Motivation Bite Size - Recognition

Most people come to work wanting to do a good job. And when they do a good job or try their best to do so, it is vital for their manager/leader to recognise their efforts and achievements. In short, it is incredibly motivating when people receive deserved recognition and incredibly de-motivating when they don't.

And here’s the thing, it is also incredibly easy to recognise effort and achievement and yet, many managers/leaders do not do enough of it, enough of the time. When the pressure is on to get the job done, as it invariably is, it is all too easy to focus on correcting errors and mistakes, adjusting and improving output or simply to place more demands on staff. Nobody is suggesting these things should not be done but let’s not forget the old adage – a little bit of praise goes a long way!

The easiest way to recognise effort and achievement is by conducting regular one-to-one review meetings and highlighting areas where performance has been good or exceptional. But there are other less formal ways too. A simple ‘thank you’, ‘well done’, ‘you’re a star’ or ‘I really appreciate the effort you have put in here’ all tick the recognition box. If you have the budget, the odd gift (maybe presented at a team meeting) won’t go amiss either. And if someone has really gone the extra mile, why not send them a simple thank you card to show them that there effort is appreciated. Do not underestimate the impact of someone receiving a thank you card from their boss in the post, especially when that person has put in extra effort or produced exceptional results.

Perhaps the only note of caution in all this is to ensure you are being fair and objective with the whole team. Don’t leave yourself open to accusations of favouritism but at the same time, those working the hardest and producing the best results deserve to be praised.

Recognising the effort and achievement of your staff is incredibly easy to do. Are you doing enough of it?


Simon Cooper heads up ELC Training Solutions and is author of the best selling leadership development book, Brilliant Leader.

The Importance of Leadership Development

It’s easy to discount the importance of leadership development, assuming that corporate leaders either have what they take or they don’t and if they do they’ll learn as they go. If they don’t...well, if they didn’t have what it took they wouldn’t have been given a leadership role to begin with, right?

Not necessarily. Sometimes all that’s needed is a little leadership development.

There is no such thing as a natural born leader, which is why leadership development is so important. Anyone can have the fundamental requirements necessary for the leadership role. It’s how they develop them that matters.

Leadership development is defined as an effort to enhance a learner’s ability to lead, an endeavor focused on developing the leadership abilities and attitudes of the individuals sitting at the top of the chain of command. Successful leadership development requires a lot more than the ability to give orders. It also requires diplomacy, top of the line people skills, a certain level of ruthlessness and an understanding of how much space there is and there isn’t between the executive suite and the mail room. A good leader doesn’t just lead. He or she leads by example.

Leadership development within a company should be addressed at both the individual and group level. Individual leadership development can be undertaken in both a hands-on and a classroom environment, and which method your organization chooses is entirely up to you. Through various exercises the individual learns to identify their strengths and weaknesses, using both to shape and mold their successful leadership style.

Individual leadership development is very important for individuals first entering the field and those who are having a difficult time taking up the reins of command. Additional leadership development offers them the opportunity to hone their skills, smooth over their weaknesses and learn to make the most of their current position rather than finding themselves stuck on the bottom rung of the ladder to success because of a lack of knowledge and personal resources.

Group leadership development is absolutely vital in any company, regardless of industry, because it teaches an executive team how to look, think and act like a team. For a business to run smoothly it’s essential that the executive team be able to operate like a well oiled wheel, cognizant of each other’s patterns, strengths, weaknesses and goals and able to work together to achieve success. Any leadership team that is rapidly “slapped” together and tossed into the ring is going to fail almost instantly. It takes time and practice, and leadership development offers the opportunity for both.

Leadership development through books, activities, conferences and classroom studies is a vital part of any company’s success, which is why there are hundreds of books, seminars, conferences, workshops, boot camps and personal coaches devoted to that very goal. Never underestimate the importance of the team of people holding the reins in an organization, and don’t discount the need to allow those individuals to develop their leadership skills both inside and out of the office.

Leadership matters.


Guest writer Ray Subs is a public relations consultant forN2Growth, a company that specializes in helping businesses and their leaders grow and develop to find success in a competitive corporate environment. More information can be found at N2Growth.com.

