CHAPTER 7

How Do You Align Delivery to Your Learners’ Needs?

Remember my refrain in chapter 1, “It’s all about the learner?” Well when you deliver training you are face-to-face with the learner. Aristotle (yes, him again—and he’s not even my favorite philosopher) stated that, “Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish. The artist gives us knowledge of nature’s unrealized ends.”

If we think of our learners as “unrealized ends,” trainers are the artists who help people see that they have more potential than they think they do. The most effective trainers facilitate processes that encourage learning and create an environment that is conducive to learning. They ensure the absorption of knowledge and skills, and provide a setting that instills confidence and courage.

You’ve probably heard the statement that humans use only 10 percent of their brains. Turns out it is a myth. Barry Gordon, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says that couldn’t be further from the truth (Boyd 2008). What may be true is that scientists only understand about 10 percent of how the brain functions. Throughout the day we use virtually all of our brain for different tasks.

Think about how much you are capable of doing. You can walk, talk, listen, smell, laugh, swim, work, touch, write, read, sing, dance, build, drive, calculate, compose, design, learn, and create. You have the potential to do many things. It is the artist in you who sets the stage for learning, helping learners see all the possibilities.

 

 

Help your learners by establishing the processes and setting an environment in which they can learn all they are capable of learning. Then use the artist within to teach your learners “how to breathe.” Let’s examine your two key tasks and end by putting it all together:

1. Create an environment that is conducive to learning.

2. Use cognitive learning tactics customized for individual learners.

Yes, there are hundreds of other tasks as well. But let’s only focus on these two critical areas. And there will be a bit of crossover between them.

Create an Environment Conducive To Learning

You have the ability to raise your learners’ self-esteem and confidence. You can help them become the best version of themselves. I referenced Malcolm Knowles in several chapters. Remember his adult learning principles? This is key to the environment you create, so let’s start there.

Apply Adult Learning Theory

It’s important to circle back to Knowles’s work and become grounded in his assumptions by answering the six key questions that your learners will be asking themselves before they attend your learning event. With any typical science, his principles make sense, but how do you artfully apply them? It is not enough to just know adult learning principles. When you are conducting training for a group, you must be able to implement them. They should become a part of your trainer persona. Think about how to incorporate each of Knowles’s principles in your future designs and in your delivery. How will you respond to the questions that participants bring to your sessions?

1. “Why do I need to know this?” Adults have a need to know why they should learn something before investing time in a learning event.

Share the purpose. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Write the purpose on a flipchart page and post it on the wall.

• Give participants time to vent if necessary.

• Be prepared to respond to comments such as, “my boss should be here.”

• Link the content to the participants’ jobs and particular issues they may be facing.

• Encourage questions from learners.

2. “Will I be able to make decisions or are you going to re-create my grade school memories?” Adults enter any learning situation with a self-concept of themselves as self-directing, responsible grown-ups.

Maintain self-concept. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Welcome participants with a warm greeting and a cup of coffee.

• Announce that participants can get up, move around, get a cup of coffee, or whatever it takes to be comfortable.

• Make the point that questions are encouraged—all questions.

• Allow participants to establish their own ground rules.

• Lead learners toward inquiry before supplying too many facts.

3. “Why am I here? How do I fit? What do they think they can teach me?” Adults come to a learning opportunity with a wealth of experience and a great deal to contribute.

Acknowledge experience. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Allow participants to add to the learning objectives.

• Use teach-backs as a learning method.

• Allow for differences of opinion.

• Customize and personalize. If everyone in the session understands the content, speed up. If most do not understand, repeat the portion. If some know it and some don’t, find ways to tap into the expertise in the room to be beneficial to everyone.

4. “How is this going to simplify my life? How will this make my job easier?” Adults have a desire to learn those things that will help them cope with daily life effectively.

Make it relevant. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Allow time for participants to ask questions about implementation back on the job (Salas, Tannenbaum, Kraiger, and Smith-Jentsch 2012).

• Make yourself available at breaks, at lunch, and after the session to discuss unique situations with individuals.

• Allow time for reflection on how the concepts can simplify their lives or make their work easier.

• Establish your own credibility without bragging, and couple this with an I-want-to-help-you attitude.

5. “Do I want to learn this? Do I need to learn this?” Adults are willing to devote energy to learning those things that they believe will help them perform a task or solve a problem.

