Management Training for the Twentieth Century

So, I recently took management training course. There was some useful stuff taught in the course (such as delegation, coaching, and performance management, among other things). I learnt a lot, most of it useful. I’m not here to talk about that, though. I’m here to rant…

First problem: the feedback method they were teaching was the “shit sandwich“. I thought it was known for years that the shit sandwich was shit. However, in this course this shit sandwich was still king of the dung-heap. They had videos of actors giving each other the praise-shit-praise rigmarole, and then turning around giving the thumbs up and a shit eating grin. I kid you not.

Second problem: Myers Briggs. At the time, I didn’t know better. It’s an interesting topic. I felt that I was learning a really useful tool that would help me to understand myself and others. (I’m an INTJ, thanks for asking!). However, as I recently found out, Myers Briggs is completely meaningless. That’s a really interesting article, and explains why Myers Briggs is so popular: the Forer effect.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to send some feedback to the course administrators…