Training Philosophy 101: People Don’t Argue With Their Own Data
I remember someone telling me that, people don’t argue with their own data, twenty-one years ago when I was a young, enthusiastic, novice trainer. The person was subtly trying to give me feedback on my facilitation style, which was to teach the class and not to facilitate discussion. I was a true subject matter expert and had the awards and credentials to back me up. I couldn’t wait to teach the newly hired sales representatives everything I knew. My main problem was—I didn’t know everything. I didn’t know that adults learn differently from school children. I didn’t know that thirty participants brought thirty different references of experience into the classroom. I didn’t know that one or two of those thirty neophytes would have the gall to question me openly and that five or six others would question me privately. I didn’t know that my credentials as a subject matter expert were not enough to change the behaviors of a classroom of adults. I didn’t know that I needed to facilitate and sell more than I needed to teach.
In my mind, a trainer was a teacher. And so I taught. The way that I taught my class was quite similar to the way a middle school teacher teaches eighth graders. "I know the answers—you don’t. So listen up."
Although I was a novice, I understood the value of engaging and interacting with the audience, so of course, I asked questions to try and draw the participants into participation. Most of my questions were quizzical, rhetorical, or downright condescending—(especially if I was being challenged). If someone answered one of my on-the-spot pop quizzes correctly—I nodded my approval in keeping with the schoolmarm personae that I’d adopted. I was in a sales organization and at some point, I’d taken off and retired my selling hat and replaced it with my teaching hat. I wasn’t alone; most of my training colleagues had done the same.
The "people don’t argue with their own data" remark got me thinking. I knew that there was some constructive criticism hidden beneath those words and I ruminated on it for a long time. I tweaked my facilitation style a little and began to ask more discussion generating questions.
There is a skill to generating discussions that bring people around to specific conclusions about a topic. Not only do you have to know how to generate a discussion, you also have to know how to facilitate and manage the responses. You have to recognize when the discussion is going downhill and becoming unproductive. You have to identify the participants with dominant behavioral preferences and those with more reticent behavioral preferences. You have to learn to leverage the participation of both types for the greater good of the whole group. Facilitation is a lot harder than teaching. Over the years, I’ve come to understand why teaching is the default method of trainers. It’s easier. It’s just easier.
Because adults enter the learning arena with certain experiences, competencies, beliefs, values, habits, and behavioral preferences, most have to be allowed to form their own conclusions based on the information that you give them. So the way that you give them the information dictates the level of success that you will have with a particular group. I have seen trainers expect their credentials to be the salient motivator. I have seen training initiatives touted as being an important goal of the company’s President or Vice-President. You should embrace this training because I say you should or you should embrace this training because the big guy in the corner office says you should rarely influence long term behavioral changes—yet training organizations employ these techniques time and again when rolling out company wide training initiatives.
Behavioral changes occur when there is a fundamental shift in the participant’s beliefs. In lieu of that shift in beliefs, participants will simply go through the motions and never really embrace the behavioral change that the training is meant to bring about. Traditional training methods focus on changing actions. Training that motivates adult learners focuses on changing beliefs. In most cases, the content of what is taught does not have to be changed. The way that content is presented is what distinguishes the most effective trainers.
When designing presentations and developing facilitation techniques, look at the subject matter and determine:
Twenty-one years ago, someone put a bug in my ear. She didn’t browbeat me, she didn’t embarrass me, she didn’t claim to know best, or tell me how it should be done. She simply said, “people don’t argue with their own data,” and she changed a fundamental belief.
In my mind, a trainer was a teacher. And so I taught. The way that I taught my class was quite similar to the way a middle school teacher teaches eighth graders. "I know the answers—you don’t. So listen up."
Although I was a novice, I understood the value of engaging and interacting with the audience, so of course, I asked questions to try and draw the participants into participation. Most of my questions were quizzical, rhetorical, or downright condescending—(especially if I was being challenged). If someone answered one of my on-the-spot pop quizzes correctly—I nodded my approval in keeping with the schoolmarm personae that I’d adopted. I was in a sales organization and at some point, I’d taken off and retired my selling hat and replaced it with my teaching hat. I wasn’t alone; most of my training colleagues had done the same.
The "people don’t argue with their own data" remark got me thinking. I knew that there was some constructive criticism hidden beneath those words and I ruminated on it for a long time. I tweaked my facilitation style a little and began to ask more discussion generating questions.
There is a skill to generating discussions that bring people around to specific conclusions about a topic. Not only do you have to know how to generate a discussion, you also have to know how to facilitate and manage the responses. You have to recognize when the discussion is going downhill and becoming unproductive. You have to identify the participants with dominant behavioral preferences and those with more reticent behavioral preferences. You have to learn to leverage the participation of both types for the greater good of the whole group. Facilitation is a lot harder than teaching. Over the years, I’ve come to understand why teaching is the default method of trainers. It’s easier. It’s just easier.
Because adults enter the learning arena with certain experiences, competencies, beliefs, values, habits, and behavioral preferences, most have to be allowed to form their own conclusions based on the information that you give them. So the way that you give them the information dictates the level of success that you will have with a particular group. I have seen trainers expect their credentials to be the salient motivator. I have seen training initiatives touted as being an important goal of the company’s President or Vice-President. You should embrace this training because I say you should or you should embrace this training because the big guy in the corner office says you should rarely influence long term behavioral changes—yet training organizations employ these techniques time and again when rolling out company wide training initiatives.
Behavioral changes occur when there is a fundamental shift in the participant’s beliefs. In lieu of that shift in beliefs, participants will simply go through the motions and never really embrace the behavioral change that the training is meant to bring about. Traditional training methods focus on changing actions. Training that motivates adult learners focuses on changing beliefs. In most cases, the content of what is taught does not have to be changed. The way that content is presented is what distinguishes the most effective trainers.
When designing presentations and developing facilitation techniques, look at the subject matter and determine:
- What is best presented as a discussion question and what possible conclusionsmay be drawn?
- Are there interactive classroom exercises that will guide participants to a particular conclusion?
- How can you best sell, (yes sell) the information to your adult audience?
- How can you leverage the experience of the group?
Twenty-one years ago, someone put a bug in my ear. She didn’t browbeat me, she didn’t embarrass me, she didn’t claim to know best, or tell me how it should be done. She simply said, “people don’t argue with their own data,” and she changed a fundamental belief.