Lack of Buy-In from the Board/Executives

Often, it is the people at the very top who need the training first. However, board members and executives tend to feel that they already know what they’re doing and don’t need training. They adopt a stance that there is nothing more for them to learn. This leads to a situation where the board inevitably fail to adopt the recommendations of the programme.

While you can still train those lower down, without the will at those of the top to make changes, the programme ends up failing to deliver results.

The Generic Approach

A great training programme reflects the market sector, the customer needs, the business culture and environment. A coach spends time getting to know the business before the training takes place to understand real-life challenges and use common language, relevant examples, and a range of practical activities.

Unfortunately, there are trainers out there that sell ‘off-the-shelf’ coaching solutions. They don’t take the time to know the business, so they will try and use the same programme for a B2B technology wholesaler that they would use for a retail pet supplies outlet.

If your leadership coach isn’t suggesting preparation and research, then you should look elsewhere.

An Outdated Approach

You wouldn’t send your child to a school that still taught them that mercury was a fantastic cure-all or that piling on the carbs is a great way to lose weight. There are many things that we once accepted as fact, but we now know are not true.

The same applies to leadership theory. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is still a staple of many leadership programmes, despite being written in the 1940s and widely disputed today. Worse is when coaches parrot a common but gross misunderstanding of concepts such as McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. They didn’t understand it to begin with, and now the incorrect interpretation is accepted as accurate.

A lot of content still used in leadership programmes was written decades ago, and much of it is no longer relevant. Leadership coaching is a science, and just as you’d be horrified to go to the doctor and find they wanted to drill a hole in your head, you should be very wary of any leadership coach using outdated textbooks and techniques.

A Militaristic Approach

“Break them down and build them back up!”

It’s called attack therapy and is a prevalent method for training recruits in the United States Army. During the 1980s, attack therapy became a popular method for leadership programmes, which it really should not. If you’re going to war, then sure, you will need to confront pressure and phobias, but despite much macho posturing, business isn’t warfare unless your business is organised crime.

The biggest problem with attack therapy is how proponents disregard the individual’s stresses, fears, and mental makeup. I have seen people in tears after a session with a wannabe drill sergeant who evidently never watched past the halfway point of Full Metal Jacket.

Yes, people want to be, and should be, challenged. Overcoming challenges is vital for personal growth, and experience can make us stronger. However, not everybody is up for a Bear Grylls-style survival weekend in the Peak District. You need to respect your people’s boundaries and tailor your programme in a way that ensures those boundaries are not violated.

A Poor Spread

Believe it or not, food is important. Food gives us energy, and that energy is what ensures our people are engaged and motivated. Hungry delegates are rarely receptive or engaged in the content. Snickers are not what I would suggest, but they are right – you’re not yourself when you’re hungry.

If you’ve hired a great leadership coach, then you should support them. Part of that support is ensuring that your delegates have good, healthy food available at lunchtime. Make sure you’ve accounted for dietary requirements, and try and avoid bloaty foods like sausage rolls and Scotch eggs.

If your budget can stretch to it, consider bringing in a catering company to provide something a little bit exciting. The more comfortable your people, the better your results.

Lack of Pre and Post-Work

A great leadership coach should be sending through pre-work and follow up-work. If they don’t, then the training exists in a bubble. It just becomes a day you’re expected to “get through” before you return to your regular job. The training needs to be embedded, and the best way to accomplish this is to make the delegate’s think about it before and after.

Pre-work aids the training by giving the coach an idea of where the people are. What are their skills, what needs improving, what challenges are they facing, etc.? Post-work demonstrates to what extent they’ve understood the training and how they will be implementing it.

Both provide a key set of metrics that a coach can use to assess the impact of the training. Great coaches don’t just deliver a day’s training and leave you to it. They continue to provide an after-care service to ensure that your people maximise their potential and your investment.

Additionally, delegates must be informed about the training, structure, expectations, etc., before it occurs. Don’t just send them to the venue on the day and expect results. Encourage them, excite them, and work with them to ensure they’re ready to start learning new things.

