People refusing to participate in group discussions

[TheTealShark]

I've been in training in a new role in the Civil Service for a couple of weeks. It's all being done remotely on Teams currently, there are around 20 of us and we're often put into smaller 'breakout rooms' for discussions which we then have to feedback to the group.

The actual role is a customer service based role involving daily telephony. However im finding that people are being a bit childish and ridiculous in the breakout rooms. They're refusing to participate/feedback to the group as the trainers often ask for a 'spokesperson to feed back.

It's a case of reading out a couple of andwers to the group on teams (and off camera) which takes around 20 seconds.
I heard one woman in the office say 'They're asking for a spokesperson and I'm flat out refusing' . I volunteered to do it.

This morning in another group one woman in our group just said 'Nope, it's not gonna be me.' . I volunteered again and I said to the group 'I don't mind doing it as it's really not a big deal, it's only reading out a couple of things."

I know the answer may be to refuse myself but it feels childish, or maybe the trainers should just nominate a person. I just think they should grow up a bit, they're in a role where they'll have to speak to people daily.

Don't speak up and volunteer next time....or say "Oh, I'll let someone else take a turn this time as it always seems to be me, then make no further contributions".

It’s pathetic.

But I also really dislike being put in small groups on an exceedingly boring training day and given a stupidly long amount of time to do a mindlessly simple exercise with 4 other terminally bored people and feed back to the group like you’re all in primary school.

You do it, and you feed back to the group, etc, because you’re a grown up. But you’re all basically just waiting for the day to be over.

This.
I used to think I could take an interest in anything, naturally having a lively and curious mind.
Except sports.
I now have to add 'Except group work during workplace training'.

Alternatively, you're given two minutes, the first 15s is the room setting up. Then you introduce yourself to a relative stranger, and that takes another 30s. Then you have one minute to answer the question and agree how to summarise it.

Breakout rooms are a crap method for online engagement.

My workplace is OBSESSED with breakout rooms for every training session or team meeting. It's like they have to tick a 'group interaction' box without even considering other methods that people might get more from. I just want to be given the information, I honestly don't care what Pam from finance thinks x policy is. Just tell me what it is!

Lets be honest, no one but the uber, uber extroverts likes all this wanky team stuff. No one wants to do it. It's 2026. I agree with a previous poster that wanky team bs should be consigned to the dustbin of history. If enough people don't take part, hopefully it soon will. Being silent would be me doing my part to end it.

It’s a hackneyed and not particularly useful method of teaching, though, isn’t it? Every bloody course you go on, split into groups, have a performative chat, feedback to the main group.

Does it teach you anything you didn’t already know?

At least doing it remotely you don’t have to write on the stupid flip-chart paper with coloured marker pens.

They do it because they don’t think we’ve got the attention span to just listen while they tell us what we need to know and they have to chop it up to keep us entertained. Just tell me. Or better still, send me the information and I’ll read it.

Be grateful you don’t have to work with them. I’d just say next time I’ve done last 2 I’ll let someone else have a turn and say nothing.

I hate online training. Most training is crap. In my three decades of work, I could probably count on my fingers the number of genuinely useful and good training I have done. None of those have been online. Its a really poor way to train people.

In particular, online training seems to have encouraged people to churn out loads of one or two hour training sessions which are of very little to no use.