Deliver solutions. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Use yourself as an example to share why you wanted to or needed to learn the information.

• Organize a problem-solving clinic.

• Establish a “parking lot” to encourage participants to post their questions and add ideas.

6. “Why would I want to learn this? Does this motivate me? Am I open to this information and if not, why not?” Adults are more responsive to internal motivators such as increased self-esteem, than to external motivators such as higher salaries.

Respect self-motivation. You could incorporate these into your delivery:

• Create a safe learning climate that allows participants to be themselves.

• Get to know all participants in some one-on-one time.

• Build time in for reflection.

• Acknowledge the wealth of experiences in the room.

• Regard learners as colleagues who are equal in life experience.

Creating rapport and establishing a climate conducive to learning cannot be overemphasized. This is particularly true when you facilitate a virtual session. When done right from the start, it means that participants will be enthusiastic about the learning activities that follow, because they know what to expect. You can set the tone for the rest of the training session by what you accomplish at the beginning.

If you want to create a participative climate, the opening should put people at ease—including you. Participants may be reluctant to get involved unless the trainer provides structure that includes a purpose. They may be shy or may not want to appear vulnerable in front of their peers or strangers.

In a physical session the trainer should greet people as they arrive and chat with them. This can also occur in a virtual session—greet each person individually with a comment such as, “Welcome, Karl; it’s cold in Bismarck this morning. How’s it in Flagstaff?” or “Good morning, Amy, did you fix the problem with your computer interface?” Don’t delay your delivery; be ready to start the agenda on time. Determine the climate that will be the most conducive to learning. Then begin to establish it from the first moment the session begins.

 

 

Create a Safe Haven for Learning

Some learners may arrive excited about the training. Others may arrive thinking that training is punishment. Yet others may arrive bringing burdens. To create a safe haven, you should:

• Be prepared early enough to greet participants at the door, welcome them, learn their names, and allow time for them to tell you something about themselves.

• Share the objectives of the training early, prior to the session if possible.

• Let participants know how they will benefit from the information.

• Demonstrate your respect for each individual.

• Incorporate whimsy to pique curiosity and add a smile; for example, use crayons, clay, or brightly colored paper.

• Use names and sincere reinforcement to build rapport.

Create a Comfortable Atmosphere

Arrive in a training room early enough to make it yours so that you can welcome the learners in as your guests. To create a comfortable environment, you should:

• Have lights on bright; it’s depressing to walk into a room when the lights are dim.

• Learn how to adjust the thermostat for the most comfortable level.

• Make sure the room is clean and organized, which will eliminate distractions. An orderly room says that you went to the trouble of preparing for your participants.

• Ensure that you and your visuals can be seen and heard by all learners. Try it out the night before.

• Have coffee, tea, and water available throughout the day, and plan for ample breaks.

• Pair individuals to work together.

Use Cognitive Learning Tactics Customized for Individual Learners

Brain-based learning has certainly received a lot of attention. Journal articles and conference presenters make it sound as though the research is brand-new. But it is not: Malcolm Knowles, Howard Gardner, Robert Gagné, and other early adult learning theorists have touted what is best for learners for decades. The brain-based knowledge we have today has been acquired over the past 200 years and comes from the field of cognitive science. What is new is that brain imaging, a noninvasive way to view how the brain responds, has become so precise that we can more accurately identify the brain’s responses to various stimuli.

The recent emphasis on brain-based learning is a good reminder to all of us that if we want our participants to learn, we cannot just push content at them; we must use strategies that enhance the brain’s learning power! You’ve seen some of these strategies throughout this book. These examples should lead you to think about how you can help your learners learn faster and better and retain content longer.

Enhance Learning With Visual and Verbal Context

Stories, pictures, and metaphors increase retention. Use stories and metaphors to anchor the content in your delivery. Use pictures and images in your PowerPoint slides, handouts, and job aids (Clark 2015; Medina 2008).

Participation Is Necessary

Involvement in activities or even talking and writing enhances learning. This participation encourages focus on the content. You should at least change your lectures into discussions (Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer 1993; Salas et al. 2012).

