How to Coach Your Team into the Learning Zone

Last summer when we took a family vacation at a kid-friendly resort, I looked around the lazy river, pool, and slides and noticed that every child was running around while every adult was either sitting or lying down.  I told my brother-in-law that was the reason why the kids were in far better shape than the adults.  As a result, in some micro way, the kids were growing while the adults were deteriorating.  The kids were actively playing in a way that constantly pushed themselves to explore new limits, triggering growth in their bodies and brains.  By contrast the adults were looking for their Comfort Zone. 

Real growth and improvement happens, not in your Comfort Zone but in your Learning Zone.  I have previously written about the Learning Zone here.  This is about cultivating skills.  The companies which learn and improve more rapidly improve their odds of surviving and thriving.  If you want a company that engages in continual improvement, you need a team of continual learners.  That means your team needs to enter the Learning Zone.  This is an uncomfortable place to be.  Going into the Learning Zone exposes you to disappointment, insecurity, pain, failure, and loss.  It can contradict the goals you have established for happiness, the easy life, and safety. 

After reading Daniel Coyle’s book “The Talent Code”, I started looking at the world in a new way.  Where I used to see habits or preferences, I started seeing skills which were either developed or undeveloped.    Many problems and challenges can be related back to skills.  I used to be skilled at eating ice cream.  When I was a vegetarian, I was skilled at avoiding red meat.  I used to be unskilled at waking up at 5AM every day, but with practice over time I have grown quite skilled at awakening early.

We cannot un-practice skills we no longer want.  We can only practice new skills we do want.  This type of practice is called deliberate practice or deep practice.  We only truly engage in deliberate practice when we enter our Learning Zone. 

I recently completed my fifth New York City marathon.  When I started running as an adult, I just pounded my feet on the pavement with no technique. That is like hitting my fists on piano keys and claiming I could play the piano.  The proper training puts me in my Learning Zone.  Over time my body has made changes I never imagined or expected.  Since childhood I struggled with asthma, and once while travelling in southeast Asia, I was afraid to go to sleep because I thought might not wake up.  I started running again as an adult, and now I have gone 11 years with no breathing issues.  I have more energy.  I feel more connected to my body.  This concept has made me a healthier person, a better father, and a better manager. 

What can you do as a manager to get your team into their Learning Zone?  In short, you want to treat the Learning Zone as a skill they will develop.  Share the Learning Zone model with them so they understand it, connect the theory to their real-world situations, and motivate them frequently over the long term.

What is the Learning Zone?

People need to know that the discomfort of growth and development is a good thing.  Some part of our nature rejects what is uncomfortable and unknown because of the associated danger.  We need some guidance on discerning good discomfort from bad discomfort.

The most powerful tool I have found in getting people into their Learning Zone was to show them what the Learning Zone is.  What is the Learning Zone?  The Learning Zone is, by definition, not the Comfort Zone.  It is not easy. It requires your full attention and effort.  It is a mental struggle.  It can be an emotional struggle.  It is sometimes even a physical struggle.  Why?  That struggle initiates the message in your brain that you need to improve in some way. 

The Learning Zone is a sweet spot to hit somewhere after you leave your Comfort Zone and before you hit your Panic Zone.  This will depend upon how much skill you have and how great the challenge is.  As you develop the skill, you will require greater challenges to hit your Learning Zone.

How many words per minute can you type?  That depends in large part upon how many hours of deliberate practice you put into developing the skill.  That holds true for any skill.  A signal for a task you have never done before might move through your brain at two miles per hour.  The signal for a task you have practiced for years could travel through your brain at 200 miles per hour.  I share this video with the team, so they understand this.

Now when I run, I focus on my technique and the subtle adjustments necessary to improve my technique.  I do not read, watch television, or listen to music while I run because those distract me from improving my technique.  I see runners in the park with headphones and at the gym watching television.  Are they focusing full attention on improving their technique, or are they distracted?

This mental model is an easy-to-remember visual which helps people understand that being uncomfortable is a good thing because that is where they learn and grow the most.  When I show them the model, I like to share some examples of times when I was in my Learning Zone and times when I was in my Panic Zone. 

