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Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the
participants will ask, “Where’s my boss?”

And I say, “Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings.”

Then the person laughs. “My boss needs to attend your workshop more than anyone
in our company. And without our manager’s support, no one will use this.”

This is bad because if no one uses the ideas presented in a workshop, the client will
conclude that training doesn’t work. And then the company might abandon all
training.

Here are three important issues that determine the effectiveness of training.

1) People follow the leader. Any training program will be more successful if
management supports it. This is why I always involve top executives in planning my
workshops. I also ask them to attend. And I recommend follow-up sessions to
review the material covered in the workshop. In fact, I only work with people who
value and support learning.

Training has earned a bad reputation because many programs were just thrown over
the fence at employees who were sent to be fixed. It’s unlikely that any training
program conducted under these conditions will accomplish much.

Key Point: Gain management support before scheduling any training program.

2) Each of us has control over our area of responsibility. And each of us lives in the
environment that we create.

The participant mentioned above can conduct effective meetings, even if top
management continues to hold bad meetings. In fact, someone who demonstrates
sound leadership by holding effective meetings could end up replacing the boss
who holds bad meetings.

There are two parts to every learning experience. The first part involves mastering
new skills. The second (and critical) part involves choosing to use them.

Key Point: You can be an effective leader even when others aren’t.

3) Some people play make-believe. Many years ago I received an evening phone call
from a colleague who wanted to know if I could recommend a good book on how to
hold effective meetings. It seems this person was scrambling to find material for a
workshop that was scheduled to start the next morning.

You will learn more from an expert, rather than from someone who is delivering a
book report. In this case, I recommended either of the two books that I had written
on how to hold effective meetings.

Many companies hire trainers who build training programs based on books that they
read. And some entrepreneurs agree to speak on topics that are purely academic for
them. The best trainers ARE the message, which means that they live and breathe
and use what they teach. They can answer any questions, meet any needs, help with
any situations that the participants may bring up. They truly know their topic.

Key Point: Hire a trainer who wrote the book instead of one who (you hope) read a
book.

Any training program can succeed, if delivered to people who want to improve by an
expert who can show them how.

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IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and author Steve Kaye works with leaders who
want to hold effective meeting. His innovative workshops have informed and
inspired people nationwide. His facilitation produces results that people will
support. Call 714-528-1300 or visit his web site for over 100 pages of valuable
ideas. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.stevekaye.com

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 10:11 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.