Seven Tips for Effective Training: You Need More than Knowledge

You’ve worked hard to build a reputation in your field of expertise. Now, you’ve been asked to give a training presentation in that field.

First, congratulations. That’s an honor. It means people recognize your skills, knowledge and accomplishments — and that they believe in your ability to help others by passing those lessons along.

Training is also a responsibility, though. In return for taking people’s time — and perhaps money, if you go into training full-time — you must provide value. That value takes four forms:

• Information
• Comprehension
• Retention
• Application

You have the first part down. That’s why you’ve been asked to train. How can you help ensure you deliver the other aspects of value?

Seven Ways to Train the Right Way

Michelle Milldyke, SkillPath’s Manager of Instructional Design, offered these tips and insights during a recent conversation:

1. “With more abstract concepts, it helps to deliver the learning point in different ways.”

   If you approach abstract concepts from multiple angles, more learners will understand. If they don’t get it when you say it, seeing it could trigger the “a-ha.” You might present a concept one way orally, another way in the workbook and yet another way in your visual. Provide multiple examples, each approaching the concept in a different way.

2. “If it’s a safety thing, lean into repetition.”

   There’s a reason that businesses implement (and regulatory agencies often require) safety protocols. Things must be done a certain way to ensure that they’re done right. Drill the steps and the reasons for them into your learners, but don’t stop at head knowledge. They should be able to show you how to conduct the protocol.

   Correct as necessary, repeating until they have it down. You want them to be able to train others by the time you’re done.

3. “Do anything you can to make it memorable.”

   Involve your learners emotionally. Humor is a good way to do this, if it’s appropriate for the topic, and don’t be afraid to be absurd with it. People remember things that are over the top more than subtle humor.

   Training is storytelling. If you’re training on safety or compliance, research and present specific (and detailed) examples of the bad things that can happen when people or companies aren’t compliant.

   Which makes more of an impact?

   • “You could be severely injured if you don’t follow these steps.”
   • “Let me tell you about someone who lost the use of their right arm because of a tiny mistake.”
   • “This could open your company up to being sued for wrongful termination.”
   • “Here’s how a bad investigation before firing someone cost one company $7 million in court.”

4. “Use your physical presence.”

   When you’re driving home a concept, use big gestures. Label different areas of the room as anchors for concepts and point at those areas as you discuss how learners will apply those concepts.

   Don’t be a static lump at the front of the room. Move around. If people are staring at a fixed spot for an hour or more, they’ll tune out. When they have to turn to see you, they’re kinetically engaged in what you’re saying. Amplify your message with lively, even exaggerated, facial expressions.

5. “Vocal variance is important, especially in virtual training.”

   Familiarity with your content– especially procedural or technical material — can make you see it as routine, even boring. If that comes through in your voice, you’ll lose your learners. No one wants to hear a full session of monotone droning. Vary the pitch and pace of your voice.

   If you really want people to pay attention, be quiet. People who need to control their audience’s attention — think teachers and stand-up comics — know when to drop their volume or even fall silent for a bit. This is sometimes called “reverse yelling.”

   Silence can also be useful when you’re asking people to come up with their own examples, and nobody wants to go first. People don’t like silence, and if you don’t jump in to save them, somebody will say something to break it. Then you can move on.

6. “Present your content in a logical instructional order.”

   Never, ever, assume that knowing your stuff means you can just wing it when you’re training. The order in which you present learning points matters. If you teach an advanced concept before a simple one, you lose people. If you then stumble, rush, go on a meaningless tangent, or repeat a joke or example, you will frustrate your learners.

   Rehearse, but don’t memorize your content. You need to be able to flex your delivery to what learners know and need. To aid retention, throw in “callbacks,” where you refer repeatedly to key concepts or examples and help learners connect the pieces of the puzzle.

   Build in time for questions and learners’ insights. Nothing kills a good exchange of ideas — a critical aspect of retention — like hearing “Well, we’re on a tight schedule, so let’s move along.”

7. “Value every voice in the room.”

   This might be the most important insight of all. Training isn’t about you. It’s not a chance to show off your knowledge. It’s about helping people do their jobs better — and sometimes, your learners will offer an insight or tip that you hadn’t thought about.

   If someone’s experience contradicts what you’ve said, don’t push back for the sake of appearance, authority and control. Acknowledge and appreciate what they’ve said. Everyone comes in with their own sets of skills, knowledge and experience. Value and build on that. The more collaborative a learning experience is, the more likely people are to remember and learn from it.

For more, check out Train the Trainer: How to Create and Facilitate Employee Training

The prospect of training others for the first time can be daunting, especially for younger workers and people with more introverted personalities. But by following these principles and learning from both the ups and downs, you’ll find yourself better able to share what you’ve learned in a way that helps others comprehend it, retain it — and successfully apply it.

Ready to learn more? Check out some of SkillPath’s live virtual training programs, on-demand video training or get it all with our unlimited eLearning platform.