LUMINARY PERSPECTIVE
Train to Add Value and Make a Difference
What is the purpose of training? To get results. Training is a process—not an event. It begins long before people engage in learning (whether face-to-face, virtually, or through e-learning), and it continues until we see results in the workplace. My goal as a trainer for more than 50 years has always been to empower, inspire, and equip my participants to build their confidence and help them get results.
One of the things I believe is important is understanding how people learn best. Instructional design is missing this link. For example, the ADDIE model (analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate) is focused on content. Nowhere does it ask how to target how participants obtain the knowledge. How do they learn the best?
The Learning Preference Continuum
In the mid-1990s, I helped validate Inscape’s Personal Learning Insights Profile (now part of John Wiley Company), which demonstrated how effective learning occurs. We have since assessed more than 70,000 participants in 25 countries and outlined three dimensions on the learning preferences continuum, which we focus on as we look at how they learn best. These three dimensions are learning purpose, learning structure, and learning activities.
Learning Purpose
Learning purpose represents why you want to know. You may want information to be practical and immediately usable, or perhaps you are more interested in new and informative content. Think about where you find yourself on this continuum. An informative learner will learn anything! You may look at the back of a cereal box and think, “Whoa, I might use this information some day.” Meanwhile, practical learners are thinking, “That was interesting, but who cares? Why bother reading all that trivia?”
• Informative learners like to learn when the information is new and interesting.
• Practical learners prefer to learn things that they can use right now.
Are you a practical learner or an informative learner? Practical learners want to learn just what they need to know—no fluff, no fillers. Informative learners love information—at the extreme, everything is interesting. We’ve profiled people from all walks of life and about 50 percent are practical and 50 percent are informative. So how can you use information like this to improve your design and delivery?
I divide all my content into three buckets: need to know, nice to know, and where to go. Then, I make sure that 80 percent of the content in the need to know bucket is practical. That way, I engage both types of learners. The additional content in the nice to know and where to go buckets appeals to the informative learners.
Learning Structure
Learning structure represents how information is organized. It is either specific and step-by-step or flexible and more general. Maybe you like to have everything organized in a specific framework from the very beginning. An extreme example of this would be asking, “What do you want them to learn, by when, and what resources are available? How will we know they have learned, and how long will it take to learn?”
On the other hand, a general learner may ask, “What do you want them to learn?” And then they’ll take it from there. The further you trend toward the general side, the more you believe in learner choice.
• Specific learners want a clear path: What am I going to learn? How will I learn? Why am I learning? How will I know I’ve learned? How will I use what I’ve learned?
• General learners prefer to have information presented in a broader format. They want to create their own structure to make sense of information.
Are you a specific learner or a general learner? Based on our profiles, about 50 percent are specific learners and the other 50 percent are general learners.
How do you apply this to your design and delivery?
I develop a very specific structure. For example, I’ll say something like, “You are going to work with a partner to do a case study. Here is a sheet that lists the steps and outcomes.” This appeals to specific learners. Then I say, “Here are four case studies. Read through them with your partner and choose the one that you’ll work on together.” This appeals to the general learners, who want choices, not assignments.
Learning Activity
Learning activity represents how actively engaged a learner prefers to be in the learning process. It does not correlate with whether you are an extrovert or introvert. It is purely an engagement preference. You may like to actively participate with others, or perhaps you’d rather take in information and reflect on it independently. If you look at the extreme side, reflective learners would prefer to take all their classes online via e-learning programs so they don’t have to interact or connect with anybody. In fact, they’d rather read a book. On the other hand, if a participative learner took that same e-learning course, they would take breaks every 15 minutes to run to the water cooler in hopes of connecting with someone.
• Reflective learners want to think about new information when learning. They like learning on their own.
• Participative learners prefer to be more active and involved in the learning process. They like learning with others.
The interesting thing about the research is that more than 75 percent of the learners we profiled prefer to learn with others. I apply this to my design and delivery by creating exercises involving small groups—five to six people in a face-to-face environment or three people online. This appeals to the participative learner. Then I build in individual reflection activities, paired shares, and so forth, which falls into the comfort zone of the reflective learner.
These three dimensions will help you design and deliver training more effectively for your learners. You will find additional information about the learning preferences in chapter 2 and a grid on the handbook website at ATDHandbook3.org.
