I recently spoke at an industry conference where some interesting comments were made during some of the sessions I led. One 19-yearold at the conference said, \u201cI don\u2019t like books. I get what I need from the Internet.\u201d Meanwhile, another woman in her early 20s talked about turning down a face-to-face orientation with her company\u2019s CEO by asking, \u201cDon\u2019t you just have it on a flash drive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBoth of these comments could be indicative of statements that we hear are characteristic of \u201cMillennials\u201d\u2014those who came of age after the year 2000. There are some who would say this shows us the direction we need to go in training them. I respectfully disagree. If content is king, then caring needs to be queen. We cannot assume that all one needs in a training process is content. If this were true, then perhaps e-learning is all that is needed.<\/p>\n
\tI think we also need caring, connection, and context\u2014and these cannot always (and perhaps seldom) be conveyed through an online or distance medium. Let me say it again: If content is king, then caring needs to be queen. Take, for example, the ad that says, \u201cYou can become a group discussion leader in the privacy of your own home!\u201d Do you really believe that? Can someone truly become a competent group discussion leader without ever being with other people? I don\u2019t think so. The facts may be available in the privacy of your own home, but developing competency requires people.<\/p>\n
\tPEOPLE SKILLS NEED IN-PERSON TRAINING<\/strong><\/p>\n \tSo much of the research shows that people are hired for technical and functional skills but fired for lack of people skills. These people skills (or core skills, as I call them) need to be taught, fundamentally, through actually interacting with other people. This is where the caring comes in.<\/p>\n \tOver and over again in leadership studies when people describe the traits they admire in leaders, the top things that cause them to follow other people are integrity, listening, truthfulness, and trust. Knowing that someone else has these requires demonstration\u2014and often, time.<\/p>\n \tAnd in most cases, this is accomplished more deeply and more quickly through face-to-face connection. In the training context, this is the social component of training that is more quickly accomplished in a classroom setting versus a virtual setting. After the training is over, it is much easier to connect and communicate with people you actually have met face to face and spent time with during the training\u2014this is the context phase.<\/p>\n \tI do a lot of work internationally (as I\u2019m writing this, I\u2019m a couple of days from two weeks working with clients in Dubai and Bahrain). While I have done more than my share of Webinars, the majority of my training and consulting internationally is done face to face. And the majority of my business comes from people I have met face to face and developed a relationship with because we\u2019ve spent time together, shared a meal, etc.<\/p>\n \tKNOW WHEN TO FOLD<\/strong><\/p>\n \tA good current analogy is the phenomenon called \u201cTexas Hold \u2019Em.\u201d You can play the game online. You can learn the game online. But the online game only partially equips you to play the exact same game with live people face to face.<\/p>\n \tThe fundamental facts of the game and the odds are the same. But there is another set of facts about playing with people that can\u2019t be taught online: the byplay, the tells (the little physical movements that tell you whether someone you\u2019re playing actually has a really good hand\u2014or is bluffing), and so forth.<\/p>\n \tSo, once, again content is king, but caring and connection\u2014the people side of learning\u2014is queen.<\/p>\n \tWithout both, you lose and lose big. So, as you look at your training, where are the caring and connection sides of your process? Are they there?<\/p>\n \tAre they alive and healthy? Are they in balance or out of balance? It\u2019s certainly something to think about.<\/p>\n \tUntil next month, add value and make a difference!<\/p>\n \tBob Pike, CSP, CPAE, CPLP Fellow, is known as the \u201ctrainer\u2019s trainer.\u201d He is the author of more than 30 books, including \u201cCreative Training Techniques Handbook.\u201d You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook using bobpikectt.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If content is king, then caring needs to be queen in training. And caring, connection, and context cannot always be conveyed through an online or distance medium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[26],"class_list":{"0":"post-9776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-trainer-talk","8":"magazine_issues-november-2013"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n