Can trainers learn from Rosa Parks?

As I waited for 6 hours to pay my respect, I started thinking…
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Parks showed power of one
"Her feet were not tired. At least, no more so than usual.She always hated that legend so let us, in this, the week of her death at age 92, set the record straight. And while we're at it, let's correct another misconception: It's not precisely true that she refused to give up her seat to a white man. The seats next to her and across the aisle were empty, vacated by blacks who had heeded the bus driver's command to get up. So there were places for the white man to sit.But under the segregation statutes of Montgomery, Ala., no white man was expected to suffer the indignity of sitting next to a black woman. So driver J.F. Blake asked again. And Rosa Parks, this soft-spoken 42-year-old department store seamstress just trying to get home from work, gave him her answer again. She told him no.Her feet were not tired. Her soul was exhausted.On Dec. 1, it will be 50 years since that drama played out. Fifty years since police took her away. Fifty years since black Montgomery protested by boycotting buses. Fifty years since community leaders tapped as their leader the boyish-looking new preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.That moment in Court Square was the birthplace of the 13-year epoch called the Civil Rights Movement. You could make a compelling argument it also spawned the modern world.None of which Rosa Parks could have foreseen that December evening. All she knew was that she was tired, sick of acquiescing, accommodating, accepting foolish white laws and white people who said she wasn't good enough to occupy a bus seat. Something had gotten into her that wouldn't let her go along any more, something that turned a lifetime of yes into an electric moment of no… “
(By Leonard Pitts)
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Rosa decided at one point that “no” was the right answer. It was because the limit was passed. The “no” was in reality a “yes” to those values that the civil rights movement fought so hard for.
What does this have to do with trainers? In the last few years, the ethics responsibilities of business leaders have grown significantly beyond compliance to include the mandate to build ethical cultures in organizations, where trust can grow and thrive and where employees themselves become the security network for corporate ethics. Ethics is about decision. “No” is a decision we should make sometimes.

Are trainers people of integrity? A person of integrity is one who is consistent and congruent, who “does the right thing,” even when doing so is challenging. Integrity for trainers means walking the talk, maintaining a learning attitude, and standing behind every suggestion, recommendation, and prescribed action. As hype and exaggeration permeates the training industry at a disheartening level, trainers that can say no offer a steadfast resource for effectiveness.

If I look at my work, I believe the main situation when tough choices become tinged with difficult moral dilemmas is dealing with resistance in the class.

THE POWER” IN THE CLASS
According to John Heron, in any course a trainer can manage the different aspects of Programs design, Objectives, Needs Analysis, Learning Activities etc…using three modes of facilitation: The hierarchical mode, the cooperative mode and the autonomous mode.

In hierarchical mode the trainer directs the learning process, exercises power over it, does things for the group, manages group feelings, provides structures for learning.

In the cooperative mode power over the learning process is shared: the trainer enables and guides the group to become more self-directing in the various forms of learning, helping group members to decide on the program, to give meaning to experiences, to do their own confrontation, and so on. The trainer’s views, though influential, are not final but one among many.

In the autonomous mode the trainer does not do things for the group, or with them, but gives them freedom to find their own way, exercising their own judgment without any intervention on the trainer’s part. It is the subtle art of creating conditions within which people can exercise full self-determination in their learning.

A trainer should be explicit about which mode he or she is in and learn to be flexible in moving from mode to mode in light of the changing situation in the group. Regardless, we should thank the Rosa Parks in our classes! Thank God they resist!

THE “POWER OF NO” in the CLASS

Real learning takes time and effort. When training for lasting change, let’s deal with resistance in organizations with curiosity and open communication. Before trying to convince someone, let’s learn more. A great way to learn is to explore people's responses — especially the responses that strike you as resistance. Every response carries valuable information, clues about the work, the worker, the workplace or about what we are “really” trying to do to people. It can help us maybe by changing the mode we should operate.

We should actively encourage active discussion, questioning and challenging. This Socratic approach to learning makes for great explorations and for a much more thorough, stimulating and enjoyable learning experience that the learn-from-the-wise-one approach. Simply because some 'authority figure' says something is true doesn't make it so - intelligent learning requires that everything is tested and thoroughly challenged! So trainers need to encourage trainees to discuss, question, and challenge.

OTHER IDEAS TO INCREASE RESISTANCE

Let them out-number and plot against you! Consider Ken Blanchard's comment: “None of us is as smart as all of us.” The work needs to happen in learning teams in which we draw upon the skills and experiences of everyone taking part in the training. Small learning teams are friendlier, less inhibiting, and engender a higher degree of inter-personal respect. The benefits of this 'learning team' approach are quite remarkable and have to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

Learning hurts! I think we should never hide that it takes time and error to learn. Get the essentials on applying the knowledge - and you recognize the potential for further exploring each topic after the training.Leave them alone! Let them think for themselves and make their own discoveries. What's more, nothing is 'sacred'; everything is open to challenge and discussion. We need to refuse to cram hoards of people into our courses - even though doing so would be more profitable - because to do so would reduce the quality of the learning experience - and the quality of the fun the trainees will have.

Doing. Period. Learning a skill is not accumulating information. It is behavioral rather then intellectual. Trainers should respect people’s intelligence, integrity and individuality. Never talk at them or provide trainees with pre-digested ideas-to-be-absorbed. Get trainees 'hands on' with what they are learning through practical exercises, activities, reviews, and games.

So in summary: freedom to your learner is job number one. Your challenge: you may have to get out of their way, they may have to disagree with you. It looks like is bad but it is good. Really.