I have been introduced to the concept of AST-Arab Standard Time. The southern European countries and Caribbean and lots of other warm countries seem to have their own version of AST-things will happen when they happen and just because we have an appointment at 0800 don’t expect me to turn up at that time.
Now in my world of training, if I am given a two-hour slot I plan to have 120 min worth of material available. What happens then when the participants don’t turn up for the first 45 min and then slowly trickling over the next half hour? Do I start at my minute one? If I start to their timetable when is their minute one? When do I finish? 120 min after I start or when I was originally scheduled to finish? There are versions of this, if I am co-training and my co-trainer overruns and effectively ‘steals’ some of my time do I have to cut my material back to meet the original finishing time or do I simply run over and impose my own version of AST on the proceedings?
I don’t at the moment have any answers to these questions-they are real and particularly important when working in those cultures were an 0800 start might mean some turning up at 0800, the majority at perhaps 0900 and a few as late as 10 o’clock. If programme is scheduled to finish at three o’clock, do we still aim to finish at three or do we deliver the material it was planned, after all we are delivering against specified criteria in terms of both content and guided aligning hours for an accredited course.
What a tricky situation! Speaking as someone who has been a delegate on courses when the trainer has repeatedly delayed for latecomers (who had no cultural excuse, they were Cumbrians!) I found it very annoying to be losing out on valuable time that I had paid good money for.
As a trainer, I think it’s always worthwhile to set some group guidelines at the beginning, where the group (with a bit of prompting if necessary) can come up with the idea of valuing punctuality and contract into good time-keeping around breaks and lunchtimes etc. Of course that’s dependent on your group being there in the first place so if some are arriving up to 2 hours late I realise that’s not the answer!
Again I think if you plan to catch up by running over you have to discuss that with the group and gain their agreement for it to work, as the people who are not on AST might have other appointments to keep and it seems unfair to penalise them if they have to leave.
I do quite a lot of co-training and I think that if you are in a good relationship with your co-trainer it’s OK to give them feedback in a supportive way over taking up too much airspace. I believe it’s often down to inexperience and a bit of anxiety about getting everything in, and some reassurance may iron out the problem. I don’t think running over yourself is the best idea, as I think if you are trying to encourage a culture of punctuality you have to model it yourself, or people will pick up the message that keeping to a framework doesn’t really matter.
Thanks for raising an interesting issue – looking forward to hearing other people’s ideas!
This is a tough one Geoff.
My thoughts are that you have a clear contract with the client to start at a given time and finish at a given time and that is what you do. For those people who have turned up on time then your responsibility is to them (you can re-negotiate with them to see how happy they are with the situation).
I agree with Kay, if I am part of a group and I have paid to be there, I expect the times to be kept to, even if there are cultural differences.
I can remember a time when working with Italians and we negotiated timings based on UK time or Italian time – they responded well to that and we were all happy!
I have also been a delegate on a programme where the facilitator started on time every time, I did come in late once and only once – he did not address me in any way, simply carried on with the session. We had, as a group, negotiated ground rules at the beginning of the programme so I knew the rules. Perhaps with a 120 minute session you could establish timekeeping groundrules with a pre session briefing and emphasise that you will be keeping to the times stipulated.
As for the training partner over-running, will you be working with them again? Then this is something that can be addressed when you finish the session/before you start the next session. Perhaps the schedule needs to be re-arranged?
Hope there is something of use in here.
Good luck,
Mark
Interesting – I have never had this problem and it makes me wonder why – especially where the delegates don’t know me already. I must be doing something in advance to prevent it. I dont organise my own courses. Other people ask me to teach and they organise it. It’s in everyone’s best interests for full attendance to occur. What I do is request full attendance from the course organiser because the numbers need to be accurate for the practical sessions to work, so I suggest the organiser sets up a SOS last minute cancellation attendee list in case someone has to pull out on the day owing to sickness etc. Maybe it is this that instills the right attitude? Also I send prep reading and a detailed schedule of how the day will run. Even if it doesnt quite end up that way I always finish on time.
I ensure everyone knows where they need to be and when prior to the course. I then allow delegates one free pass – it’s an adult learning environment and it’s important not to make people feel like naughty school children. If its a repeat offender, I make a point of speaking to them privately and asking if there is a problem or issue that is causing them to be late. Depending on the answer, I handle the situation accordingly. On more than one occasion, the issue has actually been the delegates manager making unreasonable demands on that person whilst they were on training and that has then resulted in a separate conversation. Rarely have I found it to be genuine disrespect.
This is about staying in Adult, but it is difficult to make hard and fast rules. If we need to ‘police’ their behaviour we need to have clarity around this as may change the ‘contract’ we have with them and their sponsors. My advice is to make a judgement about if it’s worth the person staying – based on the percentage of what they’ve missed. If possible create a break / group activity and deal with them separately. I would resist re-iterating what they’ve missed in the presence of the group as it gives them attention and removes any incentive to arrive on time. Make them feel welcome, move on and cover any key points (if needed) during their break – they usually get to realise they’ve missed something worthwhile – it’s their problem.
A very tricky problem and I agree with some of the previous responses. I think a large part of the solution lies in the contracting and clear communication prior to the training. As a trainer / facilitator, you have to be strong and consistent – and stay in Adult as previously mentioned. Lateness affects other delegates in the group (as does the use of mobile phones etc). I have also experienced cultural issues with respect to the Middle East (very tricky) as well as Italians. On a course I conducted in Geneva in Q4 2011, two Italian delegates arrived 15 minutes late (which may be considered remarkably good in some quarters!). The other delegates were from a number of European countries, had all arrived early having agreed the ground rules the previous day and were all staying in the same hotel – which was less than a 5 minute walk from the meeting room. I started on time for the sake of those who had arrived on time and had a chat with the Italians in the coffee break. The Italians had left their hotel 10 minutes after the start of the course! Reflecting on this, other options could be to introduce a buddy system if this is feasible or to agree to start when the last person arrives – thus creating positive peer pressure. Another solution may be to allow the group to agree the ground rules at the start. Each situation is different and there is no universal solution. You have a contract with the client and it has to be fulfilled regarding content covered. Obviously, Acts of God etc, require empathy and flexibility. Good luck.
Hi Geoff,
It was your Tweet this morning that hooked me into this conversation.
“Challenge or collude?”
In one sense, no matter who you are, as a tutor one is always colluding with the payer of your invoice. In some regard thus, we are doing what we are paid to do.
Indeed, my take on the tweet was – in a coaching situation, the only time I can be aware of my own collusion when I’m challenging, is when the coachee is also the payer of the bill !
But how to engage others with the material you are contracted to work with, that’s a whole different game and dependent entirely on who it is that turns up, no matter when. As Sol Hurick said “if people don’t want to come, nothing will stop them.” So even if those working on AST, or some subset of that time frame, turn up, they are doing so for their own reasons. Aren’t they? Aren’t you when you are a delegate?
Good question though. Loved the opportunity to air my bit!
W