in this issue
	Mastering Training Design - Training Opportunity Virtual Icebreaker: Imagine That! Exercise: Technical Communication Exercise: Risky Business Design Strategy: Who Owns the Problem

Virtual Icebreaker: Imagine That!

Here is an icebreaker you can use for virtual training - that is when participants are not all located at the same site as you. It's especially good when you have several sessions with the same group. Try this after the group has gotten to know each other virtually. Tell people that we all get pictures in our mind about people based on their voices and the things they say. It can be very entertaining to hear how people pictured us before we actually met. In this activity, each person will describe someone in the group that they have never seen. They can guess the color and length of hair, height, something the person does for fun, what they are wearing today, and other aspects of an individual that would be considered neutral. Begin by having someone describe you (the trainer). After hearing the description, tell the group how accurate it was. Then you (the trainer) describe someone. Continue until everyone has described another person (and every person has been described). Debrief by asking questions such as: How do we draw conclusions about someone's appearance when we haven't seen them? How do our perceptions of a person impact how we receive or respond to information from them? Are there some times that you have thought people rejected someone's ideas because of their appearance, even though the idea was a good one? This activity can be a lot of fun, and lead to an interesting discussion around perceptions. Or you can skip the debrief and make a simple statement that we can now get a better picture of someone in our mind when we hear them speak. Virtual training doesn't always include an icebreaker. Maybe this will help make those sessions just as interactive as traditional training.

Exercise: Technical Communication

This activity is designed to help technical people become more aware of how well they communicate with non-technical people. It gives them specific and immediate feedback about when and why a person gets lost when they speak. Ask each person to identify a technical topic that they understand in depth, and that most others in the class don't. For example, a trainer might choose brain theories, a finance person might choose the Balance Sheet, an engineer might choose the chemical properties of a product. Instruct them to prepare a 3-4 minute presentation on their topic. They can make flip charts or overheads to help them remember what they want to say. Give them no more than 10 minutes to prepare. Before the first presentation, give each person a sign that reads, Huh? or I don't get it, or You lost me at Hello, or similar phrases to indicate a lack of understanding. You can put the words on construction paper and tape the paper to paint stirrers. Instruct the audience to raise their signs whenever they don't understand what the speaker is saying. (Not everyone will raise their hands at the same time.) Tell them to be tough - if they don't get it, they need to make it known. Tell the presenter that they shouldn't ask the person what they don't understand. They should continue with their presentation while clarifying what they think might be unclear. The goal of the exercise is not to fully explain the technical concept, but rather to give the individual presenter information about when they might be confusing people. After they present, suggest that they make notes about when people seemed to get lost so that they keep that in mind when talking with non-technical people in the future. You could also assign one person as a scribe who will record the words and phrases that caused raised signs, rotating the scribe with each presenter. Your technical professionals will learn a lot about how they communicate and will probably get some good ideas from watching others in the activity as well.

Exercise: Risky Business

One of the challenges we sometimes face when training people in "soft skills" is that they resist using the skills on the job because of the perceived risk. For example, managers learn to give corrective feedback, but hesitate to do it with people who tend to get hostile when they get feedback. The situation is seen as risky for the manager. This exercise is a way to motivate trainees to overcome their fears and take a risk. The secret of the activity is that you, the trainer, will be taking a big risk with the exercise. After all, if you are willing to take a risk in front of them, maybe they will be willing to do the same back on the job. Select an activity that fits the content and objectives for your training. Choose something that's a bit edgy or out-of-the-box for your organization or for you personally. I'm not talking about something that's offensive or violates company policy. What I'm suggesting is something that you might think isn't your style or an activity that people wouldn't fully embrace. Then do the exercise in the class. Debrief the activity as it is written. Then tell the group that you want to let them in on a secret. You've never done that activity before. As a matter of fact, you thought it might not work but knew that there was value in it. You took a risk. Ask them to define the risk. What could have gone wrong? (Maybe it did!) What would it mean if the activity failed? How would you as the trainer look? How might that impact your performance review? What were the potential benefits of taking the risk? What could have happened? (Maybe it did!). How might success influence your willingness to try different activities in the future? How might success influence the creativity of future training at your company? Then talk about the risks they see in using the training you've been delivering. What could go wrong? What's the worst that could happen? How would you feel if you did it anyway and it worked? What's holding you back? What can you do to free yourself from the fear and make the risk more manageable? This might be a good exercise to close a session. Be sure to allow plenty of time for discussion. Remember, if they don't use it on the job, the training isn't working.

Design Strategy: Who Owns the Problem

I've been speaking recently with a few designers who are developing training to help managers and employees write performance objectives. The big question around this training is, who owns the problem? The trainer is responsible for ensuring that people know how to write measurable performance objectives. But the manager is the one responsible for making it happen. That fact should drive the overall strategy for the training. Here's what I mean (just in case you're holding up a sign that says, Huh?). You could do the training for everyone. Then review all of the performance objectives to be sure that they are well written. That means you own the problem. In reality, isn't it the manager's responsibility to ensure that all in his/her department have measurable performance objectives? If so, then you want to approach the training so that ownership of the problem is clear. My suggestion is a four-step process. First, all managers go through training to learn how to set measurable objectives for their departments. Then each department goes through training as a team. They learn about the department's goals and identify individual goals aligned with the department goals. After training, they refine their individual goals and submit them to their manager. Finally, the trainer and manager meet to review the individual goals and identify any problems. The role of the trainer is a coach and support to the manager as she empowers her team to develop performance goals for the coming year. Remember that we as trainers have control over how we will teach a specific subject. We have very little control over how people will use something on the job. Look for opportunities to involve managers (owners) in implementation of the training. Results will be much better!