ABSTRACT

Frequent day-to-day coaching in interpersonal skills can be very beneficial over an extended period. However, those who are being asked to use such skills for the first time are likely to benefit from some initial intensive off-job training. This chapter looks at an adaptation of the very powerful approach to initial intensive off-job training adapted from a published method and based on the research which underpinned the Continuous Cycle Learning (CCL) model of effective skill learning. During such intensive courses, the groups were encouraged to take over the management of the agenda themselves. The dialogues with which they experimented were likely to be far more realistic in the absence of a trainer. Self-managed groups worked particularly well with new entrants to a graduate management scheme who met at intervals throughout their initial training assignments. For managers in substantive jobs, there was a two-day intensive workshop which experimented with six real-life persuasion situations.