When Training is Not the Answer

I often receive phone inquiries for training. One client called requesting that I train their team of trainers to be more engaging. Another called to ask me to coach their trainers to deal with resistant participants. A third asked me to come in and help their trainers deal with hostile participants.

While I appreciate these phone calls requesting my services, I have learned that needs assessment is critical to identifying the hidden issues and providing the most responsive service to a client’s inquiry. Responsivity to the need requires that I meet and talk with the trainers themselves.

I did that in all of the above scenarios and what I found each time was delightful, engaging, intelligent, seasoned trainers who framed the issue just a little differently than their concerned and supportive managers. Their take may have sounded the same initially, but with targeted inquiry began to create a different picture of the issue, one that very often pointed back to curriculum design.

The inquiry around being more personally engaging, when I asked, “Walk me through a typical presentation”, was answered with, “A one-hour slide show with a worksheet and short discussion at the end.” The topics of delivery were high-octane subjects like career burnout, workplace bullying, and communicating with difficult co-workers.

When I met with the team of trainers whose manager had called to help her team deal with participants resistant to the subject matter I asked, “If you could solve 1 problem in your weekly classes, what would it be?” told me variations of, “I’d have better ways to get them to appreciate how important this topic is in their life and to stay engaged throughout the lesson.” The classes were for folks with criminal records who needed to find work upon their re-entry to society.

The inquiry around dealing with hostile participants, when I asked, “Tell me what that looks and sounds like when it is happening,” was met with, “They argue with me about the facts, the science of the subject matter.” The topics of delivery were around getting participants to “face up” to certain unpleasant behavioral tendencies as harmful,lifestyle choices.

With each of the above clients, my recommendation was not facilitation training, but rather curriculum re-design or training on curriculum redesign.  Each of these training struggles could be directly linked back to a legitimate and honorable attribute of the adult learner that was not being met by the current training experience. This had nothing to do with a lack of skill, sensitivity or personal warmth on the part of the trainers, but rather a lack of scaffolded training design that engaged, involved and supported the adult learners in their exploration of new and sometimes intellectually or emotionally challenging subject matter. Good curriculum design goes a long way in preventing participant problems by intentionally planning to meet the needs of the adult learner throughout the entire training experience.

Next: Training design strategies to meet the needs of adult learners