C h a p t e r   4

Conducting the Training

• Where to begin and how training sessions are normally conducted
• Comparison of academic and training models
• Tips on how to engage learners and encourage participation, and the role of the facilitator
• Methods for using subgroups in training and wrapping up a session

 

Where Should I Start?

Delivering successful training begins by planning to succeed. Here is list of considerations, trainer characteristics, and goals you should try to achieve in your training.

Get Everything Ready Ahead of Time

Make proper arrangements at the training location. Notify participants and their supervisors of the training’s location, time, and other requirements. Arrange for refreshments or lunch, if appropriate. Prepare enough handouts and training materials for each participant. Distribute name tags or name tents (placards). Gather all your supplies and equipment, including your training plan, videos, flipchart, markers, business cards, and so on. Decide if you want to use music at the beginning of class as people enter or during breaks. Prepare the room by adjusting the seating and making sure the lighting and temperature are comfortable.

Make a Good First Impression

Dress appropriately for the training you’ll be giving; you don’t want to be significantly overdressed or more casual than the participants.

Be in the training area before the participants arrive, and greet them as they arrive. Materials should be laid out for the participants; the furniture arranged as you want it; and media equipment in place, booted up, and focused correctly on the screen.

If you choose to use an icebreaker of any sort, make sure it’s both relevant and appropriate to the audience. Keep in mind that if it’s a short program, the icebreaker also needs to be short, or omitted entirely.

Start on time. That sets a good example: It shows that you take the training seriously and expect participants to, as well.

At the very start, deal with any housekeeping issues, such as letting people know a general schedule (including when breaks will probably happen), where the restrooms are located, any rules on interruptions (cell phones, knocks at the door), any rules on food and drink in the training room, and so on.

Establish Your Credibility Early

Participants need to know why you are the trainer and to feel confident that they can learn something from you. In business training, it is seldom enough just to have academic credentials. Participants want to hear what you’ve done that relates to the training. It’s even better if you’ve done it in their company or at least know about their company.

Of course, now and then, trainers are put into situations where they are required to train on something they don’t know all that well. If you find yourself in this situation, here are a couple of suggestions. Explain why you have been designated as the trainer. Maybe it’s because you are their supervisor or have some position of authority in the organization. Maybe it’s because you have some special knowledge of the topic, even if you don’t have experience. Go around the class and ask what experience the participants bring. If their experience is more than yours, point out how much they can add to the program and emphasize your role as a facilitator rather than as a subject-matter expert. Also, you might begin with relevant stories from inside or outside the organization, which will get participants involved in the subject and indicate that you have planned effectively to cover the topic.

Above all, do not exaggerate your experience, but also never undermine your credibility by drawing attention to your inexperience. If you are asked questions you can’t answer, tell the participants that you’ll get back to them, and then do it. Exaggerating your experience or guessing at an answer will undercut your credibility quickly, and, once lost, credibility can’t be regained. If you have planned an effective lesson, you should have the confidence to carry it off well.

Determine the Motivations of Your Participants

People come to training programs for a variety of reasons. Some volunteer to come, whereas others are directed to come. Some are excited about learning new things, whereas others are concerned about keeping their jobs. Some merely will be filling a seat or attending only because they must. Although it’s not good to let those people off the hook too easily, you should be wary of letting them drag down the rest of the group or letting them sap too much of your energy. If everyone else “gets into” the training, they may come along; if not, just accept that you can’t force a horse to drink (or a learner to think).

Use Your Students’ Backgrounds

As you learn the strengths and weaknesses of individual participants, you can structure the learning experience for them, either with or without their help. First, determine if the group is homogeneous or heterogeneous in terms of levels of experience with the subject matter.

Groups that are either “all experienced” or “all inexperienced” can be easier to deal with from a training plan point of view, because they all need the same information. But a mixed group can also provide benefits for the trainer—for example, using the skills and experience of the participants to help teach the less experienced. This has two advantages: Adult students learn better when they teach others, and the novices gain the benefit of their classmates’ experience.

