Is Your Training Team Offering a Cream Tea Service?

Tis the season of picnics, cream teas and the occasional downpour of torrential rain!!

I can still recall the very first cream tea I ordered...

 It arrived on flowery crockery, complete with paper doilies and a tub of clotted cream, which quite frankly looked rancid!!  I returned the tub informing the waitress that it had gone 'off'!

It strikes me, many years later, having recently indulged again, that the waitress had several choices of how to respond:

1. Scoff at my ignorance of cream tea etiquette and tell me in a condescending tone that, "That's just how it looks!" (Making me feel stupid for not realising!)
2. Take it away, skim off the top and bring it back, either for an easy life or because she didn't want any conflict. (Making me think I was right... Until the next time!)
3. Explain that although it doesn't look particularly great, it's actually the cream's natural seal to keep the underlying cream fresh and I could either skim it off or mix it in. (Allowing me to understand and make my own choice.) 

I'm happy to say our waitress choose option 3. I did feel a little silly, but she was great at reassuring me that a lot of people make the same mistake. (Something Devonshire waitresses are probably used to!)

It's not often I get to compare cream teas with training, but when a delegate offers an incorrect answer to a scenario, or has inappropriate behaviour that they seem completely oblivious to, we have similar choices to make.

1. Make them feel stupid
2. Make light of it for an easy life or to negates any conflict
3. Take time to explain, allowing them to understand and make a better informed choice (The Cream Tea Service!)

I've observed and mentored many Trainers, and I'd love to say that the first two don't happen...  but unfortunately, they do.  It's here that Trainers need their own Devonshire Waitress, someone who can offer option three, and create the awareness of their impact, and allow them the knowledge and option to change.

I don't think I'll be changing my job title anytime soon to Devonshire Waitress, but if you have a team of Trainers you're looking to develop, and you're based in Hampshire or West Sussex, I might just be who you're looking for, I'll even bring the Scones… clotted cream optional!