“The biggest goal as an instructor is to get difficult people on board and to minimize the impact they might have on others,” says Pluth, whose firm has coined terms for some of the most common types of difficult participants:
- The Latecomer,
- The Know-It-All,
- The Introvert,
- The Socializer,
- The Confused, and
- The Sleeper.
She recommends using “preventive maintenance” before training to diffuse difficult behavior and minimize distractions that such participants create. “Eighty percent of behavior can be prevented.” For example, arranging furniture so that the entrance is at the back of the room minimizes distractions when The Latecomer arrives.
During training, small group projects can help trainers manage difficult participants (i.e., The Socializer gets to talk; The Introvert is more likely to participate; The Confused can get help from peers; and The Sleeper is engaged).
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Rotating participants among small groups and rotating group leaders also are effective. For example, changing leaders prevents The Know-It-All or The Socializer from dominating the discussion and gets The Introvert to participate.
Pluth suggests using random criteria for selecting a leader (e.g., who most recently saw a movie). Then, if the trainer wants to give the floor to—or take it away from—a certain participant, he or she can pick a physical attribute (i.e., the longest hair) to select that individual and make it appear that this also was a randomly selected criterion.
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Trainers also can help diffuse difficult participants by having one-on-one conversations with them during breaks, Pluth says. “Play the sad card first, not the mad card.” For example, mention that the person left the room several times, and ask whether the individual is feeling OK—instead of saying, “We’ve been here 90 minutes, and you’ve been out of the room for 84.”
More information is available in the book Dealing with Difficult Participants by Bob Pike and Dave Arch at www.BobPikeGroup.com.