Can training take us only so far in raising levels of performance?
There is a saying ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.
The question is, knowing we don’t know everything, what’s the best way to learn more?
We all have gaps in our knowledge, yet we are often expected to perform at a level that is beyond what we have been trained to do. Training teaches us new skills, new abilities, new habits, new ways of doing things, we wouldn’t be able to drive a car without training. However, once we have learnt those skills, we are back in our comfort zone, we become unconsciously competent. To keep learning, to continuously perform at a higher level, we have to keep pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, to recognise that we are consciously incompetent, have an awareness or feeling of ‘uncomfortableness’ in what we are doing, then we will actively develop new skills.
Training provides opportunities to learn new skills, knowledge, abilities, but without practice, we can easily regress back to what we are familiar with, our comfort zone. This is a place that carries less unpredictability and consequently less risk, it is more comfortable and more stable. This is especially true when we are under pressure, under pressure we revert back to what we are familiar with, rather than trying out new things or things that we are not fully confident with.
How many of us have attended a training session, learnt new theories, made copious notes, got involved in discussions, possibly played games, left the training room highly motivated to put everything we have learnt into practice, only to get back to work and slot back into the usual ways of doing things? It takes a lot more than a single event to change a person’s behaviour.
Only 25% of respondents to a recent McKinsey survey believe that training measurably improved performance.
Only 12% of employees actually use the training they receive at work A report by 24×7 Learning: Workplace Learning – 2015
“It’s more than put the work in, it’s practice and rehearse the skills … that you want to have as a reliable tool when the sh–‘s hitting the fan, or when the stakes are high, or when your heartbeat is 180 beats per minute. You have to train for that. It’s like a sport. You can’t read a book on soccer and then go to the World Cup.”
Tim Ferris
Training without opportunities to practice can provide limited results in changing behaviours and habits. For training, to be effective it needs to be supported with ongoing reinforcement, practice and feedback (this is the difference between single and double loop learning – see my blog on this).
Matthew Sayed in his book Bounce: The myth of talent and the power of practice, talks about the 10,000-hour rule, to become a top performer, we need to put in the hours of practice.
How do we stay motivated to put in the hours of practice? Some of us have that drive, determination to achieve, most of us would rather be doing something else, something that is far easier and more comfortable. Who is going to hold us to account if we don’t do it, ourselves? Once we have had the training, who is going to check that we are putting it into practice? However, its not just about putting in the hours, most of us have been driving for years and clocked up hours of practice, well over the 10,000 mark, however how many of us could claim to be world-class drivers? If anything, our driving has probably got worse, we have probably adopted bad habits, we are becoming more unconsciously incompetent! What is needed is concentrated, expert practice.
“When most people practice, they focus on the things they can do effortlessly. Expert practice is different. It entails considerable specific, and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well – or even at all”
Ericsson
How can Mentoring make a difference to performance?
- Studies show that people apply what they learn more effectively when they have a developmental relationship with someone who understands the organisational context and is committed to helping them be successful.
- Mentoring provides an opportunity for the learner to take a step back and reflect on their experiences, what has worked, not worked? What could they do differently? What information do they need? Mentoring allows the learner the time to consider actions needed and how to carry them out. Learning through experience changes how we see things and act. A mentor can help in this process.
- Mentoring provides this deep form of learning, through dialogue and reflective practice, it provides transformational learning, new insights, perspectives and ways forward. Through reflecting we gain a new way of understanding an experience and through this we can decide different actions and new behaviours.
- Mentoring guides learners on how to implement the learning to their specific work context, it provides the opportunity to embed learning, to practice and receive feedback on our skills and behaviours.
- Mentors can answer questions, questions that may not have been answered during a training programme, and help guide learners through various situations while understanding the specific obstacles they’re likely to face,
- Mentors provide on-going, specific, general support, advice and guidance to enhance long-term development for individuals
- Mentoring provides the accountability, someone who you ‘check-in’ with, that will help with focus and objective setting as well as providing feedback
Participants are 40% more likely to achieve their goals if they write them down. This increases to 70% if the goals are shared with someone to keep them accountable, such as a mentor. Gartner 2006
If you would like to explore mentoring in your organisation and how it can work for you and your staff, then please get in touch. Together we can identify what you want to achieve from a mentoring programme and how to go about achieving it.
More information is available at: www.fptrainingltd.co.uk or email me at Fiona.porter@fptrainingltd.co.uk