Present Content in Bite-Sized Pieces

Chunk or offer content in small pieces because our brains cannot process too much in a short period of time. While it was once believed that our brains could process seven chunks of information, new research states that two to four chunks is more realistic because the hippocampus has a limited capacity and gets overloaded quickly. Think of this part of the brain as a holding tank for information. Allow participants to practice their new skills before learning more (Miller 1956).

Implement Learning Immediately

Long-term memory relies on the use of new information, which is known as the theory of plasticity. New learning must be transferred to the workplace for memory to remain. Without application, the new skills are lost because our brain “prunes” unused new cells. Even before you agree to conduct a training program make sure that the learners’ supervisors will ensure the new skills are put to use immediately (Clark 2015).

An Exciting Curriculum

Enrich your learning environment with controversy, novelty (more about novelty in chapter 8), and creativity. Stimulate all five senses. Your delivery is not just about stating content—you must also make sure your learners are committed to implement what they learn. You must instill confidence in your learners to change their performance back on the job. Engage emotions through stories, interactions, visuals, and other stimuli (Jensen 2008; Rock 2009).

Give Feedback

In chapter 2 I suggested several opportunities for your learners to receive feedback. In chapter 3 I discussed Ruth Clark’s findings about feedback. Here, I’ll offer you an easy to remember process: SBI. SBI reminds you of the three things you should include when providing feedback to your participants: The situation, behavior, and impact that you observed (Fleenor and Taylor 2005; Salas, Tannenbaum, Kraiger, and Smith-Jentsch 2012).

No Music

Several studies show that music adversely affects learning, so I’d suggest that you not use it except for social enhancement, and even then be aware that some in your group will not see the value (Moreno and Mayer 2000; Jensen 2008).

Movement Gives a Cognitive Boost

This means that recess at school and breaks during training are important. Physical activity such as using relay races, or even simply moving participants from one group to another, enhances learning (Medina 2008).

Cognitive Load

Cognitive load refers to the maximum amount of mental effort used in the brain’s working memory. The theory espouses that there are three types of cognitive load:

• intrinsic—difficulty and the effort associated with a specific topic

• extraneous—how the information is presented to the learner, including unnecessary or distracting materials

• germane—the effort required to create a permanent store of knowledge.

Evidence shows that we have individual differences in how we process capacity. Experts, for example, have more knowledge or experience, which reduces the load. What’s true for everyone is that our brains have limits to how much they can process. When we overload the brain, people get frustrated, quit, make errors, or at the least do not learn as well. (Ericson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer 1993; Medina 2008).

Some solutions to cognitive overload include spacing, chunking, and knowing what each person can handle. For example, address intrinsic cognitive load sequence content in a simple-to-complex order, or introduce a concept separately before introducing the complete task. You can also reduce intrinsic load by removing ambiguity and clarifying the relationship of the content elements (van Merriënboer 2006). You can address extraneous load by eliminating unnecessary learning material—although it may not be evident which characteristics of the material are extraneous. You can increase capacity by addressing both visual and auditory working memory (Low and Sweller 2005). Address germane cognitive load using techniques that stimulate learning, such as game-based learning, collaborative learning, or experiential learning. Cognitive load theory presents three design principles that have been around since the 1980s: align material to learners’ prior knowledge; avoid unnecessary and confusing information; and find ways to stimulate rich knowledge (de Jong 2009).

Space Practice and Review

Allow processing time. Don’t just whip through an activity because it is fun; learners need to know how it relates to them. Learning takes place when an activity is processed immediately and also when discussion and practice time are spaced between activities. Ebbinghaus was the first to report that when practice is distributed over time, learning is better (Rohrer and Taylor 2006).

Allow Choice

Giving participants choices can improve performance. In one study the choice was as simple as the color of markers and the topics. The result was that those who were given a choice completed twice as many tasks and continued the task on their own into the break. The researchers concluded that when participants were given autonomy they were more meaningfully engaged and they improved their performance (Ivengar 1999). Think about the choices you can give participants, such as developing their own ground rules, whether to take a break or finish a project, or manage their time for a longer activity. However, although the research recommends providing choices, be careful what you ask for. Offering to start an hour earlier so that participants can leave early may deteriorate into a no-win situation (Salas et al. 2012).

Summary

What can you take away from this section? Focus on fewer topics with short explanations. Segment content into smaller chunks and allow time to process and practice—spaced apart. Make it visual, participative, and interesting. Allow participants to make choices and conduct the training as close to implementation as possible.

