Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

checkpoints, turning points, bifurcations and other tricks should be preinstalled in this careful
design. Proper ‘navigational equipment’ (such as a trainer assistant, who is always watching what
is going on and may be ready on a very short notice to contribute with a topic that was not on the
initial agenda) and additional supplies are also needed. Whatever the agenda for such training, we
normally prepare about twice as many materials ‘just in a case’ – and still what may be needed is
not always available.
Naturally, improvisation plays an important role in organizational development training. There are
at least three main reasons for this: one is uncertainty at the beginning of the process; the second
is unpredictability that is caused by inevitable chaos; and the third is the request for the training to
be ‘freshly made’, just for this occasion, at any moment and just for this moment. This is a service,
not a pre-manufactured article; something alive, not canned. Sometimes, just to maintain the
feeling, improvisation may be like an Indian raga, where ‘full freedom’ for the musician at any
micro-moment is strictly framed by hundreds of years of unchangeable rules, designed a long time
ago for this specific raga, and remaining the same, although never repeating . It may also be, if
forced to, more similar to free jazz, when nobody knows what may happen in the next moment.
Thus, a trainer should cope with the art of improvisation, but never misuse it – there should always
be as much improvisation as is needed to ensure sufficient flexibility and keep the process going in
the right direction overall, never more. Training is not a jam session where musicians play for their
own pleasure, although some trainers do so. ‘Interesting things’, life stories, throwing out smart
advice and clever sentences are often only a technique to mask the trainer’s inability to keep the
process under control. Trainees may even appreciate the show, but the client will not be satisfied
with the results. Thus, in training as in any other serious business, doing fun things is okay, but
doing ‘right’ things should be priority.
Following up
Getting feedback from participants is extremely important during the training course, because it is
the primary precondition for keeping the process under control. It makes the least sense at the end
of the course, when everything that could happen has already happened. That is why ‘happiness
reviews’ at the end of a training (which may be a part of a political game, or the request of the
sponsor, or attempt to mask the usefulness of the event) do not make sense for the professional. It
is a bit like asking a patient if he enjoyed an enema. Of course, it is not bad at all if participants are
happy at the end of the course. It is very good. But it is not a criterion for success. To produce
happiness at the end of such an event is much easer, than to give a positive impact for the
development of the organization.
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