The Game Theory of Training

A fellow trainer working in another organization calls up, “Hey! I have to run a leadership workshop in my company. Do you have some good games I can use?” “What kind of games?” I ask. “Something exciting… Something that will drive home the message.” “What is the message?” “That will depend upon the games, will it not?”

I was perplexed. First decide the games that one will use, and then the message that is to be delivered. It was putting the cart before the horse. Being relatively new to the field, I decided to do some research. I visited a few training forums on the net. And sure enough, there were a whole lot of messages flying to and fro, asking for games for a workshop on customer service or leadership or organizing skills. There was one asking for games for a workshop on giving feedback. I can understand role plays for such a session. But games? It was almost like more games you knew, the better trainer you were. So are training workshops learning sessions or birthday parties?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the importance of using games to demonstrate learning in action. Or to drive home a particular learning. But then a game becomes a tool used to aid a learning process not its central piece!

I decided to try and correct this, at least in my team. So in the next workshop design meeting with two team members, T1 and T2 (Names hidden for obvious reasons), the following conversation took place:

T1: We are working on a customer service workshop for the frontline sales people.

Me: So what have you got?

T1: We have four games. We will build the workshop around them.

 

This was my opportunity.

Me: Go back a little. What is the objective of the workshop?

T1 (A smug expression, he was prepared for this question): To ensure that frontline sales people give good customer service)

Me: Define good customer service

T2: Where the customers are happy with the service.

Me: Why are the customers not happy as of now?

T2:  Because the frontline sales people are not delivering good service 

One full circle. But I was not prepared to give up.

 Me: Why are the sales people not giving good service?

T1: Maybe they don’t know how to give good service
Me: Is it that they don’t know how to or is it that they don’t want to?
T2 (looking a bit confused): I don’t understand
Me: If they don’t know how to, then maybe it is a skills issue. But if they don’t want to, then it could be an attitude issue.
T1: But how do we find that out?
Me: It might be a good idea to spend some time with the frontline people and find out. Do a bit of research.

Three days later, we had the meeting again.

 T2: We checked out.. Their customer service processes have problems. They cause delays.

Me: That cannot be addressed by training. So why are we having this workshop?
T2: Because the Customer Service Head asked for it.
T1: There is another issue… There is a lack of coordination among the team members.
Me: Why is there a lack of coordination?
T1: Because there is a lack of trust among them.
Me: If there has to be a training program, it has to focus on trust, not on Customer Service.
T2: So do we have any games for trust building?

I rest my case…

What is Training All About?

My first day as Head of Training & Development in an organization. It starts off with a team meeting with eight seasoned and experienced trainers. Given below is the conversation that took place. For reasons of propriety I refer to my esteemed team members as T1, T2……. T8.

Me: So what are you working on currently?

T1: Three of us are working on a two-day workshop on Team Building for the Finance team.

Me: OK… How far have you progressed?

T1: We have identified six games that we will use. So we are good to go.

Me: But what is the objective of this workshop?

T2: To build a good and properly functional team.

Me: But is the Finance Department not functioning as a team now?

T2: Yes but they want to improve that functioning.

Me: So what areas do they want an improvement in?

T2: They want better coordination among the team members.

Me: So shouldn’t the focus be on coordination, rather than generic team building?

By now all eight of them were looking at me like I was mentally retarded to ask such stupid questions. But they could not say it. T6, the most senior of them tried very patiently.

T6: If we work only on coordination that is a half-day session. What will we do for the remaining period?

But I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

Me: Why do you need extra time if you can deliver the objective in half-day?

T2: But the Finance Head has asked for a two-day workshop

Me: Is the Finance Head interested in the time spent or achieving the objectives?

And it went on and on for a good 45 minutes before I gave up. Being first day in the new role, I decided to back down. Maybe they knew better than I did. After all they were experienced and I was a complete novice in this field. But certain questions did raise their head.

1.     What is training all about?

2.     Is the responsibility of the Training function only delivering what is asked for or it extends to helping others to identify root of the issue?

3.     Does the Business/Function Head really expect improvement to take place through a Training process or is it just a feel good issue?

4.     If a training workshop does not meet the desired objective, whose fault is it? The Business/Function Head’s for not really outlining the real issue or the Training Function’s for not making efforts to identify it?

Really fundamental questions, but I have been grappling with them ever since. I am sure these questions do pop up in the minds of many of many of my colleagues in the Training function. Would really like to have their perspectives.

Preface… Making of a reluctant trainer

I started my career in the Human Resource Function in an era where everyone begins at the lowliest of jobs and then worked their way upwards. Consequently as a fresh management trainee, I started in the time office and then was rotated through other departments of the function. For some reasons the training function in that organization was removed from the mainstream and operated as in independent activity. Therefore I never got any exposure to training activities in that organization. Even later, when I changed jobs, by sheer coincidence, my work had nothing to do with training and development. So over time I began to develop an aversion to it.

Now don’t get me wrong. I believed in training as a useful tool to improve performance. The defence services do it wonderfully. Even in business organizations, technical training does impact the performance of people. It was only behavioural part of the training that I had an issue with. For me it was something that people went to, preferably off site for a couple of days. You spent the daylight hours passing time where the facilitator tried his level best to connect meaningless exercises to real life situations. Being led blindfold through a maze was supposed to build trust and team work. One really had to stretch one’s imagination to see a connection. And how would it make a difference back at workplace? It was the night time where the participants really came alive… music, liquor flowing and fun. In my mind that was what training events were all about – partying late into the night.

I remember one workshop where I was invited as an observer. It was about Customer Service. The facilitator asked me to open the session by addressing the participants. I stood in front of the thirty participants and asked, “How many of you know that good customer service is important for the business of our company?” Thirty hands went up. I looked at the facilitator and asked, “They already know it. So what are you going to tell them now?” I don’t know where  this incident travelled in the organization grapevine, but I never got invited to another workshop for as long as I worked in that company.

In an anecdote narrated by Training Head of a large multinational, the Chief of Operations called a bunch of fresh management graduates and gave them the operations manual. “This is the way I want you all to do work”, he told them. “Any one deviating from this manual will lose his job”. The most effective ‘training’, wouldn’t you say?

In yet another company, I saw this poster on the wall in their office, “We are a service company, and as an employee of this company, you will deliver to the customer efficient, timely and courteous service. You shall do it again and again, for every working day of your life in this company or you will not be here.” Can you think of any training program which will better motivate the employees than this simple and effective statement?

So you can understand why I had this attitude bordering on disrespect for the Training function of any organization I worked for. But things have to come one complete circle. What goes around comes around. For me disaster struck when I was transferred as Head of Training and Development of an organization.

Introduction

In a career spanning  25 years in the Human Resource Function, I have spent the last eight of them almost exclusively devoted to the 'Training & Development' function, thanks to a well meaning but misguided boss who felt that a stint in the function would be great for my overall development. Three years ago, when I decided to be my own boss, circumstances ensured that I devote a considerable amount of time to the training function.
I do not claim to  know everything about the function. What ever I have learnt has been through experience, my own as well as those of fellow trainers. As I stumbled through the function, some bretheren of the training community took pity on me and shared their knowledge with me. And I learnt one important thing - that with all the concepts and theories of training, it ultimately boils down to your experiences in developing and delivering training workshops. I have had my share of experiences and over time I have collected experiences of others in the community. These range from being hillarious to down right heartbreaking. These experiences have also raised many unanswered questions about the function. It is my endevour to share these experiences in the hope that some of these questions may get answered. In the very least, we may learn something new through them.  All comments and feedback are therefore welcome.