The Art of Delivery: Putting It All Together

How do you create an environment that is conducive to learning, while at the same time using cognitive learning tactics customized for your learners into your training delivery? This section will take you from start to finish and show you how.

Your First Words: Start With Excitement

First contacts create lasting impressions. Most people have discovered that the first 10 minutes of any initial meeting between two people lays the groundwork for almost all assumptions and decisions about the ensuing relationship. If first impressions are critical, how does a good trainer hold participants’ attention from the beginning? Here are five features that will get your training session off to the right start:

• Grab learners’ interest and enthusiasm for the training-session content. Perhaps you can build an element of surprise into the opening using props or introducing a creative activity.

• Clarify participants’ needs—both content and personal—by learning something about participants’ experience and expertise.

• Identify the ground rules and administrative needs so that guidelines can be established to ensure the training session runs smoothly. In a virtual session, discuss how to use the chat feature; in a traditional session, determine when breaks will occur and where restrooms are located.

• Clarify expectations by introducing the agenda and the objectives for the session. The opening also identifies other expectations participants have that may or may not be addressed.

• Help everyone get to know one another through the use of icebreakers, discussions, or other activities. When people participate immediately, it sets the stage for full participation throughout the session.

How can you accomplish all of these in a short amount of time? Try some of the following suggestions for traditional and virtual settings.

Indicate What’s in Store

What happens in the opening should indicate whether participants will be moving around or sitting most of the time. It should set the tempo and tone of the session. Fast paced? Slow? Jovial? Serious? Interactive? Passive? Creative? Cerebral? Exciting? Calm? All of these describe a potential training climate. Decide what yours will be, and then begin to establish that climate during your opening. Even if participants can’t see you in a virtual setting, smile when you open. Your participants will hear the smile in your inflection.

Clarify Participants’ Expectations

Participants expect you to ask about their expectations for the session and there are numerous ways to accomplish this. The most straightforward way is to simply ask, “What are your expectations for the session?” List them on a flipchart page and post them on the wall. In a virtual session you can ask participants to post on the whiteboard. There are also other ways to get the same information. Try twisting the question a bit to get learners to look at their questions or concerns from a different perspective. You could ask:

• “What are your hopes and fears?”

• “What are your dreams and desires?”

• “Why are you here?”

• “What questions did you bring with you today?”

• “What do you need to happen today for this training to be worth your investment of time?”

• “How well do your needs match the learning objectives?”

• “What else do you need?”

What if the participants’ expectations go beyond the scope of the training design? It’s better to let them know early on how you intend to handle this. You may respond in three ways:

• You can add time to the agenda to address the additional expectations. However, this most likely means eliminating or shortening something else.

• If the additional expectation is something that concerns only one or two individuals, you could meet with them after the session or during a break.

• You may need to tell them that you’re not prepared or that time doesn’t allow for the added content, but that you will follow up with them after the session. You could email them additional resources, put them in touch with someone who has expertise, or do something else that will address their concerns. In a virtual setting that runs over several weeks, you have the potential to build some of the expectations into future sessions.

Possibly the most important thing you can do for participants no matter your format is to help them understand how the session relates to them. Participants who understand why they are involved in a training session, how it will help them do their jobs better and faster, and how the content relates to them will get more out of it.

Introduce the Content

Related to clarifying the participants’ expectations is introducing the content. You provide an overview for participants by reviewing the agenda and the purpose of the training session. It’s important to know what your learners know so that you can tailor the content to their needs. Telling them what to expect provides a foundation for the content and establishes a common starting point for everyone in the room.

Ensure that participants know other aspects of the training program as well: Will they be required to take a test? Will they receive a grade for the course? Will the grade affect their jobs? They may want to know what kind of participation will be expected and whether there will be assignments. For example, in a virtual setting you can tell them that you will call on them by name periodically, but start calling on them by name while you review the agenda, “Pierre, is that what you expected to see on the agenda?” Some learners may be new to virtual training and not realize that you do expect them to participate.

I generally present the content and then ask participants whether they were anticipating different or additional content. You can do either first. I find my process saves time because I do not have to repeat the content later as I present the agenda. On the other hand, sometimes it is more important for the participants to establish their own agenda than to save time. For example, during a team-building effort I facilitate a discussion of the team’s expectations and needs first. It takes a bit longer, but there is more buy-in, which leads to better end results. By the way, your icebreaker should relate to the content.

