Healthcare Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this research was to determine if training about how specific behaviors might enable learning transfer changed the perceptions of those coaching behaviors as seen by the same group of peers, managers, subordinates and the individual participant.
METHODOLOGY The study population was 192 supervisors at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, and the sample consisted of 28 who completed the LPI, had at least five direct reports who completed the LPI-Observer, and attended a one-day training program. Fourteen also completed the LPI-Self and LPI-Observers same three-to-five months following the session.
KEY FINDINGS No statistical differences were found in the pre- and post-training LPI scores between supervisors with prior coaching experience and those without in regards to supervisors’ perception of their use of specific enabling behaviors. The group with past coaching experience, however, individually scored themselves higher in every leadership domain and had a smaller standard deviation. In addition, no statistical differences were found in the pre- and post-training LPI scores between supervisors with prior soft skills training and those without in regards to affecting perceptions about assisting employees in implementing new knowledge and skills gained from special training programs. As in the first finding, the group with prior coaching experience again exhibited higher scoring in all domains combined with smaller standard deviations. The author concludes that “supervisors are caught in the middle when the organizational culture does not support learning transfer through dedicated time and provision of opportunities, thus impeding supervisors’ abilities to coach and facilitate employee development” (p. 70).