I don’t think it was meant as an insult; it was a fair question, after all. All of them had been through countless trainings through the years. And in the end, we’re very motivated — but very little changes. The changes that do come seem to come at a glacial pace. So, is it worth it?
“No, not really, not most of the time,” I replied.
But with all due respect to me and those like me — you know, leadership trainers — motivation isn’t an external thing. It’s an intrinsic thing.
The failure of most leadership trainers and gurus is that they are big on the content, on building understanding, and less so on the application.
But in my experience, the question is never “Do they understand?”
It is always, “Is this applicable?”
When I have the courage to ask that question, it’s amazing how often people can be completely and totally excited about the content; they buy into the theory hook, line and sinker! The problem is, they don’t believe for a moment it would work in their environment. “It’s a great theory,” they say, “but we’re different…my management would never go for it…there is NO WAY I would get support on this…. I wish I could, I love it, but it won’t fly.”
Did they get it? Yes.
Will it change anything? No.
Why? Because they can’t apply it.
Teachers are all too often concerned with the subject rather than the application of the subject. They may even quote the brain science as to why you will only retain 10% of what you learn there, but how often are they working with you to determine which 10% is the right 10% for you?
Seldom.
In the Information Age, the lack of knowledge is rarely the problem. The inability to APPLY said knowledge, now THAT’s something altogether different.
How folks reply to using this in their life is the doorway into their motivation. The obstacles, challenges and push back they will receive is absolutely crucial to the learning, and yet remarkably, often ignored.
And lest I put all the blame on the facilitators, the problem is the same in house as well. Managers send their team to leadership training and —
— rarely ask them about it when they come home;
— rarely break down the learning to what applies in their specific situation and help them apply it;
— rarely creates a structure to reinforce the learning repeatedly over time;
— rarely names the things they want to be changed and improved as a result of the learning;
— rarely asks what they as the manager need to learn, grow, or improve, that their employee can now teach them.
We seem to forget, learning isn’t the end result we are shooting for. The application of knowledge is the goal. And THAT takes as much work, if not more, than the learning.
So the next time you take leadership training (and if you need some, just say the word, I’ve got plenty) ask yourself a few questions pre and post the event:
Pre-Training:
-
Why am I taking this training?
-
What do I hope to improve?
-
Is there something I am trying to fix?
-
Is there a problem I seek to solve?
-
-
How do I want to be different as a result of the training?
-
How will I identify which 10% of the content I wish to retain?
Post-Training:
-
What is the 10% I most want to use?
-
What obstacles do I face implementing this learning?
-
How will I refresh/reinforce the learning over time?
-
What do I need to ask and of whom to hold me accountable to this growth?
-
How do I want to invite others into this learning who didn’t attend the training?
Often people will say (and I am equally as guilty) that if they get just one nugget from a training it’s worth it. Really? What a passive/judgmental approach! You sit back waiting to be impressed, judging worthy whatever you may catch. And yet, those same people, me included, get that nugget and promptly forget it by the time they get home. And there is sits, starred and circled in your notes on the desk of your office until you forget what those papers are from and recycle them.
Don’t do that. Knowledge, like a muscle, atrophies for lack of use. And like muscles, they can’t chose on their own to be exercised. You control that.
So, in the end, most leadership training isn’t worth it, because the people involved don’t do the real work, the hard work necessary to make it valuable.
Will you?
Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
