The Trouble with Training

Training efforts rarely produce the level of impact that anyone hoped for when the initiative began. It happens when great information is delivered in a memorable way. It happens when exercises are included to provide people with a chance to test drive their new skills. Training efforts too often fall prey to rapid decay; the initial burst of enthusiasm goes out with a whimper. Why is this, and how can we make certain that our efforts to address disruptive behavior are sustainable?

Heads + Hands = Half way there

Most training efforts attempt to engage people’s heads and their hands. They provide information, tools and knowledge to equip people to handle new tasks, challenges and opportunities. This is an important step, and those who are truly engaged people will often take these skills and run with them. However, experience tells us knowledge doesn’t always get translated into changed behavior. After all, I know an oncologist who smokes!

An important addition to knowledge transfer is providing participants with skill practices that allow people to test drive their new skills, and gain confidence in their ability to use them in the real world. This is why pilots spend many hours in a simulator or doctors spend so much time in the gross anatomy lab. Dissecting a cadaver provides med students an opportunity to build skills in an environment where failure is not catastrophic.

Taken together, training the head and hands provides people with the “can do,” but they don’t address the “want to” challenge. I know how to exercise, I have the skills to exercise, but if I don’t chose to utilize the skill and knowledge, they will not yield any fruit in my life. The key lies in engaging the head, the heart and the hands.

Heads + Hearts + Hands = Harvest

The key to attaining sustained behavioral change is to engage head, heart and hands. By heart I don’t just mean those warm fuzzy feelings you get after an inspirational talk. My experience with very busy, high ego people is that those kumbaya’esq, “why can’t we all just get along” speeches don’t go over well. By heart I mean that you have to create conviction about using those skills. Not just “interest in” or “support for” using those skills, but rather a heartfelt belief that compels people to behave differently.

Creating this kind of visceral response does not come easily, and it rarely comes by telling people that they should feel it. It comes most quickly and most powerfully when people have experiences that lead them to change from “the insight out.” That is what I have found to be so rewarding about leading our classes on disruptive behavior. I will share an illustration in our next installment.

What have you seen that works? Is your organization doing something very effective in this area? Please share it here.