Saturday, April 30, 2005

Tip #67: Managing Difficult Participants- The Quiet One or Withdrawer.

Difficult Behavior: Quiet, non-participative, passive in the group. Does not make an effort to become part of the discussion. Can be shy, depressed, afraid, tired, or have a negative attitude towards the group, instructor, or the process.

Special Note: This behavior may be difficult for a trainer who is seeking interaction and response. However, the participant may not intend to be difficult. Some learners are very cerebral and deliberate. They need time to absorb and reflect on the content. Their method of actively participating may be by taking copious notes or listening very carefully.

This person may be very shy and uncomfortable speaking up in large groups.

There may be a political reason: higher level management may be in the room and the person may not feel comfortable speaking up in front of them.

Then again, this may be passive/aggressive behavior intended to make a statement through lack of participation.

What a Trainer Can Do:

In front of the group:

    Treat the participant with respect.

  • Build in time at the beginning of each interactive exercise for participants to read and work independently before they begin their group discussions.

  • Engage the participant by posing a question that directly relates to his or her situation or concern.

  • Subtly incorporate the person into the group by using his or her name in hypothetical examples or stories.

  • Have participants pair off rather than working immediately in large or small groups. This will be more comfortable for the shy person.

  • Always offer observer roles as options for role plays, games, or simulations.

  • Call this individual by name and ask for an opinion.

  • Ask an easy question that s/he is sure to answer well, then praise him/her.

  • Draw this person out.

If the withdrawer has chosen a very overt behavior to trumpet his or her choice not to participate:

  • Draw the person outside the room, either during an exercise or at a break..

  • Determine the reason for the behavior.

  • Explain the impact of the behavior on the group and the instructor.

  • Offer options: to participate or to leave the session.

In private:

  • During a break, ask the person whether the training is meeting his or her needs, or simply engage in small talk. Sometimes, that personal interaction will create sufficient comfort for the person to begin speaking up in class.

  • Get permission from the individual to relate a story or example that s/he told you that is relevant to the training content.

  • Name the behavior and ask if there is anything that you can do differently so that the participant will feel more comfortable speaking up.

  • Provide constructive feedback about the impact of the behavior on the session, the participants, and/or the trainer.

  • Coach the person to select more constructive behavior.

  • Co-opt the person- ask for his or her assistance.

What a Trainer Should NOT Do:

  • Jump to the conclusion that the participant is choosing to be difficult.

  • Interpret the participant's lack of verbal response as an indication of lack of interest.

  • Get defensive.

  • Focus all of his or her attention on trying to engage the quiet one.

  • Ignore the participant.

Real Life Example: I had just begun a training program for an organization. As the rest of the group worked on the assigned exercise, one man (who, of course, sat smack dab in the middle of the classroom!) just sat there, with his hands folded on top of his unopened participant packet. It was actually rather extraordinary. Everyone else at his table was working through the exercise together, trying to pretend he wasn't there. It was very clear that I had to do something about the situation- and I will admit to some anxiety about it, because he was an extremely large man. A clearly unhappy, extremely large man.

I decided to call a break earlier than I had planned. I made sure that I walked out of the room next to this man and asked him quietly if we could talk. When we reached a spot away from the others, I told him that I was troubled. I had noticed that he had not opened his materials and wondered why. He explained with some heat that he had been required to attend this workshop, that this had necessitated a very very early start to his morning to drive to the location from his home several hours away, and that the content of the workshop was something he already knew. According to him, the day was going to be a total waste.

His concerns seemed quite legitimate, and I told him that I could appreciate how upset he must be. I then asked him to realize that I had had nothing to do with these issues. I was simply conducting a training program that my client felt was necessary for the participants. If my session was really going to duplicate training he had already received, it made no sense to me that he should have to stay. I promised that he could leave the training without any penalty or repercussions.

He responded that he couldn't leave, because he had driven with another person who was in the training. I calmly pointed out that if he remained so obviously withdrawn from the training, that would reflect negatively on my credibility and create a very uncomfortable situation for everyone. I suggested that he spend the day at a shopping mall that was just a block away, or see if he could use someone's office at the location.

To my utter surprise, he asked me if he could stay if he promised to participate! I answered that I would be happy to have him do that- and he was a wonderful, active member of the class for the rest of the day! Even his evaluation of the session was positive!

Apparently, having the opportunity to vent his frustration to someone who was nonjudgmental and validated his concerns made a big difference. I think that he appreciated my attempt to make a bad situation better, and he returned the favor. It probably didn't hurt to clarify that I was not the bad guy here, I was just doing the job I had been hired to do so that the others would benefit.

Commentary: When confronted with any difficult behavior, we need to be able to step back and objectively assess what might be the root cause of the behavior. Why would someone withdraw from the class in such a quietly aggressive manner?

