NYNP blog post 4-22-09

Real life training horror stories
Cautionary tales of terrible training taken to the extreme

Knowing that I love to hear about training, my Dad saves his training stories for me. In the past few years, he's had some doozies to share, and I'm offering three of them to you as cautionary tales about the importance of logistics, quality trainers, and preparation.

Space matters
At one training my Dad attended, the organization needed to train over 100 people. They separated everyone into four smaller groups with their own trainer, and that's where the good decisions stopped.

Rather than put each group into their own breakout room, the organization decided to put everyone in one giant room. They put a trainer in each corner, pointed the chairs at the four different corners, and began training everyone at the same time. No one could hear their particular trainer, so they began side conversations that lasted the full day.

My Dad's comment: "It was as if someone had forgotten to book an appropriate space, so they crossed their fingers and decided to just go ahead without making any changes to the plan."

Late start
On another training day, my Dad and his colleagues showed up to the training location on time. Staff from the organization were there as well, and the space was set up for the training. The only thing missing was the trainer.

The group waited for hours, and around lunchtime, the staff called headquarters. It turned out that the trainer had quit that morning, and no one had remembered to contact the staff at the training event. Everyone was sent home and the training was canceled.

My Dad's comment: "I guess no one thought to send someone else to do the workshop, or maybe the workshop wasn't written down anywhere. But if it was going to be off the top of the trainer's head, we probably didn't miss much anyway."

Unprepared trainer
At another training, the trainer shared that it was his first time ever facilitating a workshop. The organization had given the trainer a leader's guide, but unfortunately, no one had helped him prepare.

For five days, the trainer read straight from the leader's guide. It was his first time ever looking at the material, and he wasn't a fluent reader, so he didn't know which phrases, words, or even syllables to emphasize.

My Dad's comment: "Maybe the organization was trying to save money and they thought that it would be cheaper not to pay an experienced trainer or to pay the trainer for prep time. So instead, they paid a room full of people not to learn anything, and they paid for the inevitable mistakes the new staff made."

Do you have any stories to share? I'd love to hear them.