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Use Grow to Make Learning Effective

I wanted to find a way to make learning stick. After years in senior HR roles and managing large teams of people, I was frustrated when we spent time and money on training that didn’t seem to impact on the day job. I would have understood if the training wasn’t very good ! But often this was brilliant training that was delivered by great people, using sound business models and robust research. More often than not, the “happy sheets” would provide feedback that the training was great. More often than not almost all the delegates would say that they would definitely use the skills back in the workplace.

I wanted to do know more about why delegates who were keen to use the skills back in the workplace, didn’t end up doing so. And what I could do to make sure my training was different.

So – lots of research, conversations with training professionals and good old fashioned thinking later…There is one element of the training that I now know from experience can make all the difference. Clue…it is not the quality of my slides!

The interest and the involvement of the line manager – before and after – that can make the difference between training  making a difference to the business or being an interesting diversion in a classroom.

It sounds so simple and so obvious. But if I am honest, as a busy line manager, could I,  hand on heart, say that I made time to have a conversation with everyone who worked with me in order to help them to make the training investment I had made in them really count ?

No I can’t. And not for bad reasons.

My excuse ? I trusted them. They were capable people. I was sure they would ask if they wanted help…Right ?

Well no. Not according to my research which I hoping to publish later in the year. I think conservatively that for every £1 you spend you can deliver upwards of £10 for your business if you follow some simple models we are testing,  but it drops significantly if you don’t. My initial findings suggest that if you don’t set your teams up for success and then follow up with them afterwards that every £1 you spend, gets you about £2. Tops.

But within the doom is some brilliant news – you can get every pound of your training investment to make you a 10 times return, without spending more time or money…

It requires the line manager to do something. But the great news is that we have found simple ways that work. In fact it’s fast and actually quite rewarding.

There is more detail to follow, but in a nutshell, we suggest managers use the GROW model – it’s simple, it works and most people know it. Come on…we don’t need to invent a new model !!

Keep it Simple. As a line manager, before someone attends a training session, ask a good G question and a good R question.

When they get back to work ask them a good O and W question.

Of course, ask more than 1 if you like. However, our research suggests just 2 questions asked before one of your team attends training has a remarkable effect. Brownie Promise.

If your mind is blank (or one of your team is meeting you in 2 minutes and you can’t think of a great question!) , then give these a try. Perhaps build on them to make them personal?

Before your team member attends:

G (GOAL) Questions:

What are you hoping to get from the training ?

How are you going to measure if attending this training was a success for you (and/or the Company)

What would you love to be saying to me if I called you in the car on the way home after the training?

R (REALITY) Questions:

What is stopping you being really good at this already ? (You may want to probe if this is down to “Skill” or “Will”)

What will stop you making the most of this opportunity to learn or practise your skills ?

Are you really up for this? What could change that?

When they get back from the training (ideally within 24 hours but 78 hours max)

O (OPTIONS) Questions:

What things do you want to do differently as a result of the learning ?

What could you start doing differently today?

What could you do and what will you do ? What’s the difference ?

W (WHAT NEXT) Questions:

How will you measure how successful you have been ?

What can I do to help ?

What do you want me to do if you don’t deliver on your good intentions?

Give it a go. Let us know if it works or how you improve upon it.

And contact us at he***@te**************.com to find out more about the full Tea Break Training model. We’d love to include you in our trials and research…and help you turn every training £1 spend into £10 profit…

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