We all love office training sessions. don't we?

I’m just off to deliver a training session.

In a previous life, I worked as a regional training officer for Barclays Bank (and look what a mess they got into afterwards) and I do quite enjoy standing on my feet in front of a crowd with a good set of notes, the facts at my fingertips and ‘performing’.  That will come as no surprise to those of you that know me, of course!

It’s a funny old thing, office training. Often (not always, but usually) the participants are reluctant and see other things as far more important than sitting in front of one of their senior managers who is spouting on about something they consider inconsequential and nothing to do with them. Therefore they rarely engage, reasoning that if they ask questions or show interest the session will be prolonged and keep them away from whatever else they think they should be doing for longer than absolutely necessary.

Just occasionally I have been to a training course which has proved stimulating, exciting and informative. They are the exception, and when I deliver a course I always try to emulate that and be animated and inclusive; there’s nothing more boring than sitting listening to someone speak for hours without variety. If it’ll only take 20 minutes, don’t pad it out for an hour and never, ever subject your audience to death by PowerPoint.

This afternoon’s session is to tell staff about a benchmarking exercise they have to take part in for a four week period in the run up to Christmas. It involves extra work, which is never popular, so I have a selling job to do. It involves completing data in a spreadsheet, which is also generally unpopular unless you are an anoraky statistician, which none of them are, so a bit of an uphill struggle.

By and large, I have discovered that Town Planners think town planning is the centre of the universe and nothing else that is not on their ethereal plain matters. The fact that they may be a costly resource, slow or inefficient is an alien concept to them, much like giving a decent level of polite and helpful customer care. One or two are particularly arrogant (I blogged about them a few weeks back) and if they think that you are not similarly qualified to them will treat you like doggie doos on their shoe- they have come unstuck in the past doing that to me (I'm actually more highly qualified than most of them), and so I doubt will try it again. This benchmarking could be seen as a threat, as it will expose their shortcomings as well as celebrate what they are doing well at.

But I’m a good trainer (not just my personal opinion by the way, I have been told so by others). I enjoy doing it, I make sure I’m properly prepared and I don’t just read off the slides. I use humour and invite participation. I will be highlighting the benefits and mentioning, although playing down, the disadvantages. So it should be OK.

So, off to the lions den! I should say that if I live to blog another day, it’s been OK. If you never hear from me again, you will know that they have eaten me alive!