Peer Teaching

Peer teaching can be delivered one-on-one or in group settings. Internal experts meet with their colleagues who need to learn about specific skills and acquire an understanding of a particular area or discipline. These sessions can take place within individual departments or across business units. They can also be delivered via social media. The benefit in both situations is improved communication throughout the organization, a growing sense of teamwork, and an expansion of knowledge about all aspects of the organization.

As mentioned in Chapter 3, technical proficiency alone does not make a trainer. For that reason, you need to be careful in selecting people to train others. Refer to Exhibit 3.1 as a reminder of the characteristics of effective trainers and then use the Exhibit 17.1 checklist to select potential trainers.

Once selected, the designated trainers will need some guidance in structuring their approach to training. To help them, I suggest they participate in a train-the-trainer program as outlined in Exhibit 17.2.

Leaders as Teachers

Enlist the services of leaders and other professionals in the organization to serve as guest speakers and trainers. Although for years, training departments have used subject matter experts to deliver very specific content, these folks have been overlooked as valuable resources for so-called soft skills training, notably leadership development. The “leaders as teachers” approach has a twofold payoff. The most obvious, of course, is that the learners benefit from the leaders sharing their experience, insights, and expertise. The leaders benefit as well by developing their teaching, facilitating, coaching, and mentoring skills far beyond what their normal day-to-day responsibilities require. When they prepare to teach, they gain additional knowledge about various areas of the business, and they come in contact with other leaders in a different context and venue. To ensure the quality of instruction, it is imperative that all internal faculty members participate in a train-the-trainer program as outlined in Exhibit 17.2. They should also be evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Negotiate with External Consultants and Service Providers

Most organizations have a relationship with external consultants or service providers. Don't be afraid to contact them and discuss how you can work together to deliver quality training at a reduced cost. Keep in mind that we're all in the same boat. Outside providers such as independent consultants, consulting firms, and suppliers of packaged training programs are affected by the same economic conditions that you are. More than likely, they have experienced a decline in their businesses and, therefore, would be more than happy to have some business rather than no business at all. Ask them if they would be willing to take a reduced fee with the understanding that when the organization's financial situation improves, you can return to normal pricing. You might also suggest that you establish a longer-term payment plan. You could defer payment, spread out payment over a longer period, or transfer part of the cost to the next fiscal budget. Exhibit 17.3 lists areas where you may be able to reduce costs by negotiating with your service providers.

Supplier/Vendor-Sponsored Training

Many vendors and suppliers offer training as a value-added service. The service may be linked directly or even indirectly to the product or service you are already using. Encourage managers throughout the organization to examine the training options that come with a product and make sure their employees are taking advantage of this service. For example, when I was a training director for a bank, our check supplier offered free mini-training sessions not directly related to the product such as a two-hour slide presentation on time management.

Modified Modules

In today's corporate climate, people are under a great deal of pressure to do more with less, and they cannot afford the time away from their job responsibilities to attend an all-day training session. Rather than throwing up your hands in despair at the lack of attendance, adapt to your clients' needs by offering more frequent and shorter sessions. Redesign your programs by chunking them into two-hour modules delivered over a few days or weeks. This approach will also enable you to put more people through the program, although it may be spread out over a longer period of time.

“Lunch and Learn”

“Lunch and learn” is great example of multitasking and is an easy and cost-effective way to deliver training. Very simply, as the name implies, employees bring their lunches and eat them during the training session. Because of their brevity (40 to 50 minutes) and their more informal nature, these sessions should be used for topics such as product training, basic skills training (such as customer service), personal development, wellness issues, or basic computer skills. These topics could be stand-alone, one-time-only topics or be part of a series. For example, a customer service series might involve the following topics:

• Answering the telephone
• Identifying customer needs
• Dealing with an angry customer
• Solving customer problems

Again, because of the short length and informality, you should not use lunch-and-learn sessions for heavy or serious topics such as diversity or sexual harassment. Nor should you use them for training that is mandated such as compliance. Attendance at a lunch-and-learn session should be voluntary. Exhibit 17.4 is an example of a case study on “Dealing with Interruptions” that can be addressed in a 45-minute session. You can use it as a stand-alone piece or as part of a multisession module on time management.

You have a lot of flexibility with delivery. You can deliver the sessions yourself, bring in guest speakers from other areas of the organization, or invite experts from the outside. You will need a room that is private such as a conference room. Lunch rooms and cafeterias are far too noisy and distracting.

Podcasting

Podcasting is distributing audio files in a radio-show format over the Internet. It enables you to deliver the right content to the right people anywhere, anytime. Many people believe that you have to have an iPod to listen—not so. Many people listen to podcasts on their PCs, portable media players, or smart phones. Podcasting is an economical use of learners' time. They can listen while they are working on something else or during their downtime. Learners can also move at their own pace, choosing to move slower during difficult sections, skimming (or skipping altogether) familiar information. From a dollars-and-cents perspective, podcasting is relatively inexpensive. In fact, you can find low-cost (or even free) software to translate your voice recording into electronic files.

The process is pretty simple:

• Plan what you are going to say and write a script.
• Choose a quiet spot for your recording location.
• Choose a recording device that will enable you to convert your voice into an MP3 format and to upload it to your computer.
• Create electronic files of your voice recording, edit, add music or special effects, and package for distribution.
• Post your podcast and communicate how to access it.

Teleconferences/Teleseminars and Webcasts

Teleconferences and webcasts are efficient and cost-effective ways of delivering training. They are generally delivered in 60- to 90-minute segments with very little effort or cost. You can rent bridge lines fairly inexpensively and some are actually free (with a restriction on number of people). Audioconferencing enables you to deliver training to a large number of people without investing in expensive equipment or paying skyrocketing travel expenses for people to meet at a specific location.

Once again, you might be able to use outside resources such as your vendors, consultants, or other suppliers. Another source of teleconferences or webcasts might be professional organizations to which people in your organization belong. In most cases, these offerings are no-cost or low-cost to members and their guests. To find out what is available, survey the members of your organization and ask them what professional organizations they belong to. Then research these organizations to find out what educational offerings they have and how your participants can take part.

If you are facilitating teleconferences yourself, use internal experts and just interview them. They will be much more inclined to appear on “your show” if they don't have to prepare much. This is your opportunity to get into the role of a talk-show host. You would, of course, need to think through what information you want the participants to take away, develop your questions, and map out a plan for facilitating the session. You would need to talk briefly with your guest to discuss what you want him or her to emphasize and also to go over logistics. You can enhance your teleseminars by expanding to web conferencing. Web conferencing allows you to deliver presentations online by providing slides the participants can download on their computers or navigating a website. You also have the capability of making it as interactive as you would like with activities or question-and-answer segments imbedded in the session. For more ideas on how to make these types of sessions more interactive, refer to Chapter 15, “Using Technology in Training.”

Also, most companies that offer teleconferencing services have recording capabilities so that the sessions are archived and people can access them at a later time.

The following job aid (Exhibit 17.5) presents guidelines for conducting a teleseminar.

If you are fairly new to using technology-based delivery methods or are just unsure as to what method to use, refer to Exhibit 17.6 for guidance in making your decision.