16 Responses

1. Not about greatness
   >>>makes a big impact with learners back in the work place.

   >>>What makes training great?

   I get worried when I read these phrases, training has to work and the learning has to continue to be implemented in the long term – not just immediately after training and in the short term.

   So it follows that any training intervention doesnt need to have a ‘big impact’ to successfully work, it simply needs to hit the mark, be in line with the TNA and be designed and delivered successfully. ‘Big impact’ relies so much on the interpretation of the learner and we all know that’s different and subjective opinion for each learner.

   As for making training great, I dont know, athletes are great, films and stories are great, delegates aren’t best placed to know if the learning was ‘great – it simply needs to work and be fit for purpose. Greatness imbues the subject with a verb which doesnt fit it. Driving training and its exams arent ‘great’ but they do what they are meant to do and you remember them.

   So for me its a good TNA, good design and delivery with a very competant and adept trainer – that makes SUCCESSFUL training.

2. ‘great’ training
   Hi Juliet,

   Many thanks for your response and comments.

   I am surprised and a little confused though regarding your worry regarding such questions and phrases?

   I absolutely agree with:
   “training has to work and the learning has to continue to be implemented in the long term – not just immediately after training and in the short term.”
   Yes it is critical.

   The fact is I, my colleagues, delegates can all recall training events we have all been on. Some have more ‘impact’ that others, some have been ‘great’ and some has not. Generally the end users of our services would refer to training in these terms and not necessarily ‘Success’ – but, again I am not disagreeing with you simply using different language. I wasn’t suggesting delivering naked to make an impact.

   I do however suspect that if the training does make an impact and is great in the eyes of the learner they are more likely to take the initiative and implement the learning by themselves. Now this of course is not taking into account the support they should be receiving from managers.

   I would be interested in the element of ‘hitting the mark’ – what ideas, activites have you found to be successful (or great)?

   Many thanks again,

   Clair

3. Evaluation
   >>>>I do however suspect that if the training does make an impact and is great in the eyes of the learner they are more likely to take the initiative and implement the learning by themselves.

   Not so, please find evaluation evidence to back this up. The training has to be ‘successful’ and not great in order that delegates learn – even reading a manual creates learning – there’s nothing great or mindblowing about that.

   As for impact, we arent measuring that, its not the point – evaluations should measure whether the training sticks. We can all put whistles and bells on but if the learning doesnt stick then in my book the training has failed despite its high impact.

   As for activities that work well they vary depending on the type of training and its objectives.

   I fear you a relooking for a ‘one size fits all’ super dooper answer – training isnt like that. If it was we would have outstanding individuals that we could name as ‘great trainers’, like great footballers.

   The question posed is a bit like saying; ‘how do you make a football game great?’ – thats not the point – the point is to win.

   For me its a good TNA, good design and delivery with a very competant and adept trainer – that makes SUCCESSFUL training.
   To be ultra successful you’ve got to do an evaluation at the end – perhaps that will give you the edge you seek.

   Maybe it also comes down to the skill, knowledge and experience of the training deliverer and designer.

4. Depends on who is measuring it….
   Interesting question. Sometimes the Trainer runs a session that they don’t necessarily consider was ‘great’, but then they get the evaulation forms and find that the feedback from delegates is fantastic.

   I have found that as a Trainer, it’s far too easy to judge the session based on how I feel it went, and on whether I enjoyed it!

   Experience has taught me to step back and judge the success of the session on more objective criteria. Having said that, most trainees would deem a ‘great’ session to be one that they had input into, one that inspired them to action and one that was memorable and applicable in the workplace.

5. 10 Questions to ask yourself
   Here at The Training Foundation we suggest you ask yourself 10 key questions:

   1. is the training clearly aligned to business objectives?

   2. are learning needs analysed – is employee time wasted learning things they don’t need to know or do?

   3.are different learning styles recognised or is it one size fits all?

   4. is the course well structured, with objectives that are clear and important and with defined outcomes?

   5. are the various learning media selected appropriately to create the optimum blend for effective learning?

   6. is the training participative, motivating and engaging?

   7. is learning tracked back to the workplace and the outcomes measured?

   8. are learners well supported by line managers after the training has taken place?

   9. is each training event evaluated and the ROI clearly identified?

   and most crucially….

   10. are those charged training and developing others empowered with the full range of specialist skills required to do all these things to best practice standards?

   Hope this helps.

   Best wishes

   A.

