5

In the Middle

Trainers as Leaders in the Classroom

You really are a sherpa to get people from … where they are to the learning objectives. It’s your job to use whatever tools you have to get people from where they are to where they need to be.

—Maurice Coleman, Technical Trainer, Harford County Public Library

Success in workplace learning and performance means that learning never stops—and that applies to trainer-teachers as well as to students, particularly on the day when learning opportunities are delivered. The intense levels of preparation we describe in chapter 4 continue on the day training takes place—and beyond—because what we do is cumulative; lessons delivered and lessons learned become part of our repertoire for all the sessions we still have not delivered. If something goes wrong today, we resolve it and remember next time to take steps that avoid a similar disruption in the learning process.

There are mechanical elements to be acknowledged: when we enter a classroom, meeting room, or online environment where we are joining learners, we have with us the tools and resources that come from completing a needs analysis, research, and course objectives and learning outcomes. We also have a degree of self-confidence gained by doing everything possible to draw from our knowledge of adult learning theory and to use instructional methods that can appeal to people with a variety of learning styles. Learning is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor for those in libraries, nonprofits, or any other organization.

If we are really at the top of our game—and who among us would want to admit to any less, even though we know we will have our good days, our bad days, and our really bad days?—we are prepared for everything we can possibly anticipate. If we are using PowerPoint slides, we have a printout of those slides in case we face technical problems during our presentation. If we have speaker notes—and why wouldn’t we when PowerPoint makes it so easy to incorporate them into our presentations?—we have used the “notes page” format to print out our entire presentation so that each sheet of paper has the slide at the top of the page and our notes directly under that slide. If we are drawing from shared document files online, we have copies of those files on a flash drive. If we want learners interacting by sitting at small round tables while we are conducting the training sessions, we arrive early enough to be sure that round tables were, in fact, delivered and set up in the pattern we requested—and if they are not, we either help to make things right before the learners arrive or we draw learners into the process of resetting the room in a way that makes them comfortable and likely to be ready to absorb what we are offering.

When we are engaging in online learning, we have just as many elements to consider. We have to be sure, several days in advance, that we have given our producers everything we are going to use. We do not make last-minute changes that would interfere with a producer’s ability to serve us and our learners well. If we are using VoIP or calling in via landline, we have tested our tech tools through a rehearsal and also arrive early enough to engage in last-minute troubleshooting with our online collaborators to assure that learners have a chance to learn without having to struggle with those elements of technology that should serve rather than hinder their efforts. There will, we all know, be plenty of unexpected technological challenges to overcome, so we want to avoid adding to the challenges by not anticipating and resolving the easy ones before our sessions begin. We also, if possible, have a second computer nearby and ready to use in case our primary equipment fails during a live presentation.

Some colleagues have checklists to help assure that everything is in place in the physical or virtual classroom; others have checklists of what learners should do before arriving to best prepare themselves for an effective learning experience. Regardless of what we use or do not use, we have a responsibility to our learners, to the colleagues who are allowing them to participate in what we are providing, to the overall organization itself, and, equally important, to the customers who are served by what our students learn.

With so much at stake, there is more than a little irony that so many nonprofit and library trainers—so many of us—have taken or been assigned to positions of responsibility in workplace learning and performance without any formal education or training on the subject of adult learning; many of us found ourselves in training positions simply because we appeared to be good at explaining things to our coworkers or because no one else was available to plan, schedule, and deliver training. It is this trial-by-fire method of essentially being thrown onto the stage that often teaches us our greatest lessons and gives us examples of what to do and what not to do in the classroom. Trainers often acquire this knowledge after having been in the classroom for a while. Fortunately, for all involved, we have passion and a love for learning, so we acquire these new concepts and skills with ease and readily apply them to the benefit of those who rely on us for help.

