Ask, Not Tell

I was having a drink with an external facilitator the other day.  He raised an interesting difference between facilitators and trainers.   Let me share here by putting into context of this blog – “Ask, Not Tell”.

Both the good trainers and the good facilitators ask lots of questions when they are in action.   Here comes the difference – the trainers are asking to get the answers they expect i.e. they will stop when they hear their expected answer.  On the other hand, the facilitators do not have expected answer.    When they ask questions, they genuinely want the answers from the participants. 

I find this description highlights very well the difference between these 2 roles.   Trainers are there to deliver some content whilst facilitators are there to facilitate the process.

Related post:

Should I be the ‘trainer’ or ‘facilitator’?

Presenter vs Trainer vs Facilitator

I have a few overseas colleagues coming first time to China to deliver a management skills class last month. They sent us an email containing a few questions. There was one about how to make Chinese learners to speak up in class. This question made me recall my first experience in delivering to a group of non-Chinese participants. This was Dubai in 2006. Participants were mostly from India and Pakistan. It is THE occasion when I realize how reserved Chinese participants are in class! More about the Dubai experience in my previous post - ‘Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you want us to do’.

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At the end of my last post, I raised a question to myself – whether one should be a trainer or human performance technologist. This question is important especially since training alone is low in effectiveness. A quote re training effectiveness:

“…..companies that offer training alone experience a 22.4% increase in productivity, but when combined with coaching that figure rises to 88%…..”

[Source: Gerald Olivero, Denise Bane, and Richard Kopelman, “Executive Coaching As a Transfer of Training Tool: Effects on Productivity in a Public Agency,” Public Personal Management (winter 1997).]

It is frustrating Read more

Unlike the others in this blog, this post is not about skills. It is about rationale. It is about WHY rather than HOW. In addition, this post does not give any definite answer like others. It will raise more questions than answers. So, bear with me if you expect something like the old posts.

You may notice that I wrote less frequently in the last few months. One major reason is that I have been spending less time in the classroom. Changes happened in the office and I need to work on ‘projects’ rather than classroom delivery. And these changes also made me think on the question – ‘How much does training matter?’

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• Course: SPIN
• Date: 11-13 June 08
• Location: Beijing, China
• # of Learners: 23
• I am feeling: Puzzled

I am writing this on my flight from Beijing back to Shanghai, after I just concluded the class around 3 hours ago. It rains heavily both in Beijing and Shanghai, and thus caused serious flight delay. I hope that I could arrive home before midnight….

I do not feel right about this class. The learners were not engaged enough in general as compared my previous SPIN class. I can see people doing sms with their mobile phones, going in and out answering phone calls…. What’s the worst is that they performed badly during those quiz-type recap session. They did not learn as well as I expected (or as my previous classes).

I am not sure why this is the case. Some possible reasons coming to my mind:

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This post is a bit off the blog topic i.e. Training / Facilitation / Presentation. It is more about communication in general, or communication in the selling environment to be more specific. Do allow me to share it here cos what happened was really interesting.

Other than being an in-house trainer, I manage the overall personal / soft skills training offerings for the Bank in China. Recently, I was asked to meet up with an external vendor together. I heard about the firm before. They are expensive but feedback from their learners has been very positive. In particular, I heard from the others that the one we were going to meet was a wonderful trainer and coach. Let’s call him Ken (a fake name) . I looked forward to meeting up with Ken a lot.

From my observation in the meeting, Ken is real strong in his communication skills. He is very articulated when he speaks – clear both in terms of voice and mind. Very professional and convincing appearance. Strong background as well. I learnt quite a bit from his strength in the meeting. On the other hand, I also learnt from something which he could have done better: Read more

• Course: A series of class
• Date: 11, 24 May 08
• Location: Shanghai, China
• # of Learners: over 40
• I am feeling: Enjoying

Our Bank recently launches a training program together with the Fudan University – one of the oldest and most popular universities in China. I am responsible for the overall curriculum and I also deliver some sessions.

For me as a trainer, I find the delivery experience very pleasant. The Fudan students are ideal learners. They are passionate about your content – they completed their pre-course work, they participated actively in class, and they asked good questions.