Resistance Is...

by Scott Airitam

President, Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC

As I was coming in from taking my youngest to the bus stop this morning, a friend tells me that she has to go to the dentist. I actually cringed. Then, the measure of self-awareness I've been blessed with kicked in and I started asking why I was having that reaction to the dentist. Sure, I've had unpleasant and uncomfortable visits to the dentist's chair, but my life would be so much worse if I hadn't gone through those experiences. Stopping to think about it rationally, the short-term pain or discomfort of visiting the dentist (let's label it 1% of my time) makes the rest of my life (let's call it 99% of my time) much higher in quality.

With that being said, another side of me kicked in after all of that and I started making the reasonable parallel that many adults react to training in that way. Of course, I had to ask why. So, now you have a blog to read.

So, in my experience, there is a healthy percentage of people who do not want to be there in most of the classes I facilitate. This generally has nothing to do with me or my company, it would exist regardless of who created or delivered the session. They resist the very improvement opportunity that would make them better. Now, if they stopped and thought about it rationally, they might change their approach, but, I'm not mad at them for their resistance. Their reluctance to learn, grow, develop, and to better themselves isn't always born of a lack of desire for those outcomes, instead, it is often much more deeply rooted.

You see, many people resist because they want control. As adults, they have a lot of responsibility, and, the surface level excuse for their lack of enthusiasm is that they don't have time for the training class. They've got important stuff to do. I try very hard not to take that one as an insult. Anyway, that's often all surface talk. I know it is because I've honed my craft to a point that most people who spend any time at all in a Leadership Systems class forget that they didn't want to be there within the first hour. What it really boils down to is control.

Most kids don't like to go to school for the same reason. Other people, who claim to know what's best (parents, teachers, school administrators, even politicians and police) FORCE children to go to school, regardless of what they want to do. I'm not questioning whether kids should go to school or not, of course they should. But, for every action there is a reaction, right? In this case, by forcing someone to do something for so many years, when they are an adult and can choose, they often choose to go against that which was forced upon them. Regardless of how good it is for them.

So, we meet adults who can certainly benefit from the sessions we offer, but, have a compulsion not to...because they can.

Organizations are only as good as the talent they bring in and the synergy they can create among the people. When organizations foster an attitude that self-improvement and team-improvement are not priorities, those organizations are weakening their position in their market space.

For this reason, we purposefully develop all of our sessions based on an adult learning model that engages people--that's why I can say that people forget that they were forced to be there inside of an hour. People let down their guard in our sessions, mainly because our sessions don't feel like school at all, even though we are conscious of the learning milestones that are being reached. We look to actually create behavior change. It has to be this way, or those who resist continue to throw up passive or active roadblocks to their own learning in the classroom. For this reason, I can't fathom how training organizations that aren't proficient in experiential learning, accellerated learning, and adult learning continue to thrive. They do mainly because they find clients who just want to document that training hours have been made available. I guess there are some companies out there that just want to check the box.

For me, though, helping people to learn, grow, and develop is important. Helping organizations to come together and take the next step is a passion. I would love a world where people were conscious about getting better, being better employees and better people, and where everyone's self-awareness kicked in and made them inquire of themselves, "why?"

Building (and Rebuilding) Your Team

by Angela Gallogly
Vice President of USA Operations, Advanced Team Concepts
http://www.atctraining.com

In my last blog, I promised to dedicate some time to the topic of building an effective team. I stressed the importance of giving team relationship adequate attention and outlined a couple of risks if the relationship is neglected.

In my work as a facilitator, there is one question that I get a lot. So what should you do if your team isn’t in sync? The answer depends on several factors, which include: the team, the problem (or pain, as I call it), and the cause of the pain.

It’s often best to start by unearthing the potential contributing factors to the problem. Have there been changes in the work environment? What are the demands that the team is being challenged with? Has there been a change in personnel? Has the personnel change impacted the group dynamic? There are endless scenarios that I could highlight here, but the important thing to remember is this – try to get to the root cause so you’re not just treating the symptoms, but you also understand the disease. You may or may not be able to change the cause, but understanding where the team’s pain is coming from can be important as you begin to work through the challenges.

I recently facilitated a customer’s staff retreat that provides a great example. In this customer’s scenario, there had been staff changes that had taken place at an executive level. This had resulted in a great deal of upheaval. The trickle down effects were additional personnel changes and a new methodology for running the business. New processes were put into place, and old, long-ignored processes were reinstated. No longer could an employee do something because “that’s the way we did it before.”

These changes created some interesting team dynamics. Some of the team members were excited by the new challenges and the potential for growth and success. Others resisted the change and were fearful of what was going to happen next.

When we designed and then delivered the retreat, we kept all of the above factors in mind. We spent two days focusing on the rebuilding of this team. Part of the process involved sharing information. This alleviated some of the fears of the unknown that the team members were experiencing. We also provided new tools in communication and leadership to equip the team to meet the business standards being set by the new director. Lastly, we combined social events and facilitated discussions to allow people to dialogue and solidify their relationships. At the conclusion of the event, definite progress had been made. The participants were open in their sharing, and the atmosphere was positive.

It’s important to point out that this team’s work was not done. They will need to continue their dialogue and follow up on commitments made at the retreat. The building and sustaining of a healthy team is an ongoing process.

This is just one example of how a team decided to navigate a major transition. The solution for another team scenario could be completely different. I’d recommend beginning by taking the “pulse” of your team. How’s the team’s morale? How’s communication going? What are the challenges that the team is facing? Are any of these factors impacting the effectiveness of team? When you’ve drilled down into the cause of the issues, you’ll be much more likely to create an on-target team building effort.