What Working an Election Taught Me About Executive Function and Training

Working as a tabulator at election polls, I learned a profound lesson about training people: always assume executive processing dysfunction. Not because everyone has it, but because it’s the best way to ensure success for everyone—regardless of their cognitive strengths or challenges.

At the tabulator, I was responsible for giving voters multi-step instructions to ensure their votes were properly counted. On paper, these instructions were simple:

1. Insert your ballot into the tabulator.
2. Wait for the confirmation screen.
3. Collect your “I Voted” sticker and exit the polling area.

Simple, right? Yet, only about 5% of voters could follow all three steps flawlessly when given them all at once. The remaining 95% froze, hesitated, or completed the first step incorrectly. Those who managed to get through step one often forgot or misinterpreted the last steps.

Why did this happen? Everyone was nervous. Voting is important, and people want to get it right. But anxiety, coupled with the need to process multiple instructions simultaneously, can overwhelm even the most competent individuals

I realized the key to smoother interactions was breaking it down:

• Give one instruction.
• Wait for them to complete it.
• Then move on to the next step.

This approach worked like magic. By focusing on guiding one step at a time, I became more effective and patient and the voters were able to follow the instructions effectively and efficiently. 

This experience fundamentally changed how I think about teaching and communication. Multi-step tasks often seem easy to those of us familiar with them, but for someone learning or under stress, they can feel like a mountain. The step-by-step method isn’t just for people with diagnosed executive function challenges; it’s for all of us.

The lesson here? Assume everyone—including yourself—needs this type of guidance. Simplify, focus, and build success one step at a time. Whether you're training someone at work, teaching a skill, or explaining a new process, this approach ensures clarity, reduces stress, and gets better results.

So, next time you’re tempted to rattle off a series of steps, pause. Take it slow, one step at a time, and watch how much smoother everything goes.

What did training dolphins teach me?

 I used to train dolphins in college. I learned a lot through that experience. What were the main things I learned and carry with me? What I learned about humans by watching humans learn how to train dolphins. 

1) watching how people learn new information. Specifically, how people learn how to train dolphins and the stages they go through.  

The first phase: Some people when they first learn, watch and listen and don't act on it - are very hesitant. These become really great trainers.  Others are very hands on and dive in right away. These folks generally become good trainers but not excellent trainers.  When I am doing an onboarding, I pay attention to the people paying attention as these are the people who usually turn into my best employees.  It is easy to dismiss them and pay attention to the ones that dive in, but they aren't necessarily learning as precisely as the ones who observe first do. 

The 2nd phase is when people have learned enough to know mistakes when they see it and they start pointing out the mistakes of others. This is actually them learning and reminding themselves to not make those mistakes - even though it's annoying for the people being reminded to not do something. And a part of it is bolstering their own self esteem by reminding themselves how much they have accomplished/learned. 

The third phase of learning is enlightenment where the trainer is really good and also really calm and patient with new learners. They are confident in what they know and don't need to bolster themselves or remind themselves of things and so don't harp on the newbies.  People in phase 2 might be annoying, but if they are coached compassionately, they will eventually make it to phase 3. 

2) The 2nd important thing I learned what has to create unlearning through a behavioral technique called extinguishing a behavior. This is what I teach in my anti-bullying and anti-harassment training. How to untrain unwanted behavior - like bullying.  If you want to learn more visit: https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/

Training Remote Employees

 Question: Can we integrate regular training for remote employees?

Answer: Yes

I offer online and hybrid training programs and host monthly live virtual programs for the International Humanistic Management Association.

Remote employees – as long as they have connections to an internet – it’s actually easier to integrate monthly learning – into their workload. Easier than It is to do this for in person employees.

A monthly 1 hour learning program on whatever topic – makes continuous education a norm for their experience.    I like to do this in what is known as a flipped way.

I have the participants either read something or review a video lesson and then our 1 hour together – is spent discussing application. 

There are online learning systems that allow you to upload content and track employee participation in the program and ensure they have learned what they are supposed to learn.

Or – you can hire someone like me – to help you do this. 

Visit my website for more information: https://humanistlearning.com/

What's something I wish managers would know?

That giving training to an abusive person - will not fix the problem. The people who need to be trained - are the people around the abusive problem. Can't tell you how many times I've gotten calls to train - A person. And I never get the details - but eventually read about it in the paper. Trainings, don't actually change behavior.

