By Michael Holland
Imagine a seasoned leader’s answer to my question of have you been through a leadership training program in your career. . .”Sure, over my 20 year career, I went to a management training program; and then another. I went to a leadership development program that lasted a couple of days. I participated in a 360-degree feedback survey about 5 years ago. I’ve been through our internal sensitivity training and interviewing and change management and legal dos/don’ts of managers, and, and, and, and. . . .”
Being a “professional” in the field of building great leaders, I’m not at all surprised by the number of training programs leaders have attended. I’m also not at all surprised when a seasoned leader says they never went to a training program, just “learned on the job.”
For training to stick, really stick, the individual must incorporate new and/or reformed behaviors into their life. Many smart leaders come out of training programs – including our wonderfully impactful programs – and start using the techniques they learned and the tools they acquired. If the leader has truly had a
But within a couple of days or weeks, they are back to their old habits and routines. Why is that?
Here are 3 things we’ve found to help training stick beyond having exceptional content and delivery.
- Touches Over Elapsed Time –
- Action Plans –
- Peer Accountability –
