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From suboptimal to systematic.
A winning formula for behaviour change?
by Steffi Gande and Ronald Meijers
So you have an acute need to improve performance. Distinctive - and lasting - behaviour change is called for. At organisational, team, or individual level. What’s it to be? Training* or coaching?
Well, nothing beats a good training programme for the 1+1 = 3 effect – the exchange of experiences and behaviour that only a lively and dynamically-facilitated peer group can generate. Yet nothing beats skillful coaching, for the personalised guidance offered by a ‘no escape’ and confidential relationship with a compassionate - yet confrontational - guide.
The potential value of both training and coaching in assuring behaviour change has always been acknowledged. Yet at the same time, their ultimate value is frequently interrogated. Particularly regarding the robustness with which knowledge, skills, and attitudes are really transferred into the workplace in the form of true – productive and sustained – behaviour change. From the dismal – where 50% of learning, and the associated investment, evaporates,[1] to the shocking – 85% [2]. The business losses hardly need spelling out. And HR professionals and corporate leaders alike are rightly demanding improvement. Could the solution lie in both training and coaching? The evidence strongly suggests so.
These poor results can be reversed, it appears. It is possible to radically improve the results of behaviour change interventions – and with this the performance of organisations. Making a shift from suboptimal behaviour change to systematic performance improvement. This report explores how. And why the answer, for once, could be disarmingly simple.
*Training in this context means ‘exercising practices’ rather than ‘consuming content.’ In other words, an intervention that is intensive, interactive and simulation-focussed. Rather than one which is relaxing, presentation-based and knowledge-acquisition-focussed.
References:
- Mary Broad and John Newstrom (2001) Transfer of Training: Action-Packed Strategies to Ensure High Payoff from Training Investments, Perseus
- Robert O Brinkerhoff and Anne M. Apking (2001) High impact learning: strategies for leveraging business results from training, Perseus