Why?

1)  If you have a bully in the workplace - they are doing it and getting away with it - because it works. They have no incentive to stop. It's everyone else who wants them to stop. Everyone else is motivated to learn how to get them to stop. The bully is not interested in learning to stop. So right off the bat - you have someone attending a training and committed to not learning anything. Meanwhile - the people who are motivated to learn - aren't trained at all. 

2) A training can only bring awareness to a problem. It doesn't change behavior. It can give people the tools they need to change behavior - but changing behavior is a process that takes place over time and the individual needs to want to change. If they don't - the training is pointless and I refuse to provide those sorts of - fix this person for us training for this reason. 

3) The underlying reason I get these requests is because managers want me to fix a "problem person," but they don't want to learn how to change themselves or improve themselves so that they can help their employee behave better. It's their responsibility to fix this problem if they are the leader. They are abdicating their responsibility and refusing to learn how to be a better leader. They just want someone else to fix the problem so they hire someone to give a training to the problem person - and it accomplishes absolutely nothing.  I refuse to do these sorts of training and tell them flat out -if you aren't willing to learn how to manage this problem  I can't help you. 

4) our goal should be to help people behavior more pro-socially and that requires conditions and conditioning that encourages and rewards pro-social behavior.  If the conditions around the person don't change - the behavior - probably won't change. You have to empower the people around the problem person so they can help create the conditions in which bullying isn't rewarded. It's the only thing that works.

Contact me: 

Contact me if you have a problem person - or would like training - that will actually help fix the problem. But only if you all are willing to do the work to fix the problem. 

https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/

7 steps to keep in mind when hiring, training, and managing staff in a humanistic management framework.

Here are seven steps to keep in mind when hiring, training, and managing staff in a humanistic management framework.

Step 1: Recognize the individual for who they are as a whole person, and not just as someone with specific knowledge you think might be helpful.

Step 2: Provide them with the right work environment so that their personality and skills can be utilized fully and not suppressed because you as the manager cannot figure out how to take advantage of their unique abilities and temperament.

Step 3: Ensure that your staff are properly oriented. They need to understand the big picture, how their part of the work fits into the rest of the organization, and how the different pieces inter-relate to create the whole. A good orientation explains how everyone in the company is dependent on everyone else doing their job in order for the company to work effectively. Make sure they know how important their work is, even if what you are asking them to do is sweep your floors. It is all essential or you would not have hired them.

Step 4: Make sure they have the training they need to do the job. If you hire someone to sweep your floors, but you do not ensure they know how to use a broom, they probably are not going to succeed.

Step 5: Verify that they have learned your specific and unique processes. Do not assume it is obvious. Every work group has its quirks. Even sweeping the floor for a company has quirky requirements. Do not omit those during training or you set your employee up for failure. If they do fail, do  not treat them as a failure; it was your fault as the manager that you did not teach them this quirk. If they come up with a solution to a problem and it is not the solution you hoped for, understand that they are creatively solving a problem, and that is a good thing. Do not punish them for that. Learn why what you thought was going to work—did not and how the processes need to be adjusted to take into account—the reality the employees experience.

Step 6: In the early stages of an employee’s work for you, check their work and help them learn from the mistakes made in Step 4. It is amazingly disheartening to think you are doing something correctly and doing it for a long time only to find out that you have been doing it wrong all along and no one bothered to tell you. No one feels good about that. When this happens, it is the manager’s fault. The sooner you can help an employee identify a problem and correct it, the happier everyone will be. The longer you let something linger, the more frustration and anger will arise when you finally do correct it.

