Ask, Not Tell

I have spent almost 2 weeks in Beijing delivering classes.  I found a place where I can rent a bicycle.   Cycling turned out to be my morning exercise.  I once woke up at 0539 and rode to the Jing-Shan Park behind the Forbidden City.    Cycling refreshed me and it energized me for the classes during the day!!

我在北京上课也有差不多2周了，这次我发现了一个出租单车的地方！骑单车就变成我早上的运动，有一次我530就起来并爬上故宫后的景山公园。 骑单车让我一天上课的时候更精神！

[View from the Jing-Shan Park]

[Forbidden City]

I am writing this on the plane from Shenzhen back to Shanghai.    I have to travel quite a lot in Jul – 1 time to Shenzhen and 2 times to Beijing.  Though it is a bit too much, it is always great to be in classes!!

During the class in Shenzhen, I tried out a new way to motivate the learners to talk.   (I learnt this from my boss.)   Whenever one asked a question or gave a comment, I will stick an adhesive dot on his / her name tent.   At the end, the one who gets the most number of dots will receive a prize.   I found this ‘sticky dot method’ very useful since it:

Motivates – Very simply, the more one speaks, the more likely he / she will get the price.   But there is more.   The trainer’s physical action in walking towards him / her and sticking a dot on the name plate is already motivating for most learners.

Reduces hesitation – Asians tend not to speak up in open occasions.  The norm is that we should give chance to the others.  And speaking too much can mean show off.  The Asian learners think ‘if I speak too much, the others may think that I want to show-off’.   The dot arrangement helps change the nature of speaking up.  The Asian learners can now justify better speaking-up.  We will think ‘It is OK to speak up cos I am just having fun.’   This is a subtle psychological factor.

Reminds the silent ones – By the end of the first morning, most learners would have some dots.  Some have more and some less.  If you have only a few or even none, it will show.   As you look up to the name tents, you are reminded that you have not spoken much.   This can serve as a gentle reminder to those silent learners.   The trainer can also proactively leverage on this public information as well.   The trainer can review the learning contract (which likely contains active participation) and say, ’if you have not participated as much as we agreed, I encourage you to do it for the rest of the program.’   With the dots, the learners know very subtly that they are the ones.

Reminds the trainer – With a simple scan over the name tents, the trainer can easily know where the passive learners are.   He / she can then direct question accordingly.

Makes the trainer move – As the trainer sticks the dots, he / she has to move around the room.  This creates energy in the room.   Of course, it also shows the disadvantage of this method – if the venue is big, it would be very tiring for 1 trainer to move around!!

I found it better than the ‘poker method’.

The 5-day Shanghai workshop did turn out to be a great learning experience for me.   I learnt a lot by observing my fellow facilitators in action.   In particular, I had chance to be observed and thus receive feedback on my facilitation skills.   And fortunately I did receive some encouraging feedback.

But I have to say that I was not satisfied with my performance, especially for the result on Day 1.  I felt unsure.  I felt a bit strange.  I felt like something important was missing, and this made me feel that I was not good enough.   But I was not sure what it was.   I have comprehended the content reasonably well.  I have designed and conducted a relevant ice-breaker… what did I miss?

I thought about it a lot in the last few days after the workshop was over.   And subsequently I realised what the missing piece was.   It is about the learners.  During the workshop, I did not have the comfort that I know the learners well enough, and thus more importantly I was not sure about the WIIFM.  I felt lost without these.

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