Ask, Not Tell

An additional thought on this ‘facilitation vs training’ topic came to my mind the other day.   We usually call the person who stands in the front of a corporate training room a trainer.   However, if we think of him / her as the one making learning happened for the learners, he / she should be more appropriately called a facilitator.      Of course, it depends on how we define learning.     Let’s say a high level definition (Kirkpatrick L4) – learning happens when the learners adopt the desired new behavior which yields better pre-defined business result.    In this case, learning cannot be forced.   A traditional telling-type trainer is not enough to make learning happened.  In fact, in this case, learning can only driven by the learners themselves.  At most the person who stands in front of the room is to facilitate the learning process.  This could include:

• making them aware of the burning platform for change
• letting them go through process where they can learn from each other
• putting  them through stretched assignment so that they can realise their potential and learn from reflection

This is especially true when we think of the 70-20-10 principle.   A learning professional is not only a trainer (traditionally-defined), he / she needs to be event and process facilitator.    Or I should say trainer should now mean more than giving lecture.

There is a saying – You can bring a cow to the pond, but you cannot make it drink.

I learnt this analogy during my trip in Singapore.   I like it a lot.  It is a good reminder when we have to stay learner (or participant) centric.   Basically, the argument is that being a facilitator or a facilitative trainer, we should lead the interaction in a workshop to be like a ‘Pinball’ game but not a ‘Ping Pong’ game.       If the interaction is like a ‘Ping Pong’ game, it means the participants talk to the facilitator.  So, it is like the facilitator is playing ping pong with the participants.  The facilitator holds the conversation.   On the other hand, for a ‘Pinball’ game, the participants have the discussion with each other.

Let me share my learning from the rare opportunity I mentioned in my last post.   Summarizing the various feedbacks from the others, my learning in terms of action includes the followings:

Aligning Expectation

I experienced the challenges one can get into when the expectation is not aligned.   In this situation, there were a few reasons why expectation was not well aligned.   First, the learners were external.  My usual assumptions on how people behave or what they expect can easily fail me.   In addition, I understood the learners’ expectation mostly from the organizer instead of my direct contact.   On the other hand, my learners have diverse background – there were both part time trainers and full time trainers.  Moreover, some are much more senior than the others.   In short, they come with very different expectations.

Learners - I shall talk to the opinion-leader-type learners directly before the class.   I did call up the learners before the class to understand their expectation.   I however just managed to get hold of only one whom I picked randomly.   I have also sent out survey in advance.  But I should be aware of its limitation e.g. how expressive people would be in a written survey, or that some opinion leaders may not respond at all.   I should talk to more learners.  And I should find out who the opinion leaders are so that I do not miss learning from and building rapport with them.

Organizer - I shall extract more information from the organizer.   We have only chatted twice on phone.  I probably should prepare a list of specific questions to ask.  Preferably, I should have met with them in person.   For example, if I know in advance that my course was positioned as an intermediate level TTT, I would have sought to understand what the basic level TTT looks like.  It would help avoid duplication and understand better the learners’ expectation.   In addition, by communicating more thoroughly with the organizer, I could also have them managed the learners’ expectation better for me e.g. more focused nomination or more appropriate course title / description.

‘Local Culture’ – I shall understand better in advance the ‘local culture’ e.g. class discipline.  I probably should achieve this by talking to the opinion leaders and the organizer.

Preparation for ‘Conflict’

‘Conflict’ is good – Looking back at the challenge I received in the class, I think that it happened because the ‘challenger’ was ‘irritated’ by the new mindset introduced by me.   (Note that the new mindset or the controversial point is that ‘Subject Matter Expert is not necessarily a good trainer’)   Whilst ‘rejection’ is an unavoidable stage in mindset change, I shall not be surprised to receive the challenge.  Instead, I should be happy to see the challenge.

Reducing disruption – Having said that, I shall minimize the impact to the other learners.   I could contain the disagreement in the table team, and then manage from there, instead of letting it show in the big group.   More specifically, I can ask the table team to first discuss what the difference is between a SME and a good trainer.   I then walk around and observe.  In the big group, I will invite first a table team which has a conclusion favorable to the point I try to make.