Surprise!

Add an element of surprise right from the start. Do something unconventional to send a message to participants that this session may be different than what they have experienced in the past. You may introduce props in your opening or state something unusual or shocking about the topic (just make sure you can prove it later). You can also start with an activity, rather than addressing the logistics of the session. Here are a few examples:

• During introductions most trainers start at the front and go clockwise around the room. You could plan to start someplace else, such as the middle back and go counterclockwise. Even better, ask for a volunteer to start, then ask for a second volunteer, and continue to select or call on learners randomly. This takes a bit of practice on your part to remember who was introduced. When all else fails, you can always end by saying, “Who has not been introduced yet?” to pick up anyone who was missed by this scatter approach.

• Save administrative comments until just before break. No one needs to know most of the information until then anyway. Because most sessions start off with a discussion about lunch, parking, and sign-up sheets, you will surprise your participants if you do not begin the same way.

• Ask participants to use crayons instead of pens or pencils to generate lists, draw something, write their names on their table tents, or anything else they would typically complete with a pen.

Doing something unique or in a different sequence introduces an element of surprise that energizes participants, adds interest and excitement to the session, and communicates that your session will not be boring. As you already know, this is important to maintain your participants’ attention. This technique is backed up by research, which states that providing learners with variation helps to boost learning, sometimes by double digits (Barcroft and Sommers 2005; Quilici and Mayer 1996; Rost and McMurray 2009). Learners stay more engaged and memory retrieval is improved when we vary the learning materials, so use this tactic throughout your training delivery.

Introduce Participants

An opening is not complete unless the participants learn who else is attending the session. Whether you use an icebreaker or a quick round of introductions will depend upon the amount of time you have and how you want the participants to interact during the rest of the training session.

Allow participants to become acquainted with one another. Establish a way they can begin to understand who else is in the training session and what their attitudes, values, experience, and concerns are.

Use this time wisely. Before deciding how participants will meet each other, determine what you want them to be able to do as a result. You may just want them to be able to match names and faces, but you may want to consider whether other results will help to further the training session. What else do you want your participants to know about one another? Make a list of what you want to accomplish. These may help get you started:

• Have a continuous contact for other content.

• Practice solving problems.

• Understand attitudes, beliefs, likes, and dislikes.

• Practice a creative experience.

• Begin to build a learning team.

There are many legitimate aspects for what you hope participants will learn about one another and how they actually interact based on this introduction experience. At the least, I suggest that everyone in the group accomplish two things:

• All participants hear all other participants’ names.

• All participants speak at least once.

In virtual sessions use a participant list as you call on individuals. In a physical session I highly recommend using table tents—the cards folded like a tent—that have people’s names written on both sides, which allows you and other participants to see their names from any angle. They will help you remember participants’ names and help participants remember and use one another’s names.

Learn About the Group

Be sure to build time into the opening so that you can observe the group and learn something about its dynamics and individual personalities. Conducting an icebreaker provides this opportunity.

It may be tempting to have your head in your notes during the icebreaker to prepare for the next section. However, if you do, you will be doing your participants and yourself a disservice. Take the time to determine how you perceive the group as a whole. Circulate among the participants and observe how they work together. Listen to their conversations. Who seems to be taking the lead? Who is reluctant to join in? What strong personalities exist in the group? Who seems to be dominating the discussion?

This time gives you a chance to think ahead to the rest of the program design and alerts you to potential difficulties in which you may consider changing the process. For example, if you have planned a risky activity and the group appears to be risk-adverse, you may want to make a mental note about that. It is certainly too early to make the change now, but it may give you a heads up that a change may be required.

Obviously you cannot “see” your participants in a virtual setting, but you can see what they do. For example, if you ask them to write on a whiteboard or engage in a chat session, you can tell who participates and who does not. Use this time to discover as much as you can about the group and individuals.

Establish Ground Rules

Establishing ground rules as a part of your opening shapes the parameters of behavior that the participants expect of one another and from the trainer for the session. This is one way in which you can demonstrate giving them a choice. I generally present the group with a few givens to get started, such as start and end time. Sometimes I’ll make a commitment, such as “If we start on time each day (or after each break), I guarantee we will end on time.” Then encourage them to identify other ground rules (Salas et al. 2012). Capture the same words participants used. You need buy-in to the ground rules from everyone, so you may need to modify the list to get agreement.