6. Learner empowerment
   With all due respect to the many great points mentioned by Adrian, recent research has debunked the concept of learning styles. There are over 70 models in existence, and most of them are based on faulty premises. See the work of Coffield, Ecclestone et al at http://www.lsneducation.org.uk/pubs/

   Nevertheless, it is a good idea to “mix it up” when delivering learning, rather than sticking to one delivery mechanism, so as to keep stimulating learners’ minds.

   I would also recommend bearing in mind that the learners themselves may well collectively know more than the the presenter, and tney are in a position to provide a rich variety of perspectives. It can therefore be very empowering to adopt an approach that affords them the opporunity to share what they know, to embark on some collaborative learning.

7. Some more food for thought
   Thank you again for your responses.

   I am fascinated by the different reposnses from my question and am reminded how postings can be interpreted in so many different ways.

   I thought I would share with you some other thoughts from non training professionals. Please excuse inappropriate usage of the word ‘great’:)

   Of course I strive for successful training, otherwise what is the point. But when I watch a football match I want my team to win and I want it to be a great game too. I am on your side here.

   Food for thought should you want some.

   ***
   As with any business event it needs to meet a real need.
   Great training must:
   – be memorable
   – be relevant and of real benefit to the recipient
   – be engaging
   – be presented in an intrinsically logical way
   – be tailored for different learning styles
   – be fun
   – be delivered in an appropriate and inspiring environment
   And finally – be measurable!

   ****
   A great Trainer makes Training Courses great! This is someone with experience in your market, someone who encourages knowledge sharing, someone passionate about the benefits of the session and most of all someone who is credible.

   All training sessions add value; as long as the Trainer and the participants all have a common objective that is achieved before the end of the course.

   ****
   I am lucky that the majority of the Training Professionals I have had the pleasure of working with have been both passionate and knowledgeable about their subjects, highly motivational, inspire new ideas and have been highly credible.

   One such training session introduced me to a tool; this is now a tool I utilise every day as part of my working practice.

   ****
   Great training has the perfect mixture of S.P.I.C.E.!

   S – Student – right student, prepared, ready to learn and transfer skills
   P – Process – Student-centered learning, experiential,flexible
   I – Instructor – “facilitator of learning,” knowledgeable, caring
   C – Content – meaningful, relevant, aligned with student needs
   E – Environment – Learning and transfer (work) environments support student needs, learning process, and are motivational

   Additionally, there has to be “consequences” to the learner for learning (or not) and transferring that learning successfully to their workplace. Likewise, there needs to be a supporting management/supervisory structure in place to ensure sustainability of the new knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities.

   ****
   Good training happens when the participants are committed and the trainer is passionate about the subject. Great training happens when you are stimulated and challenged to go beyond your current frame of thinking and create a new reality about the subject. The best training puts you in touch with the ultimate truth – there is no learning outside of you – you are the trainer, the learner and the subject all at once.

8. Clair ~ Clarification Please.
   What in simpler terms does the following actually mean? ‘Great training happens when you are stimulated and challenged to go beyond your current frame of thinking and create a new reality about the subject.’

   and

   Could you translate the following almost metaphysical description into something clearer and more lucid? ‘The best training puts you in touch with the ultimate truth – there is no learning outside of you – you are the trainer, the learner and the subject all at once.’

   I’d also be fascinated to know what the ‘ultimate truth’ or your ‘ultimate truth’ is, could you tell me?

   If I am getting any message from this posting (which I don’t think was intended) it is that someone for instance in Toyota who is teaching associates how to fit doors on cars on a conveyor belt production line would be unable to achieve ‘great’ training as I cannot at this moment in time imagine how you create a ‘new reality’ around door fixing with nuts, bolts and using air pressure tools, although I am prepared to be enlightened on this if you provide examples and a fuller explanation?

   Similarly I would think that you would be unlikely to achieve ‘best’ training if you were showing someone how to download e mail into your Outlook programme as reaching an ‘ultimate truth’ would be unlikely in these circumstances. But again, I am prepared to change my mind if you could give me a definition and example of the ‘ultimate truth’ in connection with teaching Outlook users?

   I am also struggling with the concept of the trinity of being simultaneously, the trainer, learner and subject, would this mean an increase in fees if I accomplished it?

9. clarification
   Garry,

   Thanks for your posting.

   I have written to the person who made the posting to seek the same clarification. Once the ultimate truth is known…I’ll do my best to reveal it to you.

