NYNP blog post 4-6-09

Terrible training vs. fabulous training
Three categories to keep in mind to make your training fabulous

During the workshop I presented on Friday morning at the NAA conference (see my prior blog post), we did a small group activity in which the groups considered two questions: 1) What makes a classroom training terrible?
2) What makes a classroom training incredibly fabulous?

The participants tackled the questions with zest, partly because they got to vent about some pet peeves. Their responses fit into three overall categories: space & logistics, the trainer’s skills, and the workshop design.

Space & logistics
A room that’s too noisy, too cold, or too hot can ruin a training. So can uncomfortable seating, poor lighting, and cramped space. Other logistics can also sabotage participants’ ability to learn at training, such as no parking, poor directions to classrooms, malfunctioning equipment, and no source of food or water.

Trainer skills
The trainer can make or break any workshop. A passionate, enthusiastic trainer can bring content to life, especially if the trainer treats participants with respect and has a good sense of humor. Participants appreciate positive feedback, a good tone of voice, and a comfortable atmosphere. They want the trainer to be aware of the learners at all times and immediately address any concerns. They also want the trainer to be prepared, to avoid reading from the materials, to start on time, and to end on time. When technical issues come up, they want the trainer to have a back-up plan so that the workshop doesn’t come to a sputtering end.

Workshop design
Participants are tired of lecture-based, long, boring workshops with either too much information or nothing participants can use. They want interaction, engagement, multimedia delivery, and hands-on learning that keeps people awake and meets the needs of multiple learning styles. They also want handouts or other takeaway resources that will help them on the job, and they want enough copies of the materials for everyone. They want relevant content, the opportunity to share best practices and work in small groups, and time for question-and-answer. They wish the training title would match the workshop’s actual content. Finally, they would like their organizations and managers to follow up with them to help them apply their skills on the job.

I’ve run this activity before and gotten similar responses, which suggests that most people who attend classroom trainings can easily remember what makes workshops terrible or fabulous. Since those of us who run trainings also attend them, we probably know all this too. And yet terrible training still exists, and it happens frequently enough that this activity is always easy for participants to do.

So how does terrible training happen? That’s a tough one. Lack of time & resources certainly play a part, but surely there's more involved. We'll explore this question further in my future blog posts, and I welcome your thoughts.