In a physical session, post the ground rules in a location where everyone can see them, usually near the front of the training room. This facilitates your ability to reference them if you need to manage disruptions or to use as a reference point to facilitate group dynamics.

In a virtual setting you also have ground rules, but because your session most likely won’t last more than 90 minutes, the time allotted to discuss them will be shorter too. You can email them prior to the start of the class, along with other information I like to call “What to Expect.” You may also wish to post them on the screen prior to the start of the session.

Address Any Issues

If you know issues exist around the training session, confront them during the opening and plan time to address them. In fact, your icebreaker may incorporate the concerns. If something is happening in the organization that led to this training session, address it head on. If it is troublesome to participants, allow enough time to discuss. You will find that if you do not address the issues immediately, participants will not be able to focus on the content you’re presenting. And besides, you will most likely have to use time to address it later anyway.

Encourage Participation

Convincing learners to actively participate is the most important thing you can do to enhance learning. Here are a few thoughts to get you started:

• Use small break-out groups to overcome early reluctance to share ideas or concerns.

• Use body language to encourage participation—positive nods, smiles, and eye contact all show that you are interested in the learners.

• Share something of yourself to begin a trusted exchange of ideas.

• Make it fun.

• Plan celebrations, such as distributing certificates, team applauses, or “moments in the sun.”

Take a Break!

Yes, remember the breaks; don’t skip or shorten them because social learning occurs during these times. Breaks maintain the energy level, provide participants an opportunity to follow up with other participants, and give people a chance to take care of personal needs. They also allow for some of the spacing required for learning.

A Dynamic Delivery

Trainers walk a fine line between being proactive and responsive, between being flexible and sticking to the agenda, and between presenting content and facilitating discussion. They must be adaptive to the many learning styles in the room and supportive of the various requirements of all the participants. How do they do all this, act as a role model for the participants, and ensure that the participants have learned all they need to learn?

Throughout this book I emphasize that training is all about the learner. You must provide opportunities to actively engage participants. Of course the goal is not just activity and participation; it is to ensure that the participants gain the knowledge or learn skills to effectively improve performance. Active learning may be incorporated in hundreds of methods such as role plays, simulations, and games. Active learning is also required when you coach a manager to support an employee, when you create a peer-mentoring group, or when you follow up with one of your virtual learners to provide additional resources.

It is not enough for a trainer to cover the content and involve the learners. A trainer must ensure that learners practice the skills, that learning occurred, and that the learners are both competent and confident to perform the skill or use the knowledge when they return to the workplace (Salas et al. 2012).

The experiential learning process is often used by facilitators to ensure that learning occurs and that learners are ready to perform on the job. Participants learn inductively; that is, they discover for themselves by experiencing the activity. A more thorough explanation is included in the sidebar.

Asking and Answering Questions

There is an art to asking questions as well as an art to encouraging questions from learners. Questions often uncover things others in the group did not know. Encourage your participants to ask questions to ensure learning, prompt interest, and to create interaction.

Encourage Questions

Probably the best way to ensure that your delivery is meeting your participants’ needs is to encourage questions and then demonstrate that you genuinely appreciate them. Try out these tips:

• Tell participants that you want to hear their questions.

• Stop at natural points in your presentation and ask for questions.

• Pause long enough for participants to formulate questions.

• Give signals such as, “Let’s pause here so you can ask questions.” Then wait for questions.

• Watch facial expressions; if a participant looks puzzled, stop and ask if there is a question.

• If two or more participants are talking among themselves, ask if there is something they would like clarified.

• Make sure there is time for participants to ask their questions privately. They may be too shy to ask in front of the group.

Ask Questions

Asking questions helps you determine whether your learners understand the critical content you are delivering. Here are some suggestions for asking questions:

• Plan some questions in advance.

• Increase participation by including them early in the session.

• Include questions to create discussion, introduce controversy, obtain a correct response, review information, or offer a hypothetical comment.

• Keep questions short.

• Know whether you want opinions or information.

• Consider whether it should be an open- or closed-ended question.

• If asking a direct question, say the participant’s name first, then ask the question.

