On the Road 73him for, so he said that he was unhappy about taking on the
training if it was isolated from the wider context and busi-
ness structure. On its own, he did not think it would address
the problems they were facing. It seemed to him they were
attempting to make an identity level change with a capability
solution. When a business changes its identity it will often
need new skills, but these will flow from the change, they will
not produce the change. The company said the training was
their preferred solution, so they parted company in amica-
ble disagreement.
I think my friend decided for the best. The short-term
financial gain was not enough to offset his values about train-
ing, or his enlightened self-interest, for if the training did
not deliver, then this company would not be a repeat client
and his reputation might suffer. So my friend was motivated
to avoid the work. The group of values it met (financial, pres-
tigious, enjoyable training) did not counter the values it
went against (satisfactory long-term solution).
Most business training gives disappointing results because
it is not linked to the larger business context and to real mea-
surable business benefits in the service of a shared vision and
values. The trainer should be acting more as a consultant
and be involved in the discussion of how the training will be
supported in the company and how the results will be mea-
sured. Otherwise training is just a change of scenery and will
give little or no result. And guess who will get the blame
when it fails to deliver? Yet if the trainer is even halfway com-
petent, the failure will not be down to them but be because
the training was not clearly linked to the business and sup-
ported inside the business. In fact training should be set up
so that it is impossible for it not to give results.
Inertia
This is when you don’t move at all — you just don’t have
enough energy. It actually takes more energy to start moving
than to keep moving, because it is usually easier to keep on
doing what you are doing already than to do something dif-
ferent. As much energy keeps you back as pulls you forward.