In the course brochure,
this workshop was introduced as “aimed at allowing the participants to effectively resolve issues
and implement solutions through the understanding of how people make decisions
as well as the enhancement of their ability to gain distinct advantages during
the negotiation process. Incorporating Neuro-Linguistic Programming principles
and techniques, the participants will definitely find this intensive and
dynamic course a refreshing and empowering experience. “
I have had no contact with Neuro-Linguistic Programming, nor know
anyone who openly professed his/her alignment with it, thus I was looking
forward to understanding how Neuro-Linguistic Programming could play a part in
the “intensive and dynamic course” to have “a refreshing and empowering
experience”.
Having had the opportunity to attend a couple of workshops
facilitated by different trainers, this workshop was indeed a “refreshing”
experience.
Punctuality and time management
Workshop was scheduled to begin at 9am and end by 5pm. On the first day, the trainer WT was ten
minutes late. He then proceeded to spend
the next ten minutes fiddling with the laptop while ignoring the
participants. After he was done fiddling
with the laptop, he launched into his self-introduction. Unabashedly, WT declared that instead of
flashing seven pages of his credentials and awards won, he had shortened them
into seven lines in order not to overwhelm the participants. He did not apologize for his tardiness,
despite the workshop starting close to half an hour past the scheduled time. What a negatively “refreshing” start to the
workshop.
WT did not display a good grasp of time. It was close to 11.30am by the time he
stopped for the first tea break, which meant that participants who arrived on
time or even earlier would have sat for 2.5 hours, listening to his spiel. We all could have written an exam during that
time!
On both days, WT did not keep to 5pm either.
Seating arrangement
Instead of a normal classroom seating arrangement, chairs were
arranged in a horseshoe, akin to front-row seats for a fashion catwalk
show. The chairs were arranged tightly,
making for very cramped sitting, and because the tables were behind the chairs,
participants had to take notes with course materials balanced on their laps. I felt like I was watching a show, with WT
saying “now it’s my show” a couple of times before he launched into his one-man
role-plays.
The seating arrangement did not help either, when participants had
to role-play or discuss in pairs. Backs
and shoulders ended up in mini-collisions when participants angled their bodies
to face their role-play partners.
This seating arrangement was certainly “refreshing”, compared to
the usual classroom seating arrangement of previous workshops I attended, but
it added nothing positive to the learning experience.
Trainer practising what he preaches
WT constantly reminded the participants to place themselves in the
other person’s perspective, so as to anticipate the other party’s responses
during negotiation. I was fairly
sceptical that he believed in that. I
thought it was de rigeur that trainers would have participants introduce
themselves before launching into the workshop proper. Some trainers would go further and ask
participants what they wished to take away from the workshop or specific issues
at work they encountered that they seek to solve from the takeaway from the
workshop. These were noted down on
flipcharts which the trainers constantly referred to.
“Refreshingly”, WT was not interested in his workshop
participants. Participants were not
asked to introduce themselves, nor asked for examples of difficulties they had
encountered during negotiations. I
remembered a fellow participant whom WT enlisted in a role-play. WT constantly referred to said participant as
“Bernard” when his name was “Vernon”.
And “Melissa” was in fact “Mitra”.
In WT’s words, small talk was important. Strangely, I did not observe him making small
talk with the participants before class started, nor during break time. On the second day, he ignored the
participants and fiddled with the laptop as usual before the workshop started. And when he decided he was ready, it was as
if a switch was flipped and he turned to life delivering his material with
exaggerated mannerism and gestures. This
transformation was truly fascinating (and slightly horrifying) to watch.
During the two days, WT constantly demonstrated role-play
responses where he asked participants to repeat his questions and he
role-played the appropriate responses.
When a participant commented that he had done the same as WT but
received a different outcome, WT said that he had omitted other details of the
scenario and he had no idea what the participant actually said to the other
party. This happened more than once
where WT had not painted his scenario fully before proclaiming his negotiation
prowess.
Comically, there were a couple of instances where participants
experiencing negotiation issues at work sought to highlight their situations to
WT who brushed their situations aside.
It was funny to watch the interaction almost denigrating into arguments
which WT appeared insistent on having the last (and correct) word.
During lunch, one participant questioned if WT truly understood
the dynamics of working in an office. Said participant then delved into
mathematics. Estimating WT to be in his
forties, and subtracting his twenty-odd years as a trainer, equalled WT being a
trainer right after his graduation from (or perhaps even during)
University. Conclusion of the maths
exercise was that WT had no experience working with fellow colleagues in an
office setting. That extrapolated to WT
being versed only in theory and led to the realisation in the small lunch group
that the only negotiations WT had probably seriously done was to negotiate his
trainer services and fees with companies.
This then led to further realisation on why he did not seem to be able
to comprehend the situations highlighted by fellow participants. This spark of realisation seemed to have
occurred in other participants as well.
Subsequently, after the lunch break, some participants either had
minimal responses to WT’s antics during his delivery of material, or did not
seemed convinced by WT’s role-play demonstrations, with them not bothering to
mask the scepticism on their faces.
There was another comical moment when WT switched off the lights
to show a video clip. Earlier, he had
very proudly declared that he overcame his childhood fear or heights and
darkness through changing his mindset and perception. When the lights went off, one participant
quipped rather loudly “oh, not afraid of the dark anymore?”
Methodologies
According to the course brochure,
methodologies that WT would use were:
·
employ powerful and dynamic presentations techniques that will
increase knowledge, enhance learning, heighten motivation and awareness
·
include role play sessions and other experiential activities to
make learning more effective and real
·
include interactive tools to “probe the comfort zone”
·
include group discussions and feedback to maximize the
participants’ learning abilities
While there were role-play sessions, I can’t vouch for WT’s
presentation techniques that were to some of the participants, exaggerated and
unrealistic instead of being “powerful and dynamic”. Was my learning ability maximised from this
workshop? I can’t say for sure, but
certainly, there are trainers and then there are trainers.
I’d loath to be so scathing and critical of a fellow human
being. I would suggest that WT take a
break from his training schedule and attend workshops conducted by other
trainers instead and observe the styles of a variety of trainers. Like he said, it helps to see things from the
other person’s perspective. His outfit
could also be a size or two smaller.
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