Training is a word that everyone hears nowadays. Training is fashionable. It's modern. This is already an integral part of life in general, and education in particular. So what is training?
History of the training
The term “training” itself came to us from the English-speaking world. One of its influential supporters and disseminators as a teaching method was Dale Carnegie, who at the beginning of the 20th century created a training center named after himself, where he more than successfully taught public speaking and other socially significant skills.
But training received its real birth in psychology thanks to the work of the well-known Kurt Lewin, who with his supporters created training groups for people complaining of low communication abilities in the 40s of the last century. The format of his classes showed such impressive results that soon an entire training academy was created in the USA. Since then, this method has been an integral part of both the educational process and personal development in different areas life, for example, in family relationships and in business.
Features of the training
What is training and how does it differ from other training methods? First, you need to understand that training is not just a drill or a lecture, it is something more. But at the same time it includes their elements. The training program is such that it includes both theoretical material and a practical part, designed to instill and develop certain skills and abilities in a person. Moreover, the latter is given the main attention. The training is always practical, its tasks are vital, intended to be implemented in everyday reality. This differs from a lecture, which only tells “how to do it.” In the training, a situation is simulated, which is immediately played out by the participants, and then discussed. Thanks to this, theoretical information is processed in real time, and as a result, the participant, in addition to knowledge, gains real experience.
An important feature of the training is that it is always conducted in a group. Such categoricalness in the obligatory interaction of people has its basis in a number of psychological laws. A group is not just a few people, it is a single organism with its own collective memory. Therefore, thanks to the methods that training involves, personal development and growth proceeds faster. This is explained by the law of synergy, which makes training many times more effective than individual training.
Classification of trainings
IN modern science There is no unified training classification system. Here we will follow the most common concepts and divide the training system into three groups according to the types of their focus. In addition, trainings can be divided according to the goals they set for their participants.
So, the trainings are of the following types:
Business trainings.
Psychological trainings.
Personal trainings.
As for goals, according to this criterion, only two categories can be distinguished:
Instrumental trainings.
Fundamental trainings.
Three types of trainings
The first type of training is related to business. Its task is to train entrepreneurs, directors and managers of commercial enterprises various techniques and the secrets of successful business management, survival in a competitive environment, conflict resolution, staff motivation, and the like.
What is psychological training? This is a training whose task is to upgrade a person in the field of communication skills, social adaptation and, in general, to instill in the individual socially useful individual skills. For example, training in communication with employees of the state traffic police or training in sales techniques will be called psychological, since, unlike the first, they work for the individual, and not for the company. However, within their competence are still such qualities that are manifested in social, professional, or some other social activity. Therefore, there are also personal trainings or personal growth trainings. These are also aimed at upgrading an individual person, but work with inner world a person - with complexes, psychological blocks, fears and other “good” that we carry with us every day like an unnecessary burden and cannot throw it off. Such training may also include communication training, for example, with people of the opposite sex - in order to overcome some internal barrier, perhaps fear or embarrassment.
Two training goals
What is training, not in terms of format, but in terms of purpose? It is a teaching method that helps a person solve a specific problem. And he does this in two ways. Firstly, by providing a person with tools that allow them to achieve the desired effect, overcoming all obstacles. In this case, the training will be called instrumental. Secondly, the training can be aimed at instilling the skills of a general vision of the problem and mastering the basic mechanisms of its occurrence and solution for independent adequate selection of specific tools. In other words, a person is given not one specific “pill” for a problem, but an understanding of the concept - knowledge of how, when and what kind of “pill” needs to be made and taken in each particular situation. This is what training is called fundamental.
A form of training whose main goal is the rapid formation of new skills, assimilation of new information, and change of personal attitudes.
Concept training arose in the 60s of the 20th century at the intersection of psychology and sports. For getting quick results athletes must train and consolidate certain skills, overcome fears and uncertainty. However, at that time, traditional pedagogy could not offer methods for effectively changing attitudes. Psychologists “came to the rescue”; by that time they had already begun to abandon time-consuming psychotherapy and were looking for methods to help clients more quickly. With the merging of training technologies and techniques for changing attitudes and fears (psychotherapy), the concept was born training, which also quickly found application in the business environment.
Reasons for the occurrence of trainings
Individual training apparently was practiced by ancient hunters. Archaeological finds indicate that they specially trained to throw spears at a target, devoting a lot of time to this. With the emergence of civilization, the need for intensive training arose among artisans who trained their apprentices. At the same time, a traditional school of education was created, where a lot of time was devoted to the formation of knowledge.Paradoxical as it may seem, one of the most modern methods training case study was invented in ancient China. Confucius, Han Feishing and other philosophers who followed Lao Tzu taught using the following technique: one student had to tell in the form of a parable some paradox that he knew or heard. The rest of the group looked for ways to solve this problem. A similar method was later used in the 1880s by Christopher Langdell, dean of Harvard Law School, to teach students.