Making it less controversial - I could also make the new mindset (or any possibly controversial point) more convincing.  I will avoid introducing that it is my view.  It could induce argument especially if rapport has been well built.   Instead, if possible, I will mention the research supporting this point or that it is from a reputable person.

Again, it was a great learning experience.   It is probably one of the defining moments in my training career!!

I recently delivered a Training Skills course to a local bank in China.   It turned out to be a wonderful learning experience for myself.   First, I learnt by simply having to share with the others what a good trainer should be.   I learnt during my preparation and delivery in the class.   And I learnt by experiencing direct verbal challenge from the learners during the class.   And above all, I learnt since some of my learners were kind enough to give me high-quality feedback after the class.   [If you have read my blog before, you know that I have been quite frustrated with how difficult to get good feedback.]

Overall, the 2 days were not easy for me.  But like I said in class, learning takes place outside the comfort zone!    Like my Dubai experience, I learnt a lot when I delivered classes to different groups of learner.

I will share my learning in the next post.

What would be your reaction as a trainer if less than half of your class shows up?

I think I would be rather upset.  But I learnt from our Master Facilitator that things can be different.   She helped us facilitate a small 1-day class in Shanghai.   Only 6 of 11 showed up, and 2 asked to leave earlier!!   She did not appear annoyed at all, and she conducted the class professionally throughout the day

I asked her subsequently whether she was upset with the poor attendance, or even considered to cut short the class.   She said, ‘Not at all.   In fact, it was a great opportunity to really interact with the learners when we had just 4 of them.’    She added, ‘I guess it is the “half empty or half full” mentality.’   Her reaction really made me think.   I think she is right.  There is no point to be upset and instead a trainer should focus on those who show up.

Coincidentally, I came across similar situation last week.   I ran a class with our local regulators.   Only 4 out of 9 showed up.   Even worse, those who showed up got in and out of the class from time to time.   In fact, only 1 stayed throughout the whole 2 days.   Adopting the new mentality, the incident was not so disappointing to me.   And I managed to enjoy the class better.

I facilitated a half-day team building session last Friday in Sheshan (outskirt of Shanghai).   It took me quite a lot of preparation.   And the sponsor is one of our important stakeholders.  So, quite some pressure for me to do it right.

The session went alright and as always there are areas which I could do better.   What I want to reflect on here is the feeling I had during the session.   Once, a senior facilitator said I was ‘in the flow’ when she observed me in action.  I did not really get it at that time.   But now, when I reflect on this experience, I understand it more.   I found myself ‘totally immersed’ in the session.  I love the feeling of concentrating myself on how to make the process work – asking the right questions, sensing the atmosphere, connecting with my participants…..

I guess I am lucky.

I talked about the ample resources on websites like Youtube and Vimeo which can help our training a lot.   But what happens if you do not have Internet access inside your training room?   Or even if you have it, the access is slow?

I was introduced to a website which allows us to download chips from the Internet into our computers.  It is called Miro.    I have not used it because there is system restriction on my laptop.   And unfortunately video websites like Youtube and Vimeo are now blocked in China!!  Anyway, hope that it is useful to you.   Do let me know your comment if you try it.

Internet is getting more and more useful.   At least to my world of Internet.   It is the online video this time.  You can almost get any kind of video from the intenet.   The most popular site is Youtube.   My previous blog post on the ‘Sound of Music’ clip is an example.   This helps my TTT course.  In addition, I can also have a clip in the class to illustrate the ADDIE instructional design process.

And I just come across another one which can trigger lot of interesting discussion on the topic of client engagement

Another sources is  Vimeo.   The latter comes in handy especially because we cannot access youtube in the Mainland at the moment.   For example, there is a great video on Vimeo which my fellow technical trainers in the Bank can use to explain what the credit crunch in the US really means.

Video adds to the variety of your training course.   And now it is easier than before to find a suitable one.