Utopian Visions

Trainers create. They create the content, the process, the journey, the engagement. They genuinely want the interventions to succeed. It is, in fact, in their best interests that the intervention succeeds. So it is not the lack of effort or trying that creates the challenge. It’s the organization that lets the ball fall.

On many occasions and for multiple clients, I have successfully sold the idea that training cannot be perceived as an event. It needs to be seen as a process one goes through. A journey. They buy into it and take me on. I then go through the motions happy in the knowledge that this is going where it should be. The trajectory is set. The ball is rolling in the right direction. Things are looking good.

Then the training workshop prep work starts. The surveys and questionnaires are sent out. The one pager summaries are handed out. Reminders are sent that attendance to the workshop would be based on completion of the steps mentioned.

The day arrives. People fill the hall, excitement is in the air. As it all begins, the number of hands that are thrown up to signal inabilities to complete the desired pre workshop material are too many to count. It’s too late to recoup and reinvent the workshop so one soldiers on.

The next hit comes when the post workshop structure is unveiled and commitments to follow through are invited. The line managers are too busy. The assignment requires attention and time. The work pressures don’t allow…………

If the delegates themselves cannot see the benefit, to themselves, in this exercise, then the organization must step in and provide the support to allow this to happen effectively. It is in the best interest of everyone involved. If they do not want training to be a tick in the box exercise, the conversion of the lessons learnt in the classroom to the work place are where it all comes together. For the organization, for the delegate as well as the trainer.

Understood that there are too many “moving parts”. Work pressures abound, responsibilities are not part of the KPI’s, who takes the final blame? The line managers, the delegates, the organization, the trainer? If the delegates and the organization cannot see how this benefits them, directly, then there is very little that the trainer can do since post workshops, the intervention stops. Trainers cannot walk into the workplace holding line managers or delegates responsible. Unless, the organization again steps in to provide that umbrella.

It looks like the buck stops, at the organization. Again, being the devils advocate, the organization itself is trying to improve productivity, but, the end result they are trying to achieve is the bottom line. And what the delegates are busy doing, is working on the bottom line. Taking them away, even if its for productivity enhancement, is counter productive in their eyes. It’s a catch 22 situation indeed.

Its amazing how many organizations over the years have said this exact same thing to me. Is there any way we don’t have to pull them off the field as it does not make sense to take their valuable time working towards their goals, to do training. That exact time invested effectively, would provide a larger return in sales / effective leadership / retention etc. etc. but those are not seen as tangibles as much as sales and profits.

Amazingly, even if offered FREE of cost, and embedded into the structure of the workshops, the organizational push back and line manager evasion is present. So I guess what I am saying is keep in mind that key 7 habits of highly effective people point. Sharpen the saw. If you have 10 minutes to cut a tree, take the first 7 minutes to sharpen the saw. It becomes easier if one takes the time, initially. The time in training is not a diversion or a distraction. It is what will bring in the extras.

Utopian visions these may be, but one can always hope right?

Uzair.hassan@3hsolutions.biz

https://www.linkedin.com/in/uzair-hassan-6451024/