Now training is a form of intensive training in business and psychology.
Some experts highlight business trainings into a separate category due to the fact that this is one of the most effective ways At the moment, quickly form a skill and transfer knowledge to a group of people. All other forms of training require more resources: money, time, time away from production, and so on. This is what became the basis for such popularity trainings in business.
Types of trainings
All trainings can be divided into three main types in its focus or purpose of change, at the same time it must be understood that in most cases a certain type of training is partially mixed with another.Psychological (socio-psychological) trainings
Psychological trainings are aimed at changing negative attitudes and behavioral habits that interfere with a person and forming new ones. According to the type of its impact, psychological training is between psychotherapeutic and skill-based. More often psychological trainings used to improve communicative competence. For example, “Assertiveness” training develops the skill of confident communication and ways to resist manipulation. And most “Personal Growth” trainings are designed to change personal attitudes, for example, the formation of personal responsibility for each participant for their life.According to the form of training, socio-psychological training takes place in a group form. Individual training is usually used as part of a psychotherapeutic consultation. Within the framework of such trainings, a huge number of types of exercises are used - simulations, discussions, performing real actions under supervision, sociometric exercises, bodily movement exercises, dance therapy, acting methods and others. When training is aimed at increasing communicative competence, it is very important to have feedback from the coach and group.
Psychotherapeutic training
The training is aimed at profound changes in the state of mind, moral and personal barriers, understanding of deep attitudes formed before birth and in the procession of life, family problems. Most often it is carried out within the framework of one of the areas of psychotherapy.Main types of psychotherapeutic training:
. Psychodrama- problem solving through figurative playback of the client’s difficult situation.
Gestalt group– therapy in a group by realizing one’s problems through discussion, metaphorical acting and other methods.
Family group therapy uses the most different methods work, both with one family and with several at the same time.
Psychosomatic group therapy– a set of methods for working with the body, based on pressure, massaging, relaxation, repetition of certain movements in order to relieve “tension” from an organ or body, to get rid of neurosis, physical or mental illness/problem.
Positive group psychotherapy uses various methods overcoming the psychological difficulties of clients using innate or developed abilities throughout life.
Cognitive psychotherapy– aimed at solving a wide variety of problems and diseases by changing clients’ attitudes towards emotions and experiences.
Existential group psychotherapy– training based on increasing clients’ understanding of the uniqueness of their lives, changing attitudes towards the past, future and present.
Provocative group psychotherapy– it is based on provoking the client to certain actions, actions, words that help him realize and overcome “personal neurosis.”
Modern technologies have given rise to another form of training – distance training (online training).
Distance trainings (online trainings)- this is a way of transferring knowledge and developing skills among the audience without direct contact between the teacher and the student. Distance training is generally divided into two large shapes– automated training and distance learning teacher training.Automated training assumes that interaction follows the “man – machine” principle, without the direct participation of the teacher. This includes distance training on our website (online training), training videos, for example on www.youtube.com, training presentations, automated ten-finger touch typing simulators on a keyboard.
Distance pedagogical training involves indirect interaction between teacher and student. This type of training includes webinars, broadcasts of lectures via the Internet or television channels, correspondent training, when a student independently studies a subject, then writes a paper or answers questions on the topic, the teacher analyzes the work and sends the results and his comments back. Previously, this form of training was mainly carried out through regular mail, like the Yeshko school (European School of Correspondence Training). Nowadays, email or instant messengers such as ICQ, Skype, Gtalk and others are mainly used.
Latest reviews (0)
Many Russian companies are now in a period of so-called “development crisis”. Management based only on intuition no longer works. The market is oversaturated with services; choosing and finding a service is not a problem; consumers are becoming more and more picky. Now it’s not enough to just be charming and be able to influence people - you can’t do without mastery of certain newfangled technologies in the field of management, marketing and sales. That is why today trainings are one of the most fashionable forms of advanced training for employees. But, as a rule, advanced managers of large companies order such training for their employees. In addition, you need to clearly understand why the company needs this, and what kind of training will help achieve greater success in its activities and give impetus to development. Therefore, choosing training is a difficult and responsible undertaking..
