Hello there… I am a Soft Skills Trainer at a reputed firm named SD & A (Stanley David & Associates), representing Raytheon Professional Services (RPS). I was observing a senior colleague (Mr.Sachhin) of mine delivering the training module for SWIFT Diesel... It is supposed to be the most advance vehicle in its segment and in fact way superior in terms of technology when compared to the other cars in India. I was pretty interested and excited to even be a mere observer at the whole presentation although I'm a new trainer. But to both of our surprise we had only 10 candidates in place of 25 which is what we expected... "chalo that is alright, at least these many came...." is what we settled for…
We started off on time and we were half way through introducing ourselves (trainers to the trainees) and we noticed that 3 gentlemen are busy talking to someone on their Mobiles.... then we had to kindly ask the gentlemen to switch off their mobiles and introduce themselves to the other seemingly uninterested crowd....(probably they thought we were two buffoons, who have come there to waste their time)... then we slowly tried our level best to bring in their interest by playing a couple of games which were meant to improve the enthusiasm level of participants... (Well we didn't realize that they were actually there to do us a favor...lol...) slowly the level of enthusiasm seemed to be raising, it was then that we both realized that they were excited about breaking for lunch and nothing else...
Then having had enough of the "I've had enough training, why am I listening to two jerks"-attitude, I stood up and told them in a polite but firm tone to sit straight and listen to the Trainer as we've not come here to waste each and others times.
"I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IF U GENTLEMEN COULD SIT STRAIGHT AND PAY ATTENTION AND LISTEN TO THIS PRESENTATION WHICH WE THINK WOULD BE QUITE USEFUL FOR U'LL AND MIGHT JUST HELP U ACHIEVE UR TARGETS...."
- And once I told them the fact that it could help them achieve their targets easier and also go beyond their targets seemed to have brought a paradigm shift in their attitude towards the whole presentation. Simple reason is that, at work the only thing they are bothered about is to achieve their targets. Well thankfully for us, my words took the right shape at the right time and gave us the right result, a total fluke… oh well, it doesn’t bother me if it were a fluke or intended, as long as it serves the purpose and the purpose was certainly beneficial for all…
They were keen to know what the product was all about and then I could see that they had actually taken my word seriously as that was when they thought that there was so much behind them being nominated to come for the training session.
- I realized that it was not what U said alone that makes a difference but also how U say it that makes a big difference...
The program was a hit although my friend Sachhin wasn't all that happy about the training session, the crowd and the attitude towards training that the various dealerships' HR personnel showed in nominating candidates.
Then later in the day when we wrapped the session and had almost packed our bags to leave, one of the candidates who was one of them talking on his mobile, came up to me and said - " Sir, I'm sorry if I have offended U, never meant to do so" I told him to stop worrying and concentrate on life and improving his own life skills....
Then on my way back home, I seemed to have jumped a traffic signal and was caught by the traffic policeman for having done that. I tried all my convincing skills and "melt that persons heart by flattering" skills on him... Told him:
- “sir nowadays the city is so much safer to drive around because of you” – that didn’t work,
- “I’m new to the city sir, I just followed the bunch of riders in front of me” – nope… that didn’t help either,
- “there wasn’t even a ‘no free left’ board sir” – the guy didn’t even seem to listen to me, in fact he kept staring at me as if I were the sole reason for all the traffic law crimes in the whole of the country. Finally realizing the fact that all my efforts were going waste, I gave in and asked him what next and ended up paying 100 bucks as fine....
... THOUGHT TO MYSELF THAT TALKING SKILLS AND CONVINCING SKILLS DON'T HELP ALL THE TIME.... SO USE IT CONSERVATIVELY AND USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE BUT NEVER USE THEM WHEN YOU ARE THE WRONG END OF THE ARGUMENT, GUYS AND GALS IT MAY STING BADLY.
With this thought for the day I’d like to wish all my readers a very happy day at work or home… cheers for having read this with patience, I hope you would’ve liked and sorry if you think it is a sheer waste of time… for those who think I’ve done ok, thanks and I shall try doing something better next time, and for those who think I’ve not done justice, well I’m sorry and shall do better next time around….
GOD BLESS ALL….