If the group consists of all novices, the trainer will have to rely more on his or her personal experiences, plus any case studies, readings, exercises, and other materials selected to help bring the points home. Obviously, course topics such as decision making can be related to many things, which even novices have experienced.

If the participants are all “old hands” at the subject, it is important to guard against the “I-know-it-all” syndrome. This may be particularly true if you are seen as either a “peer” or as an “academic” who has not been on the firing line. Sometimes a pretest can raise awareness, by helping learners recognize the gaps in their understanding. You may also need to point out that changes in the workplace require that everyone needs to keep current, even if he or she performs his or her current job very well. The fact is, bad habits creep into everyone’s work, and training is one way to help get back on track.

Mixed groups of learners present the biggest challenge to handle. Recruiting the more skilled to help train the less skilled is one option. This can be done by creating mixed teams of skilled and unskilled learners. Another technique is to vary the training style with a range of exercises so that even the experienced students are actively engaged. Sometimes it is possible to modularize the training and allow more skilled people to skip portions they already have mastered.

Treat Learners Like Adults

Adults often come into a class feeling they should know it all already. They may be defensive and reluctant to admit their weaknesses. They need to see a clear purpose and application for the training—it has to be practical. Be sure to tie in examples with their own experiences. Talkwith them, not at them. Even subject-matter experts can contribute in the classroom, and they often prefer to participate rather than just listen to a lecture.

What Is the Typical Flow of a Training Session?

Most training sessions comprise one or more cycles and will go through a predictable sequence of activities. The following stages are common in effective training plans and may be repeated as needed:

1. Introduction. Start the training session with something that will either capture the attention of the participants or motivate and interest them. Your opener should create anticipation about the training with a display of visual aids, outlines, artifacts, and so on.
2. Objectives. Let the participants know where they are headed. Learners benefit from a mental framework to help them structure their learning of new information. Outline what will be covered, how they will use it, and how they will be evaluated.
3. Information. This is the content of the lesson. It should follow the statement of objectives and comprise clearly defined parts. Use a variety of inductive and deductive methods in the presentation. Accommodate different learning styles. Tell, show, illustrate, and ask questions of the participants to help them develop the knowledge or skill being taught and to make certain they understand.
4. Demonstrations. If an objective is for people to learn a skill, break the content down into discrete steps and present them in the correct order. Demonstrate what a person who has the skill is able to do.
   For knowledge or concept types of training, focus on learner’s understanding of processes and structures. Use analogies and case studies to enhance the relevance of the material. Explain how the new concepts will be important to the participants in their work, using specific company examples when possible.
5. Check Knowledge. Continually check for understanding; make certain the participants both hear and understand the material as you present it. Are they now ready to apply it? Did they reach the appropriate level of understanding, according to the objectives? To decide, ask specific questions about the content you’ve just presented and demonstrated. When participants respond, tell them if their response is correct or not. When a response is not correct, help them understand what the correct response should have been.
6. Practice. Give the learners the chance to practice or use the new skill or knowledge. This often requires direct instructor feedback, though some skill training provides its own feedback. (For example, when the learner enters the wrong command on a computer, feedback from the program will normally indicate that it was wrong.)
7. Evaluation. Check what the learners have learned. Once the individual practice is complete, the participants are ready to begin or return to their jobs, unless additional skills or knowledge are part of the training plan. Once all the training has been completed, be sure to include assessments of the program as a whole.

See Worksheets 5–1 and 5–2 for suggested end-of-module and end-of-program evaluation forms. You may also modify them to add, change, or delete questions, to better serve the purpose of evaluation in your organization.

How Is Business Training Different From an Academic Setting?

Because of the many differences, teaching decision making in a business setting should not be handled the same way as teaching science in high school. Table 4–1 highlights many of these distinctions.

