Turning Resistance into Enthusiasm for Training

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧? It was a rainy Tuesday morning in Kerala, and our monthly team training on communication skills had just started. Everyone seemed engaged—except for Rahul. Sitting at the back, arms crossed, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. During a coffee break, I decided to chat with him. “Rahul, you don’t seem too excited about today’s session. What’s on your mind?” He sighed and said, “Honestly, I don’t think this applies to me. I’m an engineer, not a manager. Why do I need all this?” Instead of pushing back, I asked, “Fair point. But can I challenge you on something? What’s one situation at work where better communication could’ve helped you?” He paused and then opened up about a recent project. “We missed a deadline because I couldn’t explain a technical issue clearly to the client. It was frustrating for both sides.” “Let’s workshop that,” I suggested. During the next session, we role-played a similar scenario, and Rahul jumped in hesitantly at first. By the end, he surprised himself by finding a clear, concise way to explain complex ideas. After the session, he walked up to me and said, “Okay, I get it now. This stuff actually helps!” That day, I learned an important lesson: resistance often comes from not seeing immediate value. But when we meet people where they are, it opens the door for real growth. Resistance isn’t a roadblock—it’s a signal. A signal to dig deeper, listen harder, and create learning moments that stick. What’s been your experience with training resistance? Let’s share stories and ideas! #humanresources #training

Employees don’t hate training. They hate training that wastes their time. I’ve seen highly motivated, curious people disengage not because they didn’t care, but because the learning felt disconnected from reality. When learning is something done to people rather than done with them, resistance is a rational response. The format rarely matters. I’ve seen brilliant results from digital, face-to-face, blended and social approaches and equally poor results from all of them too. The difference was always whether the experience created meaning, relevance and momentum in real work. Most L&D problems aren’t learning problems. They’re work problems that learning is being asked to fix after the fact. We design programmes around what people should know, not what they need to do differently on Monday morning. Then we’re surprised when nothing changes. Relevance isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the entry ticket. If people can’t immediately see how learning helps them hit targets, handle pressure, save time or avoid mistakes, you’ve already lost them. Performance improves when learning... ↳ Starts with real work, not content ↳ Solves a problem people actually have ↳ Is applied immediately, not “later” ↳ Is supported by managers, not just L&D ↳ Is measured by behaviour change, not completion rates This is where L&D often gets stuck. We optimise for delivery instead of impact. We protect programmes instead of questioning them. We report activity instead of outcomes. If learning doesn’t change decisions, actions or results, it’s just organised distraction. People don’t disengage from learning. They disengage from irrelevance. And until L&D shifts from “Did they attend?” to “Did anything change?”, nothing else really matters! What's your take on this? ---------------------------------- Follow me at Sean McPheat for more L&D content and and then hit the 🔔 button to stay updated on my future posts. ♻️ Save for later and repost to help others.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 Anna smirked across the room and raised her hand: "It sounds like this planning process is just a way to spy on our lessons and our teaching." Half the room erupted in agreement. Several teachers started clapping. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲: • Gotten defensive • Doubled down on their authority • Tried to power through the agenda 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱: He paused. He listened. He got curious. "Let me take in what I'm hearing; I need a minute to think." Then he did something radical—he shared power. "It looks like this day didn't start as planned. Thank you to those who spoke up. I appreciate that this is a place where people can freely share their feedback... It's also not clear to me how everyone feels about this plan." 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: Resistance isn't about your content. It's about unmet needs. Anna and her colleagues needed:  🔸 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 - Choice in their learning process  🔸 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 - Recognition of their expertise 🔸 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 - Belief that this wasn't surveillance  🔸 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 - Opportunity to influence the direction 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀:  ✅ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲: "Help me understand what's coming up for you."  ✅ 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴: "The new schedule is happening. Here's where you have influence..."  ✅ 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿: "How can we collaborate on this process?"  ✅ 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Fear, overwhelm, lack of choice 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘁: By the following semester, Anna was one of the biggest champions for the new approach. She regularly met with the facilitator to improve the process. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁: When you meet resistance with curiosity instead of control, you often discover allies hiding underneath the pushback. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗣𝗗. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽? 👇 P.S. If you want to grow as a PD facilitator, here’s my free Three Mistakes You’re Making with Your PD… and What to Do Instead tool: https://lnkd.in/guKwkGyu #ProfessionalDevelopment #Resistance #Leadership #PowerWith

Want to Engage Your Teams? Stop Pushing, Start Walking Having effective systems is the key to executional excellence. But implementing a new system is easier said than done. 🔴 Common Process for Implementing Systems: ↳ The leader introduces the system         ↳ A few teams dive in     ↳ Others drag their feet ↳ Momentum dies ↳ The system becomes inefficient Sound familiar? When implementing new systems, most leaders focus on pushing harder. But what if the secret was in what you don't do? 🔵 The Power of Non-Recognition Here’s how a director of 23 people and 3 resistant teams used recognition walk-arounds to transform resistance into engagement in less than 30 minutes a week. His goal was to implement a SandBag system that would eliminate performance barriers to improve the department's effectiveness. Every week, he took his 23 people on a recognition walk-around. They visited each team’s office to review their SandBag system. I went along with them on their second walk-around. What happened next was fascinating: Team 1: “Here’s where we are in developing the system”.               "Here are the SandBags we eliminated this week." Director: Showed enthusiasm and recognized the team. Team 2: "We were too busy to implement the system."               “We did not remove any SandBags.” Director: Moved on without providing recognition. Team 3: “We just started with the system this week”.                "We only eliminated 2 SandBags." Director:  Recognized the team for starting the process. The director did not confront, provide Improvement-Feedback™, or recognize the second team. The key was in the lack of recognition. While we were in each office, I could feel the difference in the energy of the team leaders and members. Some were beaming, and the others were not. The message was clear: ➨ Implement the system = Get recognition ➨ Provide excuses = No recognition And everyone knew what they had to do to receive the recognition the following week. Results a Month Later: ✔️ All teams were implementing the system ✔️ All teams were fully engaged ✔️ Effective system throughout the department 👉 Why it works: ↳ Recognition creates a positive energy ↳ Non-recognition creates an energy for change ↳ The dynamics of these two energies combine to easily reduce resistance and spread engagement When you need to implement a new system, use recognition walk-arounds. ➨ It’s simple ➨ It requires minimal time and resources ➨ And it works What system will you implement next? 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑩𝒆 ______________________ 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Jacques Fischer 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 to help others #leadership #highperformingteams #employeeengagement