Where is the PPT?

A constant crib among my fellow trainers and something that I have experienced also is that every one considers himself/herself as an expert on the subject of training.

 Look at it this way – I cannot dare tell a marketing person or a finance person or any other person how to do or not do his/her job. But each one of them considers himself/herself an expert when it comes to the subject of training.  Not only that, they consider it their right to tell every trainer they come across how to do his/her job better.

 Most times the situation for us suffering trainers is one of ‘grin and bear it’. But once in a while one does get an opportunity to tell someone that training is much more than standing in front of an audience and “delivering”. These rare occasions, when they do come, the efforts are well worth the results.

 I was in discussion with a business head for a personal development program for senior members of his team. “I have a great bunch of people”, he began the discussion. “Each one of them has unique strengths, but there is no synergy between them. I want your help in breaking any barriers that they may have so they can work together as a team”.

 So we spent nearly two hours discussing the objectives, design and flow of the workshop. Towards the end, the conversation went as follows:

Business Head (BH): So that concludes our discussion. I hope you have all the information you need.

Me: Yes, I think I have all data to work on the program, but if I need any further information, I will come back to you.
BH: Any time! How long will you take to finalize the program?
Me: About a week. We can then finalize dates for the workshop.
BH: Great! And please share your PPT with me once you have finished with it.
Me: PPT? What PPT?
BH: Your presentation for the workshop… Your slides
Me: I don’t have any PPT for the workshop
BH (A little exasperated): How come you don’t have a PPT? And even if you don’t, you will be making one for the workshop, won’t you?
Me: I meant I will not be using any PPT for this workshop

 The look I got from him was something. It was almost as if I was telling him that I would be painting a picture without paints or cooking without ingredients.

BH: But how can you conduct a workshop without a PPT?
Me: I don’t need a PPT for this workshop. There are no slides that I need to show the participants.
BH: No slides to show? Then how will you standardise your inputs?

 By now I was confused. Standardise inputs? And a power point presentation does that? Maybe I was missing something.

 Me: Why do I need to standardise inputs?

BH: If you don’t standardise, then how do you maintain consistency in quality?
Me: If the desired objective in each program is achieved, isn’t that a measure of quality of a training workshop?

 From the look on his face, I could make out that he was having second thoughts about going ahead with the workshop. But he couldn’t do much about it now. After all I was the training head of the company and it was he who had come to me with an issue.

BH: I think you should have a presentation. It will help you get consistency in your inputs.

It was then that I realised that this was one of those rare opportunities…

Me: Do all the participants think, feel and behave in a similar manner?
BH: Of course not! They are human beings… they are different
Me: Is there consistency in the way they communicate or act?
BH: No…
Me: Then why should there be a consistency in the inputs they receive?
BH: Do you mean to tell me that training cannot be standardised?
Me: You can standardise some training, like a skill training. But here we are talking of personal development. You can’t standardise that. Every participant will have to be dealt with differently

That got him thinking.

BH: Yeah, I can see that. Skills training like driving… That kind of training will need to be standardised.

Me: Correct. But even there I don’t know of anyone who uses a PPT…

 He smiled and nodded.

We did the workshop without any PPT. It went off quite well. And the business head was happy with the results. It’s been eight years since I left that organization. I have heard that now whenever a trainer comes to him with a PPT, he wants to know if it is really necessary.

 A convert, one could say. Or perhaps he still hasn’t given up on giving advice to trainers…