It’s OK to Coach and To Be Coached!

Behaviors are difficult to change and the older we get the harder it becomes.   For example, a golfer takes thousands of repetitions to change a golf swing.  Even great golfers like Tiger Woods have a coach. Also, the young age groups adapt quicker to change as compared to the older age groups.  I would rather coach a 10 & under team with good fundamentals than a college team.

Similarly, we must provide Dynamic Learning Activities (DLA) for adults.   Nobody likes to change and the older we get the harder it is to change.   My colleague once said, “Only two people like to change: a baby with a soiled diaper and politicians.” Recently, we provided “Coaching Leading to Excellent Safety Performance,” training for some Supervisors at Giant Eagle.   Training included an understanding of how Human Performance Fundamentals and Tools lead to achieving safe operational excellence.   Using real life scenarios, each trainee learned how to “Step out and Speak Out” when observing behaviors.    

Examples of Supervisor’s feedback:

“Supervisors need to be on the floor more often, something I intend to be better at.”

“The information was very informative and made me re-think how I lead.”

“Lots of good pointers for me, especially slides on how to be a good supervisor.”

“Useful tools to correlate information to coaching.”

Dynamic Learning Exercises play a vital part in understanding safety performance tools to change behaviors in an organization.   Using dynamic activities like this, we can improve coaching leading to excellent safety performance.