Then I like to talk about moving among the zones.  The idea is to develop two skills.  The first skill is that transition from Comfort Zone to Learning Zone.  The feeling of moving from the Comfort Zone into the Learning Zone can feel quite wrong even though it is quite right.  The second skill is the ability to move from the Panic Zone back into the Learning Zone.  Again, I share examples of doing this.  I was once coaching someone through an important negotiation and could tell they were in their Panic Zone.  They took a break and went for a five-minute walk outside to pull back into the Learning Zone.  I find vigorous exercise helps pull me back.  In both cases, practice helps improve these skills over time.

Bridge the Gap

Once your team understands what the Learning Zone is and why it is important, you must help them build their ability to go into their Learning Zone.  To do this you will help them bridge the gap between the concept and their own personal experiences.  I start by asking questions:  When were you in your Learning Zone?  When were you in your Panic Zone?  Where are you now?  Asking this question on a regular basis helps get them thinking about it more and they get better at assessing their current state.

If they are bored, they are in their Comfort Zone, which means you, as their manager, are not providing enough challenges for them.  This is important feedback for you.  My daughter’s elementary school, like many now, gives books and reading assignments based upon the child’s reading level.  This helps ensure they are reading at the appropriate level, like the way music, martial arts, and many other skills are taught.  Unfortunately, math and science are not yet taught this way, but in time they most likely will be.

If your team says they are overwhelmed and stressed out, they are in their Panic Zone.  Learning is far less likely to happen with intense levels of fear and other emotional distractions.  The quick fix is to reduce the challenge level.  The long-term solution is to increase the skill level.  As I gained more responsibility in my career and life, the level of pressure, uncertainty, stakes, and disagreement grew.  Sometimes an increase would feel like too much at first, but as I learned to deal with it and went on to the next level, what once felt unbearable later felt like a walk in the park.

In general, you want to frame the journey as a small continuation of what is already being done.  I took some improvisation classes at The Upright Citizens Brigade where we had to practice “Yes and…” exercises.  The idea was to continue the flow and direction that others were going.  The idea is to build a joint momentum together.  I once had a director who was expert at framing instructions as “Do more of that.”  In the movie Stand and Deliver, real-life high-school math teacher Jaime Escalante told his drop-out prone students that math is in their blood because their Mayan ancestors came up with the concept of zero when the Greeks and Romans could not. 

Motivate your Team

As much as possible, you want to get people excited about going into the Learning Zone.  Motivation is less about giving long speeches or imposing incentives or consequences and more about connecting with other people, making meaningful contributions, and gratification when unexpected accomplishments are achieved.

People connect with other people through the power of story.  Filling the mind with stories of examples from history of people who have achieved success is a reliable source of inspiration.  When my four-year-old son watched Rocky, he pretty much spent the entire movie working out.  As a manager, my tactic is to keep sharing one story after another week after week of people who went into their Learning Zone and built up their skills.  I have shared hundreds of stories and dozens of videos with my team, such as this, this, this, this, and this.

People are motivated by the ability to make unique and meaningful contributions.  If you had a unique skill that nobody cared about, you would have less motivation than you would if you discovered that skill was a huge benefit to a lot of people.  When I am relieved to have somebody on the team who makes a meaningful contribution because they have some skill I do not have, I make sure to acknowledge their contribution, express appreciation, and remind them that I am relieved to have them because they are able to do something I cannot.

Gratification is the sense of accomplishment which is intensified by the difficulty in getting there.  When times get challenging, I remind the team about where we are going and how great we will feel when we get there.  I love to use the analogy of climbing Everest.  The journey is miserable, but the payoff is great, in part because of all the suffering along the way.  If the whole process were easy, the end would not bring the same sense of accomplishment.

When I was young, my parents taught me that when we are ready to stop learning, we are ready to move on toward dying.  I recently heard that a long life is less dependent upon a low-stress life and more dependent upon how engaged we are.  This is easy to believe because when we engage our efforts, our brains and bodies respond with some sort of growth.  We used to believe that our capacity to learn diminished as we age, but that belief has been debunked.  Our brains are extremely adaptive, and some parts of the brain will expand or contract depending upon what we are learning even as adults.

My parting message to you on this topic is that as a manager, you lead by example so step into your Learning Zone on a regular basis.  Do it in new and unexpected ways.  Share your genuine challenges with your team.  This has the added benefit of expressing your vulnerability, which deepens your connections with others and makes for a stronger team.

