Possible Ways to Use PAF Training in the Organization
About PAF Training
PAF Training Options
Possible Ways to Use PAF Training in the Organization
Our training options and services can meet many differing goals and needs:
- Traditional generic classroom workshops provided by internal or external facilitators.
- Customized courses that fit seamlessly with existing employee appraisal programs.
- Developing internal coaches who can provide managers with help and advice to create PAF feedback on an as-required basis.
- Just-in-time coaching via phone and/or email from Performance Feedback coaches to deal with any feedback situation.
For a list of typical goals/needs for improving all types of performance-related communication within an organization, and how PAF can help achieve them, click here.
About PAF Training
All training options are designed to teach managers how to internalize the PAF technique process so that it becomes second nature. In order to do this, the training approach addresses several key learning requirements. (More Information on the PAF Training Approach)
PAF Training Options
For managers and/or other employees:
Workshop
Self-Instructional Material
Blended Option (Combination of Self-Instruction and Classroom)
For HR professionals, training facilitators and/or coaches
Train-the-Trainer
Train-the-Coach
Typical goals/needs for improving all types of performance-related communication within an organization
Communication Improvement Goals |
Achieving the Goals Using PAF Training |
1. We would like to give our managers another tool that they can put in their "managerial toolboxes”.
We want to provide this tool on a voluntary “stand-alone” basis. |
Add generic or customized PAF Workshops, Self-Instructional Material or a combination of the two (Blended Option) to the existing management-training curriculum or provide the training to distinct groups on an “as-required” basis.
Train-the-Trainer or Train-the-Coach options are available for organizations wishing to use internal facilitators. |
| 2. We want to improve the quality and quantity of feedback within the context of our existing formal performance management and appraisal system.
We do not necessarily want to change our forms but just make what we have more effective. We want managers to give employees honest information in a meaningful and helpful way. We also want them to feel more comfortable if they need to address and document performance problems. |
Tailor PAF training to the specific performance management and appraisal system and forms that managers are required to use.
The workshop or self-instructional material could be delivered separately or it could be incorporated into existing training materials or courses. |
| 3. We want to give our managers access to someone who can help them to provide feedback on an “as-required” basis.
We do not want to provide "training" as such. We only want to provide managers with someone who can help them create feedback to deal with specific situations that they can’t handle on their own. | External or internal coaches, trained in The PAF Technique, can provide one-on-one coaching either face-to-face or via telephone and/or email.
The purpose of coaching is to walk managers through exactly how to bring up and deal appropriately with difficult performance issues.
Such coaching removes the main cause for managerial inaction without relieving the manager from his or her responsibility to act. |
| 4. We want to help our managers to hold more effective employee development discussions so that employees have an opportunity to reach their potential and find their right "fit" in the organization. |
There are two options:
- Provide PAF training tailored to the special application of the PAF technique called a "How am I (really) doing?" discussion (see e-Book, Chapter 3) that allows managers to talk effectively to employees about all aspects of performance and potential.
- Incorporate the idea of this discussion into existing formal employee development programs and customize the training to fit the specific application.
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| 5. We want to help the managers designated as formal coaches or mentors to become more effective in these roles. |
Provide generic or customized PAF training to new coaches or mentors when they start out in this role. Again, the training can be provided separately or incorporated into the existing training processes (e.g., into the orientation sessions for a field coaching/mentor program). |
| 6. We want to train managers to give effective feedback to unsuccessful job candidates as part of the internal (and/or external) hiring and selection process. |
Provide generic or customized PAF training to HR Personnel and give them a “Train-the-Coach” program so that they can help/coach managers to deliver post-selection feedback to candidates. |
| 7. We want to help team members learn how to give feedback to each other and, more specifically, how to deal with potential problem areas that arise within the team. |
A generic or customized PAF training session at the beginning of a project can prepare the team members to give good feedback to each other. |
More Information About the PAF Training Approach
In order to ensure that participants not only understand PAF but can apply it on the job, the training – which has been refined over several years – includes:
- An explanation of the root cause of the problem.
Participants understand not only that the difficulty they face in giving feedback is not their “fault” but that it is shared by about 90 percent of all managers.
- An illustration that compares participants’ intuitive and traditional approaches to giving feedback techniques and PAF.
This convinces them that PAF overcomes the root cause of the problem and will work when other approaches are not up to the challenge.
- LOTS of examples combined with hands-on exercises.
Participants see how PAF works in many different types of real situations (taken from previous participants) and have a chance to practice applying it to create honest and effective feedback.
- To know when to use PAF (and when not to).
PAF is another tool – participants come away knowing that it is not designed to replace everything currently in place to help managers manage performance.
- To apply it successfully to their own real-life application through coaching and practice.
At the end of the training, participants have the actual words necessary to deliver feedback to the employee or peer in question.
- A clear description about what it is it for participants to apply PAF on the job.
This includes an explanation of the link between performance-related communication and employee engagement.
Once the training is over, participants need only refer to a small business-card sized job-aid to remind them of the 3 simple steps to follow in order create honest and effective feedback in any situation.
- Just-in-time performance support
External coaches (or trained internal coaches – see Train-the-Coach) are available to provide support and individualized help and coaching to participants when they return to the job after having taken training. This support, by telephone or via email, is available free for a short period to ensure that participants have internalized the process and cemented their skills so that they can experience success the FIRST time that they apply PAF in a real situation. Continued support is also available on a retainer basis or on-demand at reasonable hourly rates.
Workshop
This generic workshop:
- Is available in either a one or 1.5 day format.
- In-house only.
- Delivered by Performance Feedback facilitators or internal personnel (see Train-the-Trainer).
Self-Instructional Material
This material contains essentially the same information as the workshop, but it is packaged into a self-instructional format that is currently part book and part study guide (Interactive PDF document). It is an ideal solution for managers who can’t or don’t want to attend in-class workshops.
Blended Option (Combination of Self-Instruction and Classroom)
Combining the two approaches (a blend of self-instructional material with a follow-up workshop) has the advantage of making the best use of valuable and expensive classroom time.
Managers use the self-instructional material to learn the basic knowledge elements on their own. They then come to a real or virtual classroom to get feedback, ask questions and practice applying what they have learned to their real-life situations in order to build the associated skills. |
For a blended training option (a combination of self-instruction and classroom), it is only necessary to train internal personnel in a coaching role (Train-the-Coach). In other words, they can then help participants apply PAF rather than learn how to also teach it in a workshop setting (which necessitates that they attend the more involved Train-the-Trainer program). |
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Customization and Costs
Customization
All 3 options can be customized to:
- Meet specific organizational cultural requirements.
- Specific feedback situations.
- Seamlessly integrate into existing formal performance-discussion processes.
Costs
All products are also available on a sliding one-time licence fee that allows for unlimited use within a given location or geographic area. |
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Train-the-Trainer or Train-the-Coach
Train-the-trainer: This 5-day session teaches an individual to deliver the workshop and to coach participants.
Train-the-coach: This 3-day session teaches an individual how to coach managers in applying PAF to real-life situations – either individually or in a classroom setting. It does not qualify them to deliver the workshop.
- Training is followed by just-in-time performance support for internal coaches to engineer their success.
Additional information is available on request. |
