How to Deal with Participant Resistance

by Tom Leonhardt

Another article in TRG’s series of How-To Articles
for Trainers, Facilitators, and Group Leaders

Training Resources Group, Inc. (TRG)
909 N. Washington Street, Suite 305, Alexandria, VA 22314

How to Deal with Participant Resistance

During the part of the program where participants are invited to share their expectations for the upcoming week you, the facilitator, notice a hand go up with real determination.

"You know,"says the participant, "we're not the ones who need training. It's our bosses who are the real problem. Until you change them, we can't do anything."

"Yes," agrees another participant, "and besides that, the readings we did last night are not really applicable to our situations. You know, we're not like other organizations. We're different."

"My expectations," adds a third participant, "are just a little different than the objectives you proposed. I think we should discuss the program as a group and come to some agreement about what we should be doing this week."

Without even raising her hand, another participant interjects, "Sounds like this is going to be one of those touchy feely programs, and frankly, I'm not interested."

You often face a certain amount of resistance on the part of participants. This resistance may manifest itself verbally, as in the examples above, or non verbally in body posture, as illustrated below.

The participant sat back, eyes on the ceiling, swiveling in the chair. Another sat head down, arms crossed, looking at the world through half closed eyes.

Fortunately for you, these examples of verbal and nonverbal resistance are rare, and most trainees come to any program anxious to participate, motivated to learn, interested in the topic, and eager to improve their skills.

After all, you and the program organizers did a thorough needs assessment and were careful to include only those people in the course whose skills needed upgrading and those for whom the sessions would be beneficial professionally.

Nevertheless, you can encounter resistance from your participants. This resistance may have a number of different causes, including the following:

People lead busy personal and professional lives and can be resentful of anything "extra" that might take up their time.
Before a program begins, it is often hard to communicate to the participants why the program might be worthwhile, what the actual subject matter is, or why they were selected to attend.
Some people have personality characteristics that are disruptive in group settings, e.g., a need to dominate the conversation, a need to be the center of attention, an inappropriate sense of humor.
Participants may be threatened by the content of the program, afraid they will look bad or have their weaknesses exposed.
Some training designs are ineffective and some trainers not up to the task. Participants who have experienced that kind of program in the past arrive with that history.
It may be bad timing the participant wants to attend, but it's just the wrong time.
The program is wrong for the participant, and doesn't meet his or her needs.
Resistance may relate to a problem on the job.

You will generally find that resistance is most often job‑related. ("My boss is so critical and dictatorial that I will never be able to apply anything I learn here.") Sometimes, resistance is related to the training program content, the trainer's behaviors, or personal problems. The least likely cause for resistance is the training program environment. Whatever the cause of the resistance, you as the trainer need to deal with it as effectively as possible.

The Critical Mass Phenomenon

Resistance can be contagious, as illustrated in the example at the beginning of the article. As you will see later, a strong group can sometimes deal with one or two participants who might feel less than positive about being in the course. Add a few more participants to that number, and you begin to experience more overt, negative behavior from participants who might not have spoken out if there were no support for their point of view. Add one more to that group, and you will most likely be confronted with a critical mass of hostile and resistant trainees.

Importance of Dealing with Resistance

How to deal with resistant participants is a requisite skill for trainers or facilitators. One of the most frequently‑asked questions in a training skills workshop is "What will I do if the participants give me trouble?" The possibility of a resistant or hostile audience is a common anxiety, and you should begin thinking about the appropriate responses.

By dealing effectively with resistance, you will be able to lower the hostility level to a point where the resistant participants, even if they are still not happy about attending the course, do not disrupt the learning of those who find the session productive. You need to handle resistance in a way that does not create more negative feelings. If the trainees suppress their hostility, it will reappear during the course. You need to deal with the issues at hand rather than ignoring them or belittling the participants. And, of course, all of the above must be accomplished without embarrassing anyone!

What You Can Do As a Trainer/Facilitator to Manage Resistance

Before the Program

For longer courses, an important action that you can undertake before the program is to involve the participants to the greatest extent possible in setting up the objectives, the content, and the agenda. This entails not only conducting the requisite needs assessment (to ensure that the course is appropriate to the learning needs of the participants), but also meeting with prospective trainees to look at such things as hours, breaks, food, the meeting site, lodging arrangements, and other logistical arrangements that have such a powerful impact on any program. If interacting with all the participants is not feasible or practical, then you might consider setting up a training program steering committee or working with client representatives to help make decisions that will affect the course.

For shorter training programs, interaction before the course begins might not be practical, but the needs of the participants should always guide your programmatic decisions. A technique you might use for short programs is to interview the participants. Participant interviews can help you gain allies, give you a chance to meet some of the participants on a more personal basis, and, if the interviews are conducted separately from the needs assessment, allow you to validate the data collected. Interviews also present a good opportunity to discuss the upcoming program and determine a trainee's expectations, or simply talk about issues related to his or her work situation.

Establishing these personal ties with the participants makes it less likely that they will "test" you during the course. You can also work data that you gathered during the interviews into opening remarks at the beginning of the course, thus establishing your credibility and creating a rationale for what will follow.

You might also want to examine your own previous behaviors. Think back on past experiences and on the feedback you've received from evaluations and colleagues. Have you ever received feedback about your behavior as a trainer or facilitator that others might consider to be controlling or annoying?