• Pause for answers; do not continue to repeat the question; and most important, do not answer your own questions.

• Use follow-on questions to further clarify or expand the initial response.

• Paraphrase responses, especially when the response was not focused.

• Use a round-robin discussion if you wish to hear from everyone.

Answer Questions

Of course answering questions is the corollary to encouraging participants to ask them. Be sure you include everyone in your response. If you are responding to one person’s question, there is a good chance that someone else has the same one. Use some of these suggestions when you answer questions:

• Anticipate participants’ questions.

• Paraphrase questions to ensure that everyone heard and understood the question.

• Ask for clarification if necessary.

• Be brief.

• “I don’t know, but I will find out,” is a perfectly good response.

• Redirect questions or encourage other responses from the entire group.

• If the question is not relevant, invite the participant to discuss it during a break.

• Include the entire audience in your response with body position and eye contact.

Create an expectation of asking and answering questions to encourage learning.

Facilitate More Than You Present

There will be times when you must present information or content, but as a rule of thumb, you will most likely want to facilitate more. Facilitation creates a two-way discussion that keeps your learners involved and ensures you stay connected with your learners and their needs. Here are a few tips for successful facilitation:

• Create discussion. Not just between you and the learners, but among the learners.

• Get opinions and ideas out in the open before you deliver your message. You may be surprised at how much “training” the learners can do for you.

• Provide opportunities for participants to evaluate their own learning throughout the session. Create experiential learning activities in which the learners discover their own “ahas!”

• Create individual check points in the program.

• Build in a group review of learning.

End With Excitement

Design your ending as specifically as any other part of the training. Plan a formal send-off message for the participants. You opened the training with excitement! End it with the same kind of fanfare. Try some of these closers:

• Help participants remember the experience.

• Give them encouragement for their next steps.

• Send them off with something to think about after the session, such as a call to action, a poem, a quote, a moral to a story, a visual, a reference to the introduction, a rhetorical question, a demonstration, a challenge, a magic trick, or something that makes the point.

• Make sure that they leave with competence, confidence, and commitment to perform back on the job.

Finally, stand at the door, shake participants’ hands, wish them luck, and say good-bye.

What We Know for Sure

Science tells us that we can rely on several proven facts:

• We teach for competence, but unless we ensure that learners have confidence and commitment to do the task outside the training setting, the skill will not likely transfer.

• Malcolm Knowles’s adult learning principles are a critical foundation to excellent delivery.

• Participants need to feel safe, comfortable, and appreciated to learn best.

• The 11 cognitive science tactics help to ensure we are using a process that makes learning easier; we need to implement things such as maximizing participation, delivering learning in bite-sized chunks, and providing feedback.

• Cognitive load research should guide how we align delivery to our learners.

• Every step in training delivery is tied to creating an appropriate environment and helping participants learn.

The Art Part

Your success will depend upon how well you adapt to the situation and your learners’ needs. Tap into some of these ideas to help your learners grow, to develop yourself, and to add your personal creative touch.

Lectures they’ll like. It’s easy to say that your learners should be 100 percent engaged all the time. However, there are times when you just have to tell it like it is. You may need to deliver the information as a short lecture when a procedure has critical steps, for safety reasons, or to obey the law. Try some of these suggestions to encourage participation:

• Ask questions regarding predictions or recall of information.

• Create a conversation among participants.

• Include pop quizzes in the middle of a presentation.

• Ask participants what they need or want.

• Intersperse demonstrations.

• Pass out props, such as photos showing correct or incorrect ways to address the content or products your organization produces for new employee orientation.

• Stop for an impromptu role play with one of the learners.

• Develop a guided note taking page in the form of questions or fill in the blanks (Pluth 2016).

• Develop keyword outlines of the presentation, leaving room for additional ideas.

• Use visuals to go with all presentations; participants can follow your words visually.

• Plan points to stop midway to ask if everyone is with you.

• Introduce a partial story at the beginning and complete it at the end.

• Find ways to interject humor, such as creating a cartoon to match the content.

• Challenge them.

Art and Science Questions You Might Ask

These questions provide potential challenges for your personal growth and development:

• What’s the best thing you can do to build relationships with learners?

• What will you do to help learners practice and deepen their understanding of new skills and knowledge?

• How can you ensure learners translate content into performance?

