20

Ending the Workshop

A strong conclusion is a must for any training program. . . . It is . . . imperative to have a strong wrap-up that drives home the point(s) you’ve made.

——Robert Pike¹

You’ve provided a comfortable setting for the workshop, helped participants get acquainted with each other, led and debriefed energizing activities, worked well with visual aids, nailed your presentations, demonstrated the skills being taught, led practices, and provided solid feedback. Finally, that’s all finished and you’re done, right? Not quite. You have to tie a bow on the gift you’ve given to participants. You do that by bringing the workshop to a meaningful close.

When participants leave a workshop with positive feelings about the learning experience and their accomplishments in the workshop, they’re more likely to use the new knowledge and skills back on the job. A solid ending provides a bridge from what was learned in the workshop to the work responsibilities and relationships where participants will apply what they learned. Failing to properly bring closure to the workshop tends to leave the group feeling incomplete and is likely to significantly decrease the transfer of learning to the workplace.

Here are ways to facilitate that happening, when you end a workshop:

• Save time for a thoughtful and productive conclusion to the workshop.

• Review the workshop content.

• Lead action planning.

• Generate action triggers.

• Discuss reentry.

• Facilitate evaluation.

• Wrap up the experience.

• Be available until the last person leaves.

And, if you plan to do follow-up with the group or have sign-ups for after the workshop video feedback, these activities belong at the close of the workshop, too.

Save Time for a Thoughtful and Productive Conclusion to the Workshop

A frequent mistake of neophyte and veteran trainers alike is to run short of time toward the end of the workshops they lead. Course designers often cram too much material into the workshop outline, loquacious participants may over-contribute, the trainer may get carried away on a favorite topic, and numerous other factors may chip away at the time. Unless preventive measures are employed, the cumulative effect of these and other potential drains on workshop time can leave the trainer running out of time before he finishes conveying the course content.

A good antidote for the tendency to run out of time is to develop a time-specific outline. Have the allotted times running down the left hand margin of your outline and note what is to be accomplished in each time period. For example:

Review the Workshop Content

The close of a workshop generally begins with a brief review of the course content. This is a big-picture summary, so it’s important to skip the detail. If you’ve made and posted wall charts of the content of each day, now is a time to refer back to the key charts. Using transitions to link content can help participants integrate what could become an overload of review material.

You can enliven the review by asking checking questions along the way, such as, “Remember how after practicing this particular skill many of you could see several ways of applying it?” Or, “On the first day, some of you said you didn’t think this skill would work in the real world. What are your thoughts now?” “How comfortable are you with this approach?”With checking questions like these interspersed in the review you’ll draw participants into a dialogue instead of boring them with a monologue.

Lead Action Planning

Having just listened to a review of what the workshop covered, it’s a good time for participants to plan what they intend to do with what they’ve learned. The act of planning how they will use what they learned gives participants an extra nudge to apply the course content. An action plan provides a strong impetus for the transfer of learnings from the workshop to the workplace. The action plan can also be used as an agenda that participants can use in a discussion with their team leader or the whole team as part of their reentry from the training program.

When Michael Jordan, the former NBA superstar, was at the peak of his career, he used to say that with eighty-two games in a season his biggest challenge was to motivate himself to play at his best, game after game. Most of us have a similar problem on a smaller scale: how does a person perform at their best day after day all year long? A well-thought-out action plan can serve as a self-motivator on the job. When participants read what they’ve written about improving their performance and check their plan to see how they’re doing, it can encourage them to keep up the good work. They see that they’re improving, which motivates them to continue getting better. Their action plan becomes their silent partner.

Three Approaches to Action Planning

There are a variety of ways to approach action planning. Unless you are familiar with a different approach that would be applicable, consider using one of these methods.

The Four-Column Action Plan

Some trainers develop a 12" by 8½" handout with four columns:

• The first column lists the major skills taught in the workshop.

• The second column is for the participant to write where, with whom, and when they plan to use the skill or method.

• The third column is a 1 to 5 self-rating scale of how well they did when using the skill in those situations.

• The fourth column is for notes of where and when to use the method again.

Action Plan and Possible Barriers to Success

Other trainers use a form for participants to write three to five actions they will take from the course back to apply at work, followed by possible obstacles that might prevent them from being successful in their attempt to transfer the skills from the workshop.

Least Difficult to Most Difficult Applications

Another option is to use two written mini-activities that focus on transferring skills back to the workplace. The first activity is for each participant to make an assessment of her skill level with each major skill set covered in the workshop. A simple 1 to 5 scale works well.

The second activity is for the participant to develop specific plans for using the skills in major parts of their work starting with the least challenging application and moving gradually to the most important or most difficult application for them. Participants then note potential barriers to the success of their plan along with ways to overcome the obstacles.

Small Group Discussion

The action planning can conclude with a discussion of the plans in dyads or triads to help each person solidify the plans he made and to discuss the possible barriers to success including ways to overcome the potential barriers. Participants learn from each other in these conversations, so be sure to leave a bit of time at the end of the discussion for people to tweak their action plans by including what they learned from the discussion.

