AchieveGlobal's blog

Can you improve learning outcomes, while decreasing learning expense?

By Sharon Daniels

This is the first of four posts on AchieveGlobal's study on organizational learning, and our reports "The Rise of Blended Workflow Learning" and "How to Succeed at Blended Workflow Learning." Be sure to read the complete reports.

We used a great metaphor at the beginning of our report, Why Learning Has a New Logic, describing the business world today as a "shifting topography." That description seems even more relevant now with so many news stories of major earthquakes, tremors and even volcanic eruptions across the world. It's the same on the business landscape too.

Businesses face a continuing need to change because of the changes in the economy. But it's also about new technologies and changes in legislation and how those changes are affecting the core of how businesses operate. 

Top Corporate Actions Affecting Employee Morale In This Trying Economy

By: Chris Blauth We all have at least one thing in common these days. Uncertainty. The way we handle important decisions has been greatly affected by the downturn in the economy. Maybe now you feel slightly uncomfortable spending money on luxuries, or are a bit uneasy about how you diversify your portfolio of investments. Now we all are managing our decisions – and our life – differently. This change in thinking and behavior also translates into the business world. Like their teams, leaders feel the sting of what is now considered daily business events, such as budget cuts, office and plant closures, insolvency, and layoffs. In addition to pressures leaders feel themselves to meet corporate expectations, they also face the challenge of motivating others to execute actions that will help to attain goals. This is especially tough when companies are having to make serious cuts – in many aspects of the business. According to our research: • 75.2 percent of companies have cut discretionary spending. • 65.2 percent have stopped hiring. • 51.2 percent have frozen pay. • 49.8 percent have laid off employees. • 20 percent have cut working hours. • 19.6 percent have reduced employee benefits. • And 15.2 percent have closed locations. Which of the above actions, that your organization has been forced to make, do you think has impacted employee morale the most?

Why Do Managers Struggle to Coach?

By Craig Perrin This is the third in my five-part discussion with Kim Stafford, AchieveGlobal’s Director of International Development, on problems associated with coaching by managers. This week we ask, “Why do managers struggle to coach?” KIM: I think we agree on why managers struggle to coach. Companies hire and promote people for technical skills, not coaching skills. Learning to coach takes time and effort. You’ve mentioned other reasons: Most managers don’t see an immediate payoff in coaching. And some think if they coach too much, they won’t reach their measured goals. But let me rephrase the question: Do managers even know what makes an effective coach? Do they know the difference, say, between giving feedback and correcting performance? At the core of effective coaching is an understanding of what coaching fundamentally is. For example, many managers think coaching is a big thing that takes a huge chunk of time. That just isn’t so. The point is, if you have to learn how to read and write, you also have to learn how to coach. As organizations flatten out and become more virtual in nature, people don’t often observe good coaching. So even experienced managers have to learn what, when, and where to coach, along with how to coach. CRAIG: You’re right. Many managers lack coaching skills. And that fact implies even more of the manager’s time to learn how to coach – on top of learning what their teams learn, observing performance, and actually coaching. You’re talking ideal world, and in the business world there are always other priorities. For coaching to take hold, most organizations need a profound cultural change – from a bottom-line culture, an immediate-results culture, to a coaching culture. And most organizations are either unwilling or unable to make that change. At the heart of this problem that we describe as “no time to coach employees in what they learn in training” is something else: the training itself. Training is usually a big classroom event. It may be wonderful. People may learn a lot. But we agree that if they get no support after training, no coaching, employees are unlikely to use what they learn in their jobs. What we need is a form of training that doesn’t rely on consistent coaching by managers, yet still encourages immediate and long-term use of skills. Good coaching is an enormous help, but training that depends heavily on coaching often fails. To meet the need often unmet by coaching, we need continuous learning, not event-based training followed by coaching. Short increments of training over extended time – and not all of it face-to-face - greatly reduces the need for managers to coach.