Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of
participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."
Then 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 ideas presented in a workshop, client will conclude that training doesn't work. And then company might abandon all training.
Here are three important issues that determine effectiveness of training.
1) People follow 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 material covered in 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 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 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 boss who holds bad meetings.
