Ask, Not Tell

I observe something amazing when I looked at my posts in this blog in the last 12 months.  There are a few posts which I wrote about learning rather than training.  The post about the ‘70/20/10′ principle is an example.

In case you are not aware, there is big difference between being in the learning and the training business.   From the perspective of the  ‘70/20/10′ principle, if you are in the training business, it is about only the ‘10%’.   If you are in the learning business, it is about the ‘100%’.   In other words, other than conducting training courses, you will run projects about stretched assignment (an example of the 70%) or maintain a mentoring program (an example of the 20%).

When I left my front line job 4 years ago, I thought my new job is basically about standing up in the classrooms where I would talk and make them do things.    And I love conducting classes.   I love the interaction with the learners.   I love the environment of focusing on doing just 1 thing in the classroom.   I love facilitating group process, in particular, the intellectual challenges of keeping the group towards the objectives.

In a sense, training involves tasks of very different nature than learning does.

Yet, going back to the observation about what I wrote recently….   I am now thinking more and more from the ‘learning’ perspective, though I am still particularly energized when I stand in front of the learners.   Interesting shift….

Related previous posts

How much does training matter?

How much does training matter?  (Cont’d)

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.

I have had a few great learning experiences in Feb.   First, I facilitated a one-day planning workshop in Shanghai for the HR team in Mainland China.   Then, I attended a TTT class for a managerial course in Singapore.   Right before the Chinese New Year, I facilitated an offsite meeting in Hong Kong for the HK HR team.

I have learnt a lot from these.   For example, in the Singapore event, I saw my fellow facilitators from different countries in action.   They are very skilled and I learnt a great deal from them!   There are so many things I want to write about.   However, since Feb started, work became very hectic.  Got to find time…..

The first thing I want to reflect on is my ‘journey’ to become more flexible at my facilitation.  In the past 1 to 2 years, I have noticed how rigid I tend to be.  Thorough preparation is a good thing.  But sometimes I get too upset when things are not in place.  Or I can be easily disturbed when the event does not progress as I plan.

I in fact mentioned something on flexibility before in this blog e.g. see my post back to late 2008 – Preparation – the fine balance between ‘task’ and ‘people’

Anyway, back to the Feb events.  I consciously pushed myself to act flexibly.  For example, during the Singapore event, I proposed some last-minute change in my teach-back session.  Since my session was moved to after-lunch, I decided it is better to run the ‘action’ part before the ‘discussion’ part.   It worked well at the end.   And I am glad that I received positive feedback.

And in the HK event, I also made some changes and added new things on spot e.g. the way to collect participants’ feedback.   (It worked OK but I realized that it could be better if I have prepared more.)

I am glad that I am progressing on this ‘flexibility’ journey.   And reflecting on these, I think it is a balance, again.  I should prepare as much as I can.   But then on spot, I should be ready to change, including even abandon the original plan.