Dealing with Dysfunctional Training Participants

Almost every contract trainer has experienced dysfunctional behavior by one or more of their course participants. What constitutes dysfunctional behavior in the classroom? It is behavior that inhibits learning by the person exhibiting the behavior and/or the other participants in the training session. Dysfunctional behavior can take myriad forms. It may be excessive talking or reluctance to speak at all. The dysfunctional participant may criticize everything about the training or may simply tune out the trainer completely.

Understanding the potential reasons for dysfunctional or disruptive behavior is important as it is often a sign or a symptom of some other underlying issue the person is having with the organization, the content, other participants or with training in general. It may be related to the timing or scheduling of the session relative to the participant's workload or other priorities. Reporting relationships or pre-existing conflicts the person has with other participants in the session could also influence behavior.

In almost every organization, training is being provided to support some other change initiative. In the case of developmental training, a company may be seeking to transform its culture related to customer service, leadership or teamwork. Skills and knowledge-oriented training may be rolled out to support implementation of some other large scale change initiative such as a merger integration, new technology deployment or installation of new business processes. Often, dysfunctional behavior in the classroom can be a reflection of a person's resistance to or disagreement with the actual change the training is supporting. At a fundamental level, simple differences in personal temperament or communication styles could be at the root of the disruptive behavior.

There are numerous models that provide insight into dysfunctional behavior in the classroom. For example, the Thomas-Kilmann conflict model describes conflict behavior styles as a function of two dimensions: assertiveness and cooperativeness. In this model, people fall into five style categories. They may be competitors, accommodators, avoiders, compromisers or collaborators. Clearly, strong tendencies to approach situations as a competitor or avoider can lead to a host of dysfunctional behaviors ranging from aggressive, passive or passive-aggressive.