We all know that we need to move our training focus beyond simply acquiring knowledge; success in training is about the application of new knowledge and skills – it’s about behaviour change. Unfortunately, right now we are failing in this mission: only 10-20% of what people learn in a training session is transferred back to the workplace. The reason? Recent research shows us that there is a distinction between a ‘motivation to learn’ and a ‘motivation to transfer’, and while most organizations are good at tapping into the first source of motivation, the second is often left unaddressed. Drawing on her 20+ years of experience in the corporate training world, Peggy Baumgartner debunks two common fallacies surrounding what it takes to tap into this ‘motivation to transfer’ – and highlight a strategy that we use at Third Factor to close the gap between learning and doing, and ensure successful application of the knowledge gained in learning events. Click here to download the whitepaper. For many of us, our role as manager does not end in the workplace – we are also managers of our household. Our greatest responsibility in life is to support the healthy growth and development of our children. Just as managers devote time towards guiding and mentoring their talent, as parents we can play a similar role in our children’s lives to help ensure healthy high performance. Garry Watanabe provides advice on how to best support your children as they pursue expertise in a certain domain. The advice given is based on Third Factor’s extensive work with high performers, whether they be Olympic athletes or top business executives. Overall, developing expertise is a journey –one in which you and your children should not be alone on. Click here to download the whitepaper. On November 19th, 2019, 75 leaders from Toronto’s business and HR communities gathered at OCAD U CO for a discussion on team resilience. Here’s what they learned:
Leading the discussion, Third Factor CEO Dane Jensen brought together the voices of elite athletes and coaches to talk about what separates those teams that are able to rebound from failure to reach even higher levels of performance from teams that tend to crumble or falter in the face of failure. Drawing on insights from our work with high-performing sports teams, including the last four medal winning women’s Olympic hockey teams and the men’s and women’s national soccer teams, Dane identified what it takes for teams to not just perform but also to recover and be resilient. These are the four traits we’ve observed that characterize resilient teams, or differentiate resilient teams from those that are less resilient: 1. Negative emotion. Resilient teams process negative emotion in a way that leads to harder work and higher standards as opposed to detachment or combustion. They frame it so rather than being scared of negative emotion, they choose to lean into it, work with it, and see it with a sense of challenge, control and commitment. 2. Communication. The teams that recover quickly from setbacks communicate differently because they have worked consciously on awareness. They’ve surfaced their communication styles and worked on having performance conversations in the good times. 3. Relationships. Teams are more resilient when they work diligently on building relationships, even if that’s just 30 seconds for each person every day. 4. Shared purpose. Teams work best in the face of failure when they have a clear a line of sight to shared purpose. They don’t do hard work for it’s own sake, but because they choose to connect it to something that actually matters to them.
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Our work at Third Factor takes us to situations like international competitions where people can experience extreme disappointment and failure. In these situations, it’s the coach’s job to help the athlete work through their negative feelings – but it’s ultimately up to the performer what they do about it. Even though the people you coach may not be competing in world championships, they’re still vulnerable to setbacks. Missing a deadline, losing a major account, or even falling short of an important goal are all examples of disappointments in the business world that can cause negative emotions. Like in sport, coaches in all arenas have an important role to play in helping their charges discern what the feelings are signaling, so they can transform them into something that serves their higher goals and aspirations as a person. In our latest whitepaper, Sandra Stark explores the role of negative feelings in coaching and development, and offers strategies for coaching through tough times. Click here to read the whitepaper. When it comes to confronting our direct reports, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Constructive confrontations in the workplace are often altogether avoided either because we are afraid to get hurt ourselves or we are cautious about hurting the other person. Ironically, when it comes to holding challenging conversations, both action and inaction bring a similar set of risks. The act of confronting, however, also brings with it a greater opportunity to improve your employees’ performance, level of work satisfaction, productivity, or all of the above. It’s time that we confront ourselves about our fear of confronting. Only then, can we confidently harness the positive aspects of initiating challenging conversations with our people. Click here to download the whitepaper. We all know that coaching upwards is a precondition for sanity in the workplace –the challenge? How do to it in a way that gets results and limits fall-out. We must not lose sight of the objective of coaching, which is to help inspire personal growth that translates into improved effectiveness for the overall team. The purpose of coaching is not predicated on power or rank, yet many individuals are intimidated by the thought of coaching their peers or their boss. Third Factor Principal Trainer, Garry Watanabe, uncovers the conditions where coaching upwards is beneficial and lays out the necessary steps to build trust, credibility, and value as a coach. Click here to download the whitepaper. Real success stories of Third Factor clients are shared to help you tackle your next coaching challenge! As managers, we all seek to foster an environment where we can get along, get results, and experience growth. Read on to see how key lessons on high performance from Third Factor’s workshop were applied successfully in the work world. Click here to download the whitepaper. The lead-up to a challenging conversation is often more painful than the actual interaction proves to be. Whether the discussion is performance related, about a difficult personality, or the hard truth, when it comes to difficult dialogues the question should not be whether to confront or not, rather how you should confront. Sandra Stark explores this particular question so that you can challenge the conversation, rather than have your conversations challenge you. Click here to download the whitepaper.