Training Techniques

[Lucio]

Ok, so as part of my promotion at work, I am taking responsibility for a degree of internal training of my colleagues. I'm a little lost at the moment because for me, I've always just been able to work things out, and thus, for me training has always been focused on memorising facts and figures to use.

I'm wondering what kind of techniques, or guides that others would recommend. Additionally, any recomendations for courses, or study aids to help me practice would be appreciated.

[Phage]

Depends on what you are teaching them. Soft skills like managing staff, or something more technical like progamming.

[cookie365]

For process skills (as opposed to soft skills) there isn't much that can beat the TAP methodology

http://www.tap-training.com/

Some of the key points are:

• Start with clear objectives about what your learners will be able to do - not "know" or "understand" - and work backwards from there.
• Don't tell people stuff. Ask them a series of open questions that guide them towards figuring it out for themselves
• Embed the learning with repetition: practice exercises, recap questions, that kind of thing
• At the end, give them a test that matches the initial objective so they can demonstrate they've achieved it
• Don't just get them to fill in happy sheets at the end saying how good the biscuits were. After x months go back and see if they're using their new skills, and if the training is actually making a difference to their productivity/profits/targets.

Though there is a whole lot more to it than that.

[Lucio]

Training is focused on the technical side, methodologies and the ability to recognise what an issue actually is. The long term objective is to decrease the length of time calls stay open, and to reduce the number of long term calls (adjusted by the company's growth).

I want my colleagues to at least be able to feel more confidence in their role within the company.

[TeePee]

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/a...tors_handbook/

I know, aviation. But it has a lot of useful techniques which transfer.

[petrefax]

For process skills (as opposed to soft skills) there isn't much that can beat the TAP methodology

http://www.tap-training.com/

Some of the key points are:

• Start with clear objectives about what your learners will be able to do - not "know" or "understand" - and work backwards from there.
• Don't tell people stuff. Ask them a series of open questions that guide them towards figuring it out for themselves
• Embed the learning with repetition: practice exercises, recap questions, that kind of thing
• At the end, give them a test that matches the initial objective so they can demonstrate they've achieved it
• Don't just get them to fill in happy sheets at the end saying how good the biscuits were. After x months go back and see if they're using their new skills, and if the training is actually making a difference to their productivity/profits/targets.

Though there is a whole lot more to it than that.

if its technical training then you can't go far wrong with the methods above IMHO /\/\

one thing i took away from teaching adults was the need to create a safe learning environment. i know that phrase sounds a bit "tree-hugger" but when teaching adults you have to account for their ego.

put simply, adults don't like to look stupid in front of other adults so if they're put in a situation where this is a risk they'll clam up, and your training session becomes a lot harder to perform if you're faced with a roomful of silence. their memory of the session (and as an indirect result, their memory of the subject matter being taught) will be a bad one so they'll perceive the topic as "hard" which becomes self-fulfilling, they're set up to fail

so don't do things like firing direct questions at people within the first few minutes. start with open questions & make your questions relate to what you've just covered, so you're already starting to refresh the knowledge they've just taken in. even if someone isn't answering, they'll be thinking of the answer which will help them retain the info

always *always* allow plenty of space and plenty of encouragement for them to ask questions

don't know if the topics you're covering lend themselves to this (and my apologies if i'm teaching anyone to suck eggs here) but i'd usually use the following

- cover objectives "by the end of this session you will be able to....."
- any questions
- cover course methodology so they know what to expect
- any questions
- high level, brief overview of the topic being covered
- any questions
-----
- talk about a specific element of the topic, introduce the concept of it.
- practically demonstrate it using a PC hooked up to a projector
- get the trainees to do a similar task on the PCs they're sat at. (slighly different so they have to apply the knowledge they've hopefully just aquired)
sum up what you've just covered, move on to next topic
----
repeat above for all elements of what you mwant to cover

finish off by going back to the objectives, check their understanding with questioning (by now you should be able to use direct questions)



while they're doing the "practical" bit, i'd wander about, providing pointers, responding to questions etc. this allowed me to (as far as possible) tailor to each person's needs.

some poeple prefer to be left alone to try something over & over till they get it right on their own. some like to have assurance that they're doing things right as they're going along. some people may be totally stuck & this allows you to individually guide them without announcing to the whole room that they're stuck.

as long as you've got a small enough group you can, with a bit of practice, spot who needs what & treat them accordingly

i'm rambling now, i initially became a teacher because i had a problem shutting up.

[kalniel]

Good replies from cookie and petrefac - haven't got much more to add in a general situation even though I've been training people for ~8 years now as part of my jobs.

Adult learning Adult education is a great book (John Staines) but you can overthink training - I wouldn't worry too much about the finer details/technique just yet but be open to modifying the course as you learn from trying it and the feedback.

One of the key parts of the training I do is communicating between experts of different fields, and being able to empathise with the trainees is very helpful - it's as simple as putting yourself in their shoes and giving them the skills/techniques/knowledge that *they* need, not what you find easiest to give or want to give them from a PR perspective (or that's outreach, not training). In your case you said this:

"I want my colleagues to at least be able to feel more confidence in their role within the company."

Which I think is a fantastic thing to bear in mind as a focus - it's relatively measurable so you can assess if your training is working to find out what works and what doesn't - and there's a lot of scope for empathy (or case studies or real world experience). Fully trained up and technically perfect trainers can give an OK course, but being enthusiastic about a goal and wanting your trainees to better themselves makes for a better course IMHO.

[cookie365]

Training is focused on the technical side, methodologies and the ability to recognise what an issue actually is. The long term objective is to decrease the length of time calls stay open, and to reduce the number of long term calls (adjusted by the company's growth).

I want my colleagues to at least be able to feel more confidence in their role within the company.

Be careful here. That all seems a bit .. vague.

You need to be very, very, clear about precisely what skill it is that precisely which people need to learn. Calls are staying open a long time? Why? What is it about those calls? Why are they staying open when others aren't? Is it a skills gap, or is it something different that training won't affect? Such as: if people already have the skills but aren't using them because they're only being given enough time to do a basic job, then training them on a skill they already have won't make a bit of difference. When a manager asks you to do some training, don't say 'OK', say 'Why?'.

one thing i took away from teaching adults was the need to create a safe learning environment. i know that phrase sounds a bit "tree-hugger" but when teaching adults you have to account for their ego.

put simply, adults don't like to look stupid in front of other adults so if they're put in a situation where this is a risk they'll clam up, and your training session becomes a lot harder to perform if you're faced with a roomful of silence. their memory of the session (and as an indirect result, their memory of the subject matter being taught) will be a bad one so they'll perceive the topic as "hard" which becomes self-fulfilling, they're set up to fail

so don't do things like firing direct questions at people within the first few minutes. start with open questions & make your questions relate to what you've just covered, so you're already starting to refresh the knowledge they've just taken in. even if someone isn't answering, they'll be thinking of the answer which will help them retain the info

always *always* allow plenty of space and plenty of encouragement for them to ask questions

yes *yes* yes

[Lucio]

Thanks for all the informative replies so far, they're definitely helpful, particularly on planning a session, which is something I'm typically weak on.