Too Much Theory

Think back to school. Who were your favourite teachers? I would wager that the majority of your favourite teachers were the ones who engaged the class. Very few people respond well to a pure theory approach. PowerPoint is a crutch for some coaches. They overuse it. A coach that stands and talks for hours isn’t going to engage people. Eventually, your mind will wander because you are bored, and once that happens, very little will stick.

The most effective training is only about 30% theory. The rest is practical application – roleplays, scenarios, relevant games, and similar. When you’re looking to bring a leadership coach in, you should ask them what they do to keep your people engaged. It’s not your people’s fault if the coach can’t keep their attention.

With that in mind, some organisations think that their people shouldn’t be having fun when training. There is an incorrect assumption that if your people laugh during training, they must be mucking about. That isn’t true. When we’re having fun, things stick. A real-life example is how most of us will remember more lines of dialogue from a comedy show than we’ll remember from a gritty drama. We remember them more effectively because they brought us joy, and our brains are hard-wired to seek joy out.

Therefore, your coach should be making your people laugh. The training itself should be fun and interactive. The more fun a person has during a training session, the greater the likelihood the training will stick long-term.

Are you interested in Leadership Training? We have the skills, knowledge, and experience to deliver a world-class training experience to your business that will deliver tangible results and a fantastic return on investment. Just drop us a note here, and we’ll get back to you soon.

The post 7 Reasons Why Leadership Training Can Fail appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Last year, we were contacted by Ultrapolymers, a long-term client of ours, to design and deliver an entirely remote programme of training materials to equip their people with the skills to ensure their business could handle the new challenges.

The Brief

As an international group, Ultrapolymers had people in offices across Europe. Our training would have to take on-board the particular needs of their people from both the UK and offices on the European mainland. We’d need to design materials that would translate well to people for whom English is not a first language. Further to this, Ultrapolymers asked that we focused on remote teambuilding within these separate offices to better prepare their people to engage in cross-border business and communications.

Given their business’s international scope, we also had to consider the multinational markets and cultures to deliver a truly universal programme.

During the programme, we would be delivering training to people from Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Key Focuses

In addition to teambuilding, Ultrapolymers sought training on prospecting and developing new business in the uncertain times we all faced. They wanted to ensure that their people could still talk to clients with confidence that Ultrapolymers was a valuable strategic partner who could add value, solve problems, and deliver no matter the additional priorities.

When it came to Key Accounts, Ultrapolymers needed to help their people engage with their clients, understand their changing circumstances, and position themselves as the right partner to renew those mutually beneficial partnerships which had been a core asset to the Ultrapolymers portfolio. We wanted to make sure that UP could continue to develop their existing relationships while cross-selling and up-selling the most relevant and useful products/services in their offering to their most valuable clients.

We also understood that with changing priorities, budget freezes, and similar obstacles, Ultrapolymers needed their people to become confident negotiators who could build value in UP products and services, differentiate themselves effectively from the competition and convey the exceptional levels of service, technical expertise and support on which Ultrapolymers has built its reputation. We endeavoured to ensure that UP could sell its value and defend its margins.

The Programme

Beginning in May 2020, RLA delivered a series of bite-sized half-day modules using the Zoom platform, focusing on making the programme as interactive and engaging as possible. By limiting the number of delegates to ten per session, we felt better able to provide a strong training programme for the group and address individual needs and concerns despite the restraints of remote-based coaching.

Using a combination of group work in breakout rooms, polls/quizzes, and the more traditional slideshow presentation, we felt we could replicate the classroom experience, and in some cases, even exceed it.

Over a period of three months, we delivered sessions on Business Development and Prospecting, The Psychology of Sales, Objection Handling and Pre-Handling, and Customer Segmentation to over 150 delegates. Realising that technical difficulties, family life, and other unavoidable factors may disrupt the learning process, we also delivered several ‘mop-up’ sessions later in the year so that no individual need be left behind through missing a session.

