1. Start off with a brainteaser. Have it displayed on a slide, as a handout, or on a flipchart. Explain, as people come in, that the brainteaser will be the first activity of the day. Encourage learners to talk to each other; this puts the emphasis on them, not on the instructor, and fosters participation. If brainteasers are not typically used in your organization, make it content-related; this lessens the likelihood that anyone will push back on the use of the brainteaser.
2. Follow the brainteaser with a welcome statement. You want your participants to know they are welcome in your classroom; the welcome statement formally acknowledges that they are valued. It also goes hand-in-hand with the adult learning principle of self-esteem.
3. Provide an overview statement. Give a one- or two-sentence statement that provides an overview of the training program. This addresses the adult learning principle of self-direction. The welcome and overview statement, when combined, might sound something like, “Welcome, and thank you for attending Langevin’s Web-Based Training workshop—a three-day workshop that will help you design web-based training that is instructionally, functionally, and graphically effective.”
4. Give them an icebreaker early on. Again, if there is any pushback to an icebreaker, make it content-related. For example, “Introduce yourself to the person on either side of you. Be sure to include your name, job within the organization, and expectations for today’s class.” This once again puts the emphasis on the learners, possibly allows you to identify their expectations, and sets them up for increased interaction during the course.
5. Give an instructor credibility statement. Some participants will always wonder who you are and why you are conducting the class. It can be a challenge when people have a lot of experience or when they really don’t want to listen to you. Stating where your expertise lies will preclude some issues before they arise. Do it factually, without bragging. Part of your instructor credibility statement might sound something like, “I have faced some challenges with this new process; let me share with you what I have found to be a great way of overcoming implementation issues.”
6. When appropriate, acknowledge the experience of the participants. Again, one of the adult learning principles states that people want to have their hard-won experience recognized; it’s also reality. Some training programs depend heavily on the experience of the participants which may be much broader than the trainer’s.
7. Cover housekeeping. Remove any logistical distractions by preemptively answering:
8. Clearly display and/or state the course objectives. Identify the specific objectives to be covered during training for a “big picture” look at the training. (This also speaks to the adult learning principle of self-direction.) Langevin’s take on objective statements is that they should be brief statements reflecting what we expect the participants to do back on the job after training.
9. Survey the participants. This will help identify which of the objectives are most important to them—as well as anything else they may want covered during the session.
10. Give a more detailed overview of the class. Tell the learners what, in general, is going to happen throughout the day, or days, ahead. A central graphic is useful to illustrate this concept, perhaps supplemented by a brief description explaining the graphic. For example, in our three-day Instructional Design for New Designers workshop, our central graphic is the Design Cycle. It provides the “big picture” that guides the design process. The graphic is redisplayed throughout the course as it is a road map of the entire training program.

After this type of set-up, you can launch into your well-designed class. How long, exactly, do the first few minutes represent? The standard trainer answer—it depends. For a half-day class it might take ten or fifteen minutes; for a week-long class, maybe a little over a half-hour.

In any case, getting off to a good start is a great way for a class to go well—and for you to enjoy the first few minutes regardless of your experience level or content expertise.

What are your “tried and true” techniques for starting your classes on the right foot?

Paul

Tip #1 – Current Projects

Keep a calendar of current projects and the staff committed to these projects. This calendar can be paper-based or electronic and will allow you to keep track of all projects and the staff assigned to them. Some departments have a calendar posted on a white board in a common location with all projects and deadlines visible. Determine how often you want project updates and how you want to receive them. Establish a schedule for when the project status calendar will be updated and who is responsible to do this. This will allow you to see the projects your staff is working on and help you to balance the workload as needed. In addition, if there are backlogged or upcoming projects you will be able to help your staff prioritize projects, as needed.

Tip #2 – Backlogged Projects

First, identify why there is a backlog. Is it a technology issue, a subject-matter expert issue, or a resource issue? Determine what you can control/impact. If you own it, begin by identifying the roles that need to be carried out in order to take care of the backlog and then determine if you have the staff to take care of it. This may mean changing priorities between projects or adjusting time frames (if possible) for delivery of the product.

