A Clash of Agendas


Why do some people end up labeled as difficult participants? Say that a participant challenges your expertise in front of the class because of his or her personal agenda of wanting to be acknowledged for his or her expertise. This behavior is not directed at you, and it’s not about you—but it feels like it is!

It’s very easy for you to react personally, and a personal agenda arises on your part, which might be to prove your own expertise and avoid damaging (or possibly even enhancing) your own credibility in front of the class. So, a behavior arises out of your own personal agenda, and you get into a debate with the participant. Who wins? No one!

This behavior on the facilitator’s part disrupts the learning process just as much as the participant’s original behavior does! One of you (if not both) will lose face, the class is disrupted, the participant involved is now an “enemy” and will probably accelerate his or her behavior or work behind the scenes to discredit you, the rest of the group is excluded from the learning experience, and you’ve lost credibility as a facilitator because the rest of the group hesitates to continue to participate because of fear of getting into a similar debate when they express their opinions.

In short, learning ceases because the facilitator has taken the participant’s disruptive behavior personally and has acted on that reaction.

No way, you say: “I don’t take their behavior personally! That’s not me!” An observer would beg to differ, starting with the label of difficult participant. Labeling others as difficult is as personal as it gets! And, by the way, think about who they are making it difficult for. Not for themselves: They are making it difficult for you and other participants! If you think that this person is difficult and that you have to make him or her stop being that way, you are much more likely to personalize your responses to difficult behavior. When you personalize your response (getting drawn into a debate, for example), the situation becomes “about you,” rather than about the learning.

Basic Rule 33

start example

Learners behave in a way that disrupts learning to fulfill an individual need or agenda.

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Facilitation Basics
Facilitation Basics (ASTD Training Basics)
ISBN: 1562863614
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 82

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