PowerPoint lectures, WebEx courses, and employee handbooks are common tools for training adult learners in the workplace. While these are efficient approaches, they lack human connection. According to research from ATD, there is a learning method that helps organizations meet their L&D goals, achieve business targets, and deliver more effective learning. Do you know what this approach is?

Enter “Leaders as Teachers.” In 2015, ATD Research partnered with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) to study the benefits, effectiveness, and best practices for deriving the greatest benefits from leaders as teachers (LAT) programs. Nearly 1,400 learning and business professionals from all sectors completed a survey. The research was sponsored by The Training Associates.

What Are the Benefits of LAT?

Several key insights emerged from the research report, Leaders as Teachers: Engaging Employees in High-Performance Learning, regarding the impact of LAT programs. First, leaders can play a key role in presenting organizational knowledge and perspective. The data found that by sharing their own experiences, leaders offer keen insight that can enhance learning. What’s more, employees recognize the value that leaders in their organization have to offer and will take more out of the trainings.

Second, the leaders teaching the courses also receive benefits from LAT programs, including:

• heightened self-awareness 

• professional development 

• awareness of talented employees.

Finally, organizations see many successes from LAT programs—from an increase in learning delivery effectiveness to higher success rates in meeting business goals. In fact, the study found that more often high-performing organizations had formalized LAT programs in place and saw direct positive results compared to low performers. LAT programs also increase workforce engagement, save on instructor costs, and support a culture of learning. (For complete list of benefits check out the complete Leaders as Teachers research report.) 

Case in Point: LAT at the FDOT

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has a successful LAT program in place. In the LAT research report, Kathy Shurte, manager of performance and training, shared how FDOT was able to build a successful LAT program.

“Here in Florida, we have a governor who came from business,” Shurte explained. Shortly after he took office, he convened the idea of running government more like a business. Step Up, a program that emerged from this idea, encouraged employees in FDOT to proactively play a role in making a positive impact on the organization.

One executive began to participate in new-hire orientation and encouraged his direct reports to do the same. Today, leaders in the organization are welcome to participate in sessions during new-hire onboarding programs on topics they feel most comfortable. The entry-level employees are “just amazed that leaders would take the time out of their schedules to meet and answer questions,” added Shurte.

To help leaders feel successful in this teacher role, Shurte continues to offer one-on-one coaching for leaders at FDOT. In addition, she provides new teachers a brochure to guide them through the process and make them feel more at ease as teachers.

What Role Do LAT’s Play?

Leaders as teachers can offer insights through many different instruction methods. However, the study concluded that the most common is through speaking or storytelling about personal experiences. In fact, 69 percent of respondents said storytelling was the most prevalent tactic used those in the leaders as teacher role. This approach not only gives employees real life examples, but storytelling also helps learners better retain information.

If a “story time” approach doesn’t fit with your company’s learning style, it may consider having leaders hold workshops that build personal experiences into the training. “Leaders can lend their expertise to experiential or action learning by participating in role-playing exercises, taking leadership development candidates through case studies, modeling desired behaviors, demonstrating new procedures, taking part in simulations, or leading other types of hands-on training,” advises ATD Research and i4cp.

Where Do You Find Leaders?

According to Shurte, leaders are everywhere in your organization, and she recommends looking for leaders in staff meetings or during informal group sessions. Approach them by saying, “When you were speaking about ‘x’ you were very engaging and knowledgeable. Would you be interested in giving a group talk about it?” Shurte emphasizes that she ignores the political aspect of asking people to do things in government. You have to be proactive about asking key people to teach—or else it’s never going to happen.

Bottom line: Leaders as teachers engage employees in high-performance learning. LAT programs offer staff at all levels of the organization the opportunity to participate and generate collective positive impact.

The complete ATD Research/i4cp report includes multiple organizational examples, complete survey analysis, and full access to charts and graphs. Organizations considering adopting a LAT program should grab a copy of Leaders as Teachers: Engaging Employees in High-Performance Learning.