HR manager John McMurdie had a hard time getting managers to show up for important legal training. They had enough work to do already, they said. Here’s how he fixed the problem.

As part of an ongoing series, we’ll have practicing HR managers present real problems they faced and how they solved them.

Everyone in HR understands the value of training, especially when it comes to keeping managers informed and educated on legal issues.

But as we all know, convincing managers that listening to us talk about the latest harassment snags is worth their time isn’t exactly a cakewalk.

We’d always called our training sessions “mandatory.” But when people complained about having to miss the sessions to make deadlines, there wasn’t much we could do.

So we were forced to either cancel the training altogether, or teach a class to two or three people. Since neither’s a great option, we had to find a way to get manager buy-in.

What can they spare?

Most complaints had to do with time. So I asked all the managers how much time they thought they could spare for a training session.

Then I restructured the training curriculum based on what they said. Now instead of trying to get everything done in one long session, we break things up into short classes spread over a few weeks.

From an instructor’s point of view, it’s not ideal, because each course’s total time has to be a little longer. Still, it’s more than worth it since most managers show up now.

We still can’t force everyone to come, but the small doses are much easier to sell.

(John McMurdie, HR manager, Manheims Greater Auto Auction, Phoenix, AZ)