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Train Like A Pro
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If they can say it, let them say it. If they can do it, let them do it. If they move, laugh, question, debate, struggle, problem-solve, they will learn it.
Shut Up and Train In other words,
You walk
into the classroom. You signed up for this one. You like the topic, and the trainer has loads of experience with the subject. You sit up front, ready to learn something new. The trainer starts. You have your pen in hand, ready to take notes. He introduces himself and plows into a series of PowerPoint slides that seem to have no end. The level of detail is staggering. Your enthusiasm wanes. You start doodling on your notepad, mildly obsessing over a low but annoying hum coming from the air conditioner and the need to respond to those emails from the office. Someone raises his hand with a question but this guy doesn’t look up to see it. You By Amy Parrish start regretting that extra cup of coffee. Is this guy not even going to call a break? Instead of thinking about the colorful chart on slide 57, all you can think about is getting up, getting out. We’ve all been that participant. It seemed like such a great topic for a session, but as you sit there with the intense need to sleep and are desperately wishing for break time — anything to pull you out of your misery and boredom — you wish you were in the other meeting room where the group seems to be laughing and talking. Industries typically put subject matter experts into the role of trainer. In the heavy equipment industry, lots of great technicians get promoted to trainer. And why not? It makes sense. After all, they know everything about the machines they service. But teaching someone how to service a machine uses a different set of skills from actually servicing a machine, and it’s a skill set that most new trainers have to learn on the job. The training function is a vital component of our industry, yet it gets very little (sorry for this) training. Enter “Train the Trainer.” Think about a class you attended where you really learned the topic, not just picking up snippets of information, but really taking in the information and getting it. I would bet money that it was a class where you, as the participant, did most of the talking and doing around the topic. Great training is about engagement. The participant’s interaction with the topic and how much they get to talk about it, problem-solve it, touch it, question it and even move around while talking, questioning and problem solving determines how much they actually synthesize and retain. Delivering training is a skill set. Delivering effective training is an art. Dave Meier, a leader in the world of professional training, advises trainers to never do for the participant what he can do for himself. If they can say it, let them say it.
If they can do it, let them do it. If they move, laugh, question, debate, struggle, problem-solve, they will learn it. In other words, shut up and train. And even though I teach this stuff all the time, I still get energy from being the one who is speaking. How could anyone be bored in my training sessions? I’m not bored (because I’m the one standing, moving around and talking about the topic). With a little help from the common cold, this lesson was made even clearer to me a few weeks ago. I was conducting a two-day seminar and the day before the training started, I caught a cold — not a delicate little sneeze and sniffle, but a downright nasty nose-running coughing-attack cold. Needless to say, I was trying my best to keep the training as energized as I normally do when I am in top shape. So I had the participants get up, move around, problem-solve and interact with each other even more than I usually do. At the end of the training, participants came up and commented on how much they got out of that class. I thought to myself, you should be in my class when I’m on my game … then I thought, hang on a minute — I talked less, and yet they are saying they got more out of it. Light bulb! Me – Speak Less Them – Do More Result – They Get It … Really Get It In other words, shut up and train. We learn more when we enjoy the process. But how does a trainer do that? After all, training is expensive so it needs to be taken seriously. There is a lot of material to get through, and these machines are serious business.
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Engagement isn’t about the typical (and dreaded) feel-good teambuilding activities or the get-to-know-you icebreakers. It requires the trainer to have an unrelenting commitment to keeping the participants active with the topic and material at least 80% of the time. Every few minutes the participant should be able to talk, hear a fellow participant’s question, write or otherwise quickly interact, in a physical way, with the material. Say you have to get through an Introduction to Hydraulics. It’s a tough curriculum. There are a lot of complexities. Before you go to the shop and look at the machines, there are a number of PowerPoint slides that you want to get through: schematics, diagrams, an overall look at the system. It’s after lunch, and eyelids are heavy as you move through the slides — even you are a little sleepy. After reviewing the schematic, you turn off the screen and ask the participants to partner with the participant sitting next to them and review the flow of hydraulic fluid as just shown in the schematic on the screen. Partner A, please tell your partner the flow of hydraulic fluid through the system. Try not to leave out any steps. Partner
B, check them for accuracy. Good job. Next slide. You go through a little more material. Now you are ready to test if they are getting it. You are still in the classroom. You put them into teams of four and ask them to diagram the schematic on a whiteboard or flip chart. What are you looking for? You are looking to see if they can recreate the schematic. This exercise will begin to tell you if they understand the flow through the system. In 10 minutes, you will have given them four opportunities to explore this topic and synthesize it, and you, the trainer, will know if they understand the flow — because they just drew it for you and explained it to their team. First, they are exposed to it. You show them on the screen and explain the flow. Second, now they can talk about it with a partner and not be embarrassed to get it wrong; after all, it is just the guy sitting next to them, not the whole class. Third, they now have to talk about what they know with three other participants and diagram the flow. Fourth, you ask the teams to rotate and check another team’s diagram. Is it correct? (They love to red-line the mistakes of
the opposing team.) Repeated exposure to the critical topics creates retention. Get them to talk about it, problem-solve it, interact with it, and they will get it — fast! Every group learning activity speeds up comprehension and allows everyone to talk and problem-solve simultaneously. Most technicians and operators are great with their hands and chose a career where they could be active. So finding ways, even in the classroom, to let them talk, problem-solve and be active is crucial, if you want to keep their attention and increase retention. Remember: if they can say it, instead of you, let them say it. If they can do it, draw it, expose it, identify it, troubleshoot it, let them. Only the things they talked about, problem-solved, wrote down and interacted with on a real level will be remembered, retained and recalled later. It is our role as trainer to create an environment where the greatest amount of material can be fully absorbed, synthesized and retained. And creating constant active learning is the best way to shut up and train.
AMY PARRISH is a trainer and consultant specializing in “train the trainer” as well as presentation skills, communication and leadership topics for the heavy equipment industry. Amy is offering train the trainer courses for dealers this summer. Learn more about Amy’s programs and services at her website, www.amy.training.. April 2016 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 49
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Construction Equipment Distribution Published by AED: Business Fuel for a More Profitable Dealership
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