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Many organizations in Europe are hungry
for solutions provided by management coaching and
professional relationship training. A lack of quality training resources
blocks the growth potential of many Central and East European companies.
Your long-term organizational success anywhere in the
world requires technically skilled employees who understand organizational
development and have appropriate relationship skills. You may recruit qualified
professionals, or you may coach and train people within your organization in
ways that reflect and include your local and organizational cultures.
Coaching, Training and Culture
Your organizational culture can be described as the personality
of your organization, guiding how your employees communicate and work.
This term can be used to define the general character of your organization,
and includes core values, ethics, and codes of conduct. Your organization
communicates its culture in mission statements, architectural styles,
office décor, work clothes and employee titles.
Some questions may provide insight into your organizational culture:
- Who can be trained - who cannot be?
- Are employees expected to be mobile?
- What should people do to be promoted?
- Does training bring respect or alienation?
- Do employees generally trust management?
- Can employees and management easily communicate?
- Do organizational values conflict with local cultural
values?
- What are the consequences to employees who show initiative?
Organizational culture is indicated by the age of the organization, its
history, customers and management structure. Industry and market information
can be used to identify an organization's growth, strategy, business
opportunities and financial performance.
Cultural values and relationship habits can enhance or limit
organizational development. Employees who betray or ignore cultural rules may
alienate themselves from their peers and managers. Efforts to improve long-term
staff quality must address potential cultural chasms. Creating and maintaining
a consistent corporate culture across multiple locations, with standard procedures,
objectives and staff attitudes, is a daunting management task.
Efforts towards cultural consistency may be complicated
in joint ventures with Central European governments, whose culture may be
different to, and perhaps clash with, organizational culture.
High staff retention helps create and maintain corporate culture.
Organizations committed to staff development reap employee commitment. Common
options for employee development are organizational training, independent training
and in-house training. Many organizations choose a combination of these to
maximize staff coverage, cost-effectiveness, quality of content and employee
retention.
In-house coaching and training provides solutions for many
skill gaps, and can focus on individuals who show potential, entry-level staff and
older managers.
In-House Coaching and Training
Success, relationship and team coaching are little known
occupations in Central and Eastern Europe. Coaching is a new profession,
treated with initial surprise. The word "coaching" is difficult to translate
into Central European languages, while avoiding the words for counseling,
consulting and therapy.
Although a single coaching and training company may not
satisfy your every
staff development need, in-house training has many benefits. Cost-effective
in-house skill training can be integrated into daily work, with excellent results.
A training program often starts with courses that immediately improve bottom line profits
- sales training, stress control and communication are notable examples - and
expands to fill other organizational and management needs.
Employee orientation and follow-up training can reinforce corporate
policies and objectives while contributing to operational efficiency.
However, creating a dedicated in-house training program is a difficult
task for many smaller and mid-size Central European organizations.
One challenge is a scarcity of good local trainers. A potential
trainer with business experience can earn far more in management than in training;
and inexperienced trainers may not be effective.
Many qualified managers would make good trainers, but are in
limited supply. Most organizations are reluctant to move their most competent
managers into full-time training. Instead, companies generally hire young,
inexperienced university graduates as instructors, and hope that they somehow
develop into mature, experienced and effective trainers.
After a company finds competent trainers, the company needs a
tailored curriculum and training materials. Although some trainers
are also excellent program developers, most trainers use materials
supplied by third-party providers.
Training materials that do not reflect the local culture
and specific organizational needs reduce the benefits of local training.
Some companies offer commercial training aids in Polish, Czech, Croatian,
etc, which are often translations of outdated English manuals. Both the
quality and cultural applicability can be poor.
The best in-house training programs generally employ
experienced expert trainers, who supervise and mentor local trainers,
who learn as assistants and apprentices.
Local Outsourcing
Most training companies in Central and East Europe offer
basic staff development, language instruction and clerical training. Local
training companies can be a resource for teaching these core skills and are a
useful resource for smaller companies that cannot maintain training departments.
It is often difficult to find training companies that provide
experienced and skilled
trainers who can teach in the local language and create culturally specific
training aids, especially outside the larger cities. (Training
companies also have trouble finding and keeping competent trainers.)
Overseas Training
While local training programs can be effective, overseas work
and study programs are a solution for developing high-potential staff. In addition
to the benefits of education and cultural understanding, foreign training often
brings status, which can boost a manager's effectiveness.
Overseas training can be transformational. However, transformed
employees may be motivated to leave your organization and either return
"overseas", search for better positions locally or start a
consultancy.
Combining Systemic Strategies
Creating effective training strategies require an intimate
knowledge of your goals and resources. Some questions to help identify your
training goals and resources are:
- What are your organization's overall objectives?
- What are the attrition rates amongst your professionals?
- What are the performance objectives for each of your workgroups?
- What will likely happen if each of your workgroups is not trained?
- What are their essential missing competencies?
- What training curricula and training aids do you require?
Successful organizations often combine developmental options
to maximize the staff trained, cost-effectiveness, quality of content
and employee retention. In-house and local training companies are the
popular options for staff development.
Local training companies can provide low-cost and ready-made solutions,
and in-house training is often the most cost-effective way to reach the broadest
number of staff. Many organizations combine outsourced training with their
own in-house programs; accelerated by organizational coaching, which is
becoming mainstream.
We offer organizations in Central Europe and East European
countries tailored coaching and training programs that meet
their needs. We can work with you to meet your organizational goals.
In-house Training .
Emergency Planning .
Other Resources
Systemic Coach Training
If you wish to use systemic coaching, this program trains you to coach
people to gain clarity, dissolve relationship issues and find a deep understanding
of "what makes sense." Help them solve success blocks and relationship
problems ... help them fulfill their goals. Our coach training is for motivated
and responsible adults, usually in 3-day or 5-day segments.
Online Coaching & Management
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