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ASTD – ‘Can a trainer’s job be just delivery in the classroom?’

In a session of ‘Top 10 questions which trainers ask’, I asked Bob Pike who is a well known figure in the corporate training field a question – ‘How do trainers get good feedback on his / her effectiveness in the classroom?’ I asked this in the context that the happy sheet is often just a ritual at the end of the class – participants frequently do not care to put down their true thoughts for all sort of reasons. They are rushing to leave. Or they try to be nice…..especially in Asia.

Bob’s immediate response struck me ‘Trainers should be evaluated by the underlying value which the training intervention brought to the company, but not just their effectiveness in the class.’ I know that there is argument like this i.e. we should go for level 4 instead of level 1 or 2 evaluation, but I just do not expect he would answer my question with this…. Perhaps it is because I have been focusing myself in the classroom effectiveness since I joined the training field. It made think whether I have had the wrong focus at all.

I do not have a clear answer yet, but it surely makes me think. Whilst I do not have a final conclusion myself

• The sponsors or the employers pay for the intervention. It makes sense to evaluate the whole spending by looking at how much value e.g. increase in revenue, cut down in staff turnover brought by the intervention;
• It is however often difficult or costly (in terms of time and money) to measure level 4. For example, it takes time for the change to show, and control groups have to be arranged;
• If the course is paid by the participants e.g. a presentation training, it makes sense to just look at level 2 or 3 evaluation.

Perhaps I can have a better answer myself by looking into more Kirkpatrick’s thoughts on evaluation.

Anyway, re classroom effectiveness, Bob did give a good suggestion afterward and he modeled it as well. He is great. He promised to send us some bonus material if we send him an email after the session containing one paragraph about one key learning from that session. This is a good idea since it

• Extends learning beyond the classroom – enhance retention
• Checks for yourself your effectiveness
• Shows that you care

Good stuff!!

ASTD - Insights and Learning

I am now in the Chicago airport waiting for my connecting flight back to Shanghai. Finally, there is time for me to reflect.

Contrary to my original plan, I did not write my blog during the conference since I was so absorbed into the conference. It started early (6:30am on Wednesday!!) and sessions run back-to-back. In addition, there were so many people which I can talk to – heard that there were over 9,000 participants. Together with my jet-lag, I just did not do anything else.

Let me now take this blog to reflect on some insights and learning from the conference.

ASTD Conference in Atlanta

I will have the chance to go to the ASTD 2007 International Conference and Exposition this week in Atlanta. I very much look forward to experiencing it and sharing with what I see and hear!!

“What would happen in Taiwan?” – Different organizational culture

This was the question wandering in my head before my trip this week in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The background is that the organization I am working in acquired a local bank in Taiwan, and I went there to deliver a sales class. Before the trip, I felt both concerned yet excited. Concerned because:

• The participants are different from what I usually have. Culture in a local bank and an international bank can be very different. From my pre-course research with other trainers who delivered there, the comment is not very positive – conservative, skeptical, always on phone…. and needing lot of breaks to smoke!!

• The participants are not that well-versed in English, but the training material is in English;

• My class is the first non-technical training to them. In local bank, most trainings are technical one. In other words, non-technical ones are something they are not used to;

On the other hand, I was excited in the sense that I know I am helping them to make a big leap from selling in the local bank mentality to consultative selling….. It would be amazing if I can inspire at least a few to do it!!

With the above in mind, I have done a lot to prepare – talking to other global trainers who have been here, translating some essential content into Chinese, thinking of ways to make the content easier to be understood given their English level and lack of experience with foreign bank approach….. and try to sleep well the night before….

To my great delight, the course went well – much better than I expect!! The group even asked for ‘participation’ themselves when we set the group rule, and most of them were really risk-taking in asking questions or expressing their views during the class. And more importantly, I can feel that some souls were inspired. I am happy!!

Looking back, my learning is that:

• Most people come to the class with good intention to learn, and we as the trainers should believe in that;

• Preparation is everything. If your group is likely to be quiet, prepare ways to make the class participation easier for them e.g. having a mechanism where questions can be written on a post-in rather than asked on spot, having variety in delivery to keep the energy high, lightening up the atmosphere at the very start with music, ice-breakers and good content (how the participants feel in the first break is very important to determine their view for the rest of the class)… and most importantly, making yourself approachable – no one like to talk to a bossy trainer!!

• As always, never settle for sub-standard training facility – in this case, I believe that the better-than-normal venue in a good hotel helped. Firstly it gave the impression to the participants that this is a good training. People need to feel important themselves. More importantly, the venue does allow me to focus on the delivery rather than running around to find the break-out area!!!

”How to be a happy trainer?”

My simple answer is ‘Deliver something which you truly believe in.’ And this was exactly my reflection for the SPIN class which I delivered in Beijing last week. The class was a SPIN selling class and it was the 3^rd time which I ran it. With the experience of the previous 2 classes and late night preparation for this one, I did find myself mastering much more this skills. More importantly, I am more convinced that this is a concrete piece of skill which really works. And I know that it works because it did work when I delivered my class using SPIN methodology. Things like come together – as I immersed myself more and more in SPIN by reading more and thinking for more examples in class preparation, I used it for class delivery as well. Whenever I want to pass a message to the floor, I ask instead of tell. And I let them feel the ‘pain’ first before guide them to feel the ‘benefit’!!

Like selling, class delivery is a kind of persuasion – in short, you are persuading the others to ‘buy-in’ your ideas.

I used it, I know it works and thus I believe it. And I feel good to try to influence the others to use something I believe. It is engaging to myself. I enjoy the passion inside myself to try think of different ways to influence them!!

Love to do more!!