Tip #3 – Upcoming Projects

As with the backlogged projects, identifying roles and staffing required for upcoming projects is critical. Review the calendar and determine who should manage each upcoming project. Let the potential project manager know what is coming and decide, based on your lean work group, if it can be completed as requested.

Tip #4 – Current Staff Versus External Help

For all three of the above areas—current projects, backlogged projects, and upcoming projects—the question “Can current staff fulfill the required roles?” will need to be answered. If it is a possibility, you may need to shuffle current responsibilities among your staff. Identify the strengths of each person and allocate responsibilities accordingly. Cross-training staff is a viable option when there aren’t human resource, political, cultural, or time limitations.

When it is not possible to stretch any more without breaking, it is time to bring in external help. External help can take several forms; option one is to use staff from other departments. Option two would be to bring in “temp” staff to balance out your full-time staff. The final option is to use outside vendors to get the project completed.

Doing more with less can be a daunting task for a training manager but by using the suggestions described above, doing so will be a little less challenging.

What additional tips do you have for handing staffing needs effectively?

Martha

First, what is formal learning versus informal learning? These two terms refer to the dissemination or acquisition of knowledge in our organizations. Formal learning occurs through a controlled and structured approach on a broad-based institutional level. Examples include formal training programs and/or formal written procedures. Informal learning happens more spontaneously between groups of people. An example includes learning by sharing experiences with others in a chat room online or at a company picnic.

We learn in both ways at work so what does this information mean to us as trainers? Let me start by saying that all learning, no matter how it takes place, is valuable. Remember, knowledge is power right? In our training departments we spend a great deal of our time designing and delivering formal training programs for our employees. However, we can also create environments or situations where informal learning between employees occurs as well. Therefore, I am going to share my thoughts on some benefits of each type of learning so you can think of the best times to include both in your company.

Benefits of Formal Learning:

• Large numbers of employees will learn the same information and/or processes at the same time.
• If properly designed, the course content should be accurate and up to date.
• Employees learning through formal training programs come up to speed faster once they start their jobs.
• Properly designed formal training programs can include a variety of methods to appeal to all learning styles and conform to adult learning principles.

Benefits of Informal Learning:

• Creating informal learning situations can be less costly and more time efficient given all of the social media technologies and electronic devices we have today.
• Learning informally can be more personal and less intimidating for some people.
• Subject-matter experts may be more willing to share their knowledge with others this way.
• Since learning this way happens more naturally during the flow of someone’s work day, employees may be less likely to resist learning new things.

So now that I’ve defined each type of learning and offered you some benefits for each one I hope I’ve inspired you to be more creative when deciding how to most effectively train your employees.

Lynne

Select a Year

Ask a volunteer to select a year from anytime after the year of the earliest song on your player. For example, if the earliest song on your MP3 player is from 1971, then the participant could select any year from 1971 and beyond. Once selected, go to your music list, pull it up by year, and click the chosen year. If you don’t have any music from that specific year, advance forward to the next available year. Now, you and your participants can reminisce in the music and the memories of that year.

Select a Letter

Ask a volunteer to select any letter of the alphabet. For example, a participant may select “K.” Once selected, you can go to your music list, pull it up by song title, and click the chosen letter. If you don’t have any titles starting with the specified letter, then go to the next letter in the alphabet. For example, if I had no songs beginning with “K,” I’d move to “L” and play “Lake Shore Drive” and all the other songs on my MP3 player beginning with “L.” Now, your participants can have some fun trying to think of song titles that begin with that letter.

Select a Style (Genre)

Ask a volunteer to select any genre from the list on your MP3 player. For example, a participant may select “Country.” Once selected, go to your music list, pull it up by genre, and click the chosen style. Now, your participants can enjoy a specific musical style from a variety of artists.

I used to be a radio announcer, and I loved taking requests. Now we can all play DJ when we facilitate. The request lines are open to your participants, so cue up the music in your classroom.

Jim

The use of technology and social media is changing how we communicate and do business as a society and it is changing at a rapid pace. Along with advances in technology, the demographics in the workforce are also changing. The current four generations at work are The Tradionalist (pre-1945), The Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen X (1965-1982) and Gen Y/Millenials (1983-1997). Statistics show that by 2014, Millenials and Gen Xers will make up 47% of the workforce and by 2020 there will be five generations which will include the Digital Generation. This rapid change is influencing many companies to become flatter with less hierarchy. More people will be working on-line and at home. The implication for training has already shown an increase in on-line learning and the use of mobile devices.

The challenge, as instructional designers, is to design successful training that will set all generations up for success. It is important that we understand the underlying learning style for each generation and how they like to communicate. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) identifies our learning preferences in three key areas: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Studies have linked each generation to a preferred style based on the time they grew up and what they grew up with. For example:

• Traditionalists: Auditory – they grew up listening to the radio and their communication style is “write to me.”
• Baby Boomers: Visual – they grew up watching television and their communication style is “call me.”
• Generations X and Y: Kinesthetic and visual – both grew up with technology, video games, etc. Gen Xers’ communication style is “email me” while Gen Yers’ style is “text me, tweet me, and post on my Facebook,” etc.

Some may consider these conclusions as broad generalizations. But what this means for us as instructional designers is that we must design relevant and meaningful experiences in training that will engage all generations and learning styles. Here are five basic tips:

1. Use a blended approach to training, mixing on-line with traditional training strategies that will engage both the older and younger generations.
2. Incorporate a variety of methods that will appeal to visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.
3. Avoid data dumps and “Death by PowerPoint.”
4. Chunk your content to be taught in 5- to 20-minute intervals.
5. Create higher levels of stimulation with the use of games, videos, music, and small group work.

As we embrace the changing workforce in the 21^st century, it is important to stay current and encourage innovation that will benefit all generations. We must all adapt and become flexible in all that we do.  Everything is changing very quickly and nothing is the same. What has been the impact of technology and social media in your organization and how has it been received by the different generations? Your experiences and comments are welcome.

Linda

As writers of this instructional content, it’s important that we write in a clear, concise manner. This means using proper grammar and sentence structure, as well as mastering correct spelling and punctuation usage. In addition to following all the writing rules we were taught in high school English class, it’s also recommended that we write using inclusive language.

The use of inclusive language is part of a suggested writing style that avoids wording which might be considered offensive or that promotes stereotypes. In other words, it’s writing your material in a manner that doesn’t make assumptions or biases.

One of the most common offenses I’ve seen which breaks the rules of inclusive language involves gender. This is sometimes referred to as “sexist language.”

Avoid Sexist Language

Sexist language can usually be avoided by using one of the following techniques:

1.      Include both the masculine and feminine pronoun.

2.      Eliminate gender-related pronouns to steer clear of assumptions.

Non-Inclusive Example: An effective speaker knows his audience.

Inclusive Example: An effective speaker knows his/her audience.

Using “his/her” in the inclusive example does not give any unfair advantage to one gender; both are represented.

Non-Inclusive Example: An employee has expressed her concern about sexual harassment.

Inclusive Example: An employee has expressed concern about sexual harassment.

The non-inclusive example may imply that all employees who get sexually harassed are women. By eliminating the pronoun “her” in the inclusive example, “an employee” can refer to either a man or woman.

Use Gender-Neutral Terms

By using gender-neutral terms, especially when referring to occupations, your writing becomes more inclusive and avoids the sexist language that was referred to earlier. Some examples might include:

Stewardess (Non-Inclusive) vs. Flight Attendant (Inclusive)

Salesman (Non-Inclusive) vs. Sales Representative (Inclusive)

Policeman (Non-Inclusive) vs. Police Officer (Inclusive)

The non-inclusive terms make the presumption the occupations are exclusively held by one gender. The inclusive terms are gender-neutral, meaning the jobs could be performed by either a male or female.

As instructional designers, our written work impacts employee performance. Often we are conveying policy, proper procedure, and other critical information. If our readers get offended by what we write based on the use of a sexist word or term, they may miss the entire point of our information. If that happens, we could risk impacting employee performance in a negative way.

Although I only addressed one aspect of inclusive language—gender—inclusive language involves writing with sensitivity toward other areas including sexual orientation, religion, race, culture, and disability.

By incorporating inclusive language into your writing style, you’re airing on the side of caution. It is a safe way to stay politically correct, avoid stereotypes, and prevent assumptions in your writing. More importantly, it allows the context of your instructional message to shine without getting over-shadowed by offensive wording or phrases. I’d recommend you incorporate inclusive language into all of your written instructional material.

What other tips can you share with our readers to help make their writing style more inclusive?

To sharpen your instructional writing skills, check out our Writing Skills for Trainers workshop or self-study kit.

Jeff

Do’s and Don’ts in India

• Do be punctual! Indians appreciate punctuality but may not reciprocate it.
• Do schedule training for late morning or early afternoon between the hours of 11 and 4.
• Don’t rush deadlines, as impatience is seen as aggressive, rude, and disrespectful. Making a decision is often a slow and thoughtful process in Indian culture.
• Do greet trainees with friendly small talk. In turn, you may be asked questions about your family – it’s seen as a way of building rapport and trust.
• Do wait for a female trainee to initiate the greeting if you’re a man. Ladies, Indian men do not generally shake hands with women out of respect.
• Don’t refuse any food or drink offered to you, as this may cause offense. In addition, Indians are traditionally vegetarians and do not drink alcohol.
• Don’t point your feet (or the soles of your shoes) at anyone. Feet are considered unclean!

Do’s and Don’ts in China

• Do give and receive business cards with both hands. One side should be printed in English and one in Chinese (present with the Chinese side facing up). Never place a business card that you’ve just received in your back pocket, as it is considered extremely disrespectful!
• Don’t give a firm handshake. While handshakes are the most popular form of greeting in Chinese business, make them limp and brief.
• Do expect punctuality from your Chinese trainees. Punctuality is considered extremely important and being on time is essential.
• Do maintain eye contact with your Chinese trainees. Avoiding eye contact is considered untrustworthy. Conversely, in crowded public places, the Chinese avoid eye contact to give themselves privacy.
• Don’t assume that a nod is a sign of agreement. More often than not, it signifies that the person is simply listening.
• Do address your Chinese trainees with a title and their last name (that would be very formal in North America). If they want to move to a first name basis, they will advise you which name to use.
• Do be conscious of your non-verbal behavior. Since the Chinese strive for harmony and are group-dependent, they rely on facial expression, tone of voice, and posture to tell them what someone feels.

It is sometimes the simple mistakes we make when dealing with other cultures that can ruin a relationship built on months of hard work. Learning the simple cultural do’s and don’ts can help you avoid this and help generate respect and understanding. I’d love to hear about your experiences training abroad. Feel free to share!

Melissa

In this blog, I would like to discuss two important considerations for cost-benefit analyses (CBA):

• Determining when a CBA is required
• Assessing whether we have access to the information required for the CBA.

When to Do a Cost Benefit Analysis

Whenever we do a thorough, full-blown training needs analysis, a CBA is customarily an intricate component of that needs analysis. If we believe the training will definitely yield a change in performance, or we can quantify the expected job performance improvement from the training, it is a good practice to perform a CBA to show the dollar value of the performance improvement.

Other times doing a CBA relates more to selecting the most cost-effective training strategy. For example, the cost of design and delivery for a traditional strategy like instructor-led training will be quite different from the cost for the design and delivery of a web-based training module. A CBA will help clarify the differences in cost for our clients and often lead to making better decisions.

Last, but certainly not least, at times we will find ourselves doing a CBA because someone with political clout demands it – and so we do it.

We do have to remember that there are times when a CBA is not necessary, such as for new hire training or when introducing a new system, process, or product. Why?

When the decision makers of that new system, process, or product decided to invest in providing the service or buying the system, they factored in the costs associated with training employees to use the system. With new employee training, a CBA (or a needs analysis) is not required, as it is a fact that without some level of training, the new employee will not perform at the same level as his/her peers will who previously have received training specific to their tasks. If you take a control group of new hires and put them to work with only the experience they bring from previous jobs—and do not provide them with any training—they will quickly show a lower level of success than the rest of the new hires who have been trained. The cost of not training them could represent a major loss for the organization.

Information Access

The other aspect of conducting a CBA that is important to consider is whether we have access to the highly sensitive information we will need to properly calculate the cost and the benefit of the training. For example, salary information of the employees who will be trained is needed to calculate the cost as well as the benefit of the training. Most people do not have access to employee salary information. Likewise, we need to factor in other multipliers such as the organizational overhead, lost production during training, the value of the benefits the learners receive, as well as travel and tuition expenses, when applicable. If we cannot gain access to any or all of this data, we may need to forgo doing a CBA.

Our one-day Training Needs Analysis workshop provides, not only a solid methodology, but also all the required templates to make sure we do not miss a beat when presenting delicate information to decision makers.

I would like to hear some of the challenges you face when calculating both the cost and the benefits of training and how you manage those challenges. Do you count the beans or not? And if you do, how do you obtain all the necessary information and deal with the challenges that come along with it? I look forward to having you share your thoughts with our readers!

José

One thing that really stood out in our losing streak was a lack of fitness; we couldn’t keep up with our opponents. So we decided to bring in a fitness coach – a specialist in fitness and conditioning for soccer players.

In my soccer coaching career I have taken many courses and certifications that were extremely general. I learned to coach goalkeepers, defense, midfield, and forwards. I also learned the basics of fitness, nutrition, psychology, and tactics. I coached everything from soup to nuts, but was being a coaching generalist enough? Apparently not! As such, the coaching staff decided to bring in a fitness coaching specialist. After a few sessions, it really made a difference to our overall performance.

So back to training. I am often asked by participants in Langevin workshops, “Should I be a training generalist or training specialist?” It really is a difficult question in today’s training climate. There are still opportunities to be a one person training shop where you assume all the roles pertaining to needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation. The caveat is that, as a training generalist, you might be able to cover a range of roles but you might also be sacrificing the depth of knowledge and skill needed in a particular area of training. And, just as we had to do for our soccer team, you may have to hire in the special expertise you need.

It can be very difficult to be all things to all people in the training world. Remember, if you chose to specialize by being an instructor/facilitator, you may need to be able to facilitate all types of instruction from traditional instructor-led classroom training (ILT) and on-the-job training (OJT) to a range of online solutions including asynchronous and live synchronous virtual classroom training.

If you chose to specialize by being an instructional designer, you may need to be able to design the full range of training strategies – ILT, OJT, job aids, and web-based training. So even if you decide to specialize in facilitation or design, you will still need to have a range of skills within that particular role.

Whichever path you decide to take, Langevin offers a variety of certification programs to meet your needs, from our Certified Instructor/Facilitator to a Certified Instructional Designer/Developer, to a Training Generalist Certification that combines the two specialties.  Which path will you take?

Steve

• Bankruptcy
• Automobile Accident
• Wedding
• Blizzard
• Audit
• Lottery Winner

I guarantee that you felt some powerful emotions and memories—both positive and negative! Well, whenever I mention “training policies” in our Langevin workshops, I receive the same reactions, both positive and negative.

Training policies should not be thought of as something negative. I define training policies as a means to helping make sound and consistent business decisions. Any established organization must have a set of rules and regulations, otherwise chaos may run amok.

Creating training policies will, at minimum, provide your department with the following four benefits:

• Instructor policies will help your instructors deal with classroom challenges.
• Instructional design policies provide standards and templates for your designers to follow, making life so much easier and simpler for everyone.
• Needs analysis policies help eliminate wasted training time and resources.
• Evaluation policies will provide better guidelines for the evaluation of training so you will produce more valuable metrics. This, in turn, will communicate training’s value to the organization.

As you can see, training policies can be created for so many aspects of your department, so don’t fall into the trap of running a training department without any policies in place. What training manager would not want to have a successfully running department? And, to ensure your policies are enforced and have credibility, please remember to get management involvement, support, and buy-in.

For additional information on this subject, sign up for our Advanced Training Manager workshop and we’ll provide you with some fantastic guidelines for creating effective training policies.

Remember, policies are a means to helping make sound and consistent business decisions, so if you don’t currently have training policies in place, start drafting some today!

Ron