Dear Dr. Changelove - The executive on my project keeps asking me to cut the length of training in half.

I have only just finished the writing the course description. This makes no sense I have not even run a pilot class yet, the time I put in the Course description was just a placeholder. I think my manager is crazy!

Dear Overwhelmed

This is a common problem of change management specialists. It’s like there’s a “half off gene” that kicks in once the project gets underway and managers see the training design. I’m’ not sure what stirs the impulse, but I do have some suggestions for dealing with it.

Suggested Approach: Agree with your manager. Say your training design is “a placeholder”. Review with your manager what the tasks you are teaching to verify if she or he agrees with your design. Then ask your manager how much time he or she thinks it will take to deliver the theory associated with each task. Demo the task. Allow the student to practice each task and master the skill.

You will often find that by doing this your manager will revise his or her opinion of the time required. He or she may even want to run a pilot to time the actual class.It is generally easy to convey this point using this approach because most executives are people who have attended training and they know from personal experience that once the class is over they need to practice the task taught to achieve mastery. Together you and your manager will probably put a better guess at the length of class.