Volume 6, 2008

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Featured Topic: Market Trends

Inside This Issue

Permanent and Positive Change

Market trends in the training profession have gone from multiple-day training to short bursts of information given in 1-2 hours. A new trend in the past few years has been e-training, training completed via computer. The short bursts and electronic training may work well for learning a procedure or heightening awareness, yet they will not accomplish lasting change.

The return on investment for training has to be focused on changing behavior of those trained. This training has to make sense and be applicable to the person receiving it. In today’s busy schedules, if the participant has to translate the training into how he or she can use it on the job, it often is lost in the translation due to time restraints or a lack of complete understanding.

The short training hours and putting people in a electronic silo are cost effective, or are they? If the training doesn’t stick, all that may be accomplished is looking good on paper. Bottom line results are what matter. It is time for a new trend.

In order to accomplish permanent and positive change, the training program must reflect the need of the participants. This requires some leg work to interview management and the end users to determine what needs to be fixed. Many times people are asked, yet they rarely see their input put into action. When the participants help to create the learning plan, they have buy-in and are more eager to succeed.

The training needs to be practical. Theory was for college. People in the midst of the working world want real time solutions. Adults learn best when it makes sense to what they are facing and they can discuss and practice in a safe environment.

The training needs to mesh with their work world. They may be inspired to go away for a week of training, but when the participants come back, who has the time to apply the tools learned? They are so busy handling fires that the good intentions go up in smoke. Training needs to be part of the work and work is part of the training. Forty hours of training needs to be given in small doses, with assignments given in-between where people can apply what they are learning. This allows them to come back with new insights and questions to continue the learning. That is how we learn best.

Individual coaching needs to be interspersed with group training because each person has special needs. This is one of the keys to permanent and positive change. Coaching a person on the job while they do their duties is paramount to changing the way they perform their tasks. Take the classroom to the office or plant. This is when it all starts to come together and make sense.

Continued follow-through is necessary to keep the newly acquired skills active. New habits can quickly erode without reinforcement. Surprisingly, the follow-through can be short and simple. Just knowing that you will report results to someone increases responsibility until it becomes a habit worth keeping.

At TLC, we have already started this new trend in training. We partner with the customer to determine the needs and how best to fit the solutions into their budgets. We ask the participants for input before the training is solidified. We assess their skill levels. Training is given a little bit at a time with on-the-job assignments given for later discussion of results and lessons learned. We pair participants into partners to allow internal mentoring. We provide Real-Time Coaching (See Vincent’s article) to evaluate how they are applying the tools in their work world. We give feedback to the customer and assess with them the success of the program. Even after the face-to-face contact has concluded, the learning continues with tips given electronically for months following the training.

This takes time, but most customers are amazed how affordable it is to do it right. We create a program custom-tailored for your organization and the learning/contact continues for an entire year with budget approved monthly payments. There are no surprises, except for the good kind: employees who demonstrate positive change and actually thank you for the help; reduced turn-over; keeping your most valued people; building loyalty within your workforce; and seeing your goals reached.

You may think you need a few hours of training. We can give you that. We can also give you solutions that include some training, coaching, phone conferences, and follow-through that will make those few hours of training stick. You may think you can’t afford training. You can afford permanent and positive change. The results are amazing.

What Our Clients Are Saying

The negative feedback from others has completely stopped. It was coming multiple times weekly. She has more of a positive outlook, and manages her stress with other departments much better.

Roger Meyer, Denver, Colorado (HR Manager reporting on what change he had seen in one of TLC’s Executive Coaching clients.)

What Is Real-Time Coaching?

Vincent Ivan Phipps

Would you like a Guardian Angel sitting over your shoulder guiding you to always make the right decisions in life?

Sound too good to be true? At TLC, we have the next best thing: Real-Time Coaching. We believe this is a trend-setting approach to training.

This is the process of a TLC communication coach being on site with you. The coach will observe your interpersonal interaction while you are on the job! After the interaction is over, the coach gives you actual feedback about how you did. Your coach will acknowledge what was done well and identify areas you need to improve. The feedback is instant. You will immediately know the impact of what you did and how it affected the other person. The coach will share with you what you said in addition to your body language and your tone of voice. The more you are aware of the communication signals you are giving, the more you can improve to ensure you are always sending the desired messages.

Our 27 years of experience tell us that to get permanent and positive change in behavior, people need four things:

  1. Awareness
  2. Tools
  3. Practice
  4. Evaluation of results

Real-Time Coaching is effective by providing immediate feedback. It increases retention because it makes learning relevant. Real-Time Coaching brings permanent and positive change. This process provides feedback to track performance. We record your progress over time on each goal. From our years of providing coaching locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally to people in industrial, financial and service organizations, we understand the importance of receiving useful feedback immediately to acquire results.

