The phrase "role-playing" universally tends to conjure up sighs, eye-rolls, and groans. Even though this is the typical case, can we all agree that we don't get better without practice? One of the reasons role-playing get such a negative connotation really has nothing to do with role-playing itself, rather it’s based upon how we give one another feedback.

Think of the number of interactions we have each day – how many of those interactions are more than two minutes long? And at the end of the day, how my of those interactions do we actually remember? When we have conversations, being prepared is the key to helping your customers love what you have to offer them in a short amount of time, not just with your product or service, but with you as a..

As often providers think, our solutions are magical, and if people would just take training from us, everything would be okay. While this sounds nice, it couldn't be farther from the truth. While I think my company provides great training, other companies do as well, it begs the question, why do managers still struggle to coach? It comes down to one small detail:

Obviously I am focused on the manager's coaching conversation. The major thing that we need to realize as training and learning professionals is that it takes one conversation with the manager to either support or not support our training and learning initiatives.

All too often when an employee is called into a managers office, they immediately think to themselves, "What did I do wrong?" and a panic sets in about what's to follow. It is an uncomfortable situation for the employee to be in, which then makes it an uncomfortable situation for the manager. Do you think that any feedback given in this type of situation and environment will be received and..