Transfer of learning

It’s too late shutting the stable door – the horse has bolted!
What are the indicators of success for this programme – not just for you or the sponsor, but for those managers taking part? If there’s not enough alignment between all of these you may hav problems transfering the learning in to real results.

I’m assuming, from the tense of the text, that this management coaching programme is already running. Further, there are discipline and attendance issues.

Without a baseline – a ‘what, exactly, were things like before we did the coaching’ – it is not possible to see what has improved, at least not with any signficant objectivity and credibility.

Can I further assume that without any work done to determine the root causes of the absence and discipline issues, the decision to do a management coaching programme is essentially a shot in the dark? If it’s not a shot in the dark, then what is the clear link between key performance indicators prior to the programme, and the same indicators after the programme?

Further, if these links are not clear, how likely is it that managers will see this programme as a credible response to the issues of discipline and attendance – are these the top issues for these managers even? Without sufficient credibility in the eyes of the participating managers, how ready, willing and able will they really be to take their learning, such as it is, back to the workplace?

Coaching is a great tool. When it is used to tackle the right issues.

I’m not saying the issues aren’t being tackled, I just don’t have a sense they’ve been properly identified, baselined, and used as the driver for the coaching programme.

I may be way off here, but this sounds like a programme that has spent time an money and now is looking for justification.

Sorry to sound negative, but in my experience this looks like being a difficult one to develop real credibility for in terms of evaluation. It just smacks of guesses and estimates, and whilst they may be well intentioned and well informed, possibly even correct, they are equally easy to hold up as not credible. Then it doesn’t matter what the evaluation says – unless it fits with the current office politics!

2 Responses

User deleted says:

October 31, 2004 at 9:09 pm

It’s too late shutting the stable door – the horse has bolted!
What are the indicators of success for this programme – not just for you or the sponsor, but for those managers taking part? If there’s not enough alignment between all of these you may hav problems transfering the learning in to real results.

I’m assuming, from the tense of the text, that this management coaching programme is already running. Further, there are discipline and attendance issues.

Without a baseline – a ‘what, exactly, were things like before we did the coaching’ – it is not possible to see what has improved, at least not with any signficant objectivity and credibility.

Can I further assume that without any work done to determine the root causes of the absence and discipline issues, the decision to do a management coaching programme is essentially a shot in the dark? If it’s not a shot in the dark, then what is the clear link between key performance indicators prior to the programme, and the same indicators after the programme?

Further, if these links are not clear, how likely is it that managers will see this programme as a credible response to the issues of discipline and attendance – are these the top issues for these managers even? Without sufficient credibility in the eyes of the participating managers, how ready, willing and able will they really be to take their learning, such as it is, back to the workplace?

Coaching is a great tool. When it is used to tackle the right issues.

I’m not saying the issues aren’t being tackled, I just don’t have a sense they’ve been properly identified, baselined, and used as the driver for the coaching programme.

I may be way off here, but this sounds like a programme that has spent time an money and now is looking for justification.

Sorry to sound negative, but in my experience this looks like being a difficult one to develop real credibility for in terms of evaluation. It just smacks of guesses and estimates, and whilst they may be well intentioned and well informed, possibly even correct, they are equally easy to hold up as not credible. Then it doesn’t matter what the evaluation says – unless it fits with the current office politics!
User deleted says:

November 1, 2004 at 8:19 pm

Tiny
Sorry Edwina
I have to agree with Martin, albeit in fewer words.
Peter