The most important thing I’ve learned in the past 6 months
Posted by Mitch on 14th November 2014
The one piece of learning that I’ve nailed to my brain is this:
Classroom training courses don’t work.
More specifically, classroom training on its own don’t work. Without high-intensity reinforcement, it’s little more than a days ‘entertrainment’.
Entertrainment is when a trainer entertains you for 6 hours with funny anecdotes illustrating why their tips and tricks might work.
The ‘entertaining’ thing is so you remember it. It’s a replacement for the ‘high-intensity reinforcement’ thing.
It’s why many of the trainers you’ve ever met have been friendly, charismatic people who like being the centre of attention.
I’ve learned that training requires people to make a serious change to their behaviours. It requires those people to practice those new behaviours in the white-hot furnace of whatever commercial environment they operate in.
This is especially true in jobs that involve sales. Jobs like recruitment, for example.
No one ever learned how to ride a bike in a classroom.
Comments
By Anne-Marie Davies on Monday, 17 November 2014This reminds me of a former manager suggesting to me that I be, I quote “parachuted in” to a sales team that was in real need of ‘some training’.
The metaphor was not lost on me - when do the seals stick around to work with the aftermath of their ‘operations?’ It’s not their job is it? That’s some other aspect of the armed forces that will come in later with sweets and stuff right?
And in sharing my metaphor for the importance of follow up post training I have steered Mitch Sullivan on to war…
<hops on unicycle and exits stage left>
By Mitch on Tuesday, 18 November 2014
I agree about the “parachuting” thing. Too many managers/companies think there are magic bullets that will solve their problems quickly. There are also too many people willing to sell them these magic bullets.
Thanks Anne-Marie. Let’s set aside some time to have a metaphor war? :)
By Darren Ledger on Friday, 12 December 2014
I’m sure there is some opportunity to refer to mushrooms or potatoes in here somewhere.
But seriously great post Mitch, as always succinct and pulls no punches. My general opinion of training in the recruitment industry is basically a lot of people nicking a living and delivering very little of anything tangible or measurable longer term.
Did I tell you that I saw a child paint a picture of Wayne Rooney using only a potato? It was brilliant, very life-like.
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