Tuesday, July 28, 2009

7 ideas for engaging training

Last week I mentioned how important it is to make staff training connect to real life experiences. I even used a slightly off-color story as an illustration. Ah, now you remember!

This week I want to share with you some ideas for making your training meetings fun and participatory. Blending these kinds of small group training experiences with your online training system will not only help you build a stronger team of folks who work together well and enjoy it, too, but it will also help staff connect the ideas they’re learning to real life.

The following ideas come from individuals who recently participated in the online forum for the CEU course we offer through EasyCEU.com titled Become the World’s Most Effective Trainer.

From Kayleen in Downey, ID:
  1. One time I split the staff up into teams and timed to see how fast they could make a bed (the correct way).

  2. Another time to get the point over how a resident can feel when they are losing their sight, I had a pair of glasses with Vaseline smeared on the glass. This made things blurry for the staff to see.

  3. To make a point on how difficult it is for a resident with arthritis to pick up an item, I had staff put on large winter gloves and try to pick up a penny.

  4. Another activity I did to make a fun staff training is I had a treasure hunt. I broke the staff up into teams of 2 and they had to follow the clues. The clues ended up leading them back to the staff training room where there was a box with treats. I continued with the main points of training to follow up.

The idea is to get the attention of the group, make it fun, and get the point across what you are teaching.

From Mary in San Juan Capistrano, CA:

I like to have my caregivers teach each other in areas that they are particularly strong. I encourage them to ask many questions! Sometimes the caregivers have some really great ideas that work for them and this makes them feel good to share these experiences.

From Susan in Eureka, CA:

I like to use modeling and role playing. I especially like to have each person pair up with a partner and take turns being the resident and the caregiver. Then follow up with how each felt about giving and receiving care.

From Cynthia (address unknown):

As the administrator, I have always done the abuse/neglect inservices myself. I believe that the staff needs to hear the message directly from me. I have a large "Bugs Bunny" toy and have done sessions using "Bugs" as the focus. Everyone, no matter what position in the facility, can relate to character. We have done everything from introducing "Bugs" as a new resident and taught all staff to assess what the new resident needs (everyone knows Bugs likes carrots) to "How to investigate a fur tear." The prop allows for visual keys in addition to a humorous commonality that fosters participation from all levels of staff.

Hope these give you some ideas to bring a little life into your training programs, too. Building an atmosphere as a place where professional learning and growth is valued means tapping into your creative side, too!

Share your ideas for making training fun – click here to respond

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Training: Sometimes a laughing matter

At a fire safety seminar, employees gathered around the live demonstration area to watch the fire officer teach the proper way to operate a fire extinguisher.

Barking out instructions like a drill sergeant, the fire officer yelled, "Pull the pin like a hand grenade. Then, aiming at the base of the fire, depress the trigger to release the extinguishing agent."

The fire officer demonstrated a few times and then picked from the group an employee to extinguish a controlled fire. The employee was nervous. He fumbled with the fire extinguisher, forgetting to pull the pin. He squeezed the lever. Nothing happened.

"Like a hand grenade," the fire officer hollered. "Remember? Like a hand grenade."

The employee remembered. In a burst of confidence, he quickly pulled the pin.
And heaved the extinguisher at the fire. (Source: Training and Leadership Blog)

This is a cute story, true or not.

It reminds me of another story (only too true) that I heard many years ago when I was working at a school for developmentally disabled adults. Their sex-ed teacher (whom I was replacing) had been demonstrating the proper way to apply a condom, using a couple of fingers held together to illustrate the point to the students. Students were reportedly feeling fully protected for sexual activities by wearing condoms over their fingers. I was feeling way out of my element in trying to figure out a better way to teach basic safe sex!

The moral of both of these stories? Training must be contextual to be most useful. We can discuss concepts and give demonstrations, but until the person actually uses the concept in a real-life situation – appropriately and correctly – true learning won’t occur.

For training managers using online training resources like aQuire, the value of blended learning becomes apparent. Online learning is extremely valuable to help the person understand theories, concepts and approaches, but until he actually holds the fire extinguisher in his hands, he won’t really know how it feels (I’m going to leave the other story illustration alone here).

For best learning and retention of concepts, take the time to discuss with your team members what they’re learning online. If you have group meetings, talk about how concepts or classes apply to specific residents. Chat for just a minute or two with individual employees about their online classes and how they apply to residents or clients. Ask if they have questions, and what new ideas they’ve been learning.

Engage them in active learning as an integral part of their work – that’s how a company becomes known as a place where learning and growth is valued and meaningful.

Oh, and send me your stories. Beat mine, and I’ll buy you lunch!

Monday, July 13, 2009

6 factors for motivating adult learners

Occasionally I send interesting articles out to members of my team with notes attached that say something like, “Here’s a really interesting article for you to read.”

