You’re conducting a training session for a company. You’re absorbed in your discussion that you don’t notice your participants nodding off or chatting with their seatmates. After the training evaluation, you receive negative feedback because they weren’t able to understand the lessons.
It’s not just what but how you teach that matters. The success of your training sessions depends on your methods. Here are the effective and not-so-effective methods in training facilitation to help improve your sessions:
Setting
What doesn’t work: Lecture. It doesn’t promote interaction with your participants.
What works: Playschool style. Activities prompt people to enjoy while understanding the lessons. Use activities to introduce your lessons and to enliven the atmosphere.
Tools
What doesn’t work: Chalk-and-board combination. This shifts the focus of your participants to copy notes, not understand the lesson. It would work if illustration can better explain things, however.
What works: eLearning tools. These reduce time and lead to a better learning experience. Companies like Velpic agree that cloud-based eLearning platforms improve comprehension and retention of the subject matter by 50% compared to printed reading material and PowerPoint.
Delivery
What doesn’t work: Reading the slides and focusing on theories. Participants lose interest if everything is on the slides and you do most of the talking. Theoretical approaches won’t improve your participants’ understanding, as well.
What works: Asking for input and citing real-life examples. You’ll encourage interaction and assess the participants’ knowledge. Teaching real-life situations with a touch of humour will improve their understanding and participation, as well.
Content
What doesn’t work: Wordy visuals and textbook knowledge. Your students would merely want to study books instead of listen to you.
What works: Fewer words, more graphics. Pictures and videos help, especially with complex topics. Write effective training or learning materials by using simple and concise terms to explain hard concepts.
Assessment
What doesn’t work: Quiz. It doesn’t accurately measure your participants’ knowledge level since they can cram to get high grades.
What works: Application. You’ll see the direct impacts of your training sessions by seeing people apply the lessons. If you’re training sales people, for instance, conduct simulations to determine if they can put concepts into action.
Anyone can become a trainer. But you can’t be an effective trainer if you only focus on traditional teaching methods. Try these suggestions if you want to conduct effective training sessions.