Matthew Richter posts daily comments in LinkedIn—well, almost daily. You can follow him and join the conversation by going to http://linkedin.com/in/matthew-richter-0738b84.
For the benefit of our readers, we decide to compile and reprint some of his provocative pieces from the past. Let us know what you think.
Trainer Characteristics
I get asked all the time for the best characteristics for an effective trainer. There is no definitive answer. I’ve seen highly introverted, serious, quiet, and reflective trainers deliver phenomenal training that yielded great outcomes. I have seen highly energetic, entertaining, and outgoing trainers deliver an equally great, but different experience with similar results.
Here are a few commonalities:
Trusting the activity. If the activity is properly matched to the desired objective, the process of the game will get people to the goal.
Trusting the participants. Good trainers respect and value the intelligence and motivation of the people facing them. They accept questions, rebellion, and insurgency as offers to explore and learn more.
Trusting themselves. They know they can modify the activity as needed and find the best path to adjust as they meet the group’s needs.
Always having the goal in mind. They never ignore the outcome. The journey may change, but the goal remains the same.
It isn’t about them. They never make the training about their personality or their narcissistic need to be on stage. Instead, they focus on the people in the room.
Five Steps to Designing Training.
Designing training is deceptively simple. Here are five steps that will mostly get you to a decent outcome.
Clearly identify the business issue that needs to be resolved.
Identify the skill gap among employees that blocks resolving the issue.
Determine and design a performance test that effectively demonstrates skill proficiency both within the training and back on the job.
Design activities that facilitate participants through a process that teaches them how to pass the test.
Evaluate how you are doing concurrently throughout the previous steps.
Note that I don’t mention content. These are often merely platforms that help people perform the skill. Use whatever works in conjunction with your activities. Focus on the activities and be sure they align to your performance tests. Get people to do what you want them to do on the job. Use real-life contexts.
Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi) talks all the time about just delivering... no piloting. We build the airplane while we fly it. Do these five steps and immediately deliver. Iterate forever. You will never stop designing.
Starbucks’ Bias training
Starbucks to Close 8,000 U.S. stores for Racial-Bias Training. From a training perspective, this is troubling. First, did Starbucks properly identify the problem as a skill gap? Or, is this intervention merely a reaction? And, is bias the problem? Maybe, there is an issue with consistency in policy adherence? Or, maybe, their assessment is right. Blanket training across all stores for four hours on a topic vague and nebulous, at best, is going to yield what results? I hate we still have these problems. Cynically, this training can be viewed as a PR campaign. Less cynically, it can be viewed as spending tremendous amounts of money on an intervention almost certainly guaranteed to yield little or no results. And, I won’t be able to get my tea during those hours! More likely, this is a policy problem. Or, process problem. Or, an episode from The Office. Perhaps, participants will become more aware of their biases, but that requires lots of practice and context setting for them to limit their biases in the workplace. What happened should never have happened. If they really wanted to change, they would assess and discover the real root cause. Then do a truly effective intervention.