Table 4–1

FACTOR	ACADEMIC LEARNING	ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING
Trainer or teacher credentials	Academic achievement is often the sole criteria, although some colleges, especially two-year and teaching schools, will also consider work experience and the teacher’s skills in interpersonal communications.	Skill or knowledge in the relevant subject, regardless of academic achievement; skill in interpersonal communications will also be more critical.
Course content	Content is usually broad and theoretical; certain fields such as computer science may also have a practical element.	Content is focused and application-oriented; it deals mostly with facts and procedures and only rarely with concepts.
Objectives	The most common objectives are knowledge-based and occasionally skill-based; job performance objectives are usually only a peripheral issue.	Although training often includes knowledge and skill-level objectives, job performance is the outcome of most concern.
Timing and scheduling	The schedule is usually lock step and tied to a semester or quarter system.	The schedule is typically short-term and more self-paced; new groups start as needed.
Grading system	Grades are typically “A” through “F.”	Many programs are not graded at all, but are usually pass-fail; some are proficiency-based.
Presentation style	Lecture and other inductive forms are common, though workshops and lab applications may be used.	Participative (interactive) experiences are often used, even in a classroom form; a hands-on format is most common for on-the-job training.
Reason for participation	The goal is to obtain a degree, certificate, or other credential; sometimes classes are taken for self-satisfaction, but usually for career and employment reasons.	Participants are usually required to attend training by employer to support the organization’s needs; it may be a condition of keeping their job or getting a promotion.
Students or learners	Students work as individuals, and working together on assignments may be considered cheating; the teacher’s “client” is the individual student.	Group learning is common; the trainer’s “client” is the organization in which the participant works.
Learning or training materials	Comprehensive textbooks and outside research materials are used.	Company materials and trainer-designed materials are used; although books may be used, it is rare.

© 2004 Robert H. Vaughn

What Else Can I Do to Make the Content Understandable?

Here are some ways that you can improve the knowledge transfer for your participants.

Ask Frequent Questions. Design the lesson so that the material is grouped in bite-sized chunks. Don’t just lecture for half an hour and then ask for questions. Learners should go through a questioning cycle every five to eight minutes.

Present information in a variety of ways: by lecture, demonstrations, and exercises, or with visuals or anything else that affects one or more of the senses of the learners. Then, to find out if what you’ve presented has been heard, seen, understood, and accepted, you need to elicit feedback from the learners in some way. The final part of a questioning cycle is letting the participants know if they’ve “got it.”

Use Variety in the Training Design. Have the learners get up from their seats and move around occasionally, to talk with each other or try an experiment or exercise. Use more than one style to present the material. Three or four different approaches—perhaps a lecture, a discussion, a slide presentation, and an exercise—in a half-day session will help keep participants involved and learning.

Over-plan. First-time trainers are sometimes badly surprised when their planned one-hour presentation is completed in only 14 minutes. Even worse yet, sometimes it’s not completed in 90 minutes.

Experienced trainers agree that it pays to over-prepare and that it’s a good idea to practice a new training program in a dry run with a video recorder and a timer.

Be sure to have some contingency plans, especially if the training plan is deductive or interactive. Know what can be skimmed over or skipped completely if the training is running longer than planned, and keep an eye on the clock when time is a concern. Have extra material or additional exercises available if training runs short, or just let class out early, if it is appropriate to do so and if the training objectives have been met.

Ask for Help. A number of sources inside and outside your organization may be able to suggest ideas to improve the training. Talk with people who have taught similar programs. Valuable professional contacts may be found in such organizations as the local chapter of ASTD, the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), or others. Even the participants may be willing to lend a hand in certain parts of the training where they have personal experience.

How Do I Encourage Participation? Unless you are lecturing or using some other one-way process from start to finish, you’ll need participation by the class. When you encourage participation, take care to make it a challenging but nonthreatening experience. Participants don’t mind training that is challenging, but they don’t like to be embarrassed in front of their peers. They also learn more if they are involved. Here are some suggestions to get responses and involvement from your participants:

