Earlier this week I had an external training provider run a two day programme for non managers in coaching skills. I co-delivered on day one and observed everything running very well. Come day two and it was a different story.
One participant cried sick, but not ill enough to go home, just come off the course, and another midway through the morning decided for herself that she wasn't learning anything, nor would she if she stayed, and promptly pulled herself off the course!
How am I supposed to deal with the situation now? Kit gloves, heavy handed, what? The Team Leaders will back the decision of their staff which leaves me constantly battling to survive in a working environment that has no respect for learning and development. (I am not a manager and therefore command little respect from lower or middle management).
Please help - feeling rather useless at the moment and I have to de-brief with the team leaders next week.
Thanks,
emily marosi
13 Responses
Some thoughts
Emily
Don’t feel bad – this is such a common problem, even when you do everything possible to prevent it. However, it’s usually because the course is not the right solution for the business/individual problem, not their preferred learning style or that the individual does not see the value in attending…. why don’t you consider some of the following:
Really get your training needs analysis right. Really identify the required changed behaviour as well as skills/ knowledge needed. Ask loads of questions and ask for examples of what they see as good/ poor behaviour. Link in to business results. Make sure the Team Leader understand and agree to the TNA findings
Look at alternatives to classroom training. Tie in with learning styles – use classroom training as a last resort
Reverse Psychology. Consider saying you don’t think the course is the best option – but if they really want it then…!
If a classroom course is the best solution, then make sure the Team Leader really understands the benefits from the course
Really make sure you put the right people on the course. Just In Time training is best – but sometimes we put people on courses too early. Wait until they are using the skill or know they have to start using it very soon
Ask team leader regarding non-attendance. Ask what reasons would be acceptable for non-attendance and how do THEY want you do deal with non-attendance of one of their staff. Get the team leader to tell staff this
Get the team leader to have a pre and post brief with the individual before the course and discuss importance of the course, individual learning objectives, and what they are going to do with the knowledge etc after the course. In the early days you may want to be present at this discussion or get team leaders to write down the comments and give you a copy of the form
Pilot the course – get others to recommend it. Get staff begging to go (limit numbers until it’s popular)
Keep a track of AWOL students. Is there a trend? Discuss with team leaders the wasted costs/time etc. Ask them for advice rather than being heavy handed
Collect feedback on trainers, courses etc. See if there is a trend in comments
Ask Team Leaders and repeat offenders for their thoughts. Don’t be critical, go in trying to get solutions
Good luck
Poor you
I do feel sory for anyone who finds themselves in this position particularly when they have worked hard on the 2 days.
Short answer is to provide shorter courses ie a half day on this followed by a project based in their own workplace which is linked from a management view point into their own personal development plans.
Buy in is achieved and for those with little interest or staying power they can sit there for 3 hours!
Coaching training has little interest for most unless it is immediately put in use so get some projects running and send only the project workers onto the courses.
Put less of yourself also into this, not all will be ideal and 80% hit rate is good!
http://www.limeone.com
0870 240 4325
Know how you feel!
I think the key thing with attendance is that the participants understand why they are attending. Did they choose to go on the course or were they “told” to by the Team Leader? I have faced this problem repeatedly and found the best way was to set clear guidelines with the Team Leads around attendance and their responsibility to their staff in terms of discussing the training with them and outlining what they expect from them once the training has been completed.
Team Leader Commitment is the Key
Hi Emily,
I concur with most of the comments of other respondents. I have the “T” shirt.
Critical thing for you to try to do, I think, is to secure the commitment of the sponsors of the training (Team Leaders) in terms of desired outputs. If the Team Leaders are committed to what you are seeking to achieve then students will find it less attractive to opt out.
I presume you are confident as to Methods, Design, and Learning styles and suspect from what you say that the issue is “Commitment” as opposed to your own competence.
The reluctant learner is the hardest student to try to work with and if their managers don’t appear to value what you are doing the battle is lost.
Good luck with your future endeavours!
Phil
Not your fault!
Hi Emily
I agree with Annah – you really shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. Looking at it another way – only two people dropped out. The others presumably stayed and gained a lot of benefits from their involvement.
I’d produce a brief evaluation report for the team leaders stressing the positive outcomes and explaining why the two pulled out.
This sort of thing happens all the time on courses – you can’t please all the people all the time!!