Additionally, we provided support materials to the delegates, offered pre-work for the delegates to complete before each session, and came up with a post-training enforcement programme to ensure that the training stuck.

Results

We were delighted to hear back from Ultrapolymers at the beginning of 2021 that UP has secured 151 new accounts despite the difficulties of business in the new normal, with profits in excess of €350,000 in the months since the programme’s completion. Additionally, Ultrapolymers predicts this figure will continue to rise through repeat sales up to €600,000 in the next quarter.

We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with Ultrapolymers in the future and are honoured and privileged to have played a part in their continued success.

Testimonial

“When Covid hit we quickly moved, like most people, to a Teams call every morning trying to motivate our salesforce to still make virtual face-to-face visits with our clients. However, like most organisations, this quickly turned into ‘death by Teams meetings’. That’s when we turned to Robin. Robin was able to guide us in splitting our 100+ Europe-wide team-members into smaller manageable chunks as well as splitting the programme into 4 two-hour modules. We have found that not only has the programme increased the proactivity across Europe, it has also allowed the teams to work better in collaboration. Sharing successful projects and best practice around the whole team.”

Stuart McCaig, European Sales Ambassdor for Ultrapolymers

The post Ultrapolymers: A Case Study appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Retaining Your People

A key demographic that benefits from Emerging Leader programmes are millennials. It’s fair to say that ambitious younger people are always looking to get ahead quickly. With high house prices and rents, the millennial generation is less inclined to stay too long in one organisation if a more lucrative opportunity presents itself.

However, this causes issues for many businesses; the constant reshuffling of people within an organisation, the revolving door recruitment process, and the morale hit when someone leaves for presumably bigger things. It is a natural reaction when one person moves on for others in the group to wonder if there are greener pastures waiting for them too. Another concern is with team unity. While it’s true that you cannot expect everyone in a business to get along, most people learn how to work with others regardless of personal differences. When you are constantly needing to introduce new people into a team, however, the dynamic rarely has a chance to settle. As a side-effect of being unable to retain people, you may struggle to create a cohesive and productive work environment.

Furthermore, without someone in place to take over a senior role when it comes available, an organisation has to risk costly outside hiring or a ‘crash course’ training programme for someone within the organisation.
 

Emerging Leadership Academy

An Emerging Leadership Academy can help with these issues. By grooming people for future leadership roles, you’re giving them a clear indication of their value to the business and indicating that they have strong future prospects if they stay with you. While a more financially rewarding opportunity might present itself to an individual, you may make them think twice about jumping. After all, if they know that in a few years they will climb the ladder in your organisation, then the immediate incentive to move on may no longer seem as attractive.

Running an Emerging Leadership Academy also says a lot about your organisation. It shows you’re invested in your people as well as your bottom line. When it is necessary to recruit new individuals, such a statement might make you more attractive to a candidate. Emerging Leadership Academies serve as evidence of a career path and of opportunities to develop existing skills and build new ones. Ambitious people are always looking for ways to improve and learn, and you’re offering them the chance to do just that with you.

An Emerging Leadership Academy comprises of taking a group of rising stars from within your organisation, across various departments, and putting them through a structured and modular development programme. A mixture of group workshops, individual coaching, online learning and experiential mentoring is offered.
 

Strengthening Bonds

Because you’re developing people across your organisation, you can help build a sense of togetherness and strengthen bonds within your group. You might think of it as the mid-90s Manchester United team that was built around a core of youth players who all filtered through to the first-team at around the same time and went on to be the foundation of much of the club’s success heading into the new millennium.

The results of Emerging Leadership Academies can have a startling effect on talent retention, succession, engagement and morale. People who feel they are being actively nurtured and developed often have a more positive view of the company they work for. You may even instil a sense of pride in individuals, which may cause them to speak more positively about your organisation to friends, family and online areas such as Glassdoor. Over time, you can broaden their responsibilities as their skills grow, further cementing a mutually beneficial positive relationship.

