1- Learners distracting themselves in class with irrelevant content (e.g. web surfing during class, side conversations, etc.)

• Preventive measure: ask for and set ground rules before class, and contract that they will be followed; then hold us all accountable during class.
• Call a break and address the offender personally, out of ear-shot of others, and ask for correction of the offending behavior.
• Dismiss the offender from the room, making sure s/he knows why, and report it to the supervisor. (This is worst-case and rarely needed). The offender will eventually need to attend again.

2- When training a large group (40+), 2 participants were talking between themselves and not paying attention. As I spoke, I casually walked through the room until I was standing behind the offenders. All eyes were on me as I did this, and when I got very close, they finally stopped talking. I called a break, the followed (a) above.

3- Late arrivals. My reaction varies, depending on how late. If within a few minutes, I just tell them to catch up during the first break, or after the session, and I make myself available to answer questions. If much later than just a few minutes, I turn them away and ask that they return to another session when they can arrive on-time for the full session.

"Every learner provides a positive challenge set before you to achieve the final business objectives."

"I have been verbally accosted by men who have issues with females. I encountered team members who do not want to embrace change and prefer their way. In both instances, approaching the issue from the other person's point of view proved to be successful. The respect level increased and eventually both people gained respect for me and my approach. They also became better reps."

"I find that mixed culture training sessions often bring their own set of challenges."

"The economy is somewhat improving but organizations are still figuring out how to do more with less. In that sense training is no exception. Also, the focus has also shifted from growth and development to more skill growth and retention. This has proven to be more of a challenge because we are finding there are fewer resources available. As trainers, one skill we must embrace is agility; find ways to get it done. Along with the rest of our organization we are becoming more innovative in our thinking and approach."

"We have had both support agents and trainers who did great when in a non-face-to-face situations such as online training or email communications. It was with the personal contact that they struggled. The resolution and follow up were always right on, however the approach was lacking. Customers notice this right away and it was up to me to correct the situation, both at the customer level and as a manager of the trainer/agent. I found the best way to handle this is to be direct and not generalize the situation. You don't have to be a jerk and shout to get your point across. IT is critical that you address the issue AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS. Don't wait until it becomes a big problem or it may be too late to correct."

"Handling attrition and working on several projects at once can be a multi-tasking challenge."

"When the same trainer starts evaluating the quality of calls and penalizes the low graded performers who take the same trainer as life savior/mentor when needed, it becomes very tough to strike a balance between both contradictory roles of a trainer and a QA evaluator."

"Honestly, answering a spontaneous and unexpected question in a class can throw one off."

"Keeping the audience involved, especially while dealing with dry and mundane subjects. Knowing the intellectual standing of each employee (trainee) and making an effort to get everyone at par, which has to be achieved to sustain consistent perfomance while on production floor."