I recently taught a one day course for a client. It sucked. There were a few red flags in terms of timely/accurate communication before the day of training. We were to have 10 people in class. Then, on the morning of, discovered it would likely be 4 people. Class was supposed to start at 8:30 am, but everyone else had been told 9:00 am.
The 1st person arrived. The first words out of their mouth “what time does this end?”. Not “hello” or “good morning”. They asked because class was on a Friday, and everyone in the office leaves at 3:00 pm on Fridays. Class was scheduled to go until 4:30 pm.
The 2nd person tells me they’ll come back in 30 minutes (but actually shows up 2 hours later). The 3rd person tells me they have to leave at 2:00 pm. I left that day feeling empty, sad and hopeless. I didn’t feel as though any value was received, and that I had just traded my time for money. Lessons learned
- Accept that we’re doing business differently at Haland. We are not a body that shows up to talk, and give out certificates.
- Create a succinct statement on our website about #1 along with communication requirements.
For example: we operate on a closed loop communication approach. Unanswered messages are not a workable solution.
- I have to accept that we’ll ultimately get less work. It is what it is.
- All of this is a bit dramatic. I get it. It’s possible that I just need to not do this specific type of work anymore. 😂
I have a habit of making things harder than they need to be.