Coordinating Engaging Training Efforts

“Engagement” has become one of the popular terms in the training industry. An organization can define engagement in a training activity at just about any level it chooses. For example, at the lowest level trainees can be considered “engaged” in training when they participate actively in discussions; at a higher level, active problem solving leading to more advanced skill application can be considered engagement. If you’re of the mindset that the latter is more valuable, you’re probably quite well aware that achieving this level of engagement can take a great deal of effort, regardless of the training media you use.

There are three entities that need to be properly prepared to get to any significant engagement: the training (material), the trainer, and the trainee. It’s not uncommon to hear comments like:
· “If the material isn’t any good, the course will fail”
· “A good trainer can make or break a class”
· “I can’t teach a class to trainees who don’t want to participate”

While it may seem obvious to consider all three of these, today’s practice of outsourcing one aspect or another leads to treating the needs of these entities in isolation, making the challenge of engagement even more difficult for anyone putting together a training program. Sometimes a designer can feel like they’ve put together a great program, yet they feel at the mercy of outsourced instructors who may or may not have the online or classroom facilitation skills necessary to deliver the material as intended. The most experienced trainer can end up flailing in front of a class where trainees show up to class and don’t have a need or desire to be there.

Let’s look first, on an individual basis, at what it takes for these to be engaging. When the training materials are designed to be engaging, they offer problem-based scenarios for trainees to accomplish and avoid merely serving as an information source; they offer multiple opportunities to practice skills at increasing levels of complexity rather than providing a single final activity. When trainers are engaging, they are skilled as facilitators and coaches instead of just as presenters; they don’t just tell stories of their own experiences, they help trainees build on their experience. When trainees are engaged in training they take, they have been involved in the development of their own training plan as opposed to simply following a one-size-fits-all plan; training is part of an overall strategy in enhancing their job performance and potential for advancement instead of a method of accumulating credit.

The implications of one or more of these training aspects having a mismatch in engagement level can lead to that training having no positive effect. Examine the relationship between the trainer and the trainee. Imagine a trainer who is highly engaging trying to bring up from the depths of idleness trainees who lack engagement. It is a pointless effort in most cases and trainers then attribute this failure to the trainees’ inability to participate or their managers’ inability to properly place people in the training. Conversely, trainees arrive anxious to be engaged, only to be lectured to and told stories by a trainer who cannot advance his skills beyond presenting to facilitating. In either of these situations there is minimal chance of the trainees returning to work with the ability to perform a new task.

The training material can have a similar effect. Imagine a complete set of course materials with effective information framework, scenario-based activities followed by reflection questions, and then building increasingly complex scenarios. Then imagine a trainer who does not have the coaching skills necessary to deliver such training in the manner it was intended. Course content that is not engaging by itself is reliant on having a good trainer who will build engagement into the class without the benefit of good material – but if the course has different trainers each time it is offered, the results will be unpredictable.

The combination of engagingly designed materials and an engaging trainer has limitless potential for improving performance as a result of training. Trainees who walk in the door ready to be involved in the training will be actively drawn in. Trainees who are not will be hard-pressed to remain in anonymity, whether training is delivered face-to-face or online. Performance is inevitable when all aspects of your training program have been coordinated with engagement in mind.

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Coordinