The shadow of the organisational plan

No matter the size of an organisation, the product or service it provides, or its commercial position, learning and development should always be viewed as an investment that delivers a return.

Achieving that return requires careful planning and commitment at board level. Unfortunately, this strategic thinking is often missing, leading to learning programmes that produce limited change rather than meaningful organisational improvement.

This type of learning results in organisational change, effected by the improvement of people and their behaviour. This is the learning that affects the bottom line. So, what are the influential factors that make learning effective and commercially viable as well as essential?

The shadow of the organisational plan

"Really knowing your people" is, to a certain extent, the shadow, or unknown quantity, at the individual entry point to any learning or development programme.

Organisational planning integrates the existing learning of the department, organisational function and the individual to devise a learning strategy that achieves the greatest possible learning shift. The information held, alongside personal performance data, is used to design learning outcomes that integrate with the wider business, talent and workforce plans.

The quality of these information sources can be both informative and detrimental, as attitudes and documentary evidence are largely a reflection of the quality of the relationships that already exist.

Alongside board-level approval, the individual learning experience also requires recognition before and after the event. Effective pre-briefing and debriefing by line managers are essential for embedding new learning, monitoring behavioural change and reviewing improvements in performance.

General organisational & personal process

Outcome-focused learning is what organisations want to see as part of the learning and change process: that is, the department function and the individual have improved as a result of the investment and that the learning produces a shift of measurable change.

To produce a shift, there is a challenge as part of the learning process. The nature of the challenge combines the individual’s preconceived experiences and learning and produces the required outcome with varying degrees of success. The variation depends upon the individual entry point, personal attitude, as well as other contributing factors. 

The learning challenge during progression and eventual achievement becomes the responsibility of all who have a role in people management and performance outcomes; they have a part in ensuring that the business investment has every opportunity to be realised and effective. Line managers and others within the senior team have a significant role in transforming learning. With their active involvement, new learning transforms into improved working practice, a practice that achieves bottom-line results.

Understanding personal and organisational influences

The two models below illustrate how organisational expectations and personal starting points influence the success of any learning programme.

Organisational outcomes:

Personal influencers:

When examining our performance, our 'personal behaviour' is the result of our multifaceted experience of life. Work roles, changes in the environment and learning are expected to integrate all our facets, communication, behaviours and experiences and somehow make them work together effectively to deliver the best results within our work role or area of responsibility.

For example, each manager could be exposed to a course on organisational communication; each manager will have a different understanding and interpretation of what open lines of communication actually mean in practice.

What is transformational learning?

Transformational learning is when the form of our understanding changes.

To achieve any consistent performance, it is fundamental to change inherent attitudes that are in opposition. To change the attitude of an individual challenges their very basic understanding and experience of how we have learnt to achieve results.

This is the challenge; occasionally-oppositional learning has become endemic to our being on an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual level. It is our experience of our own reality of what works for us.

Whilst change is taking place on an individual learning level or being integrated into working strategies, it is also essential to explore and support coping strategies to overcome personal and environmental obstacles.

This is where coaching provides the very essence of a whole person and whole organisation perspective; by meeting both parties where they are, each small shift provides the foundation that adds up to seeing the world with a different, more qualitative understanding.

The coaching potential

The coaching experience should be challenging on all personal levels - those academic and relational attitudes and experiential learning, personal principles and perceptions of culture.

The coach works within the framework of respecting the organisational values and their position strategically; there is little room for judgement on an organisational level. The client (both organisation and employee) is the source and the director of change.

Returning to the example given earlier of open communication and how the understanding of each line manager can differ, if we then extend this to include the understanding of all employees, the perspective becomes even broader and will affect related operational outcomes.

Coaching creates an opportunity to explore these differing interpretations through reflection, appreciation and guided understanding. It helps individuals understand organisational objectives from a broader perspective than their own personal experience.

Coaching aligns people and performance

Organisational coaching meets both the individual and the organisation where they are. By respectfully challenging an individual's interpretation of situations, coaching encourages new ways of thinking, relating to others and approaching workplace challenges.

In providing a platform of learning to the individual and the organisation, it is possible to pierce through the personal struggles and the shadows that exist at an individual and organisational level. There is no necessity to analyse or debate the details of the rights and wrongs of influencers and decision-makers. Through greater self-understanding, we learn that when we change ourselves, we have the greatest impact.

Coaching creates lasting business results

By facing the shadows, facing the individual learning style and exploring our own learning experientially can bring great revelation that is important when understanding others.

By meeting each person and organisation where they are and considering how we can improve attitude, we can enhance and raise levels of understanding and awareness. What is the cause and effect of our behaviour on others; how does that work with the bigger picture? Exploration of the 'what if' scenario, looking at our interconnections in a safe environment, using recent learning or experience to assist awareness, established personal values that may no longer be working is both insightful and challenging.

Misplaced judgements that are too often a result of poor communication could be uncovered to reveal a “ha ha” moment that brings learning on several levels. At the most simple level, having the opportunity to hear our own internal voice and actually verbalise thoughts, fears, experiences, and having the time to reflect on them can be extremely beneficial.

We do not operate in isolation; we are beings that connect. From the quality of our connection, there exists the basis of learning and transformation. As a platform for real transformational change, coaching has got to be one of the most cost-effective tools, giving meaning and power to learning for the organisation and the individual.

And what will change raises the fundamental question for us all, and specifically one that the coach needs to ask the individual and the organisation - what will you do differently as a result of learning?