Good training equals good sex. That’s right, there are no spelling mistakes in the previous sentence and you are still reading a business-related blog. In this article you will find a one-minute interview (don’t worry: no explicit language) with Marc Vermeulen that was recorded during the bi-annual VOV-beurs for training & development.
In 60 seconds he tells us what good sex and good training have in common: they both come in three distinct but essential parts: the foreplay, the intercourse and the ‘afterplay’. In other words: good training events run the full training & development cycle.
I like this metaphor a lot because it puts the training issue in a very sharp perspective. For example, as a training manager you could ask yourself the following questions:
– How many times did I not engage with participants last year? (equals: “no foreplay – just sex”)
– How many times did I deliver a standard of-the-shelf training last year? (equals: “boring sex”)
– How many times did I force people to go to a training over the past year? (equals: “abuse”)
– How many times did I deliver a training when the real need was leadership? (equals: “sex in response to a need for love”)
– How many times did I let people fill out evaluation sheets and then do nothing with it? (equals: “call you later – yeah right…”)
Your imagination may be richer than mine so I’m pretty sure you can think of more lively questions to complete this list.
Just remember: Thinking more about sex at work may actually result in better training.