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Painful Truth #1: Information does not equal Transformation
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Painful Truth #2: Inspiration does not equal transformation
It’s important to know what doesn’t work. But that doesn’t solve the problem. What makes training successful? What creates transformation?
I was pondering that question over dinner with some fellow business owners who were looking at different business leadership programs that would help their personal and professional growth.
I believe there are four important pieces in evaluating these kinds of programs:
Content: The First C of Effective Transformation
While information does not equal transformation, it’s still important! Content, especially content presented in a fresh way, is a key component of growth.
Finding the right content is a challenge. We live in a world that is awash with content – thousands of podcasts, tens of thousands of YouTube and other video channels, and hundreds of new books published every day. AI tools now allow access to massive amounts of content with greater accessibility than ever before.
In a world of too much content, curated content — carefully selected and designed with you and your needs in mind — is even more important.
I view my role as a coach much like a wine sommelier, carefully pairing content with the dish my clients bring to the table at each session.
Contemplation: The Second C of Effective Transformation
It’s one thing to consume content. It’s another to process that content — making time to think about the application and implications of that content for your life and work.
The typical training event has lots of content, but not much time to contemplate that content.
In our follow-up notes to coaching calls and training events, we encourage contemplation in two ways:
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An ActionAcceleratorTM worksheet, which includes follow-up questions in these categories:
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Awareness
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Actions
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Accountability
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Anticipated Obstacles
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Follow-Up Questions based on the session content for further reflection.
During live and virtual training events, we want a minimum of 25% of the time devoted to contemplation.
Coaching: The Third C of Effective Transformation
Since I’m a coach, you’d expect this one, right?
But we practice what we preach. I have three different coaches whom I meet with regularly. Edens View provides external coaching to our team members as part of their included benefits.
And, for our clients in our Leadership Accelerator program, we follow each live event with monthly group coaching calls focused on implementation, application, and transformation in addition to individual coaching calls.
Community: The Fourth C of Effective Transformation
The last element that leads to transformation is Community. This means getting together with people pursuing similar goals — sharing both successes and struggles.
In a recent live event, an informal conversation around the fireplace at our retreat center resulted in an idea that saved a leader 14 hours a week!
The best part? That idea didn’t come from me or from my co-coach, but from another participant at the event. It wouldn’t have happened without the intentional community-building that was built-in to the program.
As you look at your coaching and training options, consider using the 4C’s of Transformation as part of your decision-making filter. And stay tuned for more ideas on reflection and application.
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