  Whose voice do you hear most…