When I follow up and ask if the article got read, often the response is, “Ummm, not yet but I’m going to!”

While I love to constantly read and explore topics that interest me, not everyone on my team feels the same (hard as that is for me to believe). Motivating them to learn and grow in their jobs – in the way I think they should – is a challenge.

Author Stephen Lief shares the following factors that motivate adult learners:
  1. Social relationships. Learning that helps us make new or more solid connections with others is valued by adults. Tip: incorporate small group projects, discussion or ice-breaker activities into your learning activities.
  2. External expectations. Meeting compliance, gaining certification, meeting corporate training goals – these are strong motivators for adult learners.
  3. Social welfare. Gaining knowledge or skills that will help others motivates many adult learners. Tip: always talk about how knowledge and skills involved in training will help your team members provide a higher quality of life or care for your clients.
  4. Personal advancement. Knowing that completing a training requirement will result in a pay increase, a job promotion or other tangible benefit is a powerful motivator.
  5. Escape or stimulation. Learning for adults should be fun and interesting as well as useful. Even the change of pace from the regular work day can be a motivator to learn if the process is enjoyable.
  6. Cognitive interest. Many adults love to learn to get the answers to their questions; thus the wild success of search engines like Google. Checking Google’s top search terms for the last 30 days you’ll find anything related to Michael Jackson at the top of the list. Within the health category, however, people have searched the most for information about Demerol, cardiac arrest, progeria and vitiligo (loss of skin pigment). Adults are curious and eager to learn more about topics that interest them.
Next time I forward an interesting article around, I think I’ll look for a way to tap into one of these motivating factors and see if the results are better. I’ll let you know!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

6 Keys to successful adult learning

One of my employees popped into my office this morning with a quick question. I was in the middle of a thought for an article and was typing like a banshee on crack (sorry – a figure of speech from my teenage daughters’ vocabulary).

His question got sidetracked as he shared how his 10 year old son asked him to teach him to type over the summer, and how valuable he thought this learning would be for him. He went on to talk about his son’s summer learning assignments from school, and how they were much less useful than learning to type.

It got me thinking about how we learn as adults – and how we, as trainers, need to focus our instruction in a way that truly suits adult learners. I turned to my best friend, Google, and did a quick search. Here are some of the keys I found that are important in adult learning:
  1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They don’t want assignments and homework; they do want goals and real application for learning. One of my favorite inservice approaches that my own managers used was a self-directed learning activity. Employees were given a quiz over all the key points of the training – without any lecture or instruction. They were given 20 minutes to collaborate with each other, in any way they choose, to come up with their own answers. Ideally, they would be given access to books, manuals and the internet, too. At the end of the time, each group shared one answer with the entire group. The instructor, really a facilitator, was able to draw ideas, concepts and answers out of the entire group and offer feedback and further discussion. Each individual actively searched for information that he or she needed to complete the task. It was fun, active and successful.

  2. Adults need to connect learning to their life experience. When we’re kids we have little life experience. We need to learn how to successfully gain that experience. As adults, we’ve often got more experience than the trainer. Much of that life experience comes off the job, too, in personal and family relationships. As a trainer, ask your team members to think about what experiences they’ve had in specific areas, and what those experiences taught them. Relating new information to past experiences is a great way to give that new information context and meaning.

  3. Adults are goal oriented. Complete an assignment; get certified; meet compliance. What’s the goal? Make it clear, and then make the process to meet that goal very simple to follow. The learning itself doesn’t need to be simplified; just the goal and process to achieve it.

  4. Adults need to understand the reason for learning. This is a little like the point above, but it goes farther. My employee who stopped in my office to talk about his son’s summer homework expressed complete disbelief in the one task assigned of practicing cursive penmanship. “No one uses cursive writing anymore,” was David’s point. His son, however, will probably simply do the assignment. Training adults means making sure that the materials you use, for example, are relevant to their needs. I’ve seen facilities use training videos clearly intended for acute care hospitals. I’ve watched while the participants viewing the videos whispered and squirmed. The training had little relevance to their needs and environment – it was not an affective training tool.

  5. Adults prefer practical information. Many adult learners are less interested in abstract knowledge than in knowledge that has clear practical application in their lives. Many of us still love those odd little facts that have no apparent practical application, until you have the opportunity to share them at a cocktail party (“did you know that…!” In general, keep learning practical, or make it quirky-fun.

  6. Adults need to be respected as learners. One of the first things that will turn a group of employees off is a condescending guest speaker. If it’s a mandatory inservice, they’ll stay in the room, but you’ll see their attention start wandering immediately. If they’re free to walk out, some will. Adult learners need to be treated like adults, but more than that, they need their life experience to be noted and respected.
Understanding the way adults learn best will help us not only in our training functions but also in all management and team-building functions. Next week we’ll look at ways to motivate the adult learner.