Training people can be a challenge. People have other issues distracting them from outside the training room. They may also have issues within themselves that might be distracting them such as preconceived notions, attitudes, or personal differences about your training or the job being learned. Throw on top of that the fact that human beings can get tired, bored, or cranky, and you’ve got quite a job lined up.
The good news is we can overcome most of these issues with good training design and delivery by including relevant, useful content, building in realistic, job-like exercises, and adding some fun and excitement during course delivery with games, puzzles, cartoons, and such.
Even while using all the ideas above, I’ve seen the group dynamic sag at times. Even the most enthusiastic learner can get tired after a while, no matter how great the training is. I’ve been trying a new little trick to counter that issue, and it seems to be helping quite a bit: Get people out of their seats whenever you can. When people move around and use their muscles, their blood oxygen goes up. It just takes a little bit of physical activity to revive their flagging brain cells. Here are a few ways I recharge my learners that may work for you, too:
Active Group Exercise
Give them an active group exercise to do. Ask everyone to get up, gather around their flipchart or whiteboard, and record their work there.
Group Discussion Variation
Use some variation of group discussion. Place key statements in halves on separate index cards, hand out one half-sentence to each learner, and ask them to find their partner. Debrief by having pairs confirm their findings as they read them out loud.
Seat Switch
Periodically make everyone switch seats to create new, fresh group dynamics – especially if people have been in the same seats since you started a few hours ago.
Ball Review
Plan a review of a key lesson. Have everyone write down one thing they’ll do differently, then stand and form a circle around the room. Ask them to throw a ball to each other and share their idea when they receive it. For more great, creative review ideas, please see our 55 Creative Tools for Trainers book.
Hourly Breaks
Take a seven minute break every hour rather than a fifteen minute break every ninety minutes – especially if a lesson is kind of long and feels like hard work. (Good! That means the training matches the job.) A quick break can help to counter the effects of hard work. For more information about the impact and rationale for using short breaks, check out this blog post called GIMME A BREAK.
New Puzzle or Game
Look for a new puzzle or game to liven things up after a break. Send teams to their charts and see who can list the most items in one category in ninety seconds. The category can be work related (acronyms, supplier names, equipment terms, etc.) or just everyday stuff (kinds of cheese, breeds of dog, cartoon characters, etc.) Ralph’s Ultimate Collection of Brainteasers, Puzzles & Trivia has a bunch of great puzzle ideas.
Have you ever told learners it’s break time and had someone in the room say, “Already? Wow!” It sure is a nice feeling. Using some of the ideas listed above, I’ve noticed more people reacting that way when I call a break. Try to get people moving every 20-30 minutes. The trick is to throw in enough physical activity for your learners to balance all their mental activity.
Alan
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Whenever I’m speaking to a large group, I always make it a point to involve my audience. Ask them questions. If the lecture is going to last for more than 2 hours, always give them a break.
In fact, I always take 15 minute break for every hour of work. It increases my productivity.