We live in a world that tries desperately to be risk-free. Think about it; would you ever buy a car without looking at Consumer Reports or a Carfax report? Would you invest your money without consulting a financial expert? How about home inspections, or the booming insurance industry?
Companies even have entire departments whose sole responsibility is to reduce corporate risk. Now I am not saying all these measures are poor; rather they are quite smart, because who wants to get burned, if you know what I mean. It only takes one time for me to learn a valuable lesson.
So why is it that we often don’t take any type of precautionary measures when we walk into the classroom? Often times we have no clue about the attitudes/motivations, backgrounds, values, or experiences of our learners. We then wonder why we have problem behaviors in the classroom. I say it is all about being risk-free.
When you take the time to deeply know your audience, you can better meet their needs and wants. When you start focusing on their wants and desires, you will notice how much poor classroom behavior goes away.
When clients ask me how they should have handled a certain problem learner, I often ask them what they think caused the problem behavior in the first place. I will then follow up with another question: what could they have done to prevent this from happening? I am all about being risk-free. Lastly, I will present the client with some final thought provoking questions such as:
1. How was your enthusiasm?
2. Were you appropriately animated, lively, and excited?
3. Did your voice tone fluctuate?
4. Were you selling the learners on the benefits of the material?
5. Did you keep your lecture to a minimum?
6. Did you have many interactive exercises and activities?
Try incorporating some of these techniques and it will be the best insurance policy you could own.
I look forward to seeing you at the next Langevin workshop. I have more questions to help you with your professional growth.
Ron
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