08.08

Feature in LX Briefings

A Newsletter for Learning Executives

Vicarious Learning

For

Business

By Steve Gladis

Verbal advice? Spare the air and recommend a good book.

Raise your hand if your spouse, partner, or friend ever suggested that you do something to help yourself, like lose weight, start exercising, stop smoking, or start eating and drinking less. Okay, everyone reading this piece put your hands down. So, what exactly is our universal reaction to such well-intentioned verbal advice about persistent problems offered from other people, even those who care about us? At best, it’s a head nod for the concern, perhaps a grimacing smile, but even more likely, over time, a snarl. According to social research, we generally don’t like advice when it comes to entrenched problems and rarely yield to it. So, spare the air!

What influences us to do anything good for ourselves with such difficult problems is experience—either our own direct experience or observation of someone else. In Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, a book I would recommend to anyone interested in motivating others, the authors (Kerry Patterson, et al) set out a reasonable explanation. With the aid of social science research, the authors explain that people will change difficult behavior only 1) if they think that the change is worth it; and 2) if they can actually do it. The next best thing to doing the task themselves is watching or hearing a story about another person, who is similar to them, doing the very same task.

Girded by the research conducted by famed social scientist and Stanford professor Albert Bandura, who is best known for “vicarious learning” (also known as imitation, social, and observational learning), the authors suggest that stories—either true or fictional—help people learn. They point out that stories with the greatest impact on learning are those that link closely to the intended audience and show how persistent negative behaviors can result in negative outcomes, but how replacement behaviors bring a far better future to the reformed.

In my opinion, from such a psychological basis emerges a story form of vicarious learning experience in business writing called the “business fable.” Most of us learned about the vicarious/social/ observational learning as children in such stories or fables as the tortoise and the hare (where we learned about how slow and steady wins the race) and the boy who cried wolf (which taught us that even when liars tell the truth, no one believes them). So, what are some examples of the modern business fable? Among the leaders in the genre of fictional tales that offer business principles are Patrick Lencioni (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), Ken Blanchard (Who Moved My Cheese?), and John Kotter (Our Iceberg is Melting).

The first business fable I wrote, The Journey of the Accidental Leader, is the story of a young man whose father dies and whose last will and testament demands that the young son take over the family business. Readers get to watch the inexperienced son as he encounters the bumps and bruises of business—without incurring the pain themselves. Just recently, I published another such book—The Executive Coach in the Corporate Forest—about my current profession, executive coaching. Many leaders don’t understand executive coaching because of the confidentiality of the process. So, in this short book, readers get to watch a masterful executive coach, J.C. Williams, work with clients, who have realistic, persistent business leadership problems just like the readers themselves.

So, I hope you’ll consider reading and discussing such a business fable or two—perhaps collectively in your own company. If you have any doubts about how edifying such stories can be, consider how soap operas attract such large, faithful audiences, all of whom are trying to figure out their own lives through the fictitious but realistic lives of these “vicarious learning” shows. Also, consider why Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers both are so effective. Certainly, it must be in part due to the stories that reformed participants tell to others in the group—just like them—trying to kick the habit by teaching them through a form of vicarious learning.

Author Steve Gladis is a former University of Virginia professor. Steve Gladis Communications helps leaders define and achieve success through executive coaching and leadership development.

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Sidebar:  Mystery Revealed: A Window Into Executive Coaching

By Suzi Pomerantz

In spite of the fact that coaching has become a $1.5 billion industry and growing, it still remains a mystery for senior executives who haven’t experienced it personally. How can learning officers build the business case for coaching if it’s one of the best kept secrets? If your leadership has not had a coach, they may not know what it is exactly or why they might want one. They’ve heard about coaching but don’t really know what it looks like, what to expect, or what it might do for them.

Now, there’s a window. Steve Gladis has published a quick read that helps leaders see and understand how coaching works. The Executive Coach in the Corporate Forest is the story of a fictional executive coach named J. C. Williams, and his varied business clients—all with their own professional issues. Ever wanted to be a fly on the wall during someone else’s executive coaching sessions? Delightful characters with realistic challenges hire Williams, and we get to watch their successes unfold. This book would be a great adjunct textbook for an internal coaching program since people can read it fast for a snapshot of the coaching process. Or, use it to make the case with upper management when pitching the concept of coaching in your organizations. Styled in the fable format, like the popular Patrick Lencioni books, this book has a blend of easy and engaging storylines balanced with methodology and process information about how executive coaching contributes to a leader’s career and the organization’s bottom line. It’s a great airplane read for any busy executive who wants to know more about coaching, whether for your own career, or to improve the overall results for your organization.

Suzi Pomerantz, is a master executive coach and author. To learn more, visit www.innovativeleader.com or www.sealthedealbook.com.