I didn't know, so I had to ask. You have already read his reasons- and they were very legitimate. He did not feel that his needs, his expertise, his prior training, or his time had been respected by his managers. So he expressed his anger in a passive-aggressive manner. He was simply conducting his own nonviolent protest.

When the difficult behavior begins almost immediately, we can be relatively certain that WE are not the problem. The issues walked in with the participant.

It might be helpful in these circumstances if we had a pile of envelopes available. We could then ask the participants to take a sheet of paper, write down whatever is troubling them, and put the folded paper into the envelope. The envelope should be sealed and placed behind the last page of the participant packet or folder. We can assure them that the issues will be there at the end of the session, but for now they won't have to worry about them. They can just relax and enjoy the class.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Tip #66: Managing Difficult Participants- The Fighter or Arguer

Difficult Behavior: Is quick to find fault with the material or instructor. Picks apart statements in an inappropriate way. Often is angry, but will not come out and admit or explain the anger.

Special Note: Some people have an argumentative style, or like to devil's advocate to ensure a lively debate. Their motivation and behavior is not fueled by anger or deep frustration. As a result, they are more easily brought back into the fold through the milder actions suggested below.

What a Trainer Can Do:

    In front of the group: If it is an attack on the topic:

  • Keep cool- you can never win an argument.

  • Acknowledge the level of passion and ask for the reason behind it.

  • Request that the person back up assertions. Ask for evidence.

  • Avoid getting personal.

  • Refer the question to the group and then to him/her.

  • Try to win this person over by finding some good reasons to agree with some points.

  • Pretend not to hear him/her.

  • Agree to disagree.

  • If nothing else works, suggest that your differences be cleared up later.

  • Use humor to invite others to speak up.

  • Set rules: only the person who has the Koosh can speak, or there is a 2 minute limit per person, etc.

  • Set rules: criticism is acceptable, as long as it is constructive and offers viable alternatives.

If the arguer may be a spokesperson for the group:

  • Determine whether the person is alone in his or her thinking, or if others feel the same way.

  • If others agree, it may be appropriate to say:" I am not here to defend the content. I am here to explain it and teach you how to use it."

  • At other times, it may be appropriate to allow a limited amount of time for group venting or for posting constructive recommendations from the group.

If it is a personal attack:

  • Ignore the attack.

  • Reframe an attack on you as an attack on the problem.

  • Reframe a personal attack as friendly.

  • Reframe from past wrongs to future remedies.

  • Reframe from "you" and "me" to "we."

In private:

  • Provide constructive feedback about the impact of the behavior on the session, the participants, and/or the trainer.

  • Coach the person to select more constructive behavior.

  • Co-opt the person- ask for his or her assistance.

  • Discuss the true source of the individual's anger.

  • Ask if the person is willing to let the other participants learn.

  • If necessary, indicate that the person is free to leave the session.

What a Trainer Should NOT Do:

  • Argue with the person.

  • Insult the person.

  • Get defensive.

  • Express anger.

  • Let the person control the discussion.

  • Agree with the fighter just to end the argument, if that will mislead other participants.

Real Life Example: Another thing a trainer should NOT do is go into a training session unprepared and unaware of issues that may impact the session. However, despite pre-session interviews and other needs assessment work done up front, there may be times when a trainer unwittingly becomes the catalyst or target for group venting.

I once did a session for a public agency, had even spent the evening before the session chatting with participants, and then ran into a buzz saw when the training began. The focus of the program was team building, and we began with a checklist of effective work team characteristics. I read down the list, asking the participants to check off all of the characteristics that were currently present in their work teams. I then asked them how they had done, and one woman's hand shot up. She proceeded to say that not one of the characteristics existed anywhere in the entire agency!

After listening to her angry expression of frustration, I turned to the rest of the group and asked how they felt. The entire room (approximately 150 people!) erupted. As they were recognized, each person confirmed and embellished on the first woman's statements.

Now, did I mention that all of the agency top management were present in the room? Well, they were- but not for long. When I turned to ask them if they would like to respond, not one of the managers remained!! So, there I was with a workshop on teambuilding and an entire army of participants up in arms about the very thought!

I did what any reasonable, shocked trainer would do- I called for a break. Immediately, participants came buzzing around me and it became crystal clear that they would need a structured opportunity to vent before there was any hope of continuing with the training content.

We quickly distributed flipchart paper and markers to all of the tables and, when the participants regrouped, I told them they would have 10 minutes to post their constructive feedback and recommendations. I promised to summarize their comments and send a copy to them as well as to their management, for management's response. I made clear that, after that exercise, we would return to the planned agenda.