What are trainings
Trainings are a form of intensive, interactive training in practical skills. During trainings, the trainer, with the help psychological exercises and various methods, such as brainstorming, group work, role-playing games, provocations, gives the so-called impulse for independent solutions to work situations.
What kind of trainings are there?
The service market offers a wide range of trainings, from trainings on working with large audiences, conflict technologies, and even trainings for parents who want to learn how to effectively communicate with and manage their children.
There are trainings that can teach you how to communicate with staff in a non-standard way, for example, how to hold employee birthdays in an unusual way.
There are many criteria for classifying training. They are distinguished by the duration of the training, so standard training is carried out from 1 day to a week.
By location: sometimes the training locations simply amaze the participants. Thus, some training companies offer underwater forestry courses, which are a set of specially designed exercises that take place underwater and ensure complete teamwork among the participants. Or trainings are held right on the streets of the city, only in conditions close to military ones. Often trainings take place in the forest; such unusual forays are based on orienteering in the forest, on rough terrain. which are a set of specially designed exercises, performed underwater and ensuring complete team unity among the participants. Or trainings are held right on the streets of the city, only in conditions close to military ones. It is not uncommon for trainings to take place in the forest; such unusual forays are based in the forest, on rough terrain.
Training in the form of a show
Trainings are even organized in the form of a show. Not long ago, the training “Theatrical show of business ideas SCORE” took place with the participation of business coach, master of motivation Klaus Kobiell. Klaus Kobjoll is one of the most vibrant and charismatic personalities in German business. In Russia he is well known for his bestsellers “Motivation in the style of ACTION”, “Virtuoso Marketing”, “How to become better?”, “There is no buzz without risk”, “The path to your own business”.
Sometimes they even combine corporate training with recreation and team building elements.
Trainings are also distinguished by topics and by level of participants, for example, for advanced, for beginners.
There are different types of trainings: psychotherapeutic, socio-psychological, business training, personal growth training.
In psychotherapy, trainings are divided into paradigms: humanistic, psychoanalytic, gestalt, cognitive, behavioral, body-oriented and many others.
In business trainings classifications are mixed. Each company declares itself as the bearer of a unique methodology, which it distinguishes in separate species. In real practice, this does not change the essence.
Trainings are also divided into impact groups, that is, trainings for everyone, for managers, for salespeople, for HR people, for secretaries, and the like.
The methods used in trainings can also be different, as well as the style of delivery. This largely depends on who is conducting it and on the general focus of the training company.
Svetlana Barats – CEO Insight Consulting company
– Non-standard team building trainings include role-playing games. It could also be a production of a theatrical play. A work is selected and employees are invited to stage and rehearse the performance under the guidance of an experienced director.
The themes of games and theatrical plays can be very diverse. The plot can be taken from a film or based on a work of fiction, or it can be specially invented by the director-screenwriter.
As a rule, this type of game has several goals and objectives.
For example, it is necessary to unite the team, improve relationships between employees, and improve communications. Often, the purpose of such games is primarily an emotional shake-up for the staff, an extreme event if you like.
After such events, people receive a powerful charge of energy for a long time, their performance improves, routine disappears, the psychological climate in the team improves, and common interests emerge. And they are already working more harmoniously on the assigned business tasks. After all the joint obstacles that they had to go through together during such a Game, as a rule, they are no longer alien to the problems of their colleagues. A kind of INSIGHT or illumination arises. People seem to “wake up”, look around and realize that working next to them are not just colleagues who perform some work functions, but interesting personalities, with diverse interests and views, who are always ready to help with advice and come to mutual assistance.
Such trainings are designed for various categories employees. Participation will be useful for both middle managers and top executives. Moreover, sometimes it is very useful and smart to mix different levels personnel in the company. The age criterion is also not a limiting factor. Since such trainings do not belong to standard rope “activities”, but are rather intellectual “activities”, it will be interesting for employees of different ages.
Coaching
Recently it has become very fashionable to conduct trainings in the style of Coaching. Coaching as a training style means being environmentally friendly, non-directive, and following the client's interests. Only progressive advanced companies use this style in their work. Because coaching is essentially a creative, non-standard management of human resources, and a method of activating human potential. Coaching is one of the methods of consulting both in the business environment and in individual work, which arose 20 years ago. Designed by this method American psychologist and business consultant Thomas Leonard, Timothy Galloway, and John Whitmore. This method includes the best achievements of its predecessor methods - psychological counseling, mentoring, business training. Coaching is learning the art of management in the style of constant development and change.
A coach (mentor) is someone who challenges you. He treats you as a creative, holistic person with all the necessary resources and abilities. Coaching is development at an accelerated pace. This is the stimulation of dormant potentials. A coach-mentor does all this.
