Forums

Hello everyone;

The company has just rolled out required training on Respect (how to respect one another) which is offered through an online course. As such, what is everyone's experiences on this sort of training being an effective way to change people's behaviors? If not, how have you seen companies address issues like these effectively? I am interested in the event that I may be asked to support this initiative with my team.

kklogic's picture

Define effective :) In my experience - no, they are not effective. They are a way for a company to deal with one or two problem children without being adults and dealing with those individuals directly (like through, oh - I don't know, maybe feedback). I suppose I could have sugar-coated that some, eh?

I'm just not a fan of this kind of thing. Obviously, the message is good and you have no choice but to support it. Keep on giving feedback (ideally positive feedback) that reinforces the overall lesson.

HMac's picture

Training doesn't change behavior. It might highlight something, it might give somebody a new technique, but when the person who's been trained returns to the environment, it wears off.

Behavior change is much more likely when it's being reinforced by somebody you care about (a boss, a spouse, a child, a direct, a best friend).

-Hugh

JorrianGelink's picture

Peter Drucker - "The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data."

I wish I could take a look at the training to give you better feedback. It may change people's behaviors but in the end you'll have to go through the process of O3's, feedback and coaching to go along with the module.

lazerus's picture

I'd love to hear Mark Horstman's P.O.V. about this.

AManagerTool's picture

Silly...Just silly.

I'm all for mission, vision and values statements but corporate culture doesn't change because of online training modules. It changes through people practicing what they preach.

CalKen's picture

Thanks for everyone's input, it is greatly appreciated.

I have been grappling with a way to support this (beyond the O3's and feedback that I already perform with my team), and I feel much the same as everyone. I feel that the only real way to reinforce this "training" is to just "practice what I preach" and provide support through O3 and feedback and have a "no tolerance" policy, which is what I have now.

I remember something similar when I worked at another company which had terrible ethics problems, so much so that the company threatened to take all business away. We had monthly ethics training and in the end it did not change much as the behavior within the company did not change much after the training.

Thanks again everyone.