Ever since I started my MBA Classes, I was enormously enthralled by the Training and Development classes. There was always a debate within myself whether it was the subject that actually seduced me to learn the concept into the gravitas or it is purely that the lectures were interesting in the class. What ever the reason is, my genuine gratitude to the professors, the exercises and the subject to top it all, as it had not only forced me to push the envelope to investigate in deeper pockets, also helped to keep in practice every lesson that has been learnt during the course



I honestly get annoyed when people say, “Wow, yet another training program to unwind ourselves from the stress” or “Boy oh boy! Another program to attend, really these trainings consume lots of time and delays my deadlines.” It really pains a trainer when he gets to hear these statements because a trainer before starting a program not only is excited but also invests unfathomable time, energy and efforts to ensure the program goes stupendous



This initial grump of the participants creates a toxic environment in the room for the reasons being obvious that these not only tamper the energy levels of the trainer but also a contagious opinion that creeps easily among the rest of the audience. Above all, the greatest challenge for a trainer I have experienced is while training audience on soft skills part of theirs, albeit the fact being a delicate area to train them on but also the majority percentage of the audience attend with a snobbish intention like, “Does the trainer think that we do know how to communicate? What does the trainer knows about me?”



This is, in a way, a noble thought when people think like this as it proves their self respect, but then almost all the times these trainings are taken on an offensive note. A strong notion is expressed at this point, as I had a recent experience when I started off one of my training programs with Basic English Grammar, I see audience with killer looks asking me with a serious tone, why do you think we need to discuss Grammar now? But when few posers were asked hardly any appropriate reply from. Even though, each of the participants understood that they need to refresh their Grammar knowledge, almost all of them have taken as an offensive. However, with a little explanation of the significance, the audience gets convinced usually, though sounds an easy task, truly involves an immense preparation



Now the real challenge for a trainer comes from the Management, as management most of the times believe that, trainings can be considered at a later stage but before, the resource has to be allocated. In other words, fit the resource into the project, allocate the resource for the training later or else, most of the times, the reporting manager is the person who would not be able to send his resource for the training



Despite these challenges being regular at work, the ultimate victim would be the training department again at the end, as the comment is so obvious that, the training team has not giving proper training to the team members, hence could not perform.



Also, it would be a real frustrating experience for a trainer, when the audience walk into the training at a delayed time, than the scheduled and it would aggravate more when the same audience express that the program has been continued beyond the scheduled time, which ideally would have been avoided in the event of attending at the said time



I remember one the employees in the senior management defined that, Learning and Development should not be a major concern as it is not a revenue generator, which is completely false. This department might not be a revenue generator directly but then, it is truly a significant department as, only if the employee attends the training he would be able to upgrade his knowledge and then perform exceedingly well. If the same employee is not provided any channel of learning, I am sure it would be a difficult phase for an employee to sustain



Though there is a debate that if someone really wants to learn, there are always resources, but what is the use if these resources are not used when necessary?