Nothing is more important in the modern business world than to acquire the skill to change. Transformation is the buzzword of our times. In simple terms, we need to change, we want to change, but we don’t do it. Why? The interesting part is this, we know the answers. We know what needs to change, we also know how we should change. And still, we don’t do it. Many organizations I talk to present to me the same problem: How can we make the change we so desperately need. Here we look at the core question, how can we actually change? We answer, what are our false premises and misconceptions that sabotage our behavioral change.
High Performance Requires Change
It is easy to come to the conclusion that, for our organization to do better, we need to behave differently from how we currently operate. Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting differing results describes infamously the definition of insanity.
The tricky part of high performance comes into play as soon as we try to measure the results. In the end stands, who guessed it, performance, whatever that may mean for any particular organization or business. For example, let’s take a sales organization who wants to perform better in terms of closed sales. One of the ways the sales organization can define high performance is to draw an imaginary line and say you reach top performer level if you are among the top twenty or top ten percent of salespeople (in terms of closed revenue).
Here’s where the trouble starts: Because we measure our results, we assume that in order to increase our performance we need to do more. We believe that we need to work twice as hard, do twice as much to double the outcome. However, this is not the case.
We need to stop what we have been doing, reevaluate our objective, our resources and our ways to perform and to start doing something we have never done. To the ears (and minds) of experienced people THIS sounds crazy.
What Training CAN Do
One measure that organizations often take to shift gears and to foster high performance (whatever that may mean to them, let’s just hope it’s well defined which it often isn’t) is this: training. The development of skills in the form of courses, training sessions, and seminars becomes the “next logical step.” And this step often leads to heightened expectation of many fronts:
The decision makers hope that magic happens within these hours of learning and education and all of their organizational failures and shortcomings will be solved.
Some delegates and participants hope that finally they learn the missing key that they have been looking for since the beginning of time. They hope the difficulties and challenges for the most specific and complex situations will vanish at once with the magic that they are going to learn.
Some delegates just hope that they are going to either be validated or that they have an opportunity to knock down any facilitator or so-called “expert”
Now, the question is: what are trainings capable of? To achieve high performance (again, please, define what this thing is that you want), a well-designed training in the classic sense can contribute in the following ways: It can help to show 1) how high-performance looks like and 2) in what ways, through what methods and tools the participants can achieve it. The better formats of such training allow 3) to test and practice ways to do that. That’s about it.
In terms of explaining why and what to change, training sessions are great. They may even allow for the first trial runs , offering a glimpse into new strategies and methodologies. But, as we've all experienced, doing something once is rarely enough to instigate a true habit change. This is where most training sessions hit their limit.
Training as an Event vs. Training as a Process
Too often, training is treated as a one-off event rather than an ongoing process. The excitement and motivation can be high during the session itself, but without a structured system in place to support and reinforce these new skills, they quickly dissipate. For training to truly affect change, it needs to be seen not as a discrete event but as a continuous cycle of learning, application, feedback, and improvement.
Creating a System for Sustained Change
High performance isn't a result of random acts of excellence, but the outcome of repeated, consistent application of the best practices. This leads us to the only viable conclusion: the imperative of a system that fosters accountability, repetition, and immersion.
Accountability: There must be a mechanism in place that holds individuals accountable for applying what they've learned. This could be through regular check-ins, performance reviews that factor in the application of new skills, or peer accountability groups.
Repetition: Mastery comes from practice. Training programs must be designed to offer multiple opportunities to apply new skills, whether through simulations, real-world tasks, or role-play scenarios. The more frequently these new skills are practiced, the more likely they are to become ingrained.
Immersion: Creating an environment where these new practices are not just encouraged but are part of the daily workflow is crucial. This might mean restructuring some team roles, changing how projects are managed, or integrating new tools that support the behaviors and techniques emphasized in training.
The Role of Leadership
Leadership commitment is crucial in creating and maintaining these systems. Without a genuine willingness from the top to invest in and sustain such environments, training efforts are unlikely to yield the desired transformation. Leaders must champion these systems, ensuring they are not only implemented but also aligned with the organization's long-term goals and culture.
Trainability is the trait necessary in the mindset of anybody involved in setting up training systems and – ultimately, purchasing or co-creating them.
The ultimate success of training hinges on the organization's commitment to creating a supportive ecosystem that extends well beyond the training room. It's about building a culture that values continual improvement and recognizes the compounded benefits of sustained practice and application. Only with these systems in place can organizations expect to see the true value of their investment in people development, turning fleeting insights into lasting high performance.
By approaching training as a comprehensive, integrated process supported by accountability, repetition, and immersion, organizations can bridge the gap between potential and performance, ensuring that their workforce is not only trained but truly transformed.
Author: Marc Breetzke, M.A., M.A.
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