11.12.03
 By
Paul Glen
Lots of my clients call me up to ask that I train their staffs in
various skills. The concerns usually sound like, “These guys need
to learn to communicate” or “They just can’t seem to get things done”
or “Our customers always seem upset with us.”
It’s flattering that a client trusts me enough to ask that
I help fix important problems, but usually, I have to point them away
from the pure training solution. Of course, I hate to turn down their
money, but I can’t let them fall into what I call the training trap.
People often fall into the training trap just after realizing that
they have a problem. They have an epiphany of understanding that something’s
wrong with their group, and presume that to solve the problem, the
group needs to learn something. This is a common assumption for all
people, but it’s especially prevalent among technologists for whom
learning is the tool of choice for problem solving. |
The
training trap is the misapprehension that just teaching a group about
some skill or process is enough to fix behavioral or performance problems.
The training trap is not entirely a bad thing. It’s often true that
learning may help. But teaching and learning are not the same thing.
Locking a group in a room with no interest in a subject, motivation
to learn or understanding of why it may be important rarely results
in effective organizational change.
| Correction:
the proper attribution to last
issue's article,"Appreciative Inquiry: A Powerful Project
Leadership Tool " is "First published in the January
2002 issue of Successful Project Management." |
Training can be an important part of a strategy for transforming a
group, but alone, it’s rarely more than just a respite from the difficulties.
The staff gets out of the office for a time, but after returning,
the learning is lost, or never has the desired effect. The information
may have been interesting, entertaining or intriguing, but without
linking it into a broader strategy for change, the time and money
are usually wasted.
So next time you realize that your group has a problem, don’t forget
that training is just one tool for change and avoid the trap of assuming
that it’s the only one.
About the Author:
Paul Glen is the author of "Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead
People Who Deliver Technology" (Jossey Bass Pfeiffer, 2002) and Principal
of C2 Consulting. C2 Consulting helps clients build effective technology
organizations. Paul Glen regularly speaks for corporations and national
associations across North America. For more information go to http://www.c2-consulting.com.
He can be reached at info@c2-consulting.com.
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Read this newsletter at: http://www.ctoupdate.com/2003/1112.html |
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the Forum: |
| Is Open Source Better? |
With win XP systems are quite stable. I was able to run XP pro box for over a month without a restart. I saw blue screen just few times. ...
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