Mr. Grimes is struggling with a dilemma: training is expensive, profits are non-existent and employees are angry. Fix that. Well, Dr. Elbie and Mr. Grimes argue about that and the success he has had in turning around companies just like his. Dr. Elbie pounds his case against a resistant client but finally wins. Mr. Grimes wanted to just train his managers and let them pass down the content to the employees.
Dr. Elbie resists the training of managers for a reason. It is a waste of his time because the transfer of knowledge from managers and supervisors to employees is inefficient. The managers and supervisors are a form of a problem that we call Black Knights. In this chapter, Roland Diamond, Vice President of Sales, is also a Black Knight. Most of us are like Roland; we resist change.

In the case of doing a train the trainer to do a change program, we will see how the Black Knights of the organization rise up to resist. It just doesn’t work for a number of reasons that we will see over the course of the book. The simplest example is seen here in Chapter 3. Can you imagine a group of supervisors making the radical changes that we will encounter in this book.

The term “Black Knights” comes from a scenario in the Monty Python film, “Search for the Holy Grail.” In the movie, there is a scene in which a Black Knight is defending a bridge. As King Arthur approaches, the Black Knight is engaged in battle with another knight. Of course, the Black Knight wins, (he always wins!) After the defeated knight is dispatched (killed), King Arthur approaches and beseeches the Black Knight to join him at Camelot. Instead, the Black Knight challenges King Arthur to a duel when the king tries to cross the bridge.
The Black Knight is a worthy title to the resistors of change. And they will rise up throughout this book.
Enjoy, Best, Len Bertain