Deconstructing Trainers' self-image: How to get the respect you deserve - Brief Article

Training & Development, Dec, 2001 by Ruth Palombo Weiss

* Members of a stereotyped group often accept the content of the generalizations, thereby influencing their self-perception.

* A training department should be on the same level as a company's attorneys. Both search and react to potential problems so they can fix them, make sure what's being done is being done correctly, and shore up whatever needs shoring up.

* It's vital for in-house trainers to be able to recognize the potential impact a training product can have on their business in terms of dollars and cents.

Bookshelves are lined with self-help manuals promising ways to promote better self-esteem. An Internet search yields 713,000 hits for the word self-esteem. There's even a National Association of Self-Esteem.

What is this elusive quality that everyone wants? Does esteem apply just to individuals, or can groups experience high or low professional esteem?

Susan Herman, professor of management at Keene State College, identifies these characteristics of high-esteem groups:

* a feeling of pride in the group

* sufficient or more than sufficient resources

* trust in the organization and ream members

* frequent interaction, common attitudes, and common values

* overarching common and important goals

* success in achieving those goals or moving in the direction of goal fulfillment

* skills for managing conflict smoothly.

Characteristics of low-esteem groups can include a sense that the group isn't empowered; lack of trust in the organization or team members; isolation; lack of common, meaningful goals; incessant and diffuse blaming of others and self; criticism of others and self; and a feeling of hopelessness.

"Another characteristic of low self-esteem groups and low-status members in those groups is a tendency to kick the dog. Feeling picked on and powerless, [such people] lord whatever shreds of power they might have over others," says Herman.

"Ever since journalist Walter Lippmann coined the word stereotyping, people have recognized that the groups they belong to determine [people's] judgment," says Donelson Forsyth, professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He notes that engineers are often viewed as humorless and detail oriented. Similarly, marketing professionals are said to care more about look than substance, and HR people are thought to be touchy-feely. Such stereotypes may hold a kernel of truth, but they're usually unfair exaggerations.

"The problem is that the members of a stereotyped group often accept the content of the generalizations, thereby influencing their self-perception. Engineers become nit-picky and HR people become soft because that's how they're characterized. The prophecy 'You have low value' becomes self-fulfilling when stereotyped groups internalize the content," says Forsyth.

Many psychologists theorize that one's self has a large interpersonal component. So although we tend to think self-esteem is based on our appraisal of our personal qualities, it's also shaped by our appraisal of the qualities of the groups we belong to. If we belong to a bunch of "loser" groups, then our personal self-esteem is likely to be low. Most people can protect their sense of self-esteem by cutting off their connection to groups with negative social identities. However, that might not be possible for people in a professional group; most people belong to such a group to earn their livelihood.

A low-status group within a larger group or organization may conclude that the other group members don't appreciate their perspective. They may also feel that they're unfairly denied input in decisions and are inadequately compensated relative to members of other groups.

What about trainers?

Who are trainers (in-house or consultants) and does their background influence their group esteem? Traditionally, many trainers came from academia and so have the mindset of educators.

"In our culture, educators understand that they aren't always seen as central to running a business, but they also recognize that without what they bring to the table, businesses wouldn't run as well," says Carol Price, owner of Professionally Speaking. Price sees trainers as the "invisible heroes" in a company, busy building their training skills when not engaged in actual training. "Educators have accepted the fact that education in the United States can be and often is invisible," she says.

A training department could and should be on the same level as a company's attorneys, according to Price. Both search and react to potential problems so they can fix them, make sure what's being done is being done correctly, and shore up whatever needs shoring up. "The only difference," says Price, "is that trainers haven't been given the same esteem as attorneys have, yet a trainer is going to affect a lot more people."

There seems to be a difference in the self-esteem of trainers who are consultants and those who work in-house. Because external consultants are hired on contract to do a specific job, they ostensibly agree with the organization that hires them. When the results are achieved, the client is satisfied and the contract trainer gets a lot of strokes. But, depending on the organization, in-house trainers can be either respected or considered a necessary evil. Part of the ambivalence to in-house trainers may be that they're often located in the HR department, which must often navigate choppy waters in this age of litigation.