Their eyes were rolling and yawns appearing. They were bored. I was getting impatient and could not understand why they weren’t grasping the “pearls” that I was presenting. Their answers were off point and my responses became short and edgy. Each training had less and less impact. Have you been there? Are you there now?
On one particular training I was going over a new opportunity. They could really make some money with this. In my mind a “no brainer”. The responses from the team however were why it wouldn’t work, in other words pretty negative. Where were my entrepreneurs? Maybe I didn’t have the right team? What was I doing wrong?
First Approach
I asked upper management to train. They were happy to do so. The team agreed with their training and promised to make changes. Management walked away fulfilled in their duties. Truthfully I was a little peeved but took it for what it was worth and was excited about the new learning interest. Unfortunately nothing changed. My team gave the “nod and the wink” to the managers, felt pressured to do so, but had no real buy off on this new information.
Second Approach
Who else could help me with this dilemma? It hits me… as an ex-manufacturer rep; I should bring in my vendors. I decided to invite them to give some product information training. Admittedly this did work for that particular product but not for an overall increase from my team. They would also go over promotions and such. Very useful information. I decided to use this once a month. Unfortunately my problem was still not solved.
“Only those who want everything done for them are bored.” -Billy Graham
Third Approach
Now feeling totally frustrated… It was time for my team to feel my pain! So, I decided to make them do the training. I would make it difficult for them. No subjects would be offered. Just pick something that pertained to our industry and to their team. That ought to get them out of their comfort zone and zombie attitudes. I would not remind them when their training date was coming up. Failure for sure! They could opt to not participate but I would make it clear that they were letting their team down if they did so. Peer pressure, I love it! The plan was set.
Upon instituting the “plan” I was pretty sure I would get major rumblings and some failures. Going forward with the schedule, and no reminders, surprisingly they all were prepared and on their date. They didn’t offer excuses but came in with great trainings and participation.
What happened?
They were simply tired of hearing from me. It really wasn’t anything personal. It became worse because I was getting short with them. As I have talked with other managers I have come to realize this is pretty common. However, most don’t make the changes I did, for ego or other reasons, and really become disenfranchised with their teams. Obviously this is bad for production and longevity as a manager. I believe a mixture of all three approaches with some training from you, the manager, is appropriate for success. Mix it up as it works for your team and products. Business and sales success, but more importantly, a trained happy team will transpire and you’re bottom line will be happy they did.
Copyright © 2010 Chris Lott and Lottspace. All rights reserved.
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Chris, What is the next step? Have you considered tag team training and off-site sessions? What would be the advantages? Training involving more than one employee from different departments could build greater ties of trust, friendship, and broaden the depth of experience of the whole group (i.e. If a salesman and a tech are placed in a position of co-training).
I’ve also found that an offsite meeting is a great way to change things up a little. The typical office distractions are removed and a feeling that the meeting is important tends to permeate the team.
I think mixing up the approaches as all really had there positive points works. Hiring a coach could also be an option. Bottom line… Let your sales team teach and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Captremo, I like the outside training approach. Great way to mix things up. Thanks for the comment.
Chris, I think it’s a credit to you that you had an open mind and tried different things.
I agree that a variety of training methods is the way to go, and also greater involvement from the trainees. As well as practical experience, coupled with the training methods you describe, I also found great success with the provision of autonomous training, which is why I developed an online training platform.
This way the training can be enhanced by factors such as studying anywhere, anytime, in bite size chunks, either online or printed off – which provides the trainee with more flexibility and control over their own development. Additionally, allowing the trainee to work to their preferred learning style.
http://www.leader3.com
sisley… thanks for the kind words and great advice.