   Clair

   PS – should your fees go up on reaching the trinity? hell yes

10. Perhaps…?
    Reading through the comment that seems to be causing puzzlement, although it is perhaps worded a little grandiosely, I think the writer means that the ultimate truth is that the learner is also the teacher and vice versa. That everyone involved in the course/session/workshop/whatever is simultaneously both those things. This concept is gaining a great deal of traction at the moment, and is perhaps related to my point about collaborative learning.

    Of course I might be wrong – the writer might have meant something else altogether, but that’s my take on it…

11. Not the same
    >>>>But when I watch a football match I want my team to win and I want it to be a great game too.

    There’s the rub, you cite an example in which you are a passive observer.
    With training all participants are active.

    Your example here doesnt fit the question you are asking.
    The question effectivly being asked here is parallel with ‘How do I make the football game I’m playing in great?”.

    Not “how do I WATCH a great game?”. Watching a great game involves two evenly matched sides with flair originality, danger, edge of seat stuff. If you are playing in it you simply cant manufacture the other team to be as good as you or for it to be an equal balance of skill/flair etc.

    Hope that makes sense.

12. ‘They’
    Juliet LeFevre wrote: ‘Watching a great game involves two evenly matched sides with flair originality, danger, edge of seat stuff.’

    Well that may be true for you; I have watched unevenly matched games which I thought were stupendous (read great). Perhaps this is telling me something about what makes something ‘great’ and that might be whatever ‘they’ define it to be and not some standard definition.

13. New Realities? – Frames of Thinking? – Ultimate Truth?
    New Realities? – Frames of Thinking? – Ultimate Truth? – Simultaneously being the trainer, learner and subject? How can it possibly be that this country has such a chronic skills shortage when its trainers and developers are concerned with matters of such import as these?

    Anyway, I have to go now and give someone the ‘ultimate truth’ around their Performance Appraisal System and restructure a group of manager’s ‘frames of thinking’ about their Return to Work Interviews, followed by imparting to a group of Team Leaders a ‘new reality’ concerning their Management Reports. While I’m about it I might just break a few paradigms and leverage some synergy out of the holistic connectivity of the situation whilst also (at the same time) being the subject, the trainer and the learner, not to mention the Tea Boy, Typist and Official Spider Catcher. And this afternoon, who knows?

14. Thank you
    Garry,
    I have no need to write any more – you’ve made my day.

    Juliet,
    The football comment was relating to your own earlier posting.

    Ultimate truth – has not been revealed yet.

    Have a good day,

    Clair

15. I’m too simple…
    I think at least. For me great training is something that makes me measurably better at what I do and leads to either increased responsibility or reward. End of story.

    I don’t care whether it was fun (when I was a salesman I went on an awful course run by some woman in her kitchen with dogs running around, was subjected to non stop prosletysing for her particular brand of faith, and constantly insulted by her – but… she taught me one thing during the course of the 2 days that made an enormous difference to my sales career and earnings – so it was a “great” course, even though I didn’t like it, wouldn’t recommend it or the trainer to anyone else).

    Fun during training is a nice to have, not an essential.

    Memorability of the event is not an essential either – skill transfer is.

    But then I’m really not much for fluffy bunny sessions. I like to work with delegates as adults and ensure that their needs are met with respect to their roles.

    I have run some trainings that were not much fun, they were intended to break people into a very hard job in a short period of time. But… I do know they were “great” for the participants, I recently met one (several years on from the event) who recognised me instantly and told me that the course was responsible for her rapid career rise and that she had hated me at times during the course but looking back it was the most beneficial thing in her career to date.

    Training should not be a popularity contest, it should be there to deliver real and measurable business objectives and/or personal objectives – if you can have fun “great”, if not it can still be “great training”.

16. Make training interesting and fun
    Training should be well planned, well prepared, fit for purpose and delivered by trainers who are motivational and inspirational, trainers who can make learning interesting and fun, trainers who can and will make a difference to your people and your organisation.

    Transfer of information is important, of course it is, but transfer can and will only happen if the trainer can keep the attention of the learners, if they can’t, the learners will get bored, switch off, learn nothing and you will have wasted valuable time and money.

    If your training provider tells you that training need not be motivational, inspirational, and or fun… find a new one. When you employ a training organisation that provides all of the above, you will see a difference to your triple bottom line: profit, people and professionalism.

    As a trainer renowned for the interesting, fun, informative sessions I deliver, I can state without fear of contradiction that my clients see the benefit of employing an organisation that makes a difference to their people and their business.