Leadership Week 3 November to 17 November

Eagle eyed readers will notice that this week's leadership review covers a two week period. This is nothing more sinister than a reflection of how busy I have been. Nonetheless, I've still been reading and keeping up to date and I would encourage every current and aspiring leader to do precisely that - it's a key part of staying on top of your game!

1. Mimi Bacilek posted a great article titled, Bringing your firm through chaos, a real measure of leader's success. Her advice can be applied to leading any group of people in these uncertain times and includes - rallying the troops, empowering teams and rewarding success.

2. Building on Mimi's article Dan McCarthy asks the question, Leading through chaos, does a manager need a psychology degree? His conclusion is that while qualifications are useful, there can be no substitute for experience.

3. Appearing as a guest writer on Tom Peter's blog, John O'Leary discusses Leadership Farming. The suggestion is that great leaders are defined by the product of the talent they nurture. It has really developed into an interesting debate with over 40 comments so far (these are also well worth reading).

4. On the Leadership Now blog, Michael McKinney has posted an excerpt from Tony Wagner's, The Global Achievement Gap on the Seven Survival Skills for the New World of Work that include Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Agility, Entrepreneurship, Communication and Analytical Skills.

5. On his Strategic HCM blog Jon Ingham begins an excellent article by discussing Ulrich's Leadership Code before going on to suggest his own enhancements to the basic model. Both parts are well worth considering.


Why wait another week (or even two!) for my next update? Keep up to date with our Leadership Toolbar that provides one-click access to the top leadership development sites, leadership articles and blogs, leadership books, business newsfeeds and leadership tools. And we've also added a new section on leadership discussion forums. It's 100% free and we guarantee no adware or spyware. Download and install our Leadership Toolbar today.



Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Coaching Staff - Part Four

So far in this series we have looked at how to instruct staff members in a task or skill area, provide effective demonstrations and enable opportunities for them to practice, ideally in a safe or non-urgent environment. An often overlooked and under-rated aspect of coaching is monitoring and observing how the staff member is developing in the task or skill area. This then, is our focus for the next stage of the coaching cycle.

One of the workshops I run frequently is presentation skills. These are highly practical workshops that involve a lot of practice and feedback. When a presentation has not gone entirely as planned, I will often ask both the group and the presenter how it could have been improved. While they often come up with some useful ideas, they rarely get to the root of the issue. And this is where I have to earn my crust as a coach – by not just observing what everyone else has seen but also, identifying what is happening and why. I have to see the things that other people haven’t spotted in order to suggest one or two changes that would transform the presentation.

This is at the heart of coaching observation. The coach has to observe what is happening and also what is not happening. They must see the things that others can’t and identify why things are happening. This enables them to provide feedback that gets to the root of the issue and enables the staff member to improve, noticeably, when they next try to practice the task or skill.

I believe this is an intuitive part of coaching and as such, it is difficult to be specific on how to develop this aspect of the coaching toolbox. However, I offer the following guidance.

1. Observe what is happening but more importantly, identify why it is happening.

2. Observe what isn’t being applied.

3. Ask the staff member to reflect on what you have observed.

4. Get to the root of the issue.

5. Don’t try to improve too many areas at once. Identify the base learning that needs to take place before building on this to improve the finer details later.

In the next part of this series we’ll be looking in depth at the art of providing feedback to staff with a view to reinforcing what they are doing well and improving things that could be done better.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Why Training is Essential in a Recession

Many senior managers and business leaders will take the view that discretionary spending must be reduced or eliminated in a recession - it's one of the founding principles behind prudent financial management. And of course, training falls into that category, right?

Wrong!

In a recession, businesses will generally need to downsize which means they need to get greater performance from the fewer resources that remain. And this is the key factor that makes high quality training an essential component of businesses successfully navigating their way through a recession. Let's look at this purely from the perspective of leadership training, although the same principles apply to general staff training.

When resources are cut to the minimum there is no room for passengers or dead wood - everybody has to deliver. And it is the people leaders within the business who need to ensure that everybody delivers by exhibiting exceptional leadership skills.

