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Seven Deadly Sins of Training
Featured Author:
Kevin Dwyer
Is a pragmatic change management advisor and founder of Change Factory. He comes from an old school that experienced and led change first and learned the theory later. Kevin has since managed small companies as CEO, founding Change Factory in 2004.
Change Factory’s mission is to help organizations that do not like their business outcomes get better business outcomes through changing people’s behavior. The Change Factory view of what is generally missing in sales development can be summed up by the phrase “Training is not enough”. Visit Kevin’s website: www.changefactory.com.au
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Kevin Dwyer
Ego
Trainers train in their own preferred style. They ignore the preferred style of the trainees. Training is more about the trainer’s delivery than the trainee’s learning. Silver bullet training programmes are the norm. For example, complex, physically demanding outdoor “team-building” activities are used when the issue which needs to be addressed is communication rather than trust.
Games are used for all training events or ignored because they do not suit the trainer. On-line training is used almost exclusively when other mediums are more suitable, or on-line training is ignored in favour of face-to-face training.
Trainees do not learn what is needed as efficiently and effectively as possible. Organisations achieve a low return on investment.
Superficiality
Training is aimed at the first level of Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation only. Training is fun. The training event is memorable but the content is not. Concepts are taught, but, how to use them in the trainee’s context is not. Training is “off-the-shelf” and applied the same way with the same material to all attendees.
The same training process is used no matter what the audience. “Icebreakers” are used habitually when everyone knows each other. “Ice breakers” are used with senior managers who have little time to spare for training and need to get to the heart of the matter they are learning.
Trainees may remember what they are taught but cannot use it in the workplace. Return on investment is extremely low.
Complexity
The training material used attempts to teach more than three concepts in ninety minutes. The concept of limits to the capacity of short term memory to retain and process chunks of information is ignored. Training is not delivered in chunks that can be internalised by average trainees.
Graphics, written words and sounds are used at the same time to explain and emphasise a concept.
Trainees do not remember what they are taught.