Step 7: Thank them for their work. Do not take it for granted that they were going to do it anyway. People like to know you appreciate their work. The key to doing this step well is to understand that different individuals need different rewards for their work. In order to provide them with a reward that is meaningful to them, you need to know what is motivating them. It is not just that people are getting paid for their work. That is nice, but it is not all people want. I started my professional career working in volunteer management. With volunteers, you do not reward them with pay. You have to provide them with another reason to volunteer for you. Some people want public recognition. Some people are looking for friendships, some are looking to learn new skills, and some get really excited when they accomplish something difficult that they did not think was possible. In order to keep your employees happy and loyal, you need to treat them as the individuals they are and figure out what is motivating them so that you can individualize your approach for each employee. This sounds harder than it actually is. Break down the most common motivations and design your rewards and thanks programs to provide the customized motivation your different employees require. Structured flexibility really does work. Most managers fail at this because they are only really comfortable working with people who are basically like them and motivated by the same things as they are. A humanistic business manager stretches themselves out of their comfort zone to make sure they are treating each of their employees with dignity and celebrate the unique gifts and traits that each brings to the company. After all, if you have a company of likeminded individuals, you are limiting yourself and your problem-solving and your customer base to people who are like you. That is not good for business.


Learn more about applied Humanism in business at:
https://humanistlearning.com/category/businesscourses/

And get my new book on applied Humanist at: https://humanistlearning.com/new-book-applied-humanism-how-to-create-more-effective-and-ethical-businesses/

How can you use technology to streamline a conflict resolution process?

I provide online training on how to stop unwanted behavior like bullying/harassment using behavioral science. This knowledge can also be applied to conflict management and I have several programs which address how to do that.

The question – can a tech solution to help streamline conflict resolution is an interesting one.  Because the answer is – it depends.  It depends on what exactly is happening.

Conflict isn’t simply a disagreement. It’s a disagreement that has devolved into a personal fight – at least on one side. Often on one side. It’s an unprofessional response to a professional disagreement.

Conflict can also be a symptom of bullying. Where the bully uses conflict to justify their behavior.  Bullying often masquerades as conflicts. 

With these 2 things in mind – there are a couple of things HR can do to use tech to help them.

1.    They can use tech to help provide training to the people “in conflict” to help them learn how to better and more professionally deal with it so it stops being a conflict and goes back to being a disagreement.  This does not take the place of counseling and coaching though. It’s more – complementary to counseling and coaching. The person coaching the individuals through the “conflict” can have them read things or take an online class as part of the counseling/coaching.

2.    The other way they can use tech is as a whistleblowing/reporting  system.  Because conflicts are manifested as inappropriate and unprofessional workplace behaviors, the goal is to get the unprofessional behavior to stop. Additionally, since what looks like conflict may actually be bullying, providing staff with a way to report incidences of unprofessional behavior will help HR a) know what is going on and b) provide a record of unwanted/unprofessional behavior which can be used to justify employment action is retraining fails, which it often will if the problem is bullying. Basically – a whistleblower/reporting system can help you figure out if what is happening – is actually bullying, when used correctly.

To learn more - take one or several of my courses at: 

 https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/ 

I am an HRCI & SHRM approved provider. 

Who should you train when you have a problem person?

Hint - it's not the problem person

I provide behavioral based harassment training. Most of my customers find me because they are looking for a real solution to their problems.

Often - they will tell me that they have a problem person and they are hoping that I can train this person - to not be a problem anymore. In other words - we don't want to train everyone - we just want you to fix this one particular employee. 

I don't want to name names - but sometimes these situations blow up and I read about them in the paper - or see them on the news.  This usually happens when they are vague and say - we;d like to you to do a "pilot" project in this one store - but the manager of that store - isn't actually on board with the training. Then it blows up and - I realize why.  Some of these incidents have been very high profile too.

So - let me help you out. If you have a problem employee - YOU need to learn how to help them. The problem employee isn't interested in a training and any training you give them - will just annoy them - and not convince them to change. 

It isn't that they aren't capable of change - it's more that - the way they are works for them so they don't see the point. The problem person doesn't have a problem. The people who have to work with the problem person - have the problem.

To fix this - you need to teach the people who are dealing with the problem - HOW to deal with it effectively. You should be training - everyone around the problem person. Help them. Focusing on fixing the problem person - isn't going to work. Teaching the people who have to deal with the problem person - how to make them stop - will.

With a behavioral problem in particular - the people around the person who is problematic - need to learn how to redirect the negative behavior. How to reward the good behavior and provide consequences for the bad behavior. Basically - you need to teach everyone else - how to train the problem person to behave better.  And everyone needs to be on board with the strategy too - because - if they aren't - it's not going to work.

My advice - if you have a problem person - is take my training. Learn what has to happen to fix it. Then come up with a strategy on how to deal with it. It may be that your best course of action is to fire the person. But then again - it might not.