One of our clients had customer service providers who helped internal customers find solutions to their computer needs. You can imagine how frustrated some of their customers were when their computers malfunctioned. The TLC coaches sat with the customer service providers as they took the calls. In the beginning, their information was correct, but the customer didn’t understand it. We helped them to create a list of questions to uncover the concerns, slower their pace to allow comprehension, and increase the friendliness in their tone. The result was fabulous. The customers regained confidence in the customer service providers and complaints plummeted by over 50%.

For additional information on Real-Time Coaching with TLC, Talk Listen Communicate, LLC, visit us at: www.talklisten.com.

Featured Service

Therese Padgett

Spring Creek Retreat

People go on vacation, whether for a long weekend or an extended trip, for varying reasons and with certain expectations in mind. Some come back refreshed and relaxed, but others wish they had never left home! Knowing oneself and what you prefer can go a long way toward ensuring a pleasant time. Hearing or reading good references from friends and others can go even further and can make all the difference in the world. Returning to a special place where you had a great time once before is a sure-fire way to move you close to where you want to be again!

This is a market trend that TLC is experiencing with its Spring Creek Retreat, a vacation paradise nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and within a few hours driving distance from both Atlanta and Chattanooga. Visitors who have been to Spring Creek Retreat, come back again and again. They often bring family and friends on the second visit and these folks then come back with their family and friends. You can see the domino effect of word of mouth marketing, especially when the words are good ones.

What kinds of words are being spoken about Spring Creek Retreat? Here is a sampling:

If you would like to experience what others have already discovered, contact TLC today: 1-888-BECAUSE, and visit Spring Creek Retreat’s website at http://www.springcreekretreat.com/. Be sure to take the virtual tours while you are there.

Happy Birthday

TLC wishes a Happy Birthday to clients celebrating in June!

CEO Corner, Chief Executive’s Opinion

Beverly Inman-Ebel

“Trends”

My birthday in May made me realize that I have seen many changes in business over the 27 years that TLC has been open. One thing remains constant: people. People continue to want to improve and become energized when they demonstrate that they can.

After three books, over 600 published articles, thousands of speeches, seminars, and coaching sessions, business visits to over 50 cities in the USA and 22 countries, I have learned a few things.

I have learned that some people want to do it themselves. For the last two years, I have worked with an engineering company that wanted their engineers to provide key training for their employees. They wanted my expertise given to their selected scientific would-be trainers to ensure success. I helped them to develop seven courses and then trained them to present. We licensed the company to be able to deliver our material customized for their needs. The result has been phenomenal. When I professionally observed two of the sessions, I was smiling so big you could have placed a banana sideways in my mouth.

I have also found customers that want real change to occur in their ranks and they realize this doesn’t happen overnight. We create monthly programs for them including seminars, Real-Time Coaching, Executive Coaching, and meeting management that are bringing about a change in culture and how they interact with others and within. I feel like I have my thumb on their corporate pulse and I am happy to say they are getting healthier each month.

I have had many former clients to move to other companies in a vast array of geographical locations and want me to help their new teams like I helped them before. In order to reduce travel costs, after going on premise for the evaluations, I have been coaching these clients over the phone. In one day I may be talking to someone in Arizona, Nebraska, Ohio, Georgia, and New York. Any initial concern that I had that we may not bond or be accountable has been swept away by the improvements they demonstrate.

I have many clients who find themselves facing the media or giving make-or-break presentations that have their careers hanging on the line. We even help some of them prepare for court appearances. Seeing them improve dramatically in a short amount of time is priceless.

My international work brings me international clients. I currently am working with clients from China, Iran, Australia and a few places in between. Helping them to understand the American culture, language, and sounding more like us is evidence that our world is shrinking.

I actually had two birthdays in May. The 16th is my date of physical birth. The 22nd is my anniversary of surviving a potentially fatal car crash. On this past May 22nd, I was 22 years old; two decades and two years of an extension of my life. That makes me sentimental with thoughts of many of you since our paths have crossed in the last 22 years. I believe I am making a difference in my corners of the world. I strive to set trends in people one at a time, helping them to be better. Thank you for giving me these opportunities. Set a trend. Live your dreams!

TLC establishes long-term relationships with our clients. If we have helped you or if you believe our approach to change would work for someone you know, please request a proposal or phone 1-888-232-2873. We work with individuals and groups on the following subject areas: attitude, listening, body language, voice, leadership, compliments and corrections, behavioral style, teamwork, effective meetings, public speaking, accent reduction and much more!.

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