Overcoming Resistance to Training

Last week I wrote about some of the reasons people don’t want to go to training (read it here). Today I want to help solve the problem that I outlined in that article. Let’s talk about overcoming the resistance to training.

If you want to overcome the resistance to training, while you need to know what the objections are, there are some things you can do both organizationally and interpersonally to lower resistance. In other words, when the items below are in place, you will lower overall resistance before you get to specific objections.

Organizational Actions

There are some things you can do organizationally or structurally to set all training up to be seen in a better light and be more valuable. Here are some important things to do:

• Match training with real work. There are always plenty of things we could teach employees that would be helpful. But when we focus training on the most important skills that drive organizational success, we will reduce the resistance to training. 
• Clarify expectations. Make sure your leaders are prepared for the conversation around people attending training. The value of the training, the purpose for the training, the expectations of use of the training are all critical to melting the resistance to training.
• Create behavior matches. The leaders of training attendees are critical in reducing training resistance. When people see others exhibiting these new skills (especially their boss), they begin to believe that the training is important to work success.
• Make it good. Hopefully this goes without saying. But many of us have been to (too much) training that was sub-par, ineffective, or a one-way lecture. If you want people to be open to attending training, make sure it is a useful and valuable learning experience.
• Focus on learning, not training. I’m using the word “training” here to keep us all on the same page. Remember though, that while people may not love going to training, human beings are learning beings. Because of people’s past (sometimes bad) experience with training, we recommend using the word learning more and training less.

Interpersonal Actions

While there is plenty we can do organizationally to set training up for success, individual employees are still making their own assessments about how useful and important training is to them. Make sure your communication about training and the conversations leaders have with their folks meet these criteria too.

• Show them relevance. Help people see why this training matters to their work and organizational success. If you have prioritized and designed effectively, this becomes a one-on-one marketing exercise.
• Connect the dots. People care about the organization’s success but want to know too how learning new skills helps them. Connect the dots for people to see personal value in attending training and using what they learn.
• Keep the quality bar high. When people have positive experiences with training, they will have less resistance to the next session.
• Follow-up. Training is an event, but learning is a process. If training stands alone, people won’t see relevance for long. But if there is follow-up from their leader, coaching around the skills, and ongoing support for applying what was learned, people will be more open to the next learning experience.

Now What?

If you are doing these things, you will experience far less overall resistance to training. The resistance that remains can be addressed in individual conversations by understanding their concerns and addressing them one at a time (the article linked above can be helpful as a starting point).

There are generally three kinds of people attending any training workshop:

• Prisoners – they were told to attend (and would rather not be there)
• Vacationers – hey, it is better than going to work!
• Willing learners – people with an open mind or those who are anxious to attend and learn something new.

Remember that your goal is to not lean into simple compliance (going because they have to!) and try to help people see at least some value, so they go with at least an open mind, rather than feeling like a prisoner.

Transferring training into workplace behaviors is hard enough – doing it with prisoners is nearly impossible.