• What creative methods can you use to ensure learners have time to reflect on content and that they are reflecting on the most important elements?

• How can you grab and hold learners’ attention?

• How can you minimize the load placed on working memory by limiting distractions and avoiding asking learners to process vast amounts of information at one time?

• How will you engage learners? How successful have you been in the past? What can you change in the future?

• What can you do to help learners build confidence about using the skills and knowledge?

• How can you ensure that participants will be committed to using what they learn?

• Would you want to be a learner in your training session?

How Do You Align Delivery to Your Learners’ Needs?

The learner sits in front of you literally or figuratively when you deliver training either in person or virtually through your laptop. You align your delivery with all your learners when you invest the time to create an environment that is conducive to learning. You need to address both the content and the process you use—what you deliver and how you deliver it.

Cognitive science provides us with excellent data about how participants learn best. You need to utilize what has been proven to make a difference in learning. Yes, you have many things to juggle. Practicing makes a difference. You need to train yourself! Remember Aristotle’s quote, “Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish.” Your delivery role summons the best of your scientist and the best of your artist to help learners reach their greatest potential.

Resources

Barcroft, J., and M.S. Sommers. 2005. “Effects of Acoustic Variability on Second Language Vocabulary Learning.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 27(3):387-414.

Biech, E. 2014. ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training and Development. 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

———. 2015a. 101 More Ways to Make Training Active. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

———. 2015b. Training and Development for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Boyd, R. 2008. “Do People Only Use 10 Percent of Their Brains?” Scientific American. February 7. www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-people-only-use-10-percent-of-their-brains.

Brock, G., D. McManus, and J. Hale. 2009. “Reflections Today Prevent Failures Tomorrow.” Communications of the ACM 52:140-144.

Clark, R. 2015. Evidence-Based Training Methods: A Guide for Training Professionals. 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.

De Jong, T. 2009. “Cognitive Load Theory, Educational Research, and Instructional Design: Some Food for Thought.” Instructional Science 38(2): 105-134.

Ericson, K., R. Krampe, and C. Tesch-Romer. 1993. “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.” Psychological Review 100(3):363-406.

Fleenor, J., and S. Taylor. 2005. “Closing the Loop: Getting the Most From 360-Degree Feedback.” Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

Ivengar, S., et al. 1999. “Rethinking the Value of Choice: A Cultural Perspective on Intrinsic Motivation.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76(3):349-365.

Jensen, E. 2008. Brain-Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Kolb, D. 1984. Experiential Learning as the Science of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Low, R., and J. Sweller. 2005. “The Modality Principle in Multimedia Learning.” In Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, edited by R.E. Mayer, 147-158. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Medina, J. 2008. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle: Pear Press.

Miller, G.A. 1956. “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” Psychological Review 63(2): 81-97.

Moreno, R., and R.E. Mayer. 2000. “A Coherence Effect in Multimedia Learning: The Case for Minimizing Irrelevant Sounds.” Journal of Educational Psychology 92:117-125.

Pfeiffer, W., and J.E. Jones. 1975. A Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training. La Jolla, CA: University Associates.

Pluth, B. 2016. Creative Training: A Train-the-Trainer Field Guide. Eden Prairie, MN: Creative Training Productions.

Quilici, J.L., and R. Mayer. 1996. “Role of Examples in How Students Learn to Categorize Statistics Word Problems.” Journal of Educational Psychology 88(1):144-161.

Rock, D. 2009. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. New York: HarperCollins.

Rohrer, D., and K. Taylor. 2006. “The Effects of Overlearning and Distributed Practice on the Retention of Mathematics Knowledge.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 20:1209-1224.

Rost, G.C., and B. McMurray. 2009. “Speaker Variability Augments Phonological Processing in Warly Word Learning.” Developmental Science 12(2):339-349.

Salas, E., S. Tannenbaum, K. Kraiger, and K. Smith-Jentsch. 2012. “The Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 13(2): 74-101.

Sweller, J., J. Van Merrienboer, and F. Paas. 1998. “Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design.” Educational Psychology Review 10(3): 251-296.

Van Merriënboer, J.J.G., L. Kester, and F. Paas. 2006. “Teaching Complex Rather Than Simple Tasks: Balancing Intrinsic and Germane Load to Enhance Transfer of Learning.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 20:343-352.