When choosing coaching training, you should keep in mind that this is a new direction, and it is better to turn to a professional who already has reviews. The person leading such training must be truly triple talented: know everything about management, about all the innovations in the world, and have enormous charisma and knowledge of people’s psychology, be able to transform a person from the inside. Only from such a Coach can you really learn something...
In addition to training, there are many other effective ways to train your employees. Thus, abroad they use a method such as secondment or, simply, internships in other companies with similar activities. Otherwise it is also called on-the-job-training. The purpose of the method is to exchange experience and acquire skills in an “alternative” workplace. But in Russia this is far from happening, if only because most companies are simply afraid that employees will be lured away to another company, or that some secrets and know-how will be revealed. And there is no clear support for this in the legislation. Although, this method in some areas is more effective than training or teaching theory.
How to choose a training
The top three leaders are: medicines and health products, education and computers and the Internet. Thus, the “education” section includes Russian-language offers of trainings and seminars. Therefore, a self-respecting company will never use training services that are advertised through spam.
Choosing training is not an easy task. As a rule, the problem of matching price and quality arises. Not all companies can afford to choose well-known, well-proven training precisely because of their high cost. And that’s why they turn to little-known trainers in small companies. How much this meets their expectations will have to be judged later.
In any case, when choosing training, you need to choose not a company, but a trainer. And look for those who have already completed this particular training with a specific trainer. The result depends entirely on the level and professionalism of the trainer. In Russia, famous and truly professional trainers can be counted on one hand. Not every company hasbusiness trainer courses. But this does not mean that good training can only be obtained for a lot of money. The simplest and most effective way to choose is to collect complete information about the trainer (reviews, venues, experience) or trust the recommendations of your friends who have already completed this training.
Abroad, the phenomenon of developing training for a specific company as a basic service is common. That is, companies only develop trainings and do not offer ready-made ones. Personally, it is not adapted for a specific company, but creates its own unique training. There are not many such companies in Russia; more often the programs are specifically adapted to the client or such a service is available among others. In most cases, it is optimal to develop training for a specific company and people, rather than customize an existing one, but this is not cheap and you need really talented specialists in this industry.
It is worth remembering that training is a creative and a process, therefore, the desire of employees to undergo training is one of the most important conditions for its successful impact on the future activities of the company.Training is the most effective and fastest tool for development and internal change.
Difference from seminars and regular training
The training is separate form educational process, its feature is the high intensity of the behavior of classes and the use of different ways to achieve the stated result directly during the training.
For example, there is such a form of training as a seminar. During the seminar, you can be given a lot of information, but the presenter does not set out to make sure that you practically understand what he told you. You have received the information, and then either assimilate it yourself, or contact specialists so that they can monitor you and help you assimilate what you heard - your choice.
People leave the training having gained practical skills in using what the training was dedicated to. Or having solved some howling personal problem that I couldn’t cope with on my own long time. It is clear that this is usually a low level of skill acquisition due to limited training time. But the first experience practical use you will definitely receive the content of the training.
Types of training by goals
In general, all trainings can be divided into five large groups. As a criterion for division, various goals are used that must be achieved during the training.
1. Skills training
Purpose of the training– give a specific skill for later use in work or personal life. There are many such trainings.
First of all, this includes most business trainings, where they provide various skills that can then be used in their professional activities. For example, this includes sales skills, negotiations, public speaking, time management, coaching, and so on.
In the field of personal growth Skills training includes training in dating, communications, cooking, speed reading, makeup, and so on. These are mental trainings, since they are aimed at storing certain information in a person’s memory, which will then be implemented through his body (speech, movement, behavior, and so on).
Personal changes appear here not as a result of acquired skills, but as a result of a change in self-esteem by a person who has begun to possess some additional skills. For example, a young man who was afraid of meeting a girl, after completing training in dating technology, can easily solve this previously insoluble problem for him. Naturally, positive internal changes will occur.
Types of trainings based on recruitment principles
According to the principles of recruiting group participants, all trainings are divided into open and corporate.
Open trainings- these are trainings for which people gather completely various people interested in acquiring relevant skills and who paid for the training from their own funds.
Corporate trainings carried out with the personnel of an organization (group of organizations) by order of its management. That is, employees of this organization are required to undergo training in order to improve their qualifications. In most cases, these are skills training (business training). The company pays for the trainer's work.
