in this issue
	Mastering Training Design Know Your Clients Team Building: Express Yourself The Grand Prize! Closer: Overcoming Obstacles

Know Your Clients

Needs assessment is one of the most important things we do to ensure successful training results. The key to a great needs assessment isn't necessarily a full-blown, time-intensive survey process. Sometimes that's not possible. It's more important to be sure you have a good understanding of the sponsor's expectations, needs, and situation. When interviewing the sponsor, go beyond the usual questions about the training need. After all, sometimes the client sees a training need when the problem lies elsewhere. Begin your interview by asking questions about their organization. What are their long and short- term business objectives (not training objectives)? What challenges have they faced recently and what do they anticipate in the future? How is their organization changing and how is that change being received by staff? What obstacles do they face in meeting their business objectives? Once you understand the organization, then ask questions about the actual training need. What is/is not working? What do they want to see that they don't? Why is this training important now (as opposed to 6 months ago)? How do they know there is a need? What other solutions have been attempted? Finally, learn more about the target audience. How many people? What are their jobs? What do they already know? What do they need to know? How will training be incorporated into their schedule? What will be done to reinforce training? How receptive are people to the training? These are just a few questions to get you started. Visit out web site for a free download, Questions for Clients. If you ask better questions, you will design better solutions and build your credibility with the client at the same time. Consulting Tools: Questions for Clients »

Team Building: Express Yourself

One of the challenges faced by some teams is getting equal input from all team members. There are always a few especially vocal people and a few folks who are more reserved. In a strong team, everyone is comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas, and that makes the team even more effective. Here's an activity to help a team achieve more open communication. Divide the class into two groups based on their willingness to challenge each other and contribute in team meetings. Allow them to self-select their group, and allow team members to re-assign someone who chooses the wrong side. Arrange two rows of chairs, with pairs of chairs facing each other. Instruct all vocal people to sit on one side, and the quiet ones on the other (so that a vocal person is paired with a quiet person). Have the vocal people choose a team issue and take a position on that issue. Then have the quiet person disagree, giving at least 2 points to support their opposition. Pairs should continue the debate for about 5 minutes, without interrupting their partners. Debrief by asking questions about how difficult it was to disagree, what they learned about their partners, and what they need from each other to strengthen team communication. For more detailed instructions, visit our web site: Free Resources - Activities and Exercises. Activities and Exercises: Express Yourself »

The Grand Prize!

Sometimes people need a little extra incentive to participate or try something new in a training class. Consider using prizes or awards to make that happen. You can use simple, inexpensive prizes for short activities or whenever someone asks a question. Things like candy, granola bars, tiny toys, or even stickers are fun and get people a little more involved. If you have something a little more risky or challenging, you can increase the value of the prize. Company T- shirts, bags, or portfolios, will work. Or get a gift certficate for dinner, movie passes, or a bookstore. If you really want to get people involved and reward them, choose something even more valuable. We teach a workshop on negotiation and the team that drives the best negotiation gets breakfast with a senior manager. What a great incentive for learning and trying new things!

Closer: Overcoming Obstacles

One of the unfortunate realities for trainers is that people leave training with good intentions, but many of them don't actually use what they learned on the job. They run into obstacles that may be difficult to overcome. The goal of this activity is to explore those obstacles and identify ways to overcome them. Divide the group into small teams of 3-4. Give each team a different challenge to complete in five minutes. Challenges can be a crossword with clues related to the course content, a long kite string tied in knots that they must untie, a set of cards for charades. Whatever the challenge, it should require at least five minutes to complete. Give each team their challenge and allow them five minutes to complete it. While they work on their challenge, create obstacles to their success. You can remove a team member, interrupt them to ask an unrelated question, blindfold people, knock over their materials, anything that creates a difficulty for them to succeed. They should get a little frustrated with you. When the five minutes ends, discuss what obstacles they faced, how they felt about the obstacles, what they did to keep motivated (if they did), and how this relates to real life. Then discuss what obstacles they anticipate as they try to apply the learning back on the job. For more detailed instructions, visit our web site: Free Downloads - Activities & Exercises. Activities & Exercises: Overcoming Obstacles »