In the non-TV reality of work and career, fame and fortune are not a product of 60 minutes of tele-drama with a happy ending. The reality is that no matter how hard you try success is not guaranteed, but if you do nothing, failure is. Possibly not the most motivating factors of striving for success, but nonetheless it is more true than not.

            From an organizational perspective, having an awareness of an employee’s issues with the reality of training with no guaranteed outcome of mutual benefit, should give cause for a modicum of understanding as to why employees may have issues with training and then devising a framework for mitigating these concerns.  So let’s take a look at some of the common issues that employees may have with training and developing responses to address those issues.

            One of the most common issues that employees will have with training, is perceptions of training.  This may harken back to boring lectures during their college days, or the recall of a really bad training experience from the past. Probably to a person, we can all empathize with this particular issue as it will more than likely well-up an unpleasant learning experience. One that I can recall was an English Composition II class during my freshman year in Junior College. In all my years and hours of college this was the only class that I ever dropped. Why? Although the content was the same as in other Comp II classes, the instructor was disorganized and disengaged in the course to the point that the class was canceled at midterm because everyone dropped out before losing their credit hours.

            On the flip side of the bad experience, however, during the same semester was my best ever learning experience, Econ I with Dr. Jewel. From the first minute of the first class, students knew this was going to be a great experience. Dr. Jewel had a well structured outline for the course, he kept his students engaged through his insatiable humor and respect for each student and their time in his classroom.  Organization, engagement, and respect for people’s time – a good recipe for a response to the issue of negative perceptions.
            Another issue is the ego-centric or socio-centric attitudes people will have with training. In today’s training lexicon is the term of facilitation. In many organizations and institutions, instructors and teachers are now called facilitators using team learning models. In essence what this equivocates to is a learning environment that require inclusion and participation on the part of a student which may not meld well with their personality type. In 1944, Isabel Briggs-Meyers, and her mother Katharine Cook Briggs developed a personality type model call the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBIT) a self-report questionnaire designed to indicate psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.  In one of the key cognitive learning styles in the model is the categorization of an individuals learning preference as extroverted or introverted.

Extroverted types learn best by talking and interacting with others. By interacting with the physical world, extroverts can process and make sense of new information. However, introverted types prefer quiet reflection and privacy. Information processing occurs for introverts as they explore ideas and concepts internally. Herein lies the conundrum of ego-centric or socio-centric attitudes.

Many people do better in group situations that others, however, in most of the facilitation models, there is little room for those who prefer not to participate in the facilitation process versus those who do. Forcing one personality type into a situation that is psychologically conflicting, can be counter-productive to their learning processes. Organizations should be able to recognize that these differences in learning preferences exist and have a list of options such as online or self study programs which will not put people into conflict with their comfort zones.

Another common issue some employees will have with training goes back to the old adage of “time is money.” As a person who has been working for himself for a majority of my career, I can attest to the aspect of “time is money” from both a financial and productivity perspective. However, as today’s workforces are shrinking in numbers but increasing in tasks, “time is money” could be less a factor of money and more a factor of productivity.

             A generation ago, when a person was away from their office for an extended period of time, like for instances taking vacation, they would usually pickup where they left off before leaving. Fast forward to now, and being able to pickup where you left off during or after taking time off for training is about as likely as winning the lottery. Tasks no longer wait for your return, conversely they just pileup. Organizations need to be aware of the time elements involved in conducting training and allow for employees to make choices for training that enhances a person’s chances for success by not piling onto their chances for failure.