2. Transformational trainings
Purpose of the training- get out of a problematic situation. Transformational trainings include trainings that allow a person to discover, understand or realize something new in his life. Directly during the training, a person experiences strong internal changes (breakthrough, insight, insight, forgiveness, etc.), which is why it is called “transformational”. Naturally, in most transformational trainings a person also receives some skills, but they are not main task training.
In some cases, during the training, a person does not acquire any new skills that he could then use in normal (outside of the training) life. This includes many trainings related to overcoming fears and other internal barriers. For example, training in walking on coals or broken glass. A person who has undergone such training usually has a sharp increase in self-esteem and becomes more positive and effective person. Although the skill of walking on coals is unlikely to be useful to him in the future.
People go to transformation trainings to solve some of their problems. Completely satisfied people, or people who do not want to receive external help, or who do not believe that this help will help them, do not attend trainings. By paying for training, a person thereby confirms the importance of acquiring new knowledge or skills. He is already motivated to make personal changes, and the coach just needs to give him what he came for.
Types of training by degree of severity
Transformational trainings can have varying degrees of rigidity in the processes used.
TO soft trainings include those during which its participants receive new information, complete tasks, participate in games, and analyze their own and other people’s situations according to the rules proposed by the coach. And in the end they understand how the situation that brought them to the training arose. And how to get out of it. An internal transformation has occurred.
In trainings medium hard more provocative methods are used - role-playing games (games where you need to take complex solutions, breaking established beliefs like “ Balloon"), tasks to interact with unpleasant people (for example, asking a passerby for money), performing simple but previously unacceptable or condemned acts, and so on. These trainings usually provide top scores, but for people with a delicate psyche they can become a source of severe stress.
There are thousands of such trainings, and they can be aimed at improving relationships between people (The world begins with you), increasing self-esteem, creating a family (How to get married), increasing sexuality (Geisha School), changing relationships with money (How to become a magnet for money ), finding a calling (How to find a business) and so on.
In trainings high rigidity Even more provocative techniques are used, which first take a person out of the usual state of closedness and control over the situation (for example, through direct insults). And then, when a person sheds his usual protective shells, work is carried out with him, leading to strong internal changes. This includes trainings based on the American Life Spring methodology and derivatives from them.
Most often, transformational trainings are conducted in the form of open trainings. Sometimes companies order corporate transformation training for their employees. Usually this is team-building training, conducted in the form of collective overcoming difficult obstacles (for example, “Rope Course”).
3. Psychotherapeutic trainings
Purpose of the training- eliminate an unpleasant mental state.
These trainings are designed to eliminate some persistent psychological abnormalities - feelings of guilt, increased anxiety or suspiciousness, dissatisfaction with oneself, fears, uncertainty, and so on. During the training, students perform a number of tasks, the meaning of which may be incomprehensible or unobvious to them (breathe intensively, draw, act out situations), but in the aggregate the processes carried out give the desired result - a change in mental state to a calmer and more joyful one.
This includes training in Art Therapy, Helinger Constellations, Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Body Psychotherapy, Dance Movement Therapy, and so on. During these trainings, people usually learn some skills that they can then use. But acquiring specific skills is additional function training.
4. Spiritual development trainings
Purpose of the training- give a new worldview, new system values.
During the training, some new philosophical or philosophical-religious model of the world order and practical skills for living within the framework of this model are given. For example, yoga given in fitness centers is ordinary health exercises. And yoga, which is given by Teachers who have been trained in India and have received the blessing to conduct training, give their students not only a complex physical exercise, but also a holistic picture of the world order and recommendations for living in the world, including the nutrition system, behavior, goal system and everything else.
Trainings classified as spiritual development trainings can be easily identified by their names. Usually the names contain some higher goals, which differ sharply from the goals of completely applied skills training, for example. Typical names of trainings for spiritual development: “System of Evolutionary Development”, training “Travel outside the body. Training in practical skills”, training “The Third Way” and so on.
5. Health and development trainings
Purpose of the training– give skills to increase the capabilities of our body.
This does not include the training of athletes - its goal is to win competitions. During health and development trainings, participants perform a number of tasks and or master exercises to work with their body, which they can then perform independently.
In principle, this is usually a type of skills training, but with a specific area of application - your body. Sometimes health and development trainings do not provide skills for subsequent independent use, since the exercise can only be performed in a group. Health-improving and developmental trainings include various breathing practices, dynamic meditations of Rajneesh, energy practices, sexual training (Male Power) and so on.
This completes the classification of trainings. On the one hand, the considered trainings are complemented by various training programs such as individual seminars, specialty training programs or advanced training programs. In these programs, training can be used as a separate element of intensive training and practical skills development.
