As a business owner one of your jobs is to grow your people so they can grow the organization.
A common frustration that seems to follow many small business owners as it relates to growing their people is getting them to learn, grasp and progress more quickly in various areas and thereby stop making the same or similar mistakes over and over again.
In working with organizations to help increase their efficiency and grow, we have found that a certain formula reveals itself in expediting learning to minimize the dissatisfaction that can often be associated with employees that aren’t “getting it” – That formula is Hi-TECH.
HI – Helpful Information – Provide only useful and relevant information that will lend itself to the key learning objective. This may seem obvious. However, it’s always amazing to witness how many people just love to hear themselves talk while training or teaching others. The folly is in the parting of so much content and expecting someone to discern what is most germane. Strive to avoid overwhelming others with content that doesn’t contribute to the desired outcome of what you want them to learn. In this case less is more.
T – Tools – Provide tools and model that will assist with the learning and implementation of concepts. Think of ways to create short checklists, acronyms, stories and metaphors that can help your people internalize the needed learning. Elicit, from others that have learned, what were the breakthrough moments that triggered their learning. Build around those.
E – Experiential Exercises: Many people learn in a pragmatic fashion. Get your people to engage in exercises to experience the learning process. The easiest way to do this is to give them the opportunity to do an activity. It is best to demonstrate what successful execution looks like and then let them perform while you observe. Catch them doing it right and show them where they excelled. Ask, avoid telling, where they can improve next time. They will most likely have a sense of where they need to improve without you pointing it out. They are more apt to internalize the learning if they think of it rather than you point it out.
C – Commitments: Engage them emotionally by having them commit to a next performance level. Stretch the status quo. They will expand and thereby exceed the levels they hovered around once before.
H – Habits: Just because someone demonstrates they can do something once or twice doesn’t mean they are yet proficient at it. Help them identify habits that may be keeping them from learning or grasping concepts and procedures. Assist them in discovering habits that will enable or empower them to deepen their learning and increasing their capacity. Notice it’s not just the habits of doing certain things; it’s also the habitual thoughts they think that may need to be addressed.
Each one of the elements in the HI-TECH process builds on the one before and enables one to elevate their effectiveness. Follow this formula and you will see proficiencies rise and frustrations fall as you grow your people to grow the organization.
Make it up, make it fun & make it happen!