I cannot help you though - if you don't want to learn what actually works so that you can fix it. If you are just trying to offload the problem for someone else to fix - you are never going to fix it.

So stop trying to shift responsibility. If you have a problem person - learn how to deal with them effectively. Train yourself first. https://humanistlearning.com/category/bullyingharassment/

Is Unconscious Bias Training Worth It?

Unconscious bias training is currently all the rage, and for good reason. Discrimination is still a problem. But that doesn’t mean that training will help you overcome your unconscious biases.

Neuropsychologist Sylvana Storey wrote a wonderful piece explaining what the problem is: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sylvana-storey/unconscious-bias-making-m_b_8771258.html 

It's an interesting essay and worth clicking through to read. She is right, a training isn't enough. The problem of power within an organization and resistance to change also has to be dealt with. Her example of how some people respond negatively to unconscious bias training was amusing because she seems to be unaware that entrenchment occurs whenever behavioral extinction is attempted. So of course, some people will respond negatively. That just means what they learned, they didn't like. It doesn't mean the training was ineffective.

Motivated Learners

Are you teaching the right people the right thing?

I teach how to stop bullies using operant conditioning. In addition to teaching parents of kids who are being bullied how to help their kids, I also offer sexual harassment training to companies. The law requires this training occur in several states and for the rest of the states, this sort of regular training is highly encouraged.

Here is the problem. These laws general require that supervisors be trained on the law. A lot of bullying in the workplace is done by supervisors so it makes sense. If you want to stop harassment, teach the people doing the harassing not to do it. Right?

Wrong. People who bully have no incentive to stop. In fact, bullying benefits them. Telling them they could get in trouble or that it’s against the law isn’t enough to change their behavior. They haven’t had a negative consequence yet, so they aren’t worried about getting one in the future.

Most larger companies offer sexual harassment training. The supervisors or staff sit in a class for 1 to 2 hours learning about how it’s against the law. Pretty much everyone already knows this already. Most people consider these trainings a joke and are bored during them. And then once it’s over, everyone goes back to work and back to the status quo. Nothing changes. And yet year after year companies across America, Canada and Australia submit their employees to the same ineffective training. Why?

We are training the wrong people on the wrong material. 

The reason the training is ineffective at changing behavior is because we are training the wrong people on the wrong material. Someone who is not personally affected by harassment might have a professional interest in it. But since they aren’t being negatively affected by it, it’s abstract knowledge. They aren’t motivated to learn it.

Who is motivated to learn? Victims.  People who are being negatively affected have high motivation to learn how to get bullying/harassment to stop. But instead of teaching them the behavioral skills required to fix the situation, we generally teach them the same things we teach the supervisors. It’s against the law so don’t do it. And if it does happen to you, you should report it.

This doesn’t really do a victim any good. They already know it’s illegal. They also know if they report it, they are going to face retaliation. Yes, retaliation is against the law, but it still happens and everyone knows it. What victims want to learn is how exactly they get it to stop. This is why I teach what I teach and why people LOVE my trainings.

Motivated Learners make the difference

When I speak to prospective clients about my online training, they often want to know what sort of interactive elements I have in the training to keep people’s attention. In their experience, people are unmotivated to learn during your typical sexual harassment training so an effort has to be made to put some lipstick on that pig to keep people engaged.

What I tell them is that my courses don’t need all that window dressing. If you have a motivated learner and you are teaching them something they desperately want to learn, they are going to learn it. It doesn’t matter the format. A motivated learner will learn from a book, a video or through a live lesson. If they are motivated to learn and the material is helpful, they will learn it.

Teach the right people what they want to learn and they will learn it. If you really want to create change, you have to find people who are motivated to change and then teach them what they want and need to learn. In my case, I teach the victims how to get their harassers to stop using behavioral psychology techniques that are based in science and really work.

If your training program is ineffective, perhaps you aren’t teaching the right material to the right people.

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If you want to learn how to create a sexual harassment training that actually works – consider taking my free 2 hour class - https://humanistlearning.com/sexualharassment101/ which is approved for 2 ours ce through HRCI and 2 hrs pdc through SHRM.

Or check out our compliance training programs at: https://humanistlearning.com/category/businesscourses/compliance/