On the other hand, various religious and spiritual teachings may be adjacent to the trainings, which are not trainings, but may use training terminology and names to attract people who are initially not ready to engage in religious or spiritual practices.
More possible variant– people are attracted to unusual transformational trainings, during which strong work to attract work in network marketing structures. That is, the true purpose of the event is not the training itself, but the recruitment of participants to work in MLM structures.
Trainings today are one of the most popular forms of training. However, many, not without reason, believe that training is fraught with danger. Our portal has already raised the topic of the dangers of training:
However, training can be useful and effective. We asked Yulia Viktorovna Shuiskaya, candidate of philological sciences, senior lecturer of the philological faculty of Moscow State University, to help readers figure it out. M.V. Lomonosov. Yu.V. Shuiskaya leadssince 2004 training “Technology business communication" V High school business of Moscow State University, since 2002 she has been working at the training center “Transformation”, conducted trainings in the companies “MECHEL”, “AlfaBank”, “CompuLink”, “American Appraisal”, “NBIC” (independent bureau mortgage lending), “DVTG” (DalneVostokTransNeftGroup), “Geotech” and others.
Training is a relatively recent form of education. As E. Porotskaya and F. Konorov point out in the article “A Recipe for the Customer, or Four Steps to Business Training,” training in Russia has existed for only 10 years and “the current stage of development of the training market in Russia is somewhat reminiscent of the story of the spread of potatoes to Rus' in the 18th century: they boiled tops, tried to eat flowers and berries, which led to poisoning... Now everyone knows at least five ways to prepare potatoes (there are about three hundred in total), and it is impossible to imagine Russian cuisine without it.”
It can be difficult for a person who comes to the training to understand what they are trying to feed him: potato tops or a potato tuber boiled according to all the rules. Training is not only a great way to learn, but also a great way to make money for those who do it. Therefore, many trainings are a step-by-step program, including an advanced course after a basic course, then a course for masters, etc. Some people become psychologically dependent on training and are ready to give their last money for a new, even more advanced course. A number of experts even believe that the so-called personal growth trainings are disguised sects. People rebelling against them publish a price list of such trainings under the heading “Pay money for your death!”
In Moscow alone there are several thousand training centers and companies offer their clients training on various topics. In this article we will try to help people who want to undergo training not to fall into dangerous situation and depending on people who, with the help of trainings, form a kind of totalitarian sects.
Rule 1: name of the training.
This training is designed to teach something specific. Telesales training trains people whose specialty is calling potential clients, presentation training trains those who have to speak to a wide audience with a presentation of a project.
For example, every person who enters McDonald's hears: “Free cash register!”, “Your order is for this much...”, “Your change...” or “Thank you for no change!” This is the corporate standard of McDonald's, and the person working there, before learning how to greet a client with these phrases, practiced them in training. Call center employees undergoing training learn to clearly formulate their thoughts, conduct a conversation over the phone briefly and concisely, recognize telephone hooligans and politely but firmly cut off their attempts. People holding higher positions learn to hold meetings and argue their decisions in a team.
If the training has some vague title like “How to become happy”, “How to find yourself”, etc., then, most likely, their content will be just as vague. As an example, here are a few names of trainings offered by leading training centers in Moscow:
- "Call of the Jungle"
- "I am a woman",
- "Return to yourself"
- "Fulcrum"
- "How to increase energy"
- "Falling into Infinity"
- "Children's rope course"
- "A Journey on Your Own."
When choosing a training, imagine that you are in an unfamiliar restaurant and reading the menu. By choosing a dish called “Fantasy of a Sad Poet,” you risk eating who knows what. By choosing a dish called “dumplings”, you at least have an idea of what exactly they should bring you, and you will be able to evaluate the quality of the product.
The name of the training should make it clear what you will learn there.
Rule 2: training program.
Trainings are designed for different numbers of sessions. There are intensive programs that fit into two weekends, programs that involve classes in the evenings for several weeks. When paying money for the program, the client must clearly understand what exactly will happen in these classes. Moreover, if what happens in a lesson does not correspond to the program, the client has the right to be indignant, ask to follow the program or return the money. What will a theatergoer say if instead of Othello they show Uncle Vanya? or if instead of what was stated in the poster famous actor will an unknown extra play?
Training programs are often as vague as their names. For example, the description of the “Personal Effectiveness” training is as follows: “This training gives you the opportunity to prioritize goals, learn to set larger goals for yourself, see new ways to achieve them, create new level relationships in the team.
You will learn to support each other in strong manifestations and deal with weaknesses, connect personal goals with company goals. The work process will turn into an exciting game in which everyone wins.”