• Use small groups. Most people are more participative in small groups than in large classes.
• Ask questions that can be answered by everyone. Especially ask short-answer questions. You can also ask for a show of hands on some issues.
• Use written exercises. Having everyone write down an answer to questions allows you to go around the room and see if people are learning. Discuss any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge, which show up as a result of the exercise.
• Call on people. Ask direct questions of individuals. It’s good practice to not call on the same people again and again, even if they are first to put up their hands. Instead, distribute the responsibility of answering among all the participants. Wait a while (at least 10 seconds) before choosing whom to call on, to let some people continue their thinking process. If you’re pushed for time and want to find out if people know specific facts or procedures, ask closed questions, which have only one correct answer. If you want more discussion, to see whether the learners understand concepts, ask open-ended questions, which invite longer answers and may go in a number of different directions.
• Give feedback. Let them know how they’re doing or what they need to do differently. Positive feedback is always appreciated, but not always possible. If you must give negative feedback, try to consider the sensitivity of the individual involved. Some people will accept “you’re wrong,” better than others, who need to hear, “that’s not quite right.”
• Ask them what they think. Participants learn from their peers, and critiques or support from others in the class may be more significant than agreement by the trainer.
• Remember that lack of responsiveness doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of understanding. Reasons for not responding can include insecurity, fatigue, passive-aggressive behavior, or many other things. It could be that you need to rephrase the question. Of course, it could also be that participants haven’t yet learned what you’re teaching, and you need to go over it again.

How Can I Effectively Use Subgroups and Peer Training?

Using subgroups in a training program has many advantages for both the participants and the trainer. Many adults are quite willing to learn from each other, and they may feel less threatened by their peers than by the trainer, especially if the trainer is an outsider. Peers may be better able to put new ideas and skills into the language and context of the workplace, thus making it easier for participants to apply the new knowledge to their jobs.

When peers help others in the class, they refine their own abilities and knowledge as they explain things to their peers. Teaching provides them an intrinsic reward, as well. The trainer who uses groups reaps an additional benefit: Fewer people are vying for his or her attention. This can provide time to catch your breath or deal with administrative items such as setting up equipment or reviewing lesson plans—or a few minutes of quiet time.

Using groups in training sessions also has risks. Groups may make it easier for individual participants to “hide,” as their peers cover for them or let them be “free riders” on the backs of others in the group. Also, negative group dynamics may get in the way of effective learning if personalities or other issues keep the group from functioning properly.

For short questions, groups of two (“turn to your neighbor”) is quick and practical. Groups of three might provide more richness or work better in situations where you need an observer (such as role plays). Larger groups of four to six may be good for case studies, but the instructor may need to provide more structure, such as having the group elect a spokesperson, giving specific roles to different people, and so on. It’s often a good idea to mix up the groups at least daily so varying strengths and weakness of individual participants can be controlled, and so disparities in group levels don’t become exacerbated.

How Do I Wrap Up the Program?

Although first impressions are important, so are the last impressions. As the training comes to an end, a variety of tasks need to be accomplished.

• Have something meaningful to do. All of your training should be meaningful, but it’s good to end with a significant task that people can feel good about.
• Remind people what they’ve learned. Recap the training by referring to the schedule or the training objectives. Make sure to tie all the parts together and emphasize how the newly acquired knowledge and skills can be used back on the job.
• Create action plans. Whenever possible, have the participants put into writing how they plan to use the new knowledge or skills they have acquired. Some trainers keep these statements and mail them to the learners later, as a reminder or reinforcement technique.
• Complete administrative requirements. These could include administering a posttest knowledge check or skills test, handing out and collecting the program evaluations, getting any documentation signed or distributed (such as certificates of completion), and so on.
• Prepare the participants for any follow-up. Make sure the learners are aware of what will be expected of them after training. Will the participants be asked to fill out any other documents once they return to their jobs? Will they be subject to a follow-up evaluation by their supervisors or by others? Will they be asked to participate in any further training?

What to Do Next

Consider what you will do to “plan to succeed”:

• Review chapters 6, 7, and 8 to decide which combination of training modules best fits the needs of your organization or the time available.
• Develop your lesson plans using chapters 9 through 18, as appropriate.
• Once your lesson plans are laid out, review the issues in this chapter point by point, to see where you might incorporate each of the ideas.