• They need to manage performance like many have never done so before


• They need to upskill their people by coaching effectively


• They need to motivate their staff when the overall mood might be gloomy


• They need to instigate process improvements


• They need to allocate workloads more effectively


• They need to be creative and innovative when addressing challenges


• And most of all, they need to get their people really working as a team

In short, leadership skills need to be at their peak if the organisation is going to get the level of performance required from the reduced resources that are available. The really smart organisations would have invested heavily in leadership development when times were good so they already had these skills in abundance as we enter a recession. But here's the thing - when times are good, leaders often don't have the time to attend training courses and even when they do, the hectic environment of growth often doesn't provide people with the opportunity to fully apply what they have learned.

So now is the time to grasp the nettle. As with any discretionary spend the key metric is that the return on investment must be significantly greater than the spend itself and here's how this applies to leadership training:

1. Leaders must be selected based on the fact that they can improve on one or more of the factors bulletted above.
2. The leadership training or workshop must be selected on quality first and price second. In particular, the focus should be on the scope and depth of the learning outcomes.
3. Leaders must be empowered to apply what they have learned upon their return to work and fully supported in this endeavour.
4. Leaders, provided they are given the appropriate support, should be expected to deliver improved performance via their people.
5. Leaders should be expected to continue this higher level of performance once good times return once again, ensuring that the organisation exits recession stronger than it entered.

Senior managers and business leaders who adopt a broad brush, cost cutting approach while expecting the remaining resources to deliver improved performance without powerful training interventions are missing the point. Improving the capability of staff (and people leaders in particular) is more critical in a recession than at any other time.



Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Leadership Week - 28 Oct to 3 Nov 2008

Simon Cooper reviews this week's best leadership articles.

Wally Brock continues to inspire with his Three Star Leadership blog. In this week's gem (although delivered as more of a rant at a NYT article) Wally focuses on motivation in tough times. The great thing about Wally's blog is that it continuously encourages the reader to think and in my case, the writer to write.

Chris Young on the Rainmaker blog looks at five common reasons why CEOs do not share their vision. While reading this article it's worth considering whether your CEO shares their vision and more to the point, would it help you as a manager/leader do your job better?

On Leadership Turn, Miki Saxon explores the leadership silver bullet. This revolves around how managers can change their mindset in order to become true leaders. As anyone attending my leadership workshops will know, the development of leadership attitudes, values and behaviours is close to my heart.

On Mission Minded Management, Michelle Malay Carter makes some strong points about management accountability. The overriding impression for me was that shared leadership (of which I am a fan) should not be confused with shared accountability.

On his Community Blog Stephen Covey analyses trust between the leader, the organisation and the staff members. He discusses how easily it can be broken and goes on to explore the steps required to rebuild trust. This is a must read article, especially for anyone who is familiar with Dr Covey's 13 Behaviors of High Trust Leaders.

Why wait a whole week to see my top picks? Every blog and article listed here (and many more) are covered on our Leadership Toolbar - providing you with one-click access to everything you need to keep up to date with the leadership world, as and when it happens.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Leadership School

I had a fascinating dinner with a recently retired headteacher this weekend. He started off by asking me about the leadership workshop that I ran last week in San Francisco and also about the launch of Brilliant Leader, my new book. What followed though was a real eye opener for me.

He had headed a school (although it was technically branded as a college) that had developed a genuine leadership culture and delivered staggering outcomes as a result of this. An example he used was the cleaners. They were made aware of the school's vision, what they were trying to achieve, how they were trying to achieve it and most importantly, how their role fitted in with this vision. And this was the case with all staff and students throughout the school.

Everyone was encouraged to be part of the team pulling together to deliver the school's strategy. This included regular performance reviews, career/personal development discussions and an open door to ideas throughout the organisation. And when the school succeeded, the team's success was celebrated. Everyone, including the cleaners, were included in the celebration process. Individual success was also recognised through praise and reward mechanisms.

The net result? Everyone wanted to do well and so they did. Exclusions reduced dramatically, results improved likewise and everyone felt they were part of a community that was succeeding. It became one of the country's stand-out success stories and my dinner colleague spent the last couple of years before his retirement briefing headteachers up and down the country about how he went about developing a leadership culture.

It seems to me that lots of organisations and communities around the world would succeed more if they developed a genuine leadership culture. And the thing is, it really isn't that difficult. People respond to effective leadership. People respond to praise and recognition. People respond to being part of a team.

