How Do You Encourage Someone to Attend Training When They're Not Interested?

Dear friends,

Does anyone have a solution to motivate a person who is not at all interested in attending training sessions? In this case, the person is aware that they are lacking behind in some areas, yet they avoid taking the training.

Please share your views on how to make such individuals interested in participating in training sessions.

Regards,
Chiragi

Hi Friend,

It can be quite tough to handle such people; they either have a problem with ego, attitude, or overconfidence, or they are just laid back. These individuals can unnecessarily influence others with their negative attitude. Confront them, explain the consequences of poor performance, which can ultimately lead to termination.

Thank you, Sari. You are absolutely right.

Hey Friends, this is a major problem in any Training and Development (T&D) department. Please share your views, so we may get a number of solutions after the discussion to motivate such people.

Keep posting. Keep training, please.

Regards,
Chiragi

Dear Chiragi,

Good Morning.

How to motivate the people who are not at all interested in training?

First, explain the needs (5 W's and 1 H) (What, Where, When, Who, Why, and How) and discuss the pros and cons of the training.

The main reason for lack of interest is attitude problems.

In that case, you have to deal with them in a calm and cool manner. Talk to the individual to understand why he/she is not interested, what the problem is, whether there is a fear factor, or any other issue. Compliment their daily activities, appreciate any small pieces of great work (in their daily routine), make them feel like they are the core of the team, and they may become more excited and interested in attending the training.

Understand them better and explain that the training will be useful for them and for the organization. Emphasize a WIN-WIN situation. When people feel motivated, they will be keen to participate in training programs.

Incorporate fun, games, and exercises into the training. Instead of calling it training, use a different name that will make people eager to attend. You can title the program as, for example, "GAME FOR ALL - To work for Continuous Improvement," etc.

Most of the time, discussing with individuals and addressing their attitude problems can help (The probability of negative attitude people in a group may be 0.01).

I believe this could be one solution to motivate individuals who are not interested in training.

Please feel free to revert back with details if you have any queries.

Remember, there is always a solution to any problem.

Thanks,

G. Raghuraman.

Hi friends,

As mentioned by Chiragi, this is a common challenge, and there is no single solution for this common problem. I recommend the following:

1. Try to identify the root cause of this challenge by discussing it in person with the individual (without making him/her panic or feel threatened), with their reporting authority, or with someone who is interested in their well-being. Work on it together.

2. Make the program more participative; allow them to express their thoughts.

3. Avoid imposing strict rules and refrain from criticizing anyone during the training session.

I would like to remind you that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to overcoming this challenge. Continuously work on it, take the time to understand it, and then move on to the next step. Stay positive at all times, and most importantly, do not take it personally.

Regards,
Vijayakumar

Dear G. Raghuraman,

Very good morning to you too.

You are right that the main reason for this is the attitude problem. To emphasize win-win is also worth doing, but the thing is that, in case the person you are training is quite older than you (the trainer), how do you make them comfortable without any ego problem? Please guide us for the same also.

Thanks for sharing your view. I will make one conclusion sheet for all, after the long discussion on this topic.

Regards,
Chiragi

Dear Chiragi,

Thank you for your email. If a person is older, make them feel that you are part of the family. You should make them feel that you are part of the family and give them the due respect. Talk to him/her, persuade him/her, and make him/her feel great. You have to convince him, and that is one of the pivotal characteristics of a trainer.

Go along with him/her and their way to tackle the problems. It is the best solution for any problem.

Thank you,
G. Raghuraman

Hi Chiragi,

Well, nice question you had asked.

In my point of view:

1. First, you have to analyze each such kind of person's interest. What are they interested in, basically? For example, in my organization, in the TNI form, one person has suggested doing a Brainstorming activity. This will make us think twice before applying something. So, through the TNI form, you can directly check out their interest, and based on that, you can provide training to them.

Thanks for sharing such a case. Keep it up.

Hemant

Hi,

The basic problem is whether a particular training is a "felt need" of the person attending the program. If he has no motivation to learn, the response is lukewarm. The focus should be to make the training program interesting where the individual feels attracted towards it.

It is for this reason that many employers organize training programs in distant places away from the workplace, where the employee is free from his work schedule and has a little free time. Some organizations encourage employees to take their families as well. This is a normal feature in international programs as well.

We have to give a lot of attention to the faculty and the method of teaching. It is the skill of the faculty to hold the attention of the participants. In many programs, senior officials also spare time and sit for some time to make an objective assessment of the quality of the faculty. This also sends a message to the participants that the top management is serious about the program.

The organization must be very selective in sponsoring the employees for the training. Sometimes we find that the 'most separable persons' are the ones who are sent for training programs. Obviously, they have no interest, and the program is of no use to the company.

The company must have a very close follow-up with the participants to decide on the long-term course of action.

Cyril

Dear Chiragi,

It's a very interesting topic. The solution lies in effective and strategic communication. Recently, I attended a course on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) from one of the renowned personalities, Prof. Moiz Hussain. The same question was asked by one of the participants, and he narrated one of his experiences.

He was asked by a milk-selling company to motivate young children, probably aged between 5-12 (don't remember the exact age), to develop a habit of drinking milk. Children are usually not so keen on drinking milk. The session was one and a half hours long. You won't believe Prof. Moiz started with a discussion on games, cartoons, movies, sports, and all the topics that interest children. The discussion went on for an hour and 20 minutes with complete participation from the children. In the last ten minutes, the Professor talked about the benefits of drinking milk, and the children were so engaged at that time that they believed whatever he instructed them.

Such is the power of communication; try this.

Best Regards,

Mobeen Tejani

Hi,

I hope the various suggestions made by all the members would help you to make a head start at least.

Just to add - while it is one of the most critical challenges for a T&D group to motivate employees to attend/benefit from the programs organized, it is very important to firstly understand the root cause of low attendance.

There could be various reasons apart from attitudinal problems, possibly the timing/duration/topic, etc.

I hope you do have formal mechanisms to identify the training needs - through appraisal data, etc.

The question is how do you get to the root cause. You may speak to the supervisor of the attendees, the attendees, etc. You can plan the training programs in consultation with the group heads, etc., just to ensure the programs do not coincide with any critical project deadlines.

Also, you may introduce special incentive points for attending the trainings and also some negative points for not attending. This will help in invoking a better response for the programs.

Hope the above inputs are helpful.

Regards,

Asha