Now, let’s look at three additional models that have shaped the way I design content to ensure retention and recall.
Model 1. The 90/20/8 (4) Rule
I always apply the 90/20/8 (4) rule. I learned from Tony Buzan (Use Both Sides of Your Brain) that while adults can listen with understanding for 90 minutes, they can listen with retention for only 20 minutes.
My daughter Rebecca inspired the additional eight minutes. High-school speech competitions were all eight minutes in length. When I asked her why, she said that TV programs break every eight minutes for a commercial. If you can’t get it done in eight minutes, you’ve lost them. Did you know that in the US by the time a student graduates from high school, they’ve been in class 14,000 hours, but they’ve watched 19,000 hours of television? Imagine adult learners in your classroom that have 19,000 hours of programming that says you’ll get a break every eight minutes! Every video game gives breaks. They are called levels. You play for a short amount of time and then, if you are successful, you level up and get the opportunity for a short break.
That’s why I go a maximum of eight minutes before involving people in my face-to-face training sessions. For example, I may ask a question that learners can discuss with a partner, or I may ask them to write something down. When it comes to virtual delivery, the eight is replaced with four. I want to re-engage people every four minutes because there are more distractions in the virtual world.
Model 2. The CPR Rule
Based on the 90/20/8 (4) rule, I break all my content into chunks that last no more than 20 minutes, because I want participants to retain what they have learned. In fact, many of my content chunks are much shorter than that. For each content chunk I think about what the content will be, how I will get participants involved, and how often that content needs to be revisited.
Notice I said revisited, not reviewed. Revisit is when the participants do it. Review is when the instructor does it again. Revisiting is far more powerful.
Model 3. The Social Model of Training—CIO
I adapted the CIO model from Will Schutz. Whenever someone comes into a learning environment, the first thing they want is to feel in control or safe. It is not that they want to control others. They just do not want to be controlled. Once they feel safe, they want to belong or feel included. When they feel included, they are willing to be open, and that’s when they’ll share and ask questions.
This is why I use openers in my training, not icebreakers. An opener will raise the BAR—it will Break preoccupation through involvement, Allow for networking, and will always be Relevant to the content. Remember our practical learner.
In an icebreaker, the trainer might pass out cards to everyone and say, “Find your match!” Then the participants will spend the next 10 minutes trying to match short with tall and salt with pepper and peanut butter with jelly. The practical learner won’t see what this has to do with what they are supposed to learn for their job. And their first memory will be that we started with a silly game. That’s not what we want.
Final Thoughts
I believe that one purpose of training is for participants to leave impressed with themselves, not intimidated by the trainer. They should be excited about what they now know and can do that they couldn’t before. And they should have more confidence in their abilities. The masters that have written each chapter in this section have focused their content on helping you do this.
For my 50-plus years as a trainer my goal has been to add value and make a difference. May you be able to do the same.
About the Author
Bob Pike, CPTD Fellow, CSP, CPAE, is known as the “trainer’s trainer.” He is the author of more than 30 books, including the all-time bestselling train-the-trainer book, Master Trainer’s Handbook. More than 150,000 trainers on five continents have graduated from his multiple-day train-the-trainer programs. Bob has keynoted, trained, and consulted in more than 25 countries and his “Training and Performance Forum” newsletter has more than 10,000 subscribers. He has presented at every ATD International Conference & Exposition since 1977 and has facilitated programs for more than 100 ATD chapters.
Recommended Resources
Buzan, T. 1991. Use Both Sides of Your Brain: New Mind-Mapping Techniques, 3rd ed. New York: Plume.
Meiss, R., and L. Wheeler, eds. 2016. CORE: Closers, Openers, Revisiters, and Energizers: Activities and Games for Face-to-Face Training, vol. 3. Eden Prairie, MN: Creative Training Productions.
Pike, B. 2015. Master Trainer Handbook: Tips, Tactics, and How-Tos for Delivering Effective Instructor-Led Participant-Centered Training. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
Pike, B. 2017. 101 Games for Trainers: A collection of the Best Activities from Creative Training Techniques Newsletter. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
Pike, B., and L. Solem. 2000. 50 Creative Training Openers and Energizers: Innovative Ways to Start Your Training With a Bang! New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Sousa, D. 2011. How the Brain Learns, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.