Coaching is the Missing Link
Coaching is the missing link. . .between training and achieving the behavior change you desire.
How many times have you attended a training course eager to develop new skills, find yourself completely engaged in the content, and leave the training feeling motivated to apply what you learned. . .only to walk back into work overwhelmed and toss everything you learned out the window?
It is very common to see little or no behavior change as a result of training by itself. If you are interested in changing your performance based on a new skill you have learned through training, incorporate coaching.
The coaching process creates an environment where you focus on increasing your potential, reducing interference (the things that get in your way of achieving optimal performance), and creating the accountability needed to achieve the things you most want to accomplish.
“Begin with the end in mind.”
~ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
When training is followed up with coaching, you will work to identify the specific behavior changes you desire, design a plan to achieve them, and create accountability for forward movement. If you don’t have coaching available to you, consider using this DBA Process, following training as either self coaching or with your employees if you are a leader.
The DBA Process (Desire > Belief > Action):
Desire: Clarify exactly what you want and be specific. Create a clear picture of what you want, identify what it feels like when you are doing it, and understand why this new behavior is important. Finally, identify the blocks that might get in your way and what you will do to overcome them.
Belief: It isn’t enough to simply desire something, you must also believe you are capable of doing it, you must believe in yourself. This requires you to set aside any judgements and assumptions you have about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. History does not create the future - you do. It’s a choice.
Action: Believe and act as if you can already do it. Inspire yourself with positive affirmations. Be the new you, do the new skill, apply the new learning. See it, feel it, live it. Think of it not as a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when”.
