Am I being unreasonable?

[Katie G]

I've been working on arranging a training session for a new software/procedure that's being rolled out in the fall.  We're a department of about 20, many of whom have jobs that require them to be traveling often.  It's a rare occurrence that everyone is in the office at the same time.  Plus, it's summer, so added into the mix are the folks who are on vacation any given week. 

I was first contacted about setting up this training about two weeks ago.  Under the circumstances, there was no way I was going to get everyone together for a single session before the August 31st deadline. I negotiated with the trainer so that we'd have two sessions, a week apart, so that people could make one or the other.  My people were cooperative and moved around less important meetings in order to make one of the training sessions.  I sent the list of attendees for each session to the training folks.  The first training session is next week.

This morning, I receive an email from the trainer.  He wants to move the training session to another day.  In fact, he's given a specific day and time that he wants to do it because he has "some potential conflicts."  Well, his proposed date and time isn't going to work because our department is involved in an event that afternoon and NOBODY is going to be available.  I want to yell, “NO!”  We set this up two weeks ago with a whole lot of wrangling and shuffling and we found dates and times so everyone can get trained.  Now their calendars are filled with other commitments.  And what do you mean, “potential conflicts”.  Why would you schedule stuff when we were on the calendar two weeks ago? 

I have to admit, I’m angry.  I haven’t responded yet.  My inclination is to say, “I’m sorry, that simply isn’t possible for our group.”  I’m not lying, after all.  It’s not possible.  And I’m not willing to ask my group to throw their calendars into chaos again to accommodate some vague “potential” conflict.  Even if I did, I wouldn’t get people together before the 31st.  Their calendars just don’t work that way.

Am I being unreasonable? 

[Atlanta Z3]

I don't think you are, but is the trainer aware of the scheduling conflicts that took place in your company to accommodate this training?  I would politely explain that rescheduling is not an option at this late a date.  If he is unable to meet his first commitment to you, is another trainer available from their company?
If he still pushed for a change my response for be:  he has already made a commitment to your company and a change at this late date will leave a very unfavorable impression on the professionalism of his company.
Tough situation but I am sure you will handle professionally.

[Jackie G]

Katie

No, you're not and I can understand well your frustration.  So this trainer is a supplier, right?  You're his client.  If he can't do the dates tell him you'll find someone else who can.  He had made a commitment and now his potential conflicts (not actual!) are worrying him?  Maybe he needs to get real.

I'd respond and remind him that there was much diary juggling a couple of weeks back when this was first set, he mentioned nothing about potential conflicts and due to other commitments nobody from either session can make the date he wants to run the training.  Put the ball back in his court.  Either he wants the work or he doesn't.

And of course, you may want to consider whether you want to ever use him again!!!

If you do have to get another trainer and start again, so be it, but look at dates further out so that you can do the same thing again.

We're having the same thing here but think x3 the staff but the rest of the issues are the same.  However, our trainer is internal so it's a little easier.

[Katie G]

Yikes, all, I realized I forgot to include that bit of information -- the trainer is internal.  But sometimes with the mindset I run into, they might as well be a different company.

Once I cooled off, I let the trainer know that this was really going to be difficult to change, and that if we had to, we wouldn't make the deadline.  And then left it in their court.

I have a feeling they'll backpedal and keep our original schedule.  We very rarely say "no" to people, but in this case, it was worth pushing back a bit.

[raindance]

My feeling is that whether or not the trainer is internal, you are still the client.  Our customer base is always both external and internal.

It is possible that the trainer has made a mistake here and may have a tentative booking for a particular date.  Sometimes there is room for flexibility and at other times resolution of such a difficulty depends on how high up a department is in the company food chain.  However, try to stick to your guns on this one. 

It is very difficult to arrange training sessions and meetings for numbers of people, who are clearing THEIR diaries for events.  For the trainer, it is just another session.  So, stick to your guns, and good luck.

[JessW]

I would also add a question: does your internal training department have a 'Service Level Agreement' for the provision of its work?  If they do, have they abided by it?  If not, why not? 

As Raindance said, it doesn't matter whether this is internal or externally provided, the people being trained are the clients, not the other way round!

[Jackie G]

Agree with both Rain and Jess's comments above.  How are you getting on with this?!

[Katie G]

Oh, I only wish we had something so formal as a "Service Agreement"!

Well, I stood my ground, and politely yet firmly insisted that we stick to the original schedule.  Even over the phone I could sense a moment of *blink-blink*, but they acquiesed. 

Small victory for me!

[JessW]

Katie, quick question.

Why am I getting one of my "CYA" moments about this situation?

If I didn't know that I was exhausted (emigration organisation etc meant I only had about 1.5hrs sleep last night!), I would say that your boss should be made aware that there could be possible repeat behaviours over future 'bookings' from these guys! It is not singing your own praises, it is letting him/her know that someone was trying to walk all over that particular group of training attendees to suit the trainer's own possible inefficiencies/dis-organisation!

Just my hunch however, but only you really know how the land lies with your work!

Jess 

[Katie G]

Oh, Jess, I know that CYA feeling!

Boss knows about this nonsense in general, although I haven't bothered him with this latest bit.  He will back me up if necessary.  Thankfully this episode didn't go to that level.  Some folks just like to see how far they can push things and back down when someone says "no".

In fact, I have suggested in meetings with my boss and his direct reports that if we are to meet this year's aggressive goals, we are going to have to get more comfortable with saying "no" a little more often.  Too often we try to be "nice" and end up spending a lot of time on things in which we shouldn't be involved. 

It's like the family scenario where there's one person that everyone comes crying to for "help" and they feel they can't say "no" until things get to a point where saying "yes" becomes detrimental to their own well being.   That's where we are right now.

[peaches2160]

Does the group need to be trained all together, or can the training be staggered in two or three smaller sessions to accommodate the group and the trainer?

[Sunflower]

Coming in late to this, but yes, I think you had every right to feel angry. Especially as it turned out to be an Internal Trainer! Every course tells us that 'everyone' is our customer, but it seems sometimes that everyone else forgets that when dealing with PAs.

Glad it worked out. But it was very unprofessional of the trainer.

I had to look up CYA - am going to use that now!