Best of luck
Jane Smith
Learning Experience
Treat it as a learning experience, and between now and your de-brief make a list of the learning points that you think arise, so that NEXT time you and the Team Leaders have some clear and agreed goals for the learning process.
For example, would there have been more ‘buy-in’ if the programme had not been run by an external provider, but by a combination of internal and external people? And what kind of pre-training analysis was there, which indicated that non-managers needed their coaching skills improved? How were the participants recruited?
You are the learning expert, so use your authority and expertise to get some learning to happen within your organisation.
another line of enquiry ?
the course was “coaching for non-managers”…there might have been a feeling amongst some staff that this was a skill they didn’t need because of the culture created by managers/team leaders that implies that coaching is a manager domain.
Just a thought, but in my experience 80% of the “problems” that a trainer faces are about things outside the immediate training environment; therefore I wholeheartedly endorse all the other comments people have made. It is, however, our responsibility to try to work out those problems…
Was it the role play?
Hi Emily
Just a quick thought. Was the second day of the course going to include some element of skills practice/role play? Perhaps this scared people off? There is often a lot of resistance to role play on courses and the trainer has to work hard to get over this and gain cooperation.
If you think this could be the reason and would like to discuss it further please email me.
Good luck for the future.
Jenny
Country Club
From my own experience of this happening there is often a clear reason for it. The issue lies squarely with the Managers / Team Leaders of the delegates.
If there is a culture of allowing people to just please themselves, then people will do just that.
Some of the companies I work with do not tolerate this behaviour at all. This is because the training programmes are to help the people in an organisation to achieve objectives, so senior managers cascade a three line whip on attendance.
Other clients empower their staff without setting standards and acceptible parameters. Perhaps its not surprising that there are usually more performance issues with these ones. This is what I term ‘A Country Club Culture’.
Derek Leathem
Performance Management Consultant
Just something else to add on top of the othe good advice
Hi Emily,
I do feel for you having just left a company after 3 years that didn’t seem to care about Learning and Development. I would concur with the other reponses in making sure that the right people are on the right course and conducting a TNA etc. However if you are still getting unacceptable drop outs and cancellations in a company where presumably they are thinking more of cold hard cash in the short term in their approach to training and not in terms of staff development and long term gain, you might want to consider a system of internal charging. It seems harsh but in a similar environment, charging departments for late cancellation, drop outs or even unacceptable lateness, forced departments to know that we meant business and at least from a monetary point of view they took training more seriously. As a result late cancellations and and drop outs rates reduced significantly! I would only want to use this as a last resort as it is fairly negative but depending on the sort of company you work for, it could be an extra option in conjunction with others.
Good Luck!
Jenny
Attitude Adjustment
I start every session with a ” Why are we here? ” session that includes an explanation and build up of both the benefits they will personally derive and how their own personal tendencies to be judgemental vs. open is quite normal. I also use pre-course questions asking what they would like to get from their time in the course which gives you the subjects you need to be prepared for. Having supervisory people in the same course adds reasons for the others to pay attention. The more activity oriented learning you have in the training the more active they have to be and the less they can sit in judgement. I’ll be happy to provide you with the atttitde material if you wish.
100% Agreement
I agree 100% with Russell.
I have been in a similar situation (more than once) and it does no good to look for ‘blame’. It is very easy to try and establish whose fault it is, especially if we have been through the mill that day. Sit back, ask ourselves what we can to to avoid the situation again. It promotes more asertive behaviours before we challenge line managers.
I’d be interested to learn what the need for this training was – are the management expecting the staff to coach each other? If so, it is very easy for staff to take an opt out with the ‘it’s not my job’ excuse.
Anyone who has been through a similar situation will feel for you though…including me!
Remember St.George
Welcome to training! I’m not being flippent, but this can be a ‘constant’ in your training career. There are ways to cope. First I always make sure I pre-sell the course to participants and have them ‘Buy In’ before they arrive. Send them a schedule of study and/or learning objectives in advance. This may still not bring you harmony in the class because of the ‘mindsets’of one or two students. (One will have been sent under duress, another sees it as a jaunt or day off from the office and yet another will have a specific corporate issue they want addressed no matter what the course topic is). You will eventually build your personal rader system to spot them and help you manage the class room. Secondly, use end of course evaluation forms, these can be very useful at the de-briefs on the course. I can let you have a template you can adapt to your needs. Don’t despair, as with the other respondants, I agree – we’ve all been there. Remember St.George, one dragon at a time!