If the classic command and control environment of a school can produce transformational results by developing a leadership culture, then just imagine what can happen to a commercial organisation that follows this example. And with the threat of economic downturn becoming a reality, I would wager that companies who survive and even thrive in this environment are likely to have a strong leadership culture centred on effective communication, teamworking and recognition mechanisms that reward success.

The only note of caution I would add is that it must start from the top - that's where true leadership begins and it doesn't end until it gets to the bottom of the organisation.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops that set new standards in how to build, develop and lead high performing teams as well as helping organisations develop a genuine leadership culture.

No Pain, No Gain

There is little doubt that great teamwork delivers better results than a group of competent individuals working independently. But what is it that makes a great team and how does a team leader go about developing a great team?

This issue was addressed several decades ago by Bruce Tuckman with his four stages of team development - forming, storming, norming and performing.

When a team first comes together they are at the forming stage where members are unsure of their role in the team, cannot yet trust the abilities of other team members and therefore, productivity is low. As familiarity grows and team members start to jostle for position in the team, particularly in relation to roles and responsibilities, tension grows, co-operation is low and so too is productivity - this is the storming stage. As team members settle into regular patterns of working with clear roles and responsibilities (the norming stage), their productivity improves alongside increased co-operation and steady working relationships. And this is as far as most teams get to - a steady, co-operative working environment with decent productivity.

The fourth stage occurs when the team reaches the high performing stage where team members actively support and challenge each other to deliver outstanding results. Mutual trust is very high, relationships are very mature, processes are slick and co-operation is absolute. As a result, productivity is exceptional.

The harsh reality is that few teams ever truly reach the high performing stage. Consider for a moment how many times in your career you have been part of a genuinely high performing team that consistently delivered exceptional results. For most people this is a situation they might find themselves in maybe three or four times in their whole career. Some might never experience it. As for leading a high performing team, the averages are even lower.

What then does it take to lead or become a high performing team?

There are of course several factors, including the condition that the team must stay together long enough. In his book, Brilliant Leader, Simon Cooper explores many of the inputs required by a leader to build, develop and lead high performing teams, indeed, he sets new standards in how to do so. But perhaps the most compelling factor lies in the stages of the team's development and in particular, the storming stage.

The storming stage is uncomfortable. There is high tension among team members, passive or active conflict and low levels of trust. The tendency for most team leaders is to manage the team through the storming stage. This usually involves dealing with issues reactively and focusing on individual performance to ensure that everyone is doing their bit. Worse still, many leaders will highlight the weak links within the team and deliver negative feedback in order to encourage improvement. Additionally, they might manage conflicts as they arise or try to avoid dealing with them at all - the ostrich approach.

What many leaders fail to understand is that storming is actually a golden opportunity that enables the rapid progress towards a high performing team. The tension that is created provides energy that, if it can be harnessed properly, provides the momentum for the team to progress to the high performing state. No pain, no gain!

When the team enters the storming phase the leader needs to draw all the conflicts out in the open and challenge the team to resolve these conflicts based on what each member brings to the team both in terms of strengths and weaknesses. The leader should not avoid these conflicts but rather, they need to be embraced and facilitated. And they should try to take the team through this pahse rapidly. This of course, can be easier said than done.

Quite often taking teams rapidly through the storming stage is the focus of our team building events. We design exercises that draw out the conflicts in an open and safe environment. Our expert facilitators are then able to guide the group through these conflicts to help them appreciate each other, co-operate more and play to each others' strengths while supporting each other in their areas of weakness. And of course, team members have a shared experience to use as a reference point.

In our four day leadership workshop, Brilliant Leadership, delegates are actually taken through the four stages each day. So on the second day we create an environment that makes them storm. We take people out of their comfort zone and put them in situations where conflict is inevitable. We create tension among the group. But then we guide them through the process of using conflict and tension to create trust and co-operation. By the time we get to the end of the workshop, delegates are operating as a high performing team and we help them highlight the key aspects of what they have experienced in order to help them apply a similar methodology with their own teams upon their return to work.

Some people might call it high risk learning. Perhaps it should come with a health warning, 'don't try this at home kids'. Certainly, it requires top quality workshop facilitation to handle the environment we create. But there is no doubt that the learning is both extreme and powerful.

Whether it is via a team building event, our Brilliant Leadership workshop or by facilitating a live team, storming in the workplace, the message remains the same - no pain, no gain!