Learn as much as you can about your audience, and absorb their participant profile. Learn about their work culture (this might help you avoid using the wrong examples or inappropriate humor). As a result, your stories and examples will be relevant to their professional situation.

Think about your role during the course are you a trainer (imparting technical knowledge or skills), or a facilitator (helping technically competent participants to systematize concepts)? If the participants know up front that you're not the resident expert, they might be less likely to challenge your knowledge.

During the Program

Much can be done before the training program to minimize participant resistance, but if you still encounter hostile behavior from the participant during the course, there are techniques to deal with the problem. In general, these responses fall into three broad categories:

actions that the trainer takes alone,
actions the trainer takes with the help of the group, and
actions the group takes alone to neutralize resistance.

As the trainer, you should focus on the first two categories, since the third is effectively out of your control and is the least common way of dealing with resistance.

Action That the Trainer Takes Alone

Let's look first at what you can do. You can meet resistance head on, during a break, for example. It is preferable for you to start a dialogue by inquiring it there's anything you're doing that might be causing a problem. Ask the participant to define the problem, and once that is clear, explain whether or not you can address it during the course. Enlist the participant's help by explaining that you need support from all the group members.

If resistant behaviors continue, you need to let the person know that the other participants are unable to learn due to the disruptive behavior. You might need to probe a little to find out what's really behind the behavior, but as a trainer with responsibilities for the whole group, you need to get on with the program and not conduct counseling sessions with disgruntled participants.

There will be times when you cannot deal with a resistant participant during a break away from the other participants, and you should be ready to confront resistant behaviors during the session. For example, you could say, "That's the third time you've lobbed a zinger at me during this session. If something is wrong, we should discuss it now before going any further. Let's look at what is wrong and see if we can correct it." If the behavior persists (and this occurs only in very rare instances), the trainee should be invited to leave the course.

The above techniques are confrontational, and since most people do not like to be embarrassed in front of their peers, this will generally handle the situation. In extreme cases, you might need to call in a supervisor to reevaluate the participant's presence in the course.

Actions That the Trainer Takes with the Help of the Group

A second way of dealing with participant resistance is to enlist the help of the other participants. There are several ways to accomplish this.

Have the participants establish norms about how they will work together during the course. These can be relatively simple norms such as "Only one person should speak at a time," or more complex norms such as "We will be non judgmental about people's remarks."

The group can set up norms during the introductory part of the course. Generally, participants will accept the norms, especially if they are the ones who have proposed them. These norms can then be used to guide the process of the sessions, and any "nagging" that you have to do is based on the norms. When disruptive or resistant behavior occurs, such as chronic tardiness, you can point to the norms or remind participants that they agreed to abide by them for the duration of the course. Usually, other participants will do this before you even have a chance.

Another way you can help to minimize resistance during the program is to take the group's "temperature" from time to time. You can do this during the session by announcing "Is everything clear so far? How are we doing?" After the day is over, you can measure satisfaction by drawing a large thermometer on a piece of flipchart paper. Post the flipchart by the exit and ask people to indicate with a line if they are "cool," "warm," or "hot" about what has been happening so far.

Taking the group's "temperature" allows you to check how they're feeling about the course in general without resorting to a formal evaluation. Conducted periodically, but not to the point where the participants resent it, these checks avoid "resistance build‑up" and diffuse tension because participants feel they are being consulted on a regular basis about how things are going. This diagnosis also reaffirms your desire to involve the participants as much as possible in the course. They realize you are not just paying lip service to the concept of participant involvement.

Here's another hint. Insist that no one "owns" a position or answer. Once discussion items have been put on the table, they belong to the group. This will help people from taking sides or feeling that they have to define their position.

A word of caution. There is a delicate balance between consulting the participants on how they are feeling and how the program is going and allowing them too much input, which can derail the course into futile discussion about objectives, agenda, or content. If you model an open, participatory style during the introduction to the course this generally transmits the feeling to the participants that they will be heard when the occasion arises.

Actions That the Group Takes Alone

A third and final way to deal with resistance is to let the group handle it. Peer pressure from participants who want to get on with the course will generally counteract resistance from one or two participants who might doubt the relevance of the training. This happens without trainer intervention, but you still must be aware of what is going on in case the group dynamics do not work. You cannot afford to ignore anything that might have an impact on maximizing learning for the majority.

After the Program

For one shot, short term training, there is very little that you can do following the event that will have an impact on the participants' behavior except to give them feedback so they become aware of the effect of their behavior on future courses.

If, however, you will have the same participants in another training course, there are some things you can do to help minimize resistance.

Give individual feedback to the resistant participants.
Visit participants at their worksite to gain insights about them and how they interact with others (their behavior at the workshop may be the norm).
Talk with their supervisors to get another perspective on their behavior.
If possible, include these participants when planning the next course.

Other Issues

You might now be asking yourself, "How do I do all of this and still train?"

First of all, be advised that it is unlikely you will encounter much resistance in your courses. And, remember that resistance you may encounter at the beginning of the program usually works itself out as things progress. You should also remind yourself not to fixate on any one individual at the expense of the group. The training program needs to go forward, and one or two people should not be allowed to sabotage the agenda. Your primary responsibility is to help the participants reach the course objective. Therefore, your attitude should not be, "How do I worry about all of this and still train?" Instead, your attitude should be "I'm prepared to deal with resistance should it occur, but I will not let it derail the program." And finally, a good sense of humor works wonders.