The worst way to start a training session. Ever.
‘We all know that this new system is sh*t, but the powers that be say that we have to use it, so please pay attention to Jonathan today.’
Say what?
Excuse me?
Did you just?
You did, didn’t you!
I stood there for a few seconds, firstly wishing that I was somewhere else, like on the beach, or in a bar.
No, in a bar next to a beach with a beer in my hand. The sea breeze gently blowing across the sand, taking the edge off the burning sun just enough to make this one of the most pleasant and relaxing days of my life.
Maybe later I’d walk down the beach and take a refreshing swim in the crystal-clear water, fish of every colour and shape darting about beneath me, and I’d lie back in the warm water and float there, without a care in the world. The waves gently lapping…
SLAM!
Back to reality.
I’m not on the beach, I’m in a training room, in a nondescript office, in a large, grey town.
14 faces are looking at me as if I’ve just thrown a basket of new born puppies out of the window, sent an obscenity-laden Christmas card to their grandparents and told them the endings to all the box-sets they are currently watching.
And so my training session began.
‘Ok Jonathan,’ I said in my head, ‘you can do this, you can turn these people around.’
I knew it would be difficult, but the client was paying me to be there, and my obligation as a trainer is always to make sure that people learn and they can actually do the thing that they need to do when they leave the training room.
The client had spent MILLIONS putting this new system in place and now I needed to step up and deliver.
‘Morning everyone, my name is Jonathan and I’d like you to forget everything you’ve heard in the last three minutes.’
Was it a high-risk strategy to tell my learners to ignore the words of the senior stakeholder who had just left the room?
You bet it was.
But it paid off.
The mood immediately lifted. The tension dissipated. People laughed.
What did I say next?
I’ll tell you in my next post.
Chief Harbinger, Futurist
6 年Actually, I used to love classes that started out like that. ?It gives you an immediate challenge that few instructors really get. ?It keeps you focused on demonstrating the value, and away from the script (especially if you’ve taught the class 50 times). ?And when you can win them over by the end of the class, well there’s no better feeling.
Sr Specialist - GMP Training
6 年Way to think on your feet man! It’s almost like a comedian handling a heckler the way we have to win back the room sometimes.
Head of BD at Ari10 and MatterFi | Bitcoin educator | The B-Side Podcast Host
6 年Starts like a great novel Jonathan! Looking forward to the next article:)