Video: They're Killing Your Training!

They’re killing your training, and you don’t even know who they are.

You spent weeks, maybe months, designing a great program.

You poured your soul into the content, like you always do.

You ran a killer session. People were engaged.

They were smiling and nodding their heads.

They snapped photos of your slides.

And they high-fived you as they left the room, energized to go do things the new way.

And then, the next morning, they went back to the office.

And that's where THEIR learning and YOUR training went to DIE.

This is how it happened.

Sometime around the second cup of coffee, there they were, peering over the walls of your learners’ cubicles: The Cynics.

Every office has them. You know, the employees who lie in wait, ready to pounce on every new idea, every new initiative, every new way of doing things.

And their proud of it!

At some point after your training, for every single one of YOUR learners, a Cynic glanced at the cover of YOUR training manual sitting on someone’s desk, and said something like, “Oh, that again? That training was mandatory 10 years ago. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.”

And just like that.

All that enthusiasm? Gone.

All that momentum? Dead in the water.

The improved performance? Not gonna happen.

Oh, and the promised business results? You didn’t know it at the time, but you lied!

And, when your stakeholders realize THAT, the value of your beautiful, well-designed, EXPENSIVE training program, along with YOUR VALUE, will take a plunge.

Why? Because you trained LEARNERS; you didn't forge ADVOCATES.

You gave them knowledge and skills, but you didn't give them ARMOR.

You taught them how to DO THINGS the new way, but you never taught them how to DEFEND the new way.

They may not even know why there IS a new way.

In every office around the world, if they can't defend the new way, they’ll be dragged right back to doing things to the old way.

And there goes everything you trained them for.

And you can be sure that the Cynics will be there, just waiting to make that happen.

Every workplace is crawling with Cynics, the Snipers who hit them with, "Yeah, but what if this one hypothetical thing happens? Then what?"

And the Whisperers, poisoning the waters and telling everybody, “This new way doesn’t work. Mark my words. You’ll see.”

These people aren't just resistant to change. They’re a THREAT to everything that L&D professionals stand for and everything we work for.

They’re the assassins of progress.

They kill morale.

They kill momentum.

And they kill YOUR worth to the organization.

So, what's the answer? Well, first, stop sending sheep back to the packs of wolves where they work.

You need to toughen them up.

You need to run drills.

I'm not talking about those scripted, cringey "role-plays" that everybody hates to do.

I'm talking about RED TEAM DRILLS, live-fire simulations where you pit your learners against the very arguments they’ll face back at the office, or in the plant, or wherever it is that they work.

During training, let them practice being Cynics.

Give them the Cynics’ Calling Cards— the phrases and tactics the Cynics are going to use to take the wind out of your learners’ sails back at the office.

And then teach them how to be Advocates and fight back against the nonsense.

When they hear, "We tried that before," let them practice their comeback: "Good. Then you know why it failed. Here's what's different this time."

When they’re asked, "What about the ROI?," they’ll reply with "What's the cost of doing nothing? Let's start with THAT." When you do this, something magical happens.

You don't just transfer competence.

You build confidence.

You create resilience.

And you turn learners who get pushed over into Advocates who push back.

Oh, and, by the way, learners LOVE Red Team Drills.

If you make the scenarios realistic enough, and they’re thinking of the actual Cynics with whom they’ll have to do battle, they’ll put everything they’ve got into making sure they can put down the put-downs, and they’ll become champions for what they learned in YOUR training program.

That’s how you make training stick.

That’s how you get real behavior change.

And that’s how you get results.

And that’s also how YOU prove YOUR value.

Start toughening up your learners and stop letting the Cynics overturn everything your learners—and YOU— have worked for.

To help you do this I've put together 10 Cynic Calling Cards, the phrases and tactics that each one uses, the Advocate's Strategies to neutralize each one, AND complete instructions on how to incorporate Red Team Drills into your training— all in one Advocate’s Red Team Playbook, which you can download for free at addie.academy/advocate.

Stop sending victims back to the office.

Start running Red Team Drills.

And start forging Advocates who’ll crush the Cynics and crush it on-the-job with the new learning they got in YOUR training.

Now, download the playbook.

And get out there and achieve the success YOU deserve in Corporate L&D.