You may have a favorite way of doing action plans that’s quite different from what’s suggested here. The main point is for action plans to be (1) written and (2) doable, and (3) serve as a tool for transferring at least some of the skills and methods of the workshop to the work environment.

Generate Action Triggers

An action trigger is an event or other signal that can remind you to do something that you want to do but might let slide. Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer describes action triggers as “motivators for action.” Action triggers can be powerful aids to changing one’s behavior.

For example, one of the authors is a kidney transplant patient who needs to take anti-rejection drugs daily. Her action trigger is keeping her daily medicines in a pillbox at the kitchen sink where she inevitably sees them—and takes them—each morning when cleaning up after breakfast.

Here’s an example of using an action trigger at work. A very talkative manager wanted to become a better listener. He took a listening skills course and learned how to listen very effectively. However, when he got back to the workplace, he started to fall back into his old talkative habits. Not wanting to backslide, he taped this action trigger to the back of his nameplate which was visible to him but not to others who dropped by to talk with him.

LISTEN!

He said it was amazing how much that one-word message transformed his communication.

Researchers discovered that the probability of change doubles when people establish a consistent practice of reminding themselves of their commitments.

Discussing Reentry

Just as we trainers have to handle resistance in our workshops, some participants will probably have to handle resistance to whatever changes they make when they re-enter the workplace. People sometimes wonder why anyone wouldn’t welcome a change for the better in an associate. Of course, some people will welcome the change. But some may not. Other team members may notice that the returning team member is suddenly doing some things differently, and some may anticipate that they soon may be expected to change too. This concern is especially likely if the workshop was on communication skills or interpersonal relationships.

As you end a workshop, it pays to invest time for participants to think about how resistance back at work might look and how to head it off or deal with it if it should arise. To help participants think about this, you can lead them in building a list of Do’s and Don’ts for Reentry. Here are some items that appeared on lists of past participants:

Do’s:

Don’ts:

Add that if some team members become resistant to the changes you’re making, it’s time to put your reflective listening skills to work (Chapter 12). When they’ve had their say, own the fact that in a recent workshop you learned some different ways of doing some things and that they will see changes in your behavior because you’re determined to improve. Tell them about some of the changes you’ll be experimenting with and ask them to give you feedback from time to time.

Facilitate Evaluation

You may want to review Chapter 19 to see if there are suggestions that will help you plan the end of the workshop.

Wrap Up the Experience

One of the main things you want to accomplish at the end of a workshop is to help participants achieve a sense of closure regarding the workshop experience. Everything recommended thus far in this chapter should contribute to achieving that sense of closure. Additionally, at the very end of a workshop it’s often appropriate to give people an opportunity to say a brief statement to the group.

The act of saying goodbye when leaving a person or an experience is customary in our culture. Still, it can be an awkward moment for people. One way of facilitating closure is to invite participants to respond to a closure cue. The trainer gives the cue and, to avoid influencing other people’s comments, is the last person to respond. The cue can be anything the trainer thinks would fit this particular group and workshop. Here are some closure cues we’ve used:

“I came here wondering. . .; I leave . . .”

“An important thing I learned was . . .”

“A surprise for me as a result of this training. . .”

“Something from this training that I don’t want to forget . . .”

“What will you to do differently on the job to apply what you’ve learned here?”

Notice that each of these cues call for an element of self-disclosure since each of them includes information about what the participant thinks was important to her personally. This sort of sharing provides a moment for the participants to say what’s on their minds, learn what others thought and felt about the experience, and achieve a sense of closure. Furthermore, research shows that publicly expressing appreciation for what one has learned strengthens a person’s commitment to use that ability.

Be Prepared for Things to Get a Bit Hectic

During the ending of the workshop things can get a little dicey. Someone has a plane to catch and runs off saying she’ll mail the evaluation to you. Another keeps eyeing his watch. Someone else is half out of his chair packing his briefcase. Others, while still in their chairs, may have mentally left the workshop.

If things seem to be falling apart at the end of a workshop as participants tend to their own needs, say what you see and ask for what you need. Doing so could sound like this:

John has a 4:40 plane to catch so he has left the workshop with a promise to mail his evaluation. I notice that some of you are packing up and others may be mentally out the door already. If you can make a new decision and stay with us for the closing activity, we’ll be done by 4:15. That’s fifteen minutes earlier than the scheduled ending time. How does that sound?

Most participants will honor this kind of a request made by the trainer. But don’t test their patience. Keep things moving and end the class by the promised time.

Be Available Until the Last Person Leaves

By now most participants have left, but you haven’t. This is the final time to make yourself available to anyone who needs some time with you. Before you start packing up, wait to see if anyone has stayed behind. It may be that someone just has a need to say a special goodbye because of the camaraderie she felt with you. Or someone may have a question they didn’t want to ask in the whole group. On a more serious note, someone may be facing a career decision and wants to talk it over with you. Or someone may have a major problem with his boss that he hasn’t been able to share with anyone. It’s pretty hard, in the face of such requests, to say, “Sorry, I have to get going.” Or “Can’t stay; I have a plane to catch.” Best to be in the habit of keeping yourself available for thirty minutes after the workshop ends.