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, based in the UK but operating worldwide. He is also the author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful experiential workshop, Brilliant Leadership.

Animal Instincts

At the start of my Brilliant Leadership workshops I’ll often ask delegates to compare their preferred leadership style and management approach with members of the animal kingdom. Before you read the rest of this article you might like to do the same by reflecting on the following question for a moment or two:

Which animal best mirrors your own leadership style and why?

Perhaps not surprisingly one of the most popular choices is a lion, the king of the jungle. The lion rules his territory by dominating those around him. Nobody messes with a lion. Male lions are also great delegators; they eat, they sleep and they mate while the lioness takes care of everything else. Interestingly, very few female delegates choose the lion as the animal that best reflects their leadership style and by the end of the workshop, many of those who have chosen a lion have changed their minds. Specifically, a lion tends to represent an autocratic management style, leading through fear rather than co-operation.

More surprising to me are the number of delegates who choose a horse as the best reflection of their leadership style. The reasons normally focus on the fact that horses are strong, quick and graceful. They can be both independent and operate in a herd and can work hard when they need to while preferring a relaxed and carefree existence most of the time. I’m not so sure what this says about the leadership style of those delegates who elect for the horse, perhaps they are leaders who seek an easy life but can work hard and as part of a team when the pressure is on.

Some delegates have maybe been influenced by the ‘Lessons from Geese’ video otherwise it is hard to imagine that a Goose would spring to mind as reflecting key leadership behaviour. Geese of course, are great team players but a flock of geese doesn’t have an obvious leader. But then perhaps that is the point these delegates are making. Allow the team to manage themselves and they will find a way of working together synergistically just like geese do.

Another popular choice is the dolphin. Delegates who choose the dolphin are quick to point out that they are very intelligent animals with great communication skills. They are by and large friendly creatures but can become hostile when under threat. It is certainly my experience that brilliant leaders are also great communicators but I’m not so sure that there are too many geniuses amongst them. The genius of brilliant leadership probably has more to do with surrounding yourself with experts who help you do a great job.

One of my personal favourites is the eagle, particularly to reflect the behaviour and traits of brilliant strategic leaders. Eagles spend much of their time at a great height surveying the big picture but then they spot something of interest and with their great eyesight are able to hone in and look at the detail. Based on this detail, they are very decisive and swift to strike before stepping back again and looking at the big picture. Eagles are also very protective of their young while encouraging independence from an early age. Much of this behaviour sums up brilliant leadership. You need to have a view of the big picture while being able to selectively drill down and look at the detail. Brilliant leaders certainly need to be very decisive and often, swift to act. The idea of encouraging the independence of your staff based on effective coaching is also very positive leadership behaviour.

The chameleon though just pips the eagle for me, although not an animal that is often identified at the beginning of the workshop. Chameleons of course, adapt and change according to their situation and environment. And this is precisely what brilliant leaders need to do. There are times when staff need an autocratic leader and other times when they need an arm around their shoulder or perhaps just left alone to get on and do a great job. The intuitive ability to adapt and change according to each specific situation is often the hallmark of brilliant leaders.

Perhaps you thought of one of the animals above or maybe you had another idea like one of my delegates who put up a brave defence of why she had selected a mouse. The herding instincts of elephants, the communal nature of gorillas and the wisdom of owls also feature regularly among choices of the workshop participants.

But of course, there aren’t any right or wrong answers. Leadership is not an exact science and it is not my place to try and make it so. There are common behaviours and traits exhibited by many brilliant leaders and I see my job as being one of a tour guide. I can point out behaviours or actions and the effect they are having or might have in certain situations just like a tour guide can point out what you might like to look at. But whether you choose to look or not and how you apply what you see is entirely up to you.

At the end of my Brilliant Leadership workshops delegates revisit the same question. Around sixty percent have usually changed their opinion as to which animal’s behaviour and traits they wish to mirror in terms of their own leadership style.

The reality is that there is not a single leadership style or management approach that will work. Brilliant leaders develop a toolbox that they can dip into depending on the situation they find themselves in. And that is the instinct which needs to be developed.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, based in the UK but operating worldwide. He is also the author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful experiential workshop, Brilliant Leadership.

To Train or Develop?