Welcome to The Learning Zone: Three People Development Skills for the Manager to Master

Can you honestly say you have mastered the ability to develop skills in other people?  One of your key competencies as a manager is designing learning plans and implementing those learning plans through coaching, feedback, and mental models.  This is a skill which is so obvious when I tell people that everyone agrees, yet managers who have truly mastered this skill are a rare find.  In my experience, managers tell people what to learn, what to do, or how to do something and pretty much leave it at that, which is unfortunate because they miss out on some rich opportunities in contributing to the growth of others and in achieving some rewarding growth of their own.

To guide someone through the learning process, you want them to step into their Learning Zone.  What is the Learning Zone?  The Learning Zone is that place just beyond the Comfort Zone and before the Panic Zone.  When activities are too easy, they do not require as much effort.  People can grow bored and distracted, and learning is limited.  When activities prove too challenging, they push people to the point where panic ensues.  Aggressive behavior or pressure that is too high can arouse the fight or flight instincts, and learning is also limited.  In that sweet spot the activities push the person just beyond their current ability and require full attention and near-maximal effort.  This is where learning happens.

I was once coaching a manager who got frustrated with a more junior employee for not responding to a client issue in the way they had expected.  They lashed out at the junior employee and the conversation grew heated and escalated.  The manager wondered why the junior employee was not learning the “right” way.  It took multiple conversations to help the manager understand they had more to learn.  Their aggressive behavior elicited a defensive response, and no real learning was possible for the junior employee.  Blaming the other person for not learning is the easy way out, but learning is stifled there.  Developing the skill to be frustrated and still guide another person into their Learning Zone is key for the manager. 

Is this easy to achieve?  No, each person’s Learning Zone is unique and constantly shifting.  The Learning Zone begins just beyond the current abilities of that individual at that point in time.  As the current abilities improve, the Learning Zone moves farther out, so the Learning Zone is also a dynamic target.  The learning activities must be continuously altered for the individual to develop mastery. 

The manager must have an intimate awareness of the person’s abilities.  They must establish a deep and frequent connection to the person they are coaching, which can be a challenge in practice.  At the same time, the manager is developing their own ability to develop others.  Developing their personal skills in feedback, learning plans, and learning activities will improve their ability to develop the skills of others.

Skill #1:  Feedback – The Give and Take

Any coach must give feedback so people can adjust based on what they are doing that does and does not work.  The feedback should be honest and respectful.  If the feedback is laced with some kind of attack, aggression, sarcasm, etc., the person will more likely be distracted by the intention or delivery and miss out on the learning opportunity.  The best approach is to come from a genuine place of wanting to support the person.

I have found that starting the feedback with “You want to…” and explaining what works helps the person absorb the message.  I like following it up with “You don’t want to…”  If they have not actually done the undesirable behavior, and I want to preempt it, I might say, “Some people do this, which doesn’t work because…”  Clarifying the impact of the negative behavior helps.  Then I restate the desirable action, and I might even model it.  As much as possible, I try to find the things they did which work well and encourage them to take that farther and do more of it.

Taking feedback is a difficult skill every successful manager must master.  This is more than just listening to feedback and not getting upset, though that is important.  The true mastery of taking feedback is listening with an open mind without defending or disputing even if the other person is wrong or disrespectful.  Treat feedback as a gift even when it is not delivered that way.  A friend of mine was CEO of a non-profit and one of the board members began yelling at him and blaming him for a situation.  My friend listened silently until the board member finished, and calmly thanked him for being open with him about thoughts that others were probably thinking but too afraid to voice.  Then he could address the accusations point by point. 

The goal of feedback is to stay connected to what others think and feel about you.  By welcoming candid feedback, you improve your awareness and connection.  As the manager, you also set the example that others will follow, whether you realize it or not.  Once you achieve mastery in taking feedback, you are better positioned to guide others through the skill of taking feedback. 

The alternative is an atmosphere where issues are not addressed and fester until they explode.  Then later everyone wonders how the environment became so toxic.  A culture where people can openly share candid feedback lays the foundation for healthy and productive group dynamics. 

Not only do you need to welcome feedback, you also need to actively seek it out.  This is one of the greatest dangers a manager faces.  The higher up you are as a manager, the more you are at risk of being disconnected from what is really going on below the surface.  Probing below the surface is a very specific skill.  I recommend the manager regularly bring the team together and ask, “How are we working together as a team?”  The tendency in some groups will be to play it safe and not speak openly about issues.  The manager must break through this or risk being sidelined by team dysfunction.