Reading this, I want to ask a question: excuse me, but what will I do there? Are you suggesting that I play a “fun game” for two days? Can I find out which one?
A small example from personal experience. At one of the trainings I attended, the trainer, a pretty woman, entered the audience carrying a large plush bright orange hare by her ears. Having introduced herself, she invited the assembled group (8 people) to complete a simple task: as quickly as possible, make sure that this hare touches the hands of all those gathered. We passed the hare to each other along the chain, and completed the task in 15 seconds. She then invited us to think about how we could complete this task differently and achieve our goal much faster. After consulting, we quickly optimized the process: all participants joined their palms at one point, and one of them took the hare and “planted” it on these joined palms. The hare touched the hands of all participants, the goal was achieved, the result improved five times! (the second time we spent only 3 seconds completing the task). The coach with a beaming face concluded: you see how much you can achieve with a little thought!
... oddly enough, the participants in the action with the hare (adults, serious people) were terribly pleased with themselves. Still: we coped with the task, the result improved! Well done! But still: which of us in our work would benefit from the ability to transfer a stuffed bunny from hand to hand in a record amount of time? Who among us didn’t know that by thinking about something we can improve it?
Often, the trainer sets a task for the audience that is not required to be completed anywhere except in a training situation. Thus, he violates one of the oratorical morals - prudence. As A.A. points out. Volkov, “a rhetorician should not... create imaginary problems and cause artificial conflicts.” If students came to learn the art of negotiations, it would be natural to talk about negotiation techniques, about the techniques used in their process, then offer a game situation in which some of the students would speak on behalf of one company, some on behalf of another, and they would negotiate together , for example, upon concluding a cooperation agreement. To prevent the training from reproducing a work routine that is already boring, you can try to make the situation unusual: for example, negotiations on product placement between a film studio and a manufacturing company (in reality, people are unlikely to find themselves in such a situation, but a discussion of film realities and an agreement about how many times and in what situations the hero in the frame will drink juice from a certain company is of keen interest).
When going to the training, the student must imagine exactly what tasks he will have to perform.
Rule 3: intrusion into the human psyche.
Unfortunately, even trainings that have a clear name and a clear program do not always turn out to be harmless. A trainer who masters techniques for influencing the psyche can easily “bind” people to himself, convince them that they have achieved real results and should not stop on this path. Here the person undergoing the training will have to rely solely on his intuition. If you don’t like something that happens during the training or seems strange, ask questions, find out why you are now being offered to do such an exercise. Here, as in previous cases, there is a clear criterion: during the training you do exactly what you came to learn. If you came to learn to dance, that means you dance. If you came to learn to speak, speak. If at a dance training you are asked to give a speech, and at a public speaking training you are asked to dance, you are in the wrong door.
Returning to the previous point: the tasks that a trainer sets for his audience are not only useless, but also frankly incorrect. For example, a well-known exercise called “Submarine” (in other versions – “Black Mark”): the group imagines itself as being in a sinking submarine. Everyone takes turns trying themselves in the role of the one on whom the distribution of life jackets depends: “Everyone receives tags: 5 tags for Life and 5 tags for Death, they must be distributed. To do this, a human chain is organized in which everyone walks past each other, looks into the eyes and says one of three phrases: “I give you life” (and gives a Gold Mark), “You will have to die” (gives a Black Mark) and “I don’t know.” "(doesn't give anything)".
What is this exercise supposed to teach? Is this training for people who will work as submarine commanders? The lesson involves ordinary people who, God willing, will never have to make a decision about who to kill and who to leave alive. Moreover, if a person who has completed the training ends up in such a situation in reality, it is unlikely that he will use the acquired skills there. In a spacious, cozy club with light walls, a smiling secretary and a coffee machine, it is very difficult to imagine that you are dying from lack of oxygen on a submarine. People are essentially forced to go up to their comrades and tell them “you shouldn’t/you should live.” For what? Who gave them the right to decide? Moreover, it is impossible to leave the game, refuse, or not decide.
Seduced by the beauty and effectiveness of this exercise, I once included it in my training. Having surrounded everything with philosophical reflections on the essence of communication, that you can kill with a word, so let’s try to experience what it’s like to really kill..., I explained to the group the essence of the task. Everyone set to work with enthusiasm, and then one feature appeared that was not in any way prescribed in the instructions for the exercise. Everyone began to follow the example of the first one who handed out tags, with very slight deviations (someone “saved”, for example, his friend). As a result, several people collected a whole collection of “black marks” - no one wanted to leave them alive. The first one to come out made a decision (perhaps on the principle of “I don’t like his face”), the rest followed him in single file. If the purpose of this exercise is to reveal that a person is susceptible to herd mentality, then such a difficult moral situation is unlikely to be necessary for this.
