The poster was pasted on our office wall and quite vividly it read, ‘The Best leader­ship Development Seminar for Managers and Team Leaders’.

Attending the training

“You and three others are going to attend this training even if it means that you will have to miss office for two days” my boss told me as well as my other three col­leagues in a pleasantly firm tone. “Sure Sir, we will make the most of this training and will share everything we have learnt with you” I responded with a tone of conviction.

We reached the venue, it was the conference room of a five star ho­tel.

“At exactly 9 am the trainer be­gan the session.

“From that time onwards till al­most 4pm all that we were seeing in front of us was a tsunami of ‘power-point slides’.

The trainer kept showing slide after slide and simultaneously would read that which was writ­ten on each of those slides in a tone that seemed very dull and without passion.

The almost continuous lectur­ing by the trainer along with the incessant projection of the power-point slides was getting too much for me and I am sure for many of the participants.

My eyes were beginning to feel the strain and boredom was be­ginning to infect my mind quite strongly.

The most difficult part was at­tending the session after a deli­cious and sumptuous lunch. I was sitting in the conference room but my mind was getting tremendous­ly drowsy.

I must admit that the ‘content’ (knowledge) which the trainer was presenting to us was enlight­ening, deep and introspective but having said that, as later I would realise, the same content was also available on the internet.

At exactly 4.30pm the trainer brought his training to a halt. “Dear participants, today I have shared with all of you the most amazing perspectives and theo­ries on the subjects of leadership. Do you have any questions to ask or doubts to clarify?” the trainer asked.

All the fifteen participants, in­cluding me, remained quiet. “Not even one question! That is great. I believe you have therefore ab­sorbed all the theories and case studies perfectly from today’s training.

Tomorrow I will continue to share some more aspects related to the internal and external obsta­cles which may come in the way of leadership.

I shall also show you a video on Innovative Leadership and its importance in organisational growth”, the trainer said.

“Thank God! Tomorrow seems like it will be a different session from today” one of the partici­pants whispered to me. “I too hope for the same.

“Today’s session was like a bor­ing lecture with too many slides all through the day.

“We should have got some oppor­tunities to share our thoughts as well” another participant added. Saying this all of us left the hotel with the hope that the second day would be more interesting.

However, the second day of train­ing was almost a replica of the first day’s session except for the fact that the trainer concluded the session by showing us a video on Innovative leadership and subse­quently presented to us some ex­amples about the same.

Feedback of the training

The next day we were called by our boss to his cabin. “So how was the training? What all did you learn?” he asked with a big smile. “To be honest Sir, the training was more of a ‘one-way-traffic’” I responded.

“What do you mean by that?” the boss asked. “Sir, the topic was leadership skills development, a topic on which the training could have been delivered in a more in­teractive manner.

Through the entire training pro­gram the trainer spoke for almost eighty per cent of the time. He gave us a few exercises to solve but it was a very boring process especially because we never got any opportunities to make presen­tations on it.

Also, the whole training was al­most completely engulfed by pow­er-point slides and our eyes were getting extremely strained.

I don’t say that the content was bad. In fact it was genuinely inter­esting, but the manner in which this content was delivered by the trainer led to many of us feeling uninvolved and demotivated.

“If you ask us, the training was complete but not effective” My boss heard me out and smiled.

“I know exactly what you mean. A year ago I was sent to Singapore to attend a training program on the same topic of leadership and I had the same experience.

“I thought this particular semi­nar would be different but I guess it was not to be!”

My boss seemed disappointed. That day I realised how important the methodology of any training is.

Trainings topic must attract interest

The topic of a training or semi­nar could be most interesting and beneficial for the participants.

The venue for the training or seminar could also be most amaz­ing and lavish with probably the best food and beverages and yet with all this, the training or semi­nar can become totally or partial­ly ineffective and unproductive es­pecially because of the absence of an appropriate ‘METHODOLOGY’ which is inspiring, innovative, in­triguing, involving and most im­portantly…’INTERACTIVE’.

It is very important to remember that in today’s dynamic world of business the organising and exe­cution of training sessions on var­ious topics is very much required for the growth of the employees but having said that I firmly be­lieve that the way or method with which the training seminar is con­ducted can actually create the best effectiveness and impact upon the participants.

In my next column I will be throwing light on one of the most powerful methodologies that has been used across the world by some of the most successful cor­porate trainers.

Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj