Here are some tips to help you walk on the right path:

Establish rapport early

Make sure you’re in the training room before the learners arrive. Greet them as they come in and engage them in brief conversations to try to find areas of commonality. Introduce yourself when the class starts and include statements about your personal and professional background; this helps build rapport. It makes the workshop participants more comfortable in general and, perhaps, helps them view what you say or do in a more favorable light. Once you establish rapport you are no longer dealing with a room full of critical strangers, but rather a group of accepting friends.

Use appropriate humor

Appropriate humor would be defined as that which may make people laugh, but does not offend. Examples of inappropriate humor would be jokes that have religious, racial, or gender overtones. Generally, self-deprecating humor (where the speaker is the object of the joke) is safe.

Don’t use sarcasm

Comments that may be perceived as sarcastic references to participants must be avoided. On some occasions, a trainer will have a very comfortable relationship with a participant through workplace association or personality. He or she could say virtually anything to this person without offending them; however, the rest of the class may not recognize this relationship and take offense to an off-handed remark, made purely in jest, which would seem to attack the person. Adult learners walk into the classroom with a hard-won sense of self-esteem which must be honored.

Be too politically correct

We live in an age of political correctness. If a humorous reference, a word, or a phrase could be offensive to anyone in the room, why use it? Surely, there are other ways to get the message across. When in doubt, don’t go there!

Think, and then think again

Most trainers are busy enough with effectively presenting content and facilitating exercises; however, one other task that needs continuous attention is keeping a filter in place between brain and mouth. The filter should constantly evaluate word choice and examples used in the classroom to ensure there is nothing offensive to the participants. If your filter catches something that may be offensive, just use other words or examples.

Learn and don’t repeat

Trainers are continually evaluating their participants. Are they “tuned in?” Are they getting it? Did they understand the instructions? Those questions and more are answered by reading body language, facial expressions, and comments. Sometimes, you’ll see that something has fallen flat as soon as you say it and you can attempt an immediate recovery. Other times, you might find out that you said or did the wrong thing on the end of course surveys. You certainly don’t walk into the classroom with the intent to disconnect from the participants, so when you receive those signals, you are likely disappointed with that aspect of your performance; however, the key is to isolate the behavior that caused the problem and ensure that it does not reoccur in that class or any other. Luckily, unlike a real minefield, we can have an occasional misstep, learn, and move on.

Or we can just bypass the minefield altogether by ensuring that good rapport is established early with our learners and the energizing humor used in the classroom is appropriate, safe, and well thought out. In that environment, it is not only enjoyable for our participants, but fun for us, too!

What additional tips would you like to share with our readers?

Paul

Cartoons

Select 4 to 6 cartoon shows for use with this technique. Then find pictures of your favorite cartoon characters from each show. Create a set of 4 to 6 characters for each cartoon show by printing a picture of each character you’ve selected on an index card. When you want to change groups, distribute one character card from each show to each table. Keep in mind that the number of shows you use is based on the number of table groups, and the number of characters you distribute is based on the number of participants at each table. Then, assign each table a specific cartoon show. Once every participant has a card, invite them to move to the table representing the cartoon to which their character belongs.

For example, if I wanted to go old school, I could use “The Jetson’s” as one of the cartoon shows. I’d print pictures of George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, Astro, and Rosie. If I wanted to be more current, I could use “Phinneas and Ferb.” I’d print pictures of Phinneas, Ferb, Candace, Perry, Dr. D, and Vanessa. I’d put a different cartoon title on each table’s chart, so participants would know which table to join.

Comic Strips

Talk about old school. Consider some of the choices here. You could select “Archie,” “Blondie,” or “Dilbert,” just to name a few. Again select 4 to 6 different comic strips. Create sets of cell cards to create an entire strip by printing a picture of one comic cell from one comic strip on an index card. When you want to change groups, distribute one cell card from each strip to each table. Keep in mind that the number of comic strips you use is based on the number of table groups, and the number of cells you distribute is based on the number of participants at each table. Then assign each table a comic strip. Once every participant has a card, invite them to move to the table representing the comic strip to which their cell belongs. For an even greater challenge, have each group then put their cells in the right order.

Musical Eras

Select 4 to 6 songs/artists from each decade beginning in the 50s. Create sets of 4 to 6 music cards for each decade by printing each song title and artist’s name on an index card. When you want to change groups, distribute one music card from each decade to each table. The number of decades is based on the number of table groups you have, and the number of songs/artists is based on the number of participants at each table. Then, assign each table a decade. Once every participant has a card, invite them to move to the table representing the decade to which their music belongs.

For example, if I wanted to use the 80s, I might select Huey Lewis, Madonna, Prince, and U2. I’d include a song title for each artist as well. I might even add an icon for each decade. For example, a 45 RPM record for the 50s or the MTV logo for the 80s.

No matter which technique you choose, the key is to find creative ways to change groups. Besides, “Learners just want to have fun” (oooh, Cyndi Lauper from the 80s)!

Jim

Now, the successful advertisers appreciate that most people don’t want what they have to offer. Think about it. Did you turn on the television to watch commercials? How many of you have DVR’s or PVR’s so you can fast forward through them? And what about the radio? Did you turn it on to listen to the ads or did you choose to get satellite radio so you can bypass the ads altogether?

We, in training, must also accept the fact, that most people don’t want what we have to offer. They don’t typically say things like, “I can’t wait to attend that training session,” or “I’m a lifelong learner and I just love training.” Now, our Langevin clients may think that way, but you are in the minority!

So, how do those clever advertisers get your attention and more importantly, get you to run out and buy a product that, before the ad, you never even knew existed? They create a need with their product so you must run out and buy it! We, too, must create a need for our product.

In our course, Marketing Your Training Internally (MYTI) or our self-study kit Marketing Your Training Internally , we emphasize the importance of knowing your product, before you can even think of promoting it! Interestingly enough, our product is NOT knowledge and skills, workshops, manuals, job aids, etc. because that doesn’t satisfy a need in others. Think about it – is the multibillion dollar cosmetics industry really selling lipstick, blush, and mascara or are they selling beauty, youth, confidence, and self-esteem?

So what are we really selling? We’re selling things like achievements, career advancement, competence, confidence, growth, opportunities, performance, promotions, results, solutions, success, and we can give you your competitive edge. These are the terms that we will use in our marketing materials. These satisfy a need and translate into benefits for our learners.

In our course and self-study kit, we also discuss the importance of targeting your message to the right audience. Are you hoping to influence a client to use or buy your services or are you targeting the learners, to communicate the benefits of the training? I’m always fascinated by the different commercials I see lately and the blatant attempt to target a specific group.

Have you seen the Old Spice commercials with the new Old Spice pitch man, Isaiah Mustafa? If you haven’t, Google it for a laugh. Clearly, it’s targeted to women, stating that at the very least, with the product, your man could smell like him. Kind of ridiculous but it worked. Sales of Old Spice went through the roof!

So, what’s the message, here? Let’s get creative, use the tricks advertisers use, and sell our training. Of course, I’m still trying to figure out how to incorporate the Old Spice guy.

Marsha

In a recent class, a participant who has received Langevin certification attributed the success of her training department to the actual application of the strategies and best practices gained from attending our courses. Now I know this is beginning to sound like an advertisement. In fact anyone in the class might have thought she was a plant for Langevin, but her story validated the practical use of our strategies when applied. I was so inspired by her experience I decided to share it with all of you in this blog.

She described a training department that was once looked upon as ineffective, invisible and irrelevant that is now seen as valued, visible, and effective. How did this happen? It was a process that required strategy, patience, and a lot of hard work and commitment.

She started small and slow. Often times participants are excited by the incredible amount of knowledge and skills they walk away with and immediately want to make changes. Change is good and yet it can be difficult for most people to accept right away. Remember the people from whom we need buy-in were not at the course and may not be as excited; therefore, it is important to be strategic when planning to implement change in the workplace. The following are 5 actions that were taken by the participant to slowly implement change in her company:

1. After each course she took with Langevin, she scheduled a debrief with her supervisor and shared action items from her action plan. From this plan they prioritized the action items and developed a timeline for implementation.
2. She offered to give a teach-back to others in the department and elicit key supporters.
3. After receiving positive feedback from the teach-back they were able to develop a comprehensive training plan.
4. Key persons from the training department were then invited to participate in the company meeting for strategic planning.
5. Short- and long-term goals were identified to align the training department objectives with the organizational objectives.

This simple, five-step process transformed the image of the training department in her company; however, she also shared that this change occurred over a three- to four-year period, and that it wasn’t easy. There was push back, naysayers, and a lot of resistance to change but she, along with supporters, didn’t give up. All of the actions taken are covered in more detail in many of our courses. The good news is that it is now a standard and company policy that the training department is actively involved in all strategic and operational planning.

They now have policies for conducting training needs analysis on the front end and conducting the four levels of evaluation on the back end.

I must admit that her testimony truly validated the work that we do at Langevin and what we teach. I also believe it inspired the other participants in the class to become more proactive and less reactive.

I often end my classes with a quote: “You now have the tools, but they’re not going to jump up and use themselves, you have to dig into the bag and use them.” What tools have helped you become a change agent in your organization as a result of our courses? Good news stories are welcomed, so please share!

Linda

I learned in one news story that with all of his financial and entrepreneurial success, he actually lived by seven straightforward business principles.

I decided that several of Mr. Jobs’ principles actually relate to those of us who are in the training business, especially instructors/facilitators.

1. Do what you love

What a simple principle – almost as simple as the black mock turtle neck and denim jeans Jobs was famous for wearing. Do what you love!

This principle is good advice to anyone, regardless of their profession; however, for facilitators, this principle impacts our performance in the classroom. Facilitators who are doing what they love have an unmistakable instructional style. Passion, enthusiasm, mastery, and high-energy are all key word descriptors I’ve observed of instructors who are doing what they love.

2.  Create insanely great experiences

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that, when it comes to instructor-led courses, it’s all about the experience. Granted, our participants attend our courses to gain knowledge and skill; however, if it were just about that, we could give them an instruction manual, a few job aids, and send them on their way.

If done effectively, instructor-led courses can offer an unforgettable experience for our participants. Not only can our classrooms provide an opportunity for learning, but they can also serve as a safe place for our participants to network, express themselves, build their confidence, and have fun.

And here’s the beautiful part: we, as instructors, take the lead role in facilitating these insanely great experiences by building rapport and using innovative instructional techniques.

3. Master the message

This principle is actually addressed in our Langevin course, Marketing Your Training Internally. In this course we focus on something called the Marketing Mix. This “mix” includes five components: planning, promotion, people, relationships, and product.

As an instructor, our message can’t be delivered haphazardly; it has to be strategically planned. This might include using some promotional techniques to build buzz and excitement before the actual course.

Also, our message has to be delivered to the appropriate people in our target audience. This in turn allows us to foster ongoing relationships with our clients, customers, and consumers.

Lastly, we need to have a full understanding and awareness of our product. Is it just a workshop or seminar? Or is it an experience that will result in something of value, such as performance improvement?

Once these components are considered and addressed, we then begin to masterfully deliver the message (both inside and outside the classroom) that training is an essential part of any organization.

4. Kick-start your brain

As instructors we must stay current. We often train in environments where technology, processes, and information changes rapidly. It would be in our best interest to stay abreast of these changes, research trends in our industry, and learn the most up-to-date best practices. Our participants expect us to.

Kick-starting our brain could also serve us personally as well. One of the leading causes of instructor burnout is feeling stagnant due to repetition and boredom.

It’s possible that we could proactively combat this stagnation by kick-starting our brains. Learn to teach a new course. Use a different instructional method. Update your materials with current statistics, eye-catching artwork, or witty quotes. Whatever you do, don’t get stuck in the same old rut.

These principles enabled Steve Jobs to make an indelible mark on the world of business, technology, and entertainment. By following his lead, we might be able to have the same impact in our classrooms.

Jeff

Imagine the response when, in a recent workshop, one of my participants stated, “A learner texting during class time is simply the same as playing with a table toy.” That statement sparked a spirited discussion and got me thinking about multi-tasking, concentration, and the learning process. Just what is the difference between texting and playing with a table toy and how does each affect the learning process?

As training professionals, we know that people learn differently; some people actually learn better when they are quietly fiddling with a table toy (say a koosh ball) or doodling. These actions are passive, require no effort, and don’t break our concentration from the content at hand. Additionally, they aren’t disruptive to other trainees.

Texting, on the other hand (in a classroom environment), requires a learner to switch back and forth between tasks. This takes its toll; as they switch, they’re not focusing on either task. Research suggests that when it comes to listening to a lecture or taking a test, undivided attention is better than multi-tasking. Neuroscience studies using brain scans have shown that the brain struggles with paying attention to sights and sounds simultaneously. When the brain starts working on a visual task, its auditory parts show decreased activity, and vice versa.

When Dr. Beth Hellerstein, Assistant Clinical Professor at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, was asked about the effects of multitasking on learning, she replied, “When students are distracted while studying, they may be learning facts but are not able to integrate them or apply them to a higher level of thinking. We worry about how this superficial learning will impact long term recall and application of knowledge and skill.”

The bottom line then is that multi-tasking (or texting in this case), in a learning environment, translates into less efficient learning that takes longer to complete. In other words, multi-tasking is truly, still a myth!

Melissa

Think of all the jobs that require facilitation skills: trainers/facilitators, team leaders, project managers, teachers, parents, and all levels of politicians. The facilitation tools and techniques covered in this workshop can be applied in business, the community and in your personal life. The core element of this course is built around the facilitation process: generate ideas, analyze and prioritize ideas, and make decisions.

There is a lot of skill involved in running a facilitated session. One of the key elements to set the session up for success is to select the appropriate facilitation tools to achieve the goal of the session. From the 45 facilitation tools in the workshop, described in the “tool book,” the skilled facilitator must choose a combination of tools they will use to make the process easy for the participants because, after all, that’s what facilitation is all about – generating ideas, solving problems, and resolving disputes as smoothly as possible.

For those of you who follow my blogs you know I usually talk about the soccer team that I coach, so here goes. You might remember that my team is struggling; we haven’t won a single game this season.

When teams aren’t winning, competitive athletes are not happy and often problems will arise among the players. This is the case with my team. I decided to arrange a team meeting that I would facilitate to see if we could resolve some of our issues. In preparation for the session I got out my facilitation tool book to select the appropriate tools for my session. For the first phase of the session I chose a tree diagram to explore the cause and effect of the relationships on our team. The players, young men between 18 and 23 years old, were able to provide input and took a leading role in building the diagram. We dismantled a big problem into manageable units and were now able to move to the next phase.

In the analysis phase of the facilitated session I chose the “5 Why’s” technique. Using this tool, we were able to examine the potential causes of the problem and quickly isolate the actual cause. (Oh, by the way we didn’t have to ask all five why’s to get to the cause; this group did it in 3).

For the decision-making phase I chose a decision- making tool that would get buy-in from all players—consensus building. Keep in mind that consensus building doesn’t mean that everyone agrees with the solution, but the decision is one that everyone can live with. I used the “5 finger” consensus building technique to get 18 young men to come to a decision. So after two hours of discussion, debate, give and take (as well as lots of pizza), we were able to come up with a decision that the team agreed upon is the best way we can address our issues.

Sometimes we don’t like to bring our work home with us but this time I will say that I enjoyed applying the skills from my professional life to my community coaching life. I enjoyed the process and the end result. The players did lots of high fives and left the session with a sense of accomplishment and optimism for the next game. My coaching colleague said, “That was cool, then asked, “How did you do that?”

All of the techniques and tools that I used in that facilitated session are covered in the Facilitation Skills for New Facilitators workshop and I can honestly say that I have had several situations where this skill set has been very useful.

Why don’t you check out our Facilitation Skills for New Facilitators workshop so you, too, can benefit from these valuable tools and techniques?

Steve

Companies even have entire departments whose sole responsibility is to reduce corporate risk. Now I am not saying all these measures are poor; rather they are quite smart, because who wants to get burned, if you know what I mean. It only takes one time for me to learn a valuable lesson.

So why is it that we often don’t take any type of precautionary measures when we walk into the classroom? Often times we have no clue about the attitudes/motivations, backgrounds, values, or experiences of our learners. We then wonder why we have problem behaviors in the classroom. I say it is all about being risk-free.

When you take the time to deeply know your audience, you can better meet their needs and wants. When you start focusing on their wants and desires, you will notice how much poor classroom behavior goes away.

When clients ask me how they should have handled a certain problem learner, I often ask them what they think caused the problem behavior in the first place. I will then follow up with another question: what could they have done to prevent this from happening? I am all about being risk-free. Lastly, I will present the client with some final thought provoking questions such as:

1. How was your enthusiasm?

2. Were you appropriately animated, lively, and excited?

3. Did your voice tone fluctuate?

4. Were you selling the learners on the benefits of the material?

5. Did you keep your lecture to a minimum?

6. Did you have many interactive exercises and activities?

Try incorporating some of these techniques and it will be the best insurance policy you could own.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Langevin workshop. I have more questions to help you with your professional growth.

Ron

It is usually up to the training department to figure out how new employees will be trained. There are many training strategies to choose from when building instruction. Do we create an e-learning lesson, classroom-based training, or on-the-job training? In this blog, I am going to discuss on-the -job training (OJT) with a focus on the pros and cons of this strategy, how we can minimize the risks, and maximize the benefits.

First, let’s discuss three benefits:

1. Employees can practice their job tasks in the real work environment.
2. Employees get individual attention.
3. Managers get immediate feedback regarding the employee’s progress.

Now, let’s examine three risks:

1. Employees could receive outdated or incorrect information from the trainer.
2. Training tools and equipment must be made available during the training session which may include extra costs.
3. The trainer must put their additional job tasks on hold while they train others.

So, if you think an on-the-job training program makes sense given your training situation, then it is important to prevent or minimize the risks to ensure overall training success. Here are some tips to help you minimize or prevent the three risks listed above:

Tip for risk #1

Write an extremely detailed task analysis on every task that comes with someone’s job to use as a set of job standards to teach from. Be sure to have a subject-matter expert review all of your task analyses for accuracy and also be sure to test each analysis with a novice learner before you use it for real. This way, whether one person or multiple people do the training, standardization will occur and accuracy will be ensured (provided the trainer(s) adhere to the standards!).

Tip for risk #2

If on-the-job training becomes the preferred method at your company, the extra costs up-front for equipment and tools could save money in design and development costs. If it is not feasible to purchase equipment for training-only purposes then perhaps you could use equipment available from an employee who’s on vacation or the trainer can use his/her own equipment for the training session.

Tip for risk #3

This “con” cannot really be prevented but it does not have to be seen as a negative situation. I like to see it as an investment more than a loss in productivity on the part of the trainer. Presumably, on-the-job training was chosen as the most effective strategy; given that choice, the employee(s) receiving the training should not need as much extra help from the trainer once the training period ends because the training was closest to the actual job conditions in the first place.

Certainly there are more advantages and risks associated with on-the-job training than what I have talked about in this blog so what comments do you have about OJT?

Lynne

Why?

Changing groups provides an opportunity for each participant to gain additional perspectives from others. It also allows for great networking opportunities internally or externally. It even creates a fresh group dynamic. In addition, the level of participant job experience can be more evenly distributed throughout the group. There is also an interesting side effect of changing groups; the frequency of sidebar conversations is often reduced because participants may not be sitting with a coworker whom they know well.

When?

As a general rule, it is recommended that you change groups once per day in multiple day workshops. There are two ideal times to change groups; the first is at the end of the day. I prefer this approach because everyone knows where to sit when they come in the next day. I may even relocate them at the end of the day, but wait to conduct the icebreaker until the next morning so they have more energy.

The second option is to change groups just before or after lunch. Of course, you could relocate the participants before lunch, and conduct the icebreaker after lunch.

How?

While you could simply have each participant count off by the number of groups you have, there are more creative ways to make this change. One of my favorites is using playing cards to redistribute the participants. Then I use the cards in the icebreaker.

For example, with 16 participants in 4 groups, I’d use the following steps:

1. Order 16 playing cards so that each group gets the same card values (ace to four), but in a different suit (hearts, diamonds, etc.). Table one would get the aces, table two would get the twos, etc.
2. Assign a suit to each table. Table one = clubs, table two = diamonds, etc.
3. Ask the participants to move to their new table based on the suit of their card, and be sure they bring their cards with them.
4. Once moved, have each table put their new cards in a pile.
5. One participant at the table takes the pile, shuffles it, and randomly selects a card.
6. That participant then shares that many answers with the new table group. (A=one answer, 2 = two answers, etc.) Consider questions like: “List # things the group may not know about you.” or “Answer # questions created by your group.”
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all participants at the table have answered the questions.

In part two of this blog, I’ll share three other group changing techniques that participants really seem to enjoy. Until then, remember—change is good!

Jim