Add Self-Coaching Supplements To Improve Training Results On The Job

Organizations are spending a tremendous amount of money to improve employee interpersonal skills. Unfortunately, classroom training alone has not been shown to be a very effective way to teach these skills. Today’s best managers know that training results can be improved by adding self-coaching supplements to classroom training methods. Self-coaching is a three-step process that is done solely by an employee. First, employees complete a checklist assessing how much they use their new skills on the job. Second, employees reflect on how they perform during interpersonal incidents. Third, employees set goals to help them maintain and enhance their interpersonal skills on the job.


Source: Tews, M. J., & Tracey, J. B. 2008. An empirical examination of posttraining on-the-job supplements for enhancing the effectiveness of interpersonal skills training. Personnel Psychology, 61, 375-401.

Setting Goals Can Influence Employee Beliefs About the Reason For Their Success Or Failure

Today’s best managers know that employee participation in setting goals can influence employee beliefs about their own performance. Employees who participate in setting goals for their performance tend to believe that the cause of their performance is something outside of themselves, such as task difficulty, when they are successful. However, they tend to blame themselves when they are not successful at reaching their performance goals. On the other hand, employees who don’t help set their own goals tend to believe the opposite. They believe that success was their own fault and failure was the fault of something outside of them.

Source: Karakowsky, L., & Mann, S. L. 2008, February. Setting goals and taking ownership: Understanding the implications of participatively set goals from a causal attribution perspective. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 14, 260-270.

Close The Gap Between Actual Performance And The Vision and Mission Statements

Today’s best managers know that companies frequently have a wide gap between their vision and mission statements and the actual actions of employees. Work with a team to identify areas that are not in alignment with the vision and mission of the company. Set goals and strategies for reducing the gaps between actual performance and ideal results. Get employees involved in the process by encouraging them to identify and share problems with you. Be sure that employees are rewarded, and not punished, for pointing out things that need to be changed to help accomplish the vision and mission of the organization.

Source: Lepsinger, R. 2008, May/June. Starting an execution revolution. Industrial Management, 27-30.