The Show Must Go On

If we accept that trainers are performers at heart, we have a tremendously positive launching point for success in that performers understand that they cannot stop what they have promised to deliver. If our technology fails us, we acknowledge the failure and proceed with the learning experience to the best of our abilities; only in those rare situations where the technology is an integral part of the learning process and cannot be excluded from successful learning do we accept the inevitable, cancel the session so that learners can use their time more effectively, and return to the lesson when the problem has been rectified. If materials meant to be used in the session are not delivered as planned, we use the backup copy or copies we carried with us and adapt the way we are presenting the material to respond positively to the changed circumstances. If there has been a personal tragedy within the organization where we are working, we do not ignore it and pretend that successful learning can occur while learners are emotionally troubled; we acknowledge the situation, offer learners a few minutes to engage in any level of conversation that helps them process the personal pain they are feeling, and proceed if and when they are composed enough to have a positive and productive leaning experience.

Teacher-centric and Learner-centric Training

One of the more interesting discussions continuing to take place among trainer-teacher-learners is focused on the perception that we are moving from teacher-centric to learner-centric physical and online offerings. The conversation seems to come from the extreme and inaccurate view that education has always been a one-way process, where teachers stand in the front of a group of students and those students absorb as if they were sponges with limitless capacities for expansion; the extreme opposite view, which is equally inaccurate, seems to come from the idea that teacher-trainer-learners are present only to facilitate the learning process and that, if learners do not gain what they are meant to gain, they are to blame for the learning failures that follow.

As with many other ideas we are proposing and documenting here, this particular either/or option seems most easily resolved at some sort of flexible middle point. Those of us delivering training-learning opportunities have a leader’s responsibility to determine what must be learned; to ensure that there is sufficient agreement, between the learners and those providing them with the learning opportunities, that the training session can deliver what is needed; and to prepare a workplace situation that will continue to support and nurture returning learners. If magic occurs in physical and virtual learning environments, it is not often going to come from a captive audience of students being bludgeoned into submission by trainers they may see only once or twice; it is going to come from the active participation of trainers, teachers, and learners who come together briefly or for more extended periods to form the sort of learning communities we are describing throughout this book.

Though workplace learning and performance professionals have many opportunities to work as leaders, the classroom—face-to-face or online—is the place where leadership skills are the most visible. “While I’m delivering training online or in-person within my organization, I’m constantly thinking that my role as a leader is to set the sterling example of how things are supposed to be,” Gwinnett County Public Library training manager Jay Turner admits.

For example, if I’m teaching something process-oriented, I do all I can to verify, with subject matter experts, that my steps are correct. If I’m delivering conceptual information for general learning and professional development, I like to challenge learners to think about how they can use those ideas here in the organization to make things better. … Finally, regardless of content, I really try to reinforce the library’s vision of inspiring, enriching, and amazing—whether it’s through my attitude or the approach I take in delivering the content.

Catherine Vaughn, continuing education coordinator for the Lee County Library System, says, “I see myself in an important leadership role. I set the tone. People are watching what I do, listening to what I say and, hopefully, will take away a new thought, idea, or concept to implement. I literally influence the climate [and] culture of an organization.” She acknowledges that much of what we see in training-teaching-learning is driven by a desire simply to cover the material included in a lesson plan, getting as many people through sessions as possible, and not paying attention to what happens next. There are, she suggests, ways to avoid that trap:

I first try to get buy-in from the participants even if they have been told they must be in attendance. I then get them excited about what we will be discussing in today’s session. We also talk about what they want to discuss, what they want to get from the session, and what they don’t want to do. … For example: if I tell them we will have some role-playing, and then someone says they don’t like to role-play, I will ask them if they have another way to reinforce the concept. I take their suggestion and try to work with it. In other words, I get them to participate as much as possible so it is their session—not just me standing in front of them, talking to them.

Sandra Smith, learning and development manager for the Denver Public Library, sees herself both as a role model for the participants and as a leader for the organization: “I show up in a leader role for the organization and then layer on that as a role model for championing learning and sharing among my colleagues.”

Maurice Coleman, technical trainer for the Harford County Public Library, sees himself as “a sherpa to get people from point A to the learning objectives. You help people get from where they are to the learning objectives. It’s your job to use whatever tools you have to get people from where they are to where they need to be.”

Managing and Facilitating Change

During our interviews, we briefly explored whether there is a difference between managing change (in the sense of attempting to control it) and facilitating change (in the sense of proposing ways to engage in change without dictating a predetermined method for implementing that change)—a conceptual distinction that may be little more than semantic variation but may also imply a difference in intent on the part of those in charge of workplace learning and performance programs.

“I have been listening lately to a few online sessions dealing with facilitating groups,” Catherine Vaughn says.

I would like to implement some of the concepts I am learning from these sessions into my instructional course work because I feel it will make for a more positive learning environment. Change management and change facilitation, I feel, have different meanings and ways of approaching the idea at hand. Management implies that you are there to tell them what they will do and how they will do it or get there, versus facilitation, where you will guide them through the process yet be there to keep everyone moving and offering ideas if the process gets stuck. … Facilitation implies that the participants will be taking a very active role in the process or learning environment. Facilitation creates the feeling that the work is from the participants, not management.

“I guess I like [the term] ‘change facilitation’ better because it’s probably more accurate, but ultimately [it is] six of one, half dozen of the other,” says Princeton Public Library assistant director Peter Bromberg. “I do tend to view myself as more a facilitator, which [is] about influence rather than management or control. I’m a big believer in influence. Control is an illusion, and one that causes a lot of pain. We’re lucky if we can control ourselves—forget other people or circumstances! But we can always, always influence!”

Reading books on facilitation is a suggestion Bromberg makes to those new to workplace learning and performance: “I think the coaching books I’ve read—especially Co-Active Coaching1—have been very helpful, especially because many coaching books cover the effective use of listening and asking questions. … Effective facilitation is so much about that—listening deeply, reflecting back the essence of what it said, making connections with other ideas and comments, and using questions to engage students and get them thinking more deeply about the material and their relation to it.”

“I see change management as a process,” says Sandra Smith,

—big picture strategy for the organization or person or group … and change facilitation as an activity or collection of activities to foster/implement the change management. Process versus activity. The organization can’t be successful in change management without understanding it as a process that needs structure, care, time, and directed activities to be successful—it is not a mandate from on high that is delivered and dropped on people.

Regarding my learning program: change is a foundational reality—excitement and, yes, challenge. As a learning manager, I must embrace—even more than just acknowledge—the reality of change in the work of my library and the work that I do. I look at its impact on every decision I make, short-term and long-term, and I push it out there for others to do the same as a leader in my library. If I am friends with it, then I respect it, learn from it, and use and leverage it to work for me and my goals.

For Pioneer Library System training coordinator Louise Whitaker,

the term “change management” implies that they will change whether they like it or not, because it is what the organization has decided. “Change facilitation” implies that change is going to happen for the organization to move forward, but it is done in a less structured manner. Perhaps it is a matter of taking a little longer period of time to make the change so staff will be better informed of the reasoning behind the change and they will have more buy-in.

Getting to Know You

Setting the stage is essential for any training/learning session. It is helpful to be familiar with the layout of the room in advance of the training to get a feel for the furniture arrangement, lighting, equipment, acoustics, and temperature.

An important part of the learning experience includes having a supportive and safe environment; if learners do not feel safe and have their basic needs—food, water, and comfort—met, they will be operating at a disadvantage when the time for learning arrives. Music is a great way to set the mood as participants arrive. Greeting and talking with participants as they enter the classroom or arrive for an online session provide an opportunity to establish rapport before the session formally begins.

Consultant Pat Wagner says she is surprised by the number of trainers who do not greet people as they come into the room: “I will take the handouts and stand at the back … or I will walk around and talk to people. … I’m responsible for the emotional state of the room. … I’m sometimes appalled by how many instructors will give the impression that they are distant and superior actors on a stage; the old Shakespearian actors would interact with their audience. Treating [learners] like a group of strangers just amazes me.”

Wagner does what many of us have learned to do: engage in the personal one-on-one elements of establishing rapport by shaking hands, saying hello, and telling participants that we are glad to see them. If we are greeting learners online, equivalent actions can include sending one-on-one chat messages to people as they arrive and encouraging learning session participants to use live chat tools to converse with each other from the moment they arrive—a great way to create the sort of engagement Maurice Coleman and others use so effectively before, during, and even after learning opportunities to overcome the reticence and feeling of distance that many students have during their initial excursions into online learning.

“Show interest in the person as an individual,” Sandra Smith agrees. “Meet them where they are—in both their skill level and attitude level.”

Another benefit of taking this time to interact with our participants and become familiar with those we do not already know before a training session is that it gives us, as trainer-leader-facilitators, a chance to calm our own nerves; remember that Paul Witt’s suggestion that fear of public speaking may be hardwired into us (see chapter 4) does not offer an exemption for workplace learning and performance professionals. Even the most experienced public speakers can become nervous before speaking before a group, so finding ways to channel that nervous energy is helpful. Making these initial connections with participants helps us find those friendly faces in the audience during our presentation.

Elaine Biech, in Training for Dummies, writes that trainers should build interest in the session from the start. “Save the ground rules and the housekeeping details for later. Be creative with your opening. … Participants will want to know what’s in it for them: how what they learn will be useful to them personally or how it will make their jobs easier.”²

Wagner likes to set people up for success as quickly as possible.

What if somebody sticks you in a class on conflict management? Maybe they’re using words you’ve never heard before. You may feel a loss of self-esteem. Maybe you never graduated from high school. And here in front of you is someone with a master’s or a PhD. Now they are saying what I consider the most deadly sentence in the world, “It’s really easy,” because you know that it probably isn’t really easy for you. It may be really hard.

So, I need to find a way to make people feel competent and confident quickly.

Who’s Running the Asylum?

Nearly everyone interviewed for this book cited trainers reading verbatim from notes or PowerPoint slides as one of the worst mistakes we can make in workplace learning and performance. The key is to incorporate those slides into our presentations without repeating what they offer or letting them become a center of attention rather than a tool. In Training for Dummies, Elaine Biech is explicit about the difference between engaging in learning through interactions and serving as little more than a reader of material on slides or notes: “A trainer is a facilitator. Let me correct that. An effective trainer is a facilitator.”3

In discussing the role of a facilitator, Pat Wagner says that,

if you are using Socratic method and asking good questions, the role of someone like [a good trainer in] the room is we really do know more about certain aspects, but as much as we can, we want our students to come up with the answers themselves and for us to plug in the holes. … I ask a question, someone comes up with something, and I say, “That’s great, and you know that in addition this works as well.” That means that I become a collaborator. The danger is when you have trainers who practice the “trainer as smart cookie” model, which I can fall into. Too often, I’m a show-off. I want to be the star. I want to be the know-it-all. And that’s how it comes off to participants.

Many of us admit that it is difficult to balance the showmanship that comes with being a trainer with giving up control and trusting that our participants will come up with the right responses to open-ended questions. One of us learned this mantra in a train-the-trainer session: “He who is doing the talking is doing the learning.” This is the essence of the Socratic method of facilitation. Our adult learners bring with them vast amounts of knowledge and experience. Letting them share their wisdom with the group is what makes adult learning such a rewarding experience for us. Our colleagues confirm what we know: we learn as much during our sessions as the participants gain.

Jay Turner agrees and adds a bit of balance into the discussion of facilitation:

If you’re talking more than 60 percent of the time, you’re talking too much. If your learners are talking over you, you’re letting the inmates run the asylum. You balance the need for flexibility and structure versus total chaos by realizing from the outset that your job is not to script your training. If you’re doing that, it begs the question, why even present live in the first place when you could just send your learners a verbatim transcript?

The balance is found by truly understanding your role as a trainer: to facilitate learning in an environment where your students are equally important to the learning process as you the instructor. The instructor outlines the class content, is knowledgeable so that he can speak conversantly on the subject matter, and builds in learning activities to help learners retain the information. The instructor also must be flexible enough so that he isn’t a slave to his outline.

“I use my facilitator skills to manage the chaos, e.g., managing the errant conversation, pulling it back to the framework, dealing with people’s personalities,” Sandra Smith notes. “I also use the mutual purpose theme from my Crucial Conversations4 teaching—I rein in the chaos by reminding people why we are here and what our mission together is in the training time together. I keep an open communication with them on what I need to do for them and how they can best be a part of it.”

In her sessions, Wagner has what she calls an “old school” approach to facilitating learning:

I have handouts, outlines, cheat sheets, and worksheets so people can take notes and annotate the material while they are learning. I speak at most of the major, national library conferences—which are going paperless—and I will print out the handouts even when they are available online. As recently as the end of this year, I stood at the front of the room at a conference where the handouts were available online at least a week before the conference, and I asked participants if they wanted copies of the handouts. Maybe three had printed them out ahead of time and maybe ten had online versions on their laptops. Everyone else asked for a set.

Catherine Vaughn takes an entirely different approach: “I do not give copies of the PowerPoint slides. I find they are just filed away and not referred to later. I distribute worksheets for active participation in order for [participants] to apply what we have just discussed. I break people into groups a lot for discussion and thought-provoking ideas.”

Vaughn also works to assure that the classroom does not degenerate into Turner’s inmate-run asylum:

This can be a difficult thing to do. If side conversations come up and they are not planned, I regroup by doing an “Okay, let’s step back a minute and address the most recent comment that has so many of us buzzing about.” This brings us back together without breaking the enthusiasm.

If a conversation has led us totally in another direction, I will sometimes take a break to get everyone to stop talking about the misdirection, and, when we regroup, I pick up with the last topic I have in my notes, not what path we have gone down. Or if a break isn’t doable, I will say something like, “Wow, you guys really have a lot of thoughts on this topic. Right now, I want you to write two words that best describe what you are thinking [or] feeling about this topic and the direction it has taken. This will help you remember what other issues we will need to consider for topics for future classes.” And then I direct back to my last comment for the class topic.

I like to find ways to let my adult learners feel in control of the experience, even if it is something as simple as letting them roll dice to figure out how long a restroom break will be or invite them to explore a topic related to my content that did not necessarily make it into my presentation. This can be good for working with people who have a need-to-know approach to learning.

“I don’t see the trainer as needing to control the room,” Peter Bromberg says:

I see the trainer’s job as creating a structure—the lesson plan—and an environment for learning to take place. The trainer is then more a facilitator, knowing what the end goal is and moving things in the right direction. … Every class is going to be different because every class will have a unique group of people. Even if you’re teaching the group week after week, they are having new experiences and having the normal ups [and] downs of daily life. So the idea that you can control the class is, to me, nonsensical. And more to the point, not an effective way to teach.

“Influence, not control,” is the key to success, he says in summary.

Improvisation, Comedy, and Stage Fright

Flexibility is important in face-to-face and online learning, Peter Bromberg reminds us:

It’s important to be flexible, to listen and adjust the content and pace to what’s happening with the class in that moment. More and more, I’m trying to design for less lecture and more experiential learning.

Asking good questions and showing patience [are] also very important—good questions being questions that challenge the learners to think about the material in relation to their experiences and beliefs, which helps them understand, integrate, and own the learning.

As for process, I spend a lot of time on the design. First, getting very clear about the goal of the training, and factoring in all the variables about the audience: who are they, what do they already know, what will the mood/motivation likely be? All of that is very, very important. Then I spend a lot of time creating the lesson plan, trying to minimize lecture and maximize interactive pieces as much as possible to keep everyone engaged. I try to use humor as much as I can. Some I build in, some I just let happen in the moment.

Bromberg’s love of flexibility in delivering learning opportunities creates the possibility of on-the-spot changes; he actually designs extra interactive exercises that he does not expect to have time to use, then looks at workshops “as being modular” so he can add elements on the spur of the moment, as needed. “In short, have a plan, but always have some extra pieces you can swap in and out as needed. I’d also recommend investing the time to develop good questions, and use them early and often,” he says. “Questions that get people to relate the material to their own experience. Questions that invite them to reflect, examine, and make meaning. Open-ended questions.”

Sandra Smith says, “You know the expression ‘if mama ain’t happy, no one is happy’? Well, I’m mama in the classroom, and if I’m not having fun, then chances are no one is—and I use that fun for me to stay on and engaged, and it helps my energy stay high, which often leeches into the energy of attendees—so they tell me. And humor is really shown in studies to be an effective tool in adult learning engagement.”

Jay Turner agrees:

Improv is huge in delivering training live online or live in a classroom. My experience has been that it’s not a day of training until something goes wrong. I find that I improv most during these situations, even when you’ve planned for worst-case scenarios. I like to keep a few activities and types of discussion ideas in the back of my mind that can be adapted for almost any situation. This way your learners will have something meaningful to do while you work on fixing the problem.

The other time improv comes into play is when the flow of your class goes off track or on a major tangent. I’ve found great teachable moments in tangent discussions, and I’m sometimes hesitant to shut down the sidebar if something useful is coming from it. The drawback is that you’re now unscripted and must rely on your trainer’s instincts. … you can still keep structure to these tangents by relying on those canned discussion questions and activities, and then tie the tangent back into your presentation.

“I do find that it is helpful to be flexible,” Catherine Vaughn says. “It allows the participants to think I am changing things because of them—they feel like they are a part of the learning process.”

Keeping them engaged by not running a static session is also important for Maurice Coleman. One of the practices he and many of us use is to walk around the room rather than conduct an entire session from one stationary spot. “People will watch you and pay attention,” Coleman confirms. “If you have a small class of people talking, this is an easy way to stop this. Present from where they are. Make sure people are awake. … In computer labs you can’t see anything other than heads” unless you walk around.

Turner also speaks passionately of the importance of paying attention to learners “to be sure they are attentive. I watch for facial expressions and body language in a face-to-face setting. I use the attention-monitoring function of WebEx when presenting live, online training.”

Like others, Coleman focuses strongly on maintaining connections with his learners rather than give too much attention to the tools he uses. With this in mind, he strongly objects to reading directly from PowerPoint slides: “Please do not read your blasted slides. You are wasting everyone’s time. You could have just handed them out.” He also follows a pattern many of us incorporate into our work: using humor in all he does—including answering interview questions for this book. “I consider myself a very bad amateur comedian, so I use it a lot,” he quips. “Humor can break the ice, so it’s part of your toolkit. It can lighten the mood [and] you can tell if people are listening to you.”

“Humor provides positive energy,” Pat Wagner agrees. “A good hearty laugh can get people’s energy up for 45 minutes and substitute for a cup of coffee or a soft drink. Laughter also helps alleviate fear or anxiety about learning. … If I get everybody laughing, it’s like giving everybody an injection of fearlessness so they don’t get glued into a position.”

“The trick, of course, with humor” Turner warns, “is that you have to be sensitive to your audience. What might be funny to you could be caustic to someone else. My advice is to keep it clean and corny, and you’ll be fine.”

A final point Coleman makes is to “stretch your boundaries [and] take risks, if you are able to.” “Use failure as a learning tool” rather than miss that learning opportunity by always following a safe and predictable route in the training-teaching-learning process, he concludes.

Taking risks is part of leadership, Wagner says:

My personal definition of leadership includes risk, vision, influence, and character. … When I think of the things we just talked about, I think about the fact that, as a leader, I have to be willing to take risks. For example, in the last eight months, I was using a particular technology tool to conduct training. In the middle of a six-week class, the technology broke, so I said to the class, “I really screwed up, I picked the wrong technology” … and I apologized. One of the students said, “You really modeled leadership.” The fact is that you’re going to screw up sometimes, and you have to be good enough to tell your class, “I screwed up.”

The vision part is to keep our eyes on the sky. We’re doing training; it’s not just for personal enrichment. We’re being paid in the workplace.

The influence part is the conscious ability to inspire. The best compliment I’ve ever had was from the librarian who told me that my class helped her feel braver. With character, I think I have an obligation to be a better person. … In a classroom, I have to be a better person than who I really am.

Each of us has our own list of items we try to avoid while working with learners, and Smith’s seems to include nearly all of them: “not being prepared; whining about something about the organization, the room, the technology, or having to do the training; not showing inclusiveness to all the attendees; letting someone sidetrack the class; not taking time to arrange, when possible, the classroom in a way that is conducive to learning.”

An additional tip, offered by Louise Whitaker, is “never to put someone down, or make them feel stupid. While we all know not to do this in an obvious manner, it is important to be aware of our audience so we don’t say or do something unintentionally to belittle them. Another to be careful of is calling someone out by name to answer a question. Some people would rather be beaten than speak in public, and we have to respect that while trying to keep them engaged.”

“Impatience on the part of the trainer is one of the biggest problems,” she adds.

With those reminders, we are almost where we need to be.

Making It Stick

Trainers as leaders know that it is not enough to complete a lesson plan, collect favorable evaluations, and pretend that success has been achieved. What happens after learners leave a session is the critically important element in all that we do, so we build activities into the learning process to promote the use of what is learned rather than hand out a certificate of completion and go home.

“I try a few things in the classroom or online to ensure learning—at least some—is taking place,” notes Catherine Vaughn.

I ask them to apply what we were discussing to an exercise that I am now handing out. I ask them to tell me how they can use or implement what we have just discussed—give me a situation when this idea/concept could have been helpful. … If the session is online, I have them complete a questionnaire that covers the topics we discussed but does not directly answer the question; I expect them to use their processing skills to come up with the correct answer.

“I usually build some form of follow-up into learning,” Jay Turner says. “This can be a formal assignment or simply e-mailing participants afterward and letting them know that I’m available to answer lingering questions by phone, e-mail, or meeting one-on-one online through WebEx.”

Maurice Coleman uses an even more basic approach to make learning stick: “Encourage curiosity. That is the most important thing in my twenty years as a trainer. Allow people the space to not feel stupid asking a question. … The deeper meaning is that you want to have your adult learners take some responsibility—through humor. The bottom line is that you and I are both responsible for your learning. Be proactive. If you do not understand, ask.”

After encouraging them to ask, the next step in the learning process is to determine what our learners have done with the answers, as we see in chapter 6. In the meantime, as Pat Wagner suggests, trainers should engage in what Robert Greenleaf calls “servant leadership.”⁵ “The highest level of my success is that the person in front of me becomes that leader … and doesn’t need me anymore,” she explains.

When you focus on that idea, it’s as if you’ve got your hands like a stirrup under someone’s foot and you’re about to propel them on a trajectory toward what they are trying to reach. … If you choose the role of being a servant first … you don’t want to be the star in the room; you want to be the leader. It goes back to the idea that the ultimate goal of service organizations is to put ourselves out of business because we are not needed anymore. I see too many situations where there is competition between the student and the instructor.

Notes

1. Laura Whitworth, Henry Kimsey-House, and Phil Sandhahl, Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People toward Success in Work and Life (Mountain View, Calif.: Davies-Black, 2007).

2. Elaine Biech, Training for Dummies (Hoboken: Wiley, 2005), 159

3. Ibid., 138.

4. Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002).

5. Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York: Paulist Press, 1977).