Well, it worked! They wrote furiously, then handed in their recommendations. We continued the training without further difficulty. I sent the summary of their recommendations, as I had promised. Unfortunately, someone leaked the information to the press, so the entire incident ended up on the front page of the state newspaper. Luckily, I was referred to as an "unnamed consultant!"

Commentary: When confronted with any difficult behavior, we need to be able to step back and objectively assess what might be the root cause of the behavior. Why would someone fight or argue with a trainer?

Anger is a basic human emotion, and this complex world offers many legitimate reasons why someone might be angry.

The person may resent having to come to the training session, particularly if attendance at the session is mandatory- or even last minute. I've had folks come into a training session understandably furious because they had been notified of the session with a note on their windshields the night before!

The person may disagree with the content, or have difficulty with authority figures (yes, that means the trainer!), or simply be having a very bad day.

The person may dislike the trainer, be angry about the quality of the coffee or the lack of refreshments, or be troubled by some issue at home.

Often, I have found that the training session is the only time, and perhaps even the very first time, that the participants are together and can discuss how they feel. The issue may have little to do with the actual training content, but some participant will find a way to bring it up.

Sometimes, the group will direct their anger or frustration at the trainer, because they view the trainer as an extension of management (and probably easier to confront than a real manager). Sometimes, the group will feel safe to express their frustration because they hope that the trainer can have some impact as their advocate with management.

Dr. Madeline Hunter taught that trainers must continually make decisions, before, during and after the training, to increase the probability that learning will occur. Argument and angry confrontation in the classroom truly test that teaching. We need to balance the needs of the participants while still achieving the set goals of the training program.. So we make decisions intended to defuse, deflect, or reframe the anger- because we know that no learning will occur while the anger persists. We do our best to dignify the person, while setting controls around the behavior.

For those of us who are conflict-averse, managing the Fighter or Arguer may be a real challenge. Yet it is necessary for us to effectively meet that challenge, or we will lose credibility and control in the classroom. And, if we lose control in that situation, our participants may not feel safe enough to continue in the session.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Tip #65: Managing Difficult Participants- The Talker or Know-It-All

Difficult Behavior: Has opinions on every subject and states them in a very authoritative manner. Other participants and the trainer find it hard to disagree with or to give help to this person.

What a Trainer Can Do:

In front of the group:

  • Thank the person and move on to the next subject.

  • Ask others to comment on his/her remarks.

  • Thank the person for his or her participation and indicate it is time to hear from others.

  • Tactfully ask him/her to give someone else a chance.

  • Use humor to invite others to speak up.

  • Deliberately turn to others and ask for their opinions.

  • Cut across his/her flow of talk with a summarizing statement.

  • Avoid looking at him/her.

  • Pretend you don't hear the person and call on someone else.

  • Acknowledge the person's expertise or experience and ask permission to call on them for specific examples.

  • Set rules: only the person who has the Koosh can speak, or there is a 2 minute limit per person, etc.

In private:

  • Ask the person to serve as a mentor to others in the session, only offering answers when requested.

  • Give the person an assignment to facilitate a small group discussion, with clear instructions intended to maximize listening and minimize talking.

  • Request that the person prepare a portion of the content or offer an example to support the content at a specified time in the session.

  • Provide constructive feedback about the impact of the behavior on the session, the participants, and/or the trainer.

  • Coach the person to select more constructive behavior.

  • Co-opt the person- ask for his or her assistance.

What a Trainer Should NOT Do:

  • Compete with the person.

  • Insult the person.

  • Stifle the person's enthusiasm.

  • Get defensive.

  • Express anger.

  • Let the person control the discussion.

Real Life Example: I was asked to conduct a training program for a local chapter of a national organization. The person who hired me also invited the president of the national organization to attend. At the second break in the training, the person who hired me came to see me complaining that the national president was doing all of the talking in the small group- and that I should do something to stop this! I drew the president aside and, in private, thanked her for her enthusiastic participation. Then I noted that the other individuals at her table respected her opinion and so were not speaking up, just waiting to hear what she would have to say. I asked the president if she would be willing to co-facilitate with me by making sure that everyone at her table got a chance to speak. When they asked for her opinion, her facilitative role would be to draw theirs out instead. The president eagerly agreed.

For the rest of the day, the president would come up to me at every break to ask me how she was doing. It took all of my professional restraint to avoid responding that if she was keeping her mouth shut, she was doing an excellent job!

Commentary: When confronted with any difficult behavior, we need to be able to step back and objectively assess what might be the root cause of the behavior. Why would someone need to talk all the time?

Well, in the case of the president, she was simply responding to what she thought people expected of her. She was only too happy to help out in a different way when I gave her that option and asked for her assistance.

