Train Dogs – Not Employees

Let’s change the language for how we help employees make behavioral shifts. Here are some ideas if you need to get more from your current team and want them to learn new, actionable ideas:

1. Most people avoid change as much as possible. They don’t resist change because they are generally resistant. It is because they don’t know what the future looks like, aren’t sure how to make the required change or are fearful about what they might lose from their current state. This is why when, for example, you implement new technology, people will not readily use it. They might not understand how it fits into their workflow, lack the learning necessary to develop the skills or worry about what it will ultimately do to their jobs. Rather than push people to change, understand the reasons for their resistance.

2. Think in terms of shifts instead of change. I’ve written many times about my firm’s proprietary process we call the S.H.I.F.T. model. We developed this years ago in coaching and working with teams because we observed how reticent many people were to making change happen. The idea of shift is less threatening; it is more about stages of trying new things and moving from one set of behaviors to another. As examples, we can shift our thinking – less daunting than changing our thinking. We can shift our daily repeatable tasks – less concerning than changing all of what we are doing. We can shift our communication approach – easier than changing to a whole new language. When you want team members to embrace new ideas, talk in terms of shift, not wholesale change.

3. As a teacher, I am clear about the distinction between teaching and what, in corporate speak, we call “training.” When we teach, we offer new information. The students might read, explore, write or present to understand something and hopefully put it into a context they can use. But many things we learn in school we quickly forget. It’s not too hard to regurgitate information on a quiz (for some people, anyway), and once you explore with material in class you can have a learning experience about what it means and why it is important. But we don’t change behavior when we teach like this. In some cases, for example in my managerial skills class, we have a module on time management. Students will implement the ideas to see if it works for them, but likely the change is temporary. In business, we engage people in training experiences because we need them to shift behavior and do something new and different. But simply teaching or training new concepts doesn’t work; instead, we have to create an environment where they can learn. We provide the tools and material, but we have to figure out how best to customize it in a way that allows each person the chance to make it their own. Unlike the dog, the person isn’t trained. They are able to learn at their own pace and in their own style. Only then will you see shifts truly happening.

4. Shifting behavior takes time and is best done incrementally. If you put someone in a “training course” and expect them to shift, it won’t happen. I keep a quote in my office: “We can think about something forever and if we don’t do something, transformation will never happen.” It was on a calendar I had years ago. No attribution, but it always reminds me that learning something without practicing it over and over again is useless. Practice may never make perfect, but it sure does make you better at something.

5. Different learning styles matter. At the school where I teach graduate classes, we are changing systems from Blackboard to Canvas. I have become very good at Blackboard over the years, and Canvas is not intuitive to me. Many of the learning opportunities are online or via video. I’m not someone who learns well this way. If you show me something and I can ask a question or two, I will learn the first time around. If you ask me to watch a video, I can watch it 20 times and not understand what I am supposed to do. Some people learn by listening, others by reading, others by experiencing, others by working with someone. You can’t put everyone into the same environment and do the same thing and expect they will all walk away knowing how to do whatever new thing they have learned. Respect the differences. Teach to them.

6. Sustainability matters a lot. I try and stay away from learning opportunities when I am asked to serve up new ideas for behavior change that don’t include ongoing coaching and reinforcement. Without a sustainability plan, the chances of someone hearing something, learning it (a little) and then losing it when they get back to their office is very, very high. Without reinforcement in the form of coaching and helping to implement the new ideas into their day-to-day, there is no point in delivering the learning at all. It’s expensive and it doesn’t work if you can’t show the person how to incorporate those new ideas. Don’t just coach in your own style, but rather understand the style of your “coachee” and modify so they are able to hear and learn.

7. The investment business is constantly changing and evolving. That’s what makes the advisory profession fun and interesting. Because of ongoing changes, learning new ideas and making behavioral change is imperative. It’s not that you shouldn’t help people learn, improve and shift – it’s the way you do it that matters. Most people want to learn. They want to get better. They want to know how they can improve and continue to succeed in their career journey. Just because they don’t have the skills today doesn’t mean they can’t learn them. But the way you give them a chance to do so means everything.

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022 and 2023. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).

She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.

Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington