Challenge, Feedback & Support
We all learn better, perform better and achieve better results when we are positively challenged.
“Challenging you” is the backbone of everything I do, whether conducting a group training, coaching an individual or facilitating a dialogue between two parties. It is all about challenging you to dream and strive for bigger and better; to stretch and push yourself a little more; to dig a little deeper; to think out of the box; to take more risks and to engage more in open and meaningful conversations with yourself and others.
Facing a big challenge with no feedback or support can however, be overwhelming and is often a recipe for failure. Too much feedback leads to frustration and too much support makes you dependent and complacent. You need a fine balance between challenge, feedback and support to create a positive development process. All my programs are designed to ensure this balance, with built-in mechanisms for regular feedback and support.
Performance Improvement Process
The best way to learn new skills is to apply and practice the skills in real life situations. Wherever possible, I use a continuous improvement process to link my trainings or coaching sessions to real life challenges that you are facing in your workplace or professional environment.
The continuous improvement model relies greatly on you to identify opportunities for improvement and is very effective because when you come up with your own ideas to improve your work, you intrinsically see the value and become more invested in the outcome of the change. My role is to empower you to take charge of your work and provide you with simple tools and resources to face your challenges, understand and analyse the root causes of your obstacles in order to implement the improvements more effectively.
In my leadership development programs, participant teams select a challenge to work on - a performance or systems improvement process –and set themselves a measurable target to achieve within the program's timeframe. Through this approach, you have an opportunity to directly apply what you are learning (in the training sessions) to a real life challenge you are facing (performance improvement project) and receive continuous feedback and support (through on-site team meetings and facilitated coaching sessions). By engaging you in a continuous improvement model, I get you to embrace challenges as opportunities and give you a process for defining, reporting and acting upon ideas to improve processes, efficiency and quality that save resources and satisfy your clients/customers.
Experiential Learning
Whether facilitating a dialogue, delivering a training or conducting a coaching session, I look for ways to link the learning or discussion to personal experiences. This approach is based on the notion that we process and understand knowledge best when we can link what we are learning to experiences we have had.
Experiential learning moves away from the traditional approach of the trainer as the "expert" imparting and transferring knowledge to a more engaging process where participants build knowledge and skills from direct experiences, reflect analytically and critically on their experiences, engage in an open and honest discussion and analysis in order to gain a better understanding of the new knowledge.
My training and coaching programs are all designed and delivered around this concept. What happened when you did this? What was the impact? What have you learned from that experience? How could you have done it differently? How can you take this information and use it to make improvements?
Enquiry-Based Learning
Enquiry-based learning is an active form of learning using questions, problems or scenarios.
Through a facilitated questioning process, I encourage you to become more self-aware, engage and gain a deeper understanding of the topic and see new possibilities and options. I facilitate learning and problem-solving by utilising enquiry to help you connect information and formulate your own strategies and solutions. This approach instils a sense of ownership and self-responsibility and as a result is an effective method for involving the learner in the discussion and for getting a stronger commitment for change.
I believe...
...we can all learn to lead and manage
...we can overcome challenges if we are committed and inspired
...we learn best by applying what we learn to real life challenges
...the best solutions are found when we work together and
create space for reflection and meaningful conversations
I believe in you!