In May of this year (2009) I asked 29 of you the question above on LinkedIn. I am delighted to report that 100% answered the question I put out for your consideration. Thanks for that. I did not intend to make it a private question (still learning LinkedIn). With this, and a few more blogs on my web site, I will attempt to summarize your thoughts and make them public.
First, an overview…
I feel that this question is of particular interest to us at this time for the following reasons.
- Quick and authentic adaptation to a changing environment is essential for the survival of organizations (or our economy for that matter). We are all engaged in learning new things daily.
- We are living in chaos. We do not know what our systems are going to look like a year from now. Generally, our concepts of training are archaic and based in their design in the days of Henry Ford when people were in very narrow jobs and training could teach hundreds of people to do their jobs at once. (The Coaching Revolution, Logan, King, 2004)
- The definition of coaching is still up for grabs and often misunderstood. As learning professionals we need to understand the distinctions so we can leverage the appropriate services we design for leaders, groups and organizations.
The assumptions and principles brought to the discussion are the following…
- In most cases training and coaching services can be more effective if they are designed to support each other to reinforce learning.
- The audience for the purposes of this review will be working professionals in organizations.
- Training and coaching are distinctly different than the experiences in higher education learning opportunities.
- The level of the learner’s motivation at the onset of either coaching or training is directly related to the success of the outcomes (unless, of course, the coach or trainer’s performance and/or interventions results in de-motivating the learner).
- The essential principle of understanding the return on investment (ROI) of workplace professional development programs is the stickiness factor – how effective is the retention of the new knowledge gained in the process?
Who are YOU? Who provided me with the thoughts and opinions for this brief review? A diverse group (29).
- Human Resources Consultant
- Virtual Assistant
- Attorney, and Mediator
- Operations Manager
- Senior Program Director
- Financial Representative
- Professional Lifestyle Design and Career coach
- Dean of University Continuing Education and Community Services
- Several business development (and sales) consultants
- Several trainers
- Several OD Consultants or Managers
- Several University Professors
- Several Leadership Coaches
- Several Entrepreneurs
- AND, most interesting! most of you are a combination of the above
My (current) overall statement on training and coaching…
Training is a group event lead by an expert with the intention of teaching a skill defined by the trainer.
Coaching is a conversation where one person is the only focus and the primary designer of the learning outcome.
Further definitions (unedited) provided by the group (with particular thanks to Mary Lindquist for the majority of these insights).
Training OR Coaching?
| TRAINING | COACHING |
|---|---|
| developing specific skills | learn through inquiry |
| the teacher sets the agenda | the client sets the agenda |
| giving the answers | helping someone find the answers |
| push information to the receiver | pull information from the coachee |
| content driven | process driven |
| acting differently | thinking differently |
| involves telling and instructing | helps learners find their own way forward |
| spans larger goals | focused towards specific performance goals |
| the trainer imparts knowledge | the client discovers answers |
| the trainer is assumed to be more knowledgeable | the coach and client are equals |
| trainer may correct the learner | the coach helps the client to self-correct |
| the teacher may not be neutral | the coach is neutral and non-judgmental |
| the relationship between a teacher and student is not necessarily collaborative | the relationship between a coach and client is collaborative |
| learning about something, transferring knowledge | using that something, optimizing an individuals application of their knowledge |
| Training is best deployed when a performance gap to do with a lack of knowledge or skill has been identified | Coaching is best deployed when helping a client to apply and internalize learned knowledge |
| Training usually taking advantage of learning in a diverse group setting | Coaching usually one-on-one and taking advantage of focused-but-adaptive, private and customized |