Have you experienced challenges in giving and receiving feedback?  If so, what techniques have you found that work?

Skill #2:  Learning Plans – Translating Feedback into Skills

Feedback serves little use unless it leads to positive adjustment.  Each piece of feedback regarding what does not work reveals some underlying skill which requires development.  If you are receiving feedback, you may have to take the initiative to translate your feedback into needed skills.  If you are the manager giving the feedback, you will want to do this as the next step.  I prefer not to use the terms behavior or bad habits because they can sound like unchangeable actions.  Instead, I frame them as skills because they are interpreted as something which can be improved through practice.

Identifying the skills to be developed requires much more thought than just giving feedback in the moment.  I find this happens best when I am alone and need to reflect deeply on the person now and in the future.  Taking this step signifies to the person that you care enough about them to invest serious time thinking about and supporting their long-term success.  It helps frame the most negative feedback in a collaborative light for a manager / employee, mentor / mentee, teacher / pupil, coach / athlete, or master / apprentice relationship. 

This step also helps focus the feedback.  I generally start with a list of the feedback that I want to share.  The list starts as a stream of consciousness.  If I spend no time preparing for the delivery of the feedback, it will come across as scattered and confusing, so I have to spend the time organizing the thoughts.  Once I start identifying the skills that go with each piece of feedback, I end up grouping the feedback together based on the skill that will address the feedback.  For example, I once had some feedback for someone who had been aggressive with others and said some offensive things.  I categorized these together under the skill of communicating with respect.  This helped me deliver the message in a more concise way, and it helped them understand and remember the message later.

Have you ever had somebody put together a learning plan for you?  What were the best mentoring experiences you have had?

Skill #3:  Learning Activities – Building the Skills

The final component of designing the Learning Program is the list of Learning Activities.  This is where you take one skill at a time and identify an activity that will develop that skill.  I like to come up with three activities for a skill, but some skills require more while others require fewer.  You can use any format that works for you.  I use a table with three columns.  Column 1 is the Feedback.  Column 2 identifies the Skill.  Column 3 details the Learning Activities.  Most practice is solitary practice, so try to come up with Learning Activities that the person can eventually practice on their own.

For example, one employee was very capable with the technical and verbal aspects of the job.  However, his written communication was filled with grammatical errors.  I progressively gave him more challenging activities to improve his grammar skills.  First, I corrected his grammatical errors and explained them.  Next, I began having him make the corrections that I gave him.  Then I started having him find and make the corrections on his own.  Finally, I started asking him how somebody could misinterpret his message and how he could improve the specificity of his language.

The person will have to repeat the activity many times to master it.  I often prefer to introduce one Learning Activity at a time.  This can feel a little daunting to the manager because getting through the Learning Activities can take a very long time.  I once had an employee who had a single incident that translated into six areas of feedback, six skills needed, and 18 Learning Activities.  Each Learning Activity would take a minimum of weeks of repetition to master.  That meant the Learning Activities would take months or years to complete.  This is a good thing.  Development of skills is a long-term journey.

I usually only share about one Learning Activity at a time.  The idea is to not overwhelm the person.  Allow them to focus on mastering that activity before moving on to the next one.  The feedback, the skills, and the Learning Activities should be delivered in short chunks of information instead of long speeches or long meetings.  Rather than meeting for one hour once a week, five fifteen-minute meetings are more effective.  This gives the person more of an opportunity to absorb the message more completely.

The manager must master the skills of designing Learning Plans and follow through to implement those plans.  The disconnected managers of the world will just tell people what does not work or what results to get without providing the support to the team to develop those skills.  The connected manager is more engaged and takes ownership of the development of their team.

When you are interviewing for a new job, I highly recommend asking the hiring manager what specific skills they have developed in their employees.  You can follow up by asking how they developed those skills.  Do they have a solid answer, or are they just searching for something to say?  You can ask them what feedback they get from their employees.  Do they take the follow-up steps to develop their own skills?  Do they actively solicit feedback from their employees, so they can keep their finger on the pulse of their team, or do they blindly assume they are in touch with their team?  Their answers to these questions will help you understand what to expect if you were to work for them.

What skills has your manager developed in you?  If you are a manager, what specific skills have you developed in your team? 

Photo by Mathias Jensen on Unsplash.