David Crisp of Crisp Strategies Inc. says that employees today want more autonomy, more discussion and more input into the overall strategies of their organizations. Unlike the “old days” when new employees had to pay their dues before becoming more involved, the newer generation now has access to instant communication enabling them to stay in the loop and send their ideas upward.
CoachingOurselves emphasizes the aspect of learning in a team in order to strengthen the team throughout the rest of the workweek. The following from the paper titled -Experiential Learning in Teams - provides a nice quote to share with new groups emphasizing the importance of fostering a spirit of learning in your organization.
CoachingOurselves offers participants a way to keep learning and relearning thus speeding up the process of becoming a wiser manager. Unlike traditional education, which helps all managers get the same set of ideas, CoachingOurselves managers all create their own ideas!
“Learning is best conceived as a process, not in terms of outcomes. The emphasis on the process of learning as opposed to the behavioral outcomes distinguishes experiential learning from the idealist approaches of traditional education” *
The CoachingOurselves learning approach differs from most current management development and training programs in a few important ways. Firstly, participants are a team who work together in the same organization such that through our exercises, managers focus on current, relevant issues. Secondly, our process encourages ongoing reflection fueled by real life experiences.
While most management development and training options involve a professional trainer or a train-the-trainer type model, CoachingOurselves is different in that it is a collaborative learning model.
It has been challenging articulating to potential clients and participants how the process works, given that there is no consultant, professional facilitator or trainer present during most CoachingOurselves sessions. (Sometimes one of us does work with new groups, acting as the facilitator, or we sometimes hold a kick-off session with participants identified as group facilitators.)
We are absolutely convinced our CoachingOurselves program is one of the most relevant, innovative development programs available to managers. But, you may ask, how does CoachingOurselves differ from other typical development options such as multi-day offsite trainings, train-the-trainer programs, or MBAs?
Beverley Patwell, consultant, CO partner and author, says in regard to the ‘use work, not make work’ motto of CoachingOurselves:
Read a recent interview with Henry Mintzberg in the Montreal French language newspaper “La Presse”. Henry discusses his experiences in creating innovative, alternative MBA programs which rely primarily on the exchanges between managers. He explains how the CoachingOurselves program takes this philosophy to its natural conclusion.
