This article was first published in Training and Learning (www.trainingandlearning.co.uk) in Vol 1, Issue 7, 2005 and is reproduced with the kind permission of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (www.traininginstitute.co.uk)
When training can be dangerous
Neil Thompson
Training and development are designed to promote learning and personal and professional growth, to improve standards of practice and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisations concerned. In this respect it is, of course, an entirely positive process, with much to commend it. Training and learning are vitally important parts of successful organisations. However, it would be naïve not to recognise that there are times when training activities can do harm.
I am not suggesting that trainers would deliberately cause harm to people, but rather that there are subtle ways in which the outcomes of training can be negative, where trainers can unwittingly do harm – or at least run the risk of doing so. This can apply in the following ways:
- Confidence can be undermined If we are not careful, we can have the opposite effect to what we are intending by undermining – rather than boosting – confidence, perhaps by having unrealistic expectations of what participants can achieve in a particular exercise or setting. For example, I once came across a situation where a participant had been asked to play a part in a role play that required knowledge and skills she did not have. She was so distressed by the situation that it was over two years before she attended another training event – and only then because she had sought confirmation from the trainer concerned that there would be no role play involved.
- People can feel threatened rather than challenged Being able to challenge participants skilfully and effectively can be an important part of promoting learning, but it is important that we should not cross the line between challenging and threatening. When people feel threatened, they are likely to be concentrating on defending themselves – making themselves safe – rather than on learning. The notion of ‘no pain no gain’ is a potentially dangerous one if used to try and justify making people feel threatened. Unfortunately, much training on discrimination issues has, in the past, relied on such a potentially destructive approach (the Race Awareness Training movement, for example), although, thankfully, this type of training methodology is far less commonly used than it once was.
- Misleading ideas can be put forward I have come across many examples of people running courses on stress and proclaiming that ‘stress is good for you’. Given that the Health and Safety Executive define stress as ‘the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them’, it is unhelpful and potentially dangerous to promote the idea that ‘stress is good for you’. As the HSE puts it: ‘Pressure is part and parcel of all work and helps to keep us motivated . But excessive pressure can lead to stress which undermines performance, is costly to employers and can make people ill’ (www.hse.gov.uk). Similarly, I am aware of courses on ‘Dealing with Difficult People’ that are based on a very simplistic model of how interpersonal difficulties arise. Trainers do not, of course, need to be experts in the subject matter they are covering, but we do have to make sure that we are not basing our work on misleading or oversimplified conceptions of the topics being addressed.
Of course, these are not the only ways in which training can be dangerous, but they should be sufficient to establish that it is important to be aware of the possible negative outcomes of training and development activities.
So, what does all this mean in practice? Well, primarily, it means that when planning training, we need to focus on not only what is going to be helpful in promoting learning, but also considering the possible negatives and how we are going to guard against them.
It also means being sensitive to such possibilities when training is being delivered, to make sure that we do not allow possible problems to creep in.
My aim is not to create undue anxieties about the possible harm we can do, but rather to be realistic in recognising that there are pitfalls we need to avoid if we are to make sure that our input is entirely positive.
Neil Thompson is the founder and managing director of Avenue Consulting Ltd (www.avenueconsulting.co.uk).
© Neil Thompson 2005
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