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I Got Sent To This Course, and I Don’t Know Why, and I’m Offended
This happens. Sometimes a manager will request that employees attend training, but not communicate effectively about WHY. There may be no pressing issue to it — only bad communication. In other situations, a manager may send people to training when there IS a possible performance issue and, again, not communicate the WHY’s effectively.
It’s understandable that participants feel upset, because with managers that don’t communicate well, there’s a tendency to think the worst of them.
Handling It The Training Attendee Who Doesn't Want To Be There
The relationship and/or communication between manager and employee is something you need to stay away from. The simplest way to reply to this, whether in private or public, is to say:
I’m not sure what your manager is thinking, but how about if we look at it this way. You might learn something useful for your job. So how about you hang in there, and put your concerns about why you were sent on hold, since it’s not something we have information about.
In some situations, I’ve said that I can’t force them to stay, and wouldn’t want to, and open the door so they feel I’m offering a choice. It’s rare that anyone has ever taken me up on it.