A year ago I found myself in Birmingham, AL, helping to lead a train the trainer session as part of the launch and roll-out of a new sales training program.
A year later, we’ve been able to look at the impact of training through the lens of Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation and see the results and impact on each level, including a double-digit growth in sales for those stores who have implemented this program compared to those who haven’t. Continue reading
Training activities can be fun. Training should be engaging. Training must be meaningful.
I have been asked to design many training modules and have worked on several teams that value the fun aspect of training over the other two aspects I mentioned. I like a fun training as much as the next person, however meaningful and engaging training is paramount in training designing. Continue reading
An employee has a task to complete. It’s not something she normally does, and she may not need to do it again any time soon, but it’s really, really important that she’s able to do it correctly, right now.
Maybe she’s an administrative assistant sent early into a conference room to connect the projector to her boss’s computer for an important presentation to the executive team.
Should she have learned how to do this 5 years ago during her new employee orientation? Maybe, but that was five years ago and she hasn’t been asked to do it since. Continue reading
A few weeks ago I wrote a post asking if it was possible to create engaging software training (spoiler alert: the answer is yes). That post focused on instructor-led, in-person training. Several people reached out to tell me they liked that post but were curious how it could be transferable to eLearning. Continue reading
Over the past several weeks I’ve exchanged messages with several blog subscribers who were looking for some ideas on how to create more engaging software training.
I’ve worked on a handful of software training courses and the answer is yes*.
There is an asterisk to my answer, because you may need to calibrate how you define “engaging” and what “engaging” looks like. Continue reading
Several years ago, I remember participating in a training-focused Tweet Chat when learning research guru Patti Shank suggested that she didn’t care so much about engagement in the classroom, she felt impact and results were the most important thing.
She received a lot of pushback from other participants in the chat (including from me).
Four(ish) years later, I get her point. Continue reading
Shortly after this year’s Super Bowl, this statistical analysis began making its way around the Internet:
As a Buffalo Bills’ fan, I appreciated it.
As a training professional, it served as a very good reminder that numbers can be very deceiving.
So how do we make the best business case for training and professional development? Numbers can be helpful… if we use the right ones. Continue reading
The menus on conference web pages often have a tab that leads you to information on how to convince your boss to send you to their conference. I have never had to sell the value of a training conference to my superiors, but I do understand that it is important to get as much out of these very expensive experiences.
Learning Solutions is coming in a few short weeks, and as I finish preparations for my session on Harnessing the Power of the Narrative, I am working to focus my goals in attending this training conference. As a first-timer at Learning Solutions, I want to dive in with a clear set of objectives. Continue reading
Last fall I had an opportunity to deliver a pair of presentation skills sessions at the Arkansas Early Childhood Association Annual Conference in Little Rock. Everyone I encountered during the few days that I was in Arkansas showed me an amazing time, the session participants were engaged throughout, and then I got on a plane and returned home. What did the participants do with the concepts I’d taught?
Recently, I exchanged a few messages with one of the conference organizers – Michelle Pounds – and was amazed to hear how they had extended the learning from my sessions. It can serve as a model for how organizations can get the most out of their investment in sending people to a conference, maximizing the possibility that the learning is applied in the real world. Following is a brief description of what Michelle and her team did to keep the learning going, written in Michelle’s words: Continue reading
Last week, I was asked to help facilitate a training for a group of volunteers. The training was scheduled after hours to accommodate work schedules, and our presentation was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM. The primary facilitator sent me her four talking points and asked me if I had last minute training activity ideas. Little did she know, I train like a champion! I have hundreds of blog posts at my disposal that are full of icebreakers, training activities, and debriefs that can cover just about any talking point. And guess what, you do too! Continue reading