Businesses often report a greater degree of collaboration between Emerging Leadership candidates as the programmes put a heavy focus on teamwork. Many organisations further empower their Emerging Leaders with a business-related project such as acquisition, transformational business initiatives and improving culture and wellbeing. You may also find that meetings are more productive as your people feel they now have more of a voice in the organisation. They may well bring new ideas and perspectives to the table that previously they would keep to themselves.
 

Find Out More

If you’re interested in establishing an Emerging Leadership Academy within your organisation and want to explore your options, then please feel free to get in touch here.

The post The Benefits of an Emerging Leaders Academy appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.

Business mentoring is often confused with business coaching or consulting.

Coaching focuses on harnessing the innate skills of the client. It assumes a capability and seeks to help the coachee find and develop their own abilities.

Consulting uses the expertise, skills, knowledge and experiences of the consultant to educate. You can think of it as similar to the relationship between a teacher and a student. The expert teaches; the client learns.

Mentoring is about the personal development of the client. An individual may have a great understanding of one skillset, but require assistance in developing others.

Furthermore, mentoring is more of an ongoing process. The mentor adopts a supportive role, becoming a source of advice and knowledge for the client. Often, they will seek opportunities for development of the mentee, such as networking events, or introductions to relevant people. While coaching aids an individual develop their skills for their current role, a mentor helps to develop the individual for their next role.
 

Friend and Confidante

Because of the personal nature of mentoring, it is often the case that a mentor will become a friend and confidante. The mentor will help the client navigate the murky roads of office and corporate politics. They will establish frequent communication with the mentee, listen to what they want to achieve and guide them on the right path. A mentor will have vital skills, experiences, and a desire to see the mentee achieve them. The best mentors share in both the joys and disappointments of their clients.

The mentor also acts as an unbiased third party to approach with ideas. Because they invest in a person’s success, they will not simply try and massage egos. If an idea seems unworkable, a mentor will not just dismiss it but attempt to guide the mentee towards considering whether they can make the idea more workable. The mentor will be experienced, and have a perspective that the client may not. They will bring that perspective into their work with the mentee, to help them look at problems differently, and find solutions more effectively.
 

A Vital Sounding Board

Perhaps the often unspoken benefit of a mentor is that they can act as a sounding board. Business is rife with stress, and much of it could be avoided if people were more mindful of others. In business, we cannot vent to our colleagues, our customers or our business partners. Most prefer not to vent to our spouses because we do not want to take negativity into our home life. A mentor can be invaluable in providing a safe release for the day-to-day headaches that emerge, but more importantly, can help the mentee devise coping strategies to come out on top.

A business mentor will not simply mould a client in their own image. Although the mentor will have their own experiences, methods and strategies to call upon, they will encourage the mentee to develop their own. You can think of some meetings with mentors as a brainstorming whiteboard session. The mentor will ask questions; they will give the client the opportunity to think and consider for themselves. Through this, the client will grow as a person, and they will become their own person.
 

Introducing Mentoring Into Organisations

If you’re considering introducing mentoring into your organisation, you should ask yourself some questions. For example, what are the organisational goals? When, where and how often will the mentoring take place? Who do you think will benefit? Do you have appropriate potential mentors in the organisation or will you outsource?

With regards to that last question, it is often useful to bring in an outside mentor. Mentoring is often most successful when a client feels they can open up to their mentor. Depending on the office culture, a mentee may be reluctant to fully utilise the range of mentoring services if they have to see their mentor every day.
 

Keeping People on the Bus

Introducing mentoring into an organisation can be invaluable. I’ve written before about getting the right people on the bus and putting them in the right seats. Once you have the right people on the bus, you want to keep them on the bus. Mentoring develops people for a career. By giving them the opportunities for a career within your organisation, you encourage them not to get off at the next stop. You give them a purpose, and you make them feel valued. Furthermore, the mentees of today could be your mentors of tomorrow. They could very well be the ones guiding the next generation to success as your business grows.

The post The Benefits of Business Mentoring appeared first on Robin Lines Associates.