Often this type of exercise is left by-effect. One woman who underwent training using similar techniques told me that as a result of the training, she completely lost... her love for pets. In the same situation of a “boat” from which it was necessary to throw out ballast, she first got rid of unnecessary things, and then of the dog, which, according to the trainer’s tip, was also sailing with her. Some time after this, she discovered that she no longer felt compassion for her sick dog: having once decided for herself that this was “ballast”, she stopped empathizing with her.
There are many examples of such exercises. Not all of them are related to murder. For example, the “Desert Island” situation, where no one kills anyone or throws anyone out of the boat - people are simply forbidden to use words. This leads to the following result: “I tried to invite the people to hunt in order to get food - the people thought about it, but quickly realized that another hunt was more interesting. The women began to tease the men, the men began to run after the women. ... Young men enthusiastically depicted how they raped girls, from which the girls were in undisguised delight.”
What is the purpose of such an exercise? Realize that a person without speech is an animal? But is this information so valuable (the exercise lasts an hour, and an hour of training is not cheap) and so unknown to a person?
Regarding everything that happens during the training, ask the question “why?” – for yourself or a coach.
Rule 4: Trainer's personality.
The trainer is the main component of what happens during the training. The success of any training is based on his self-confidence, competence, and ability to help. Therefore, if during a demonstration lesson the trainer for some reason made a negative impression on you, you can safely refuse the training - it is very difficult to intensively receive information and act on the instructions of a person you do not like.
As paradoxical as it may sound, you shouldn’t like the coach “too much.” Often people who lack self-confidence become business training leaders precisely in order to feel confident successful person- at your expense. In a number of training centers, the image of a “guru” trainer is created, whose every word is heeded as if it were a revelation. A coach is the same person as his students; he has neither supernatural abilities nor sacred knowledge. He is well versed in a particular subject and you have come to gain knowledge and skills related to that subject.
Moreover, the most highly qualified coach seems to not exist. You do something yourself, learn, try, and he simply guides you with his questions and comments. Therefore, among business trainings the most effective and difficult direction coaching is considered - the coach does not explain anything, does not force him to do anything, he simply asks his client questions “why?” and for what?". These questions force the client - usually the head of the company - to think why his employees cannot create, for example, high-quality documents. And the answer to this question is at the same time the answer to the question of what to do about it. “Coaching is an alternative management behavior to command and control.” The coach offers to look at the problem from the other side, try to solve it in a different way than they are used to in this company - but that’s all.
Read customer reviews on training company websites. Where they are filled with admiration for the coach, his skills, charm and other things, they create a “guru” out of the coach. A self-confident and professionally competent person will not create a cult of his own personality - he will step into the shadows and let the students work on their own.
The less personality of the trainer himself in the lesson, the better.
Rule 5: What training is NOT.
Along with highly qualified psychologists who use their knowledge for evil and zombify people, outright laymen also become trainers. They can turn training into something it shouldn't be. So:
ü Training is NOT a lecture. Passive listeners are good at school and college. The word training means “training” - you come to work, train, try and make mistakes, and not just listen;
ü Training is NOT a game. The other extreme that coaches go to is turning the lesson into an outdoor game. Of course, it is useful for adults to remember childhood from time to time, but training presupposes learning;
ü Training is NOT a closed structure. Anyone at any stage should be able to leave the game. You can refuse any task, you can get up and leave at any time and NO ONE has the right to stop you;
ü Training – NOT network marketing. The “refer a friend and get a discount” system is good for selling miracle herbs for weight loss, but not for improving professional skills.
The event closest in spirit and procedure to training is the ordinary sports training. The trainer explains in detail what kind of exercise his students will now do and what muscle group it is designed for (if I recently had a broken arm and I absolutely cannot work out my biceps, I’ll go pedal the exercise bike for now). Shows. The students are watching. They ask if there is something they don’t understand. They start doing it themselves. The coach is watching. Corrects if someone does something wrong. Explains again if necessary. He makes sure that everything works out right for everyone. Everyone fulfills required amount approaches. Then a new exercise begins. Nobody considers the coach to be a superman, he just has the appropriate education, but we don’t. We want to play sports and do it under the guidance of a knowledgeable and experienced person. And if someone suddenly pulls a muscle or accidentally hurts himself, he can leave the training and return when he recovers.
Whitmore J., Coaching high efficiency. M., 2005. P. 11.
