Offer something for everyone
Maybe you were a visual learner in school. Or maybe you needed hands-on practice. You can’t cater to each individual learning style, so make your training sessions as multifaceted as possible.
“We try to appeal to all learning types,” Rybka says. “There’s some people that need to read it to get it. Some people that need to hear it. Some people that need to do it. And some people that need to think about it.”
Start by brainstorming all the possible ways to present a topic, covering visual and oral presentations and individual and interactive techniques. Once you lay out all the possibilities, you can see where your best resources lie.
“When we’re deciding whether or not to purchase or build something and then whether or not it should it be instructor-led or computer-based, whether it should be a simulation or case study, we’re working backward from what the objective of the training is,” Rybka says.
So for example, an introductory course in the insurance industry would require less customization and interaction than a leadership development class, which is specific to Westfield.
Also consider the size of your audience and, frankly, whether you have the resources and experts available in-house.
“Our motto really has been, whenever possible, to have the expert up in front of them,” Rybka says. “Then you can ask questions that go far beyond what’s available on the PowerPoint slide.”
Look within your company first for recognizable experts that fit the role. If they’re not there, then expand the search to your industry or your region. Go see potential presenters lead a session somewhere else before you confirm or at least seek references from other companies that have used them.
But you don’t necessarily need to find someone who can woo a crowd. If the expert is more adept at his or her specialty than at entertaining, add some interactive games as accompaniment or pair the speaker with a passionate, recognizable figure from your company.
“Sometimes people will come because they really want to know more about that subject,” Rybka says. “And quite honestly, some people come just because they want to see what Scott or Steve has to say about the topic. So it really gives a credibility boost to the material.”
That can also weave a solid security blanket when the subject matter itself is a little dull.
Just don’t let the speaker dominate the session. Even an impassioned speaker will struggle to secure everyone’s attention for an eight-hour lecture. Rybka recommends breaking the presentations into 20-minute segments separated by activities.
“Whenever you can get people from new knowledge to application of new knowledge in a training class, that’s powerful,” she says.
The activity can be as simple as a skill assessment. But a simulation can increase the interaction and allow employees to actually practice the skills you’re teaching.
“We have to get them to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that they have,” she says. “So the way to do that is to draw them out. Make them interact with each other.”
Westfield’s leadership development course includes the creation of a mock business where participants pretend to run various departments for several days, interacting with one another as an executive team would.
“It’s like role-play on steroids,” Rybka says. “We create an atmosphere where people are in a role; they’ve got a business that they’re running. So there’s the computer simulation that they have to react to as well as ‘actors’ that are doing role-play that provide even more challenge: Here are the results, but how do I explain it to my investors that I haven’t met my business plan?”
Along the way, provide plenty of feedback to applaud what participants did well and point out areas for improvement.
“Say, ‘These are the behaviors you exhibited. This is what we thought was effective about that, and this is what we thought was less effective,’” Rybka says.
