Training Classes: Love or hate, but why mostly hate? April 15, 2008
Cracks me up. But it is baffling too. Why does everyone hate training so much? Is learning really so bad? You wouldn't think so, not when you consider the amount of money that people spend on classes and lessons to learn how to do things. So what has gone wrong in corporate and organizational learning?
I think it comes down to one very simple thing that for some reason has thus far eluded the world of work. And that is, people want to learn to do, not learn to know. Knowing is boring. Cognition for most is simply not enough. People want to be engaged, active and challenged. So until we see a fundamental shift in training attitudes, our employees will want to jump off a cliff too if they are faced with having to attend a workshop or seminar that adheres to traditional tenets of learning such as classroom formats and text-driven teaching.
This is not new, but it is important. Ben Franklin actually had it right way back in the day when he said,
Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.
Frankly, I don't know what it is going to take. If a commercial airing during the Superbowl couldn't get the message out, I don't know what will.