Sometimes, people keep talking because they don't feel that their knowledge, experience, or expertise are appreciated. In that case, giving them a specific role in presenting the content, or providing examples that show the content in action, or asking them to serve as a mentor to others in the session or at their small table, can do wonders.

At times, people speak up because they are enthusiastically engaged in the subject and really want to share what they know. In this case, we want to thank them and acknowledge their participation in a positive way- and indicate that we want to make sure others can voice their opinions.

In all cases, we should address the individual and discuss the behavior with respect, so that s/he can retain his or her dignity.

We need to make a distinction between the Talker or Know-It-All, who is trying to add to the discussion, and the Fighter, who is trying to detract from and take issue with the topic or the trainer. We will look at ways to manage the Fighter next week.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Tip #64: Olfactory Engagement: Smell

The aroma of coffee. The scent of perfume or cologne. Stale stuffy air in a room without proper ventilation. The caustic chemical stink of cleaning solvents.
The whiff of cigarette smoke. The flavorful fragrance of cooking. The sharp stench of garbage.

Although an extreme odor will quickly get our attention, we are usually not very conscious of the impact that the sense of smell has on learning and retention.

My web research into this topic reaped a wide range of interesting information:

In an article in a recent U.S. News & World Report (February 28, 2005 ), Dolores Malaspina, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, explains that the olfactory sense is the only one of our five senses that bypasses the thalamus and goes directly to the prefrontal cortex ø the center of cognitive thought ø and is therefore received by it with unfiltered intensity.

She says, "Beginning with fetal development [our brains] are laid out to give precedence to olfactory perception. What we are learning is that smell is a good window into the unconscious basis for sociability and social interest. There is a tremendous explosion of interest in this forgotten sense ø and it was under our noses all the time."

Using modern brain-scanning methods, Morten Kringelbach has found out much about where the brain processes the different types of sensory input.

"It is highly interesting that the sense of smell is connected directly to the parts of the brain where emotions are processed. Nearly every other kind of sensory input passes through the thalamus, which is a kind of relay station in the mind, before the signal passes on to other parts of the brain where the actual interpretation takes place. This does not happen with olfactory input Ñ that goes straight to the emotional response centre," he explains.

This direct access to the orbito-frontal cortex is one likely explanation of why smells can give rise to sudden and overwhelming emotions Ñ and of why we only become aware of smells after our emotional state has been changed by those emotions. No wonder potential home buyers are more likely to put an offer on a house that has cookies or an apple pie baking in the oven!

Smells can transport us through time and distance. Vladimir Nabokov wrote: "Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell." A whiff of a familiar perfume can bring back a flood of memories so vivid it brings tears of joy because of the direct physical route which exists between memory and smell.

Marcel Proust has lent his name to the phenomenon of memory recall in response to a specific smell (after his description of such an event in "Swan's Way") - the "Proust Effect." Whole memories, complete with all associated emotions, can be prompted by smell. This is entirely unconscious and cannot necessarily be prompted voluntarily.

However, countless studies have shown that recall can be enhanced if learning is done in the presence of an odor and if that same odor is presented at the time of recall.

All we need to do to improve retention, then, might be to hand out fragrant scented markers to our participants and ask them to sniff them frequently throughout the course of the training. They should be instructed to take the markers with them when they leave, so they can uncap and sniff the markers whenever they need to remember what they learned ! Let me get back to you on something less cumbersome when it occurs to me.

Proponents of aromatherapy believe that the mere introduction of a scent can have a positive effect on the body, the emotions, or the intellect. Two interesting claims:

  • Calculus students were proven to increase their speed of learning by 230% with aromatherapy!

  • When lavender was infused into the air in an office, keyboard-punching errors fell by 20%, 33% with jasmine and 54% with lemon.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York has found that people in pleasantly scented rooms carry out their work with more confidence, more efficiency and greater willingness to resolve work place conflict.

The Japanese have been using essential oils in the work place for years. At one Japanese bank, lavender and rosemary are used in the customer area to relax and sedate, while the worker areas are infused with lemon and eucalyptus to keep workers alert.

I had heard that lemon was used to refresh and revitalize, so I purchased an aromatherapy lemon spray. A spritz in the afternoon or evening really does keep me more alert and effective when I'm training!

Peppermint is dispersed into offices and conference rooms to increase work efficiency, dispel drowsiness and lessen mental fatigue. The Tokyo stock exchange has peppermint diffused into the atmosphere every afternoon to make brokers feel invigorated and refreshed.

Imagine the gains in learning retention if we knew how to effectively incorporate the sense of smell into our learning environments!

This ends our exploration of ways to engage the senses. Next week, we will begin a discussion of strategies to engage or manage "difficult" participants. If you have any particular challenges you would like to have addressed, please let me know.