Dealing with Disruptive Participants

When you encounter a disruption or difficult participant, try to depersonalize your response. This means that the situation stays focused on the learning objective and not your emotions or individual reaction.

Every action you make will influence the learning experience of the class. Therefore, it is vital that you respond to criticism or rude behavior professionally.

Instead of getting pulled into a distraction and shifting the topic to be about you, reiterate the importance of sticking to the class objectives.

Here is an example of an effective response to a disruptive participant:

1. A learner questions your credibility in front of the class, “What makes you think you know anything about our compliance with government code? I’ve been here for 20 years, I know exactly what we need to focus on!”
2. The trainer pauses and thinks about the participant’s point of view and how they can shift the discussion back on track.
3. Instead of reintroducing their credentials, the trainer responds with a redirecting question, “What suggestions do you have that would fit into the context of this class?”
4. The participant responds with their suggestions and feels that their opinion is respected.
5. You rebuild credibility without having to personalize the situation.

While disruptive behavior may not always dissipate so easily, you must remain depersonalized from these types of situations.

If you’ve set firm ground rules as part of your introductions, reference back to the fact that conflict is not acceptable and will not be tolerated during class.