Horse and water

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THERE is a saying, “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink”. I can see the relevance of this saying in many situations, and especially so in the field of human resource development. Last month, I was in a conference in Jakarta and one of the speakers said something pertinent to this maxim. He said there are three types of attendees in a seminar, namely, the prisoners, the tourists and the learners.

The ‘prisoners’ are those who do not want to be in the seminar in the first place. They have been sent by their companies. Given a choice, they would rather be somewhere else, even if it is just to watch paint dry. Thus, they consider themselves ‘prisoners’ for the duration of the course. Speakers and trainers hate this type of people. Even if they manage not to make themselves overtly disruptive, their silent negative vibe alone can have a dampening effect on the proceedings. Some trainers take a ‘no prisoner’ (excuse the pun) attitude toward these ‘wet blankets’.

Once I was in a three-day self-development camp in America. On the first day, as part of the ice-breaker and introduction, the trainer asked the participants to introduce themselves and also to say why they came to the course and what did they expect to get out of the three days. One recalcitrant man said, “I don’t expect to learn anything. I am happy with my life. I am here because my boss sent me.” Well, one thing can be said of him – he was frank and bold, but I am afraid, rather foolhardy. He was promptly shown the exit with a stern letter to his employer.

I must say that we do have many such ‘prisoner’ types lurking in our training seminars. Fortunately, or unfortunately, unlike the brash American they are of the silent sulking variety. When I was a kid in school, we used to look out of the window when we felt in the ‘prisoner’ mood, looking longingly at the fields and trees, wishing that we were out there chasing butterflies, or catching fish in the ‘longkang’ (drain). Our imagination allowed us to break free from the confines of the classroom. For a fleeting moment, we were prisoners no more … until we felt the rap on the back of our heads. “Pay attention!” said you-know-who and he immediately sentenced us to write 500 times, “I must not daydream in class”.

Nowadays, with the advancement of technology the ‘prisoners’ have a more effective tool. I am talking about the mobile phone. If stopped from actually talking on the phones, many will resort to messaging. It gets more annoying when you happen to have a bunch of iPhone junkies together. I have on a few occasions sat in meetings together with an ‘iPhone club’. They couldn’t seem to leave the darn thing alone — showing each other features, texting messages and sending photos (yes, photos) to the world out there. (Okay, I am digressing but I will deal with this topic soon. Someone just sent me a video clip called ‘disconnect to connect’. It is brilliant. So watch this space.)

Now, back to the issue at hand — participants in a seminar or talk — the next type is the ‘tourists’. Oh, they love being in a seminar, as long it is held in a location that can give them the holiday feel. They are not that concerned about the contents of the course or the effectiveness of the presentation skills of the trainers. They are ardent supporters of the property buyers’ motto, ‘location, location, location’. Oh, they are also concerned about the food as well. Getting them to attend a course in their own home base is like pulling teeth. (My apologies to the dentists, especially to my dentist, Dr Tan. I hope he does not read this column.)

The ‘tourists’ look at training as a perk. Unfortunately, many companies conspire to accentuate this delusion. They only send those who have been performing well to training, as a form of reward. The problem is that the poor performers who may be in dire need of training are overlooked. I know of at least one director of a department who amply rewarded himself to such boons — attending high powered courses in exotic places. On his bookshelf one can spot neatly bound course materials such as ‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward de Bono, ‘Seven Habits’ by Stephen Covey, the ‘Giant’ this, the ‘Power’ that, the ‘Think’, the ‘Other’, etc, etc. Nice! But did he gain anything and more importantly, was he able to share his new found knowledge and wisdom with the rest of the department?

The resistance to training and learning is shared by many employees and employers alike. Despite all the talk about the value of human capital, in practice many really don’t think so. They think that the ‘sharpening of the axe’ is a waste of time. In case you are wondering what the ‘sharpening of axe’ is all about, it derives from the story (my version) about an old man and his young charge and a bout of wood chopping. The young man took to his task with a frenzy, chopping non-stop. The old man went about his job in a deliberate and measured way, stopping every     so often to sharpen his axe. “No, no time for stopping,” said the young man, whacking away with his increasingly blunt axe. Soon, he totally exhausted himself. Guess who cut more wood in the end?

Such is the reluctance to training that our government has to resort to strong-arm tactics to force companies to send their employees for training and skills upgrading. Companies of a certain size are required by law to contribute a certain percentage of the staff salary to the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF). When they send their staff for training of approved courses they can claim back from this fund. However, if the accumulated fund is not used after a certain number of years, the total sum will be forfeited to the government. A former director of the state HRDF related a rather depressing story. He said he noticed that some companies had accumulated a sizeable amount of unused funds. So, he had a talk with the boss of one such company.

“Sir, I notice that your company has a sizeable unused human resource development fund. If you don’t spend it, I am afraid it will be forfeited next year.”

“How much is it?” asked the boss.

“Oh, it is a few hundred thousand”.

“In that case, just let the government take it. If I send my staff for training I will lose more …”

Well so much for the negative people. Let’s talk about the ‘learners’. They are the darlings of speakers and trainers. They hang on to every word; they take copious notes, and the bolder ones, speak up and ask intelligent questions. They make the whole exercise worthwhile. They give motivation to the speakers and trainers. If you were to ask me about my most satisfying experience as a speaker and trainer, I can tell you many but one stands out brightly.

One successful speaker/trainer, and this year the head of an international voluntary organisation, said publicly recently, “Twelve years ago, I was working for a bank and I attended a talk given by (my name, blush, blush). It gave me hope to improve myself and eventually the courage to strike out on my own.” Wow! I bet my nose must have swelled when I heard that. I just hope that my head was (and is) not similarly affected.

There is an idealistic belief that ‘all are born equal’. Well, we are not but we are all given 24 hours a day. How we make use of the gift of time is our choice. Will it be as a prisoner, tourist or learner? What’s yours? I know what mine is.

The writer can be contacted at [email protected].