Bad Apples

Training & Development, April, 2001 by Bill Ellet

Bad Apples: How to Deal With Difficult Attitudes, video, 2000, 23 minutes, VisionPoint Productions: 800.300.8880, www.vppi.com. Purchase US$695. Other material: leader guide, participant workbook, and self-study workbook.

Dealing with difficult people is a perennial problem. The supply of know-it-all egotists and chronically cranky individuals often seems endless. Therefore, it's no surprise that there's a multitude of products covering the topic. Standing out from the pack, Bad Apples offers some unusual features.

Conventional videos illustrate each idea with a different vignette, but this video explains its five-step protocol by using a series of vignettes to teach the complete process--a total of five times. In my opinion, the repetition will help viewers learn the process more effectively. The risk is tedium, but the producer tries to avoid it by attacking a different type of problem with each repetition. For example, the first set of clips covers handling know-it-all bosses; the last looks at inattentive employees.

Narration is performed by a professional actor, whose delivery is crisp and convincing. The vignettes are well scripted, acted, and produced. The image and color quality are excellent. The only exception is the handheld camera sequences, causing exaggerated camera shake.

Another unusual and helpful feature is a self-study workbook packed with exercises. Video has long been typecast as a classroom-based product. But in the consumer market, instructional tapes geared toward individual users with topics ranging from personal finance to yoga are commonplace. Self-study, video-based training programs are long overdue. On the downside, the video's self-study workbook is identical to the participant workbook.

The ancillary support materials are more than adequate to get you started on classroom training, extending the video content in important ways. The leader guide has a full range of facilitation materials, although I found some of the cross-references confusing.

As Bad Apples says, dealing with difficult people can be a pain in the backside. It's unavoidable, though, and it's worth exploring ways to make such relationships more constructive. This video has a reasonable approach and teaches the topic more effectively than other programs.

Bill Ellet is editor and principal of Training Media Review; wellet@tmreview.com.

Product evaluations are provided by Training Media Review and do not imply endorsement by T&D or ASTD.

                      Bad Apples: How to Deal
                      With Difficult Attitudes
Holds viewer interest ***1/2
Acting/Presenting     ***
Diversity             ***
Production quality    ***
Value of content      ***
Instructional value   ***1/2
Value for the money   ***
Overall rating        ***