To train or develop? That is the question.

Consider for a moment how many managers up and down the country sit down with their staff to review their development needs (often as part of the appraisal process) and end up by simply sending them on a training course. Job done? I think not.

When your staff attend a training course, the best you can hope for is that they return with new knowledge, new skills and some ideas about how these can be applied in the workplace. And if you don’t make any interventions you might, just might, get lucky and find that their diligence enables them to apply what they have learned from the training course and actually get better in the area you had intended.

However, all sorts of things can (and often will) go wrong with this approach. Firstly, staff members might not agree with your assessment of their development needs and will not be either a willing or motivated learner at the training course. Secondly, the training course might not deliver the knowledge or skills you were hoping for, especially if you have simply picked out a one-size-fits-all course from a training catalogue. And even if these first two barriers do not apply, the most common problem with using training courses as your primary development tool is that your staff will often struggle to apply what they have learned when they return to work.

Many human resource departments have developed processes to help overcome these common barriers. There is the development section of the appraisal form. There is often a pre-course briefing form where learning objectives need to be identified followed by a post course debriefing form where learning outcomes and action plans can be captured. But here’s the thing. Many managers see these as forms that need to be completed whereas the most important thing is the conversation that needs to take place between manager and staff member at each of these junctures – the form is merely a tool for helping to record the conversation.

These conversations aside, the most important thing a manager can do if they are truly focused on developing their staff is to make coaching interventions as staff members seek to practice and apply what they have learned. Coaching interventions that are constructive, objective, motivational, timely and learner centred. And let us not forget, coaching does not have to be used in conjunction with training courses, it can also be used instead of them. A good coach can pass on knowledge and develop skills just as effectively as a good trainer can.

Why then, do so few managers proactively engage in coaching their staff, preferring instead to rely on training courses to do the job for them? Perhaps it is due to a lack of appreciation for the power of effective coaching, a lack of time to coach or a lack of coaching skill. All of these are barriers that can be overcome and in most instances, relatively easily.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to staff development. The most powerful learning occurs through experience and work assignment where the staff member takes ownership of their own development, supported by effective coaching as appropriate. There are a variety of different types of work assignment that should be considered.

Leap Experiences – This is when high talent staff members with high levels of self confidence are exposed to a completely new and challenging skill set that stretches them to their limit. This is a high risk, high reward learning strategy which if successful, will see the staff member climb a steep learning curve in a short space of time. Well designed experiential workshops offer a form of leap experience with a much lower risk profile and it is also possible to design work based projects that offer leap experiences in a controlled environment.

Good to Great – We often don’t think to develop staff in areas that they are already strong. This can be a missed opportunity when somebody has the natural talent to become exceptional. Having identified an appropriate area, the leadership challenge is to create opportunities in which the staff member is able to advance their skill level by increased exposure to situations which stretch their ability.

Skills Transfer – It is not uncommon for staff members to have already developed the core skill required but struggle to transfer this to a new task. The coaching role here is to help them make the appropriate connections in order to transfer the skill to the new area.

Exposure – One of the challenges often encountered in developing staff is to find sufficient opportunity to expose them to the skill area. This can be particularly true when the development relates to a future rather than current job role. Simulation, secondment or special projects all provide potential solutions in this area.

Confidence Building – Quite often staff members are capable of performing in a new skill area but lack confidence in their own ability. Enabling them to practice in a safe environment with sufficient time to check and correct any errors before the work goes live provides a useful strategy in these instances. You might also look for quick-win opportunities to help build their confidence level.

Marketing – Sometimes a staff member will believe that they are capable in an area which is unproven as far as you are concerned. This can be especially true when considering experience gained in previous jobs or environments outside of work. A useful strategy here is to give them an opportunity to market themselves to you and others by demonstration and example in a controlled environment.

Feedback – Sometimes it is an awareness of a weakness that is required in order to develop the motivation to improve it. This feedback might come from you but can also be driven through multi-perspective feedback. After all, sometimes the leader is not aware of a weakness either whereas others might be.

Assessment – There are times when a general awareness of a weakness is known but the specifics are not. This requires an analysis of the underlying issues, often by an external expert, to identify the specific areas that need to be improved in order for the weakness to be overcome.

Redeployment or Workaround – You cannot put a round peg into a square whole. Sometimes you will have to accept that a staff member simply does not have the underlying talent in a particular skill area to perform tasks requiring that skill. If these tasks are non-critical to the role you might be able to facilitate a workaround by utilising other team members or resources. If they are critical to the role you are best advised to look at opportunities to redeploy the staff member in another role, especially if their general talents and work ethic warranted retaining them in the organisation.

There are then a plethora of development activities that extend way beyond simply sending a staff member on a traditional training course. While training courses have their place in the developmental toolbox, they are best used in conjunction with coaching in order to maximise the return on investment. Coaching can also be utilised independent of any training courses. However, the most powerful forms of development involve engaging the staff member in targeted work assignments or experiential events that enable them to fulfil their potential and deliver maximum return to both the team and the organisation.

To train or develop? Brilliant leaders know the difference focus on developing their staff.

Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, based in the UK but operating worldwide. He is also the author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful experiential workshop, Brilliant Leadership.

Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning is not new but is incredibly under used as a method for training and developing staff. Consider for a moment how people tend to be trained at your place of work and what methods top the list?

Training courses where people learn via presentations, group discussions, case studies and perhaps some role playing are likely to figure quite high on the list for most companies. But how much of this is actually taken back to the workplace and transferred into improved performance? Traditional training courses are essentially a method of knowledge transfer with a small amount of skills development. As knowledge transfer goes they can be very effective, especially if delivered by a good trainer but it is somewhat hit and miss if this knowledge is applied effectively by the trainee upon their return to work. How much support will they receive from their manager? Will the learning be reinforced and reviewed at regular intervals? Will they get an opportunity to practice what they have learned? How much of the knowledge will be lost or watered down over time?

An alternative to sending staff on a training course is for the manager or an experienced team member to train them on the job. Coaching can be the most effective form of learning when it is done well. Knowledge can be transferred by the coach, skills can be developed in stages and both can be applied in live but supervised situations. This provides an opportunity for the work to be reviewed and feedback provide in order to facilitate rapid learning. Given that coaching is a widely effective form of experiential learning, what are the downsides? It requires a large investment of time by the coach. It requires a high level of coaching skill. Perhaps most significantly, it takes two people, the coach and the trainee, away from their normal tasks making them both less productive in the short term.

Another form of on the job training is to provide the trainee with a leap experience. This essentially involves providing the staff member with a specific job assignment or project aimed at developing a targeted skill set. This is raw experiential learning. If successful the individual is likely to learn rapidly, hence a leap experience. However, the downside of a leap experience is the risk of failure and the accompanying damage to both the person’s confidence and the business.

When I set up the Experiential Learning Centre it was with the intention of combining the best of these learning methods in order to provide the most powerful developmental outcomes at the lowest possible risk. Together with a small team of learning and development experts, we designed a series of simulations and activities that mirrored a range of leadership, team working and business skills scenarios but delivered within the safety of a classroom environment. A great simulation in itself is not enough. In order to complete the learning experience each simulated programme needs to be supported by high quality facilitation and expert coaching. The results have been extremely powerful.

Trainees are able to learn by experience and transfer what they have learned back in the working environment in order to perform at a significantly higher level. In essence, what we have developed is a series of safe leap experiences which is the holy grail of staff development.

As one of our leadership facilitators, Jonathon Elliott says “It really is quite remarkable to see the learning that takes place during an experiential leadership event. Delegates don’t just learn from being a leader themselves but also from how others go about leading and managing. Sometimes they will be on the receiving end of an activity in which there is a weak plan or where a conflict is poorly handled. Other times they will experience an exceptional piece of teamworking or find themselves being motivated at a high level. In both scenarios they are learning something that they will be able to take back to work and use immediately. At the end of an experiential event, people are noticeably at a significantly higher level of competence than when they joined the programme. They are able to apply what they have learned in a variety of situations and perform better.”

The reality is that many managers lack the time and ability to facilitate experiential learning in the workplace. The result is that staff are often unable to develop as well as they could or they are thrown in at the deep end, often with high risks attached. Simulated experiential learning provides a compelling alternative as long as it is supported by high quality facilitation and expert coaching interventions.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, based in the UK but operating worldwide. He is also the author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful experiential workshop, Brilliant Leadership.