President & CEO CommCore Consulting Group.
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It’s clearly an understatement to say that the pandemic has interrupted our lives in so many ways. As an executive coach who prepares clients for all manner of leadership communications — presentations, speeches, TEDTalks, roadshow and media interviews — I know there is no perfect substitute for one-on-one or small group interactions in a conference room, studio or auditorium.
In the pre-pandemic (and, hopefully soon, post-pandemic) world, coming in prepared and showing up in a client’s office reinforces the importance of the upcoming critical communications. In the first few minutes of the engagement, you get a chance to take the temperature of the room, read the body language and pick up on the “vibe,” which enables the consultant/coach to gain the trust of the client. An experienced consultant can make subtle changes in approach that will improve communications outcomes.
However, as we all have learned, if you don’t adjust to the “new normal,” your consulting practice will likely die on the vine. Now that we have made many modifications to how we teach, coach and counsel clients, I’m convinced that, in many situations, communications training may actually work better for the participants in a remote environment — thanks to the ubiquity of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and a host of video platforms.
To fully appreciate this change, think about how leadership training works from the perspective of the individual or group being trained. In the pre-pandemic world, the first step in the engagement occurs when HR, PR, IR or executive communications decides that it’s important to engage an outside expert for their pressing need. When the consultant gets the call, they agree on the assignment and set the date.
Once scheduled, the attendees have to clear their calendars for the training — a day that usually involves:
1. An upfront interaction/discussion/lecture where new ideas, strategies and techniques are shared with those in the training session.
2. Immediately after the course instruction, the participants have to engage in a practice session, sometimes being videotaped.
3. Instructors provide critiques and suggestions and very often the participants are asked to practice again.
The results are often dramatic. Attendees typically absorb the material quickly and are capable of dramatically improving their leadership and communication skills in the course of a day.
So how can remote training be better? In the traditional model, there’s a bit of the “drinking from the firehose” syndrome, asking the attendees to absorb the lessons, practice and receive critique, usually in the course of one long day. Given our multi-tasking jobs, there is little time to do anything else — meetings, emails or phone calls.
In remote training, the initial instruction modules can be refined to two hours, in my experience. The practice part of the training can be done on the same day, if needed. However, it might work better to set up the practice later in the day or week.
We are finding, after scores of training sessions this year, that there are several advantages of remote training:
1. The initial instruction can be delivered with slides and videos.
2. Participants have time to absorb the lessons and then prepare material for practice.
3. Since the instructor is not traveling, there is no pressure to conduct the rehearsal portion of the coaching that day.
4. Real improvement comes after the second on-camera practice and critique. That can be on the same day or in the following days.
Remote trainings are by no means a panacea. As a former high school teacher and a consultant for four decades, there is no substitute for being in the room and interacting with your students. Discussions on Zoom rarely have the immediacy of the in-person group or the one-on-one executive session.
Over the next few months, we will undoubtedly see studies for all levels of education comparing in-person to remote training — and we’ll all be interested in the data. In the meantime, I recommend you don’t put off training efforts; they can be still conducted effectively via a remote platform. Results can be equal, if not better, for some participants who want to improve leadership and communications skills and see results.
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Author: Andy Gilman, Forbes Councils Member
