Conquered into Liberty
Conquered into Liberty?
Ordered into Effectiveness?
Hypnotized into Greatness?
“Why the title ‘Conquered into Liberty?’ It begins with the remarkable decision by the Continental Congress to launch an invasion of Canada in 1775 – before the United States had declared independence. In advance of the invasion(s) the revolutionaries spread a pamphlet telling French Canadians, ‘You have been conquered into liberty.’ In some sense, we have been doing it ever since – what happened to Germany and Japan during and after the World War, after all? And in some sense that is what the Iraq war, wisely or unwisely, ended up being about…”
-Excerpted from “Conquered into Liberty”
by Eliot A. Cohen
American Defense Analyst and Military Historian
Can people be “Commanded into Greatness?”
In our view, learning & development work best when the individual and the teacher are allies. In too many corporate training programs, they are instead – antagonists. The new course material is simply dictated – transferred – to often unwilling course participants – who are expected to duplicate and return to work prepared to deliver – on schedule, as planned. In many cases flying all night to get back to work the next day…
This method may be effective to a degree, but it misses the fact that circumstances are what they are for a reason. Dictating new information doesn’t automatically erase the facts, pressures, momentum, competing interests, history, market forces – the circumstances – which combine to create the status quo. To our way of thinking, people are less like blank sheets of paper, and more like sponges – absorbing everything and arriving at their current state as a combination of everything that went before. And, Everything that goes before leaves a mark…
“You can’t teach over an upset!”
J. R. St.John
The reason much of training isn’t more effective? One can’t simply “Erase the page!” or “Wipe the slate…” Yet much corporate training works from the assumption that simply dictating another layer of new information is all that’s required to win the day. It’s not unusual. This (in our mind – warped) perspective is fully manifest in both the military and the mental health fields – where we are simultaneously attempting to conquer foreign populations into democracy and hypnotizing our veterans to forget their post traumatic stress. How’s that approach working for you so far?
Yes, it “worked” in post war Japan and Germany, but at what cost and over what period of time? Most corporate training initiatives don’t have either the time or resources required to work that kind of miracle… (Then again, the country may no longer have those resources either…)
We believe that better results can be achieved with a little more time, and some sober debriefing. So in our work, we go deeper; inviting people to grapple with their internal concerns, explanations, doubts and justifications – the previous life and career lessons – many of which have been learned too well. It often takes a little extra time invested to fully “squeeze the moisture from the sponge” of memory and allow people to start fresh. Only after this sometimes exhaustive “pre-work” is completed, can real forward momentum be achieved and development commence. You have to shed the impact of the last lesson before you’re ready to concentrate fully on learning the new one.
But this is not the usual “corporate way.” All efficiency; management states a goal, sets dates for training and postulates the dazzling expected results of the new sales campaign. People arrive at training, “prepared to be conquered, vanquished, or at least attacked.” Storming the barriers of their doubt, fear, distrust and limited awareness is often a lost cause. Little of importance will be accomplished until they are allowed/encouraged to get “what is and what has been” off their collective chests. That process, done to significant effect; clears the decks for the new moment to appear – often with startling positive results.
Few people are “conquered into effectiveness.” We find instead that they must be openly, honestly and with full awareness – enticed into a better future – giving truth to the old training aphorism, “If you would teach me, first be my friend.”
Applications
1. Personally
Start with yourself: Is there a new field that requires mastering? How do you feel about the enterprise? Is it inviting? Are you curious? Is there something seductive about the area that demands exploration? If not, check and see if there’s a past experience with the subject matter or with learning in general that needs to be exposed and resolved before the engines can start to rev. It’s a simple process: Check the interest level… Not great? Check for any previous hang ups or upsets. When your sponge is “squozed, squeezed or sufficiently squizzen,” give it a minute; then watch the interest re-assert itself!
2. Family
When a family member is reserved about a new experience, the indication is that something is interfering with the natural curiosity and excitement about the “New.” Check for previous overly tough teachers, aggressive camp counselors, “mean girls” or “bullies.” It may take some gentle probing to expose a difficult moment in recent memory… Then a touch of familial affection to nudge, coax and entice the reluctant newcomer into music, athletics, dance, theater, mathematics, science or philosophy. Every new subject has endless possibilities, but only if we’re free to explore them without fear. Surprisingly, in the absence of interest or curiosity, there’s almost always “a sponge that needs a squeezing…”
3. At the Office
Can you hear the hallway discussion?
“Another new initiative… Oh Boy! I’ll put in the extra time, catch the heat but not the credit… Do those guys know what we’ve been through in the last five years?”
Recent history hasn’t been that kind to any sector – so it’s a fair bet that every potential training group has its fair share of war stories to work through before beginning a new training program in earnest. If you’re in one, try to give it a fair go from the start – don’t reserve interest – you risk being one of those guys who sits back and waits for an opportunity to put a pin in the teacher and laugh while he struggles to carry on. If you’re teaching however, Watch Out! Start by inquiring where everyone stands on the issue of being there, and follow up with nuanced discussion to locate the allies, the fence sitters and the doubters. Allies don’t require much handling, fence sitters will go with the crowd. Doubters have to have their moment and be fairly listened to and understood. Then the Coup de Grace: “OK Bob, we’ve heard where you’ve been and what it’s been like. We get it. Damn hard! Now though, without minimizing your pain, Where shall we go? This is a high floor so we have a choice: Forgive, forget the past and move on? Or look for an unguarded balcony? Which is it? How do the rest of you feel?” Take them from that point into the material, move forward and gather momentum!
Nations might be conquered into Liberty. But in our experience, people many times are simply – conquered. Make your future training experiences more meaningful by allowing people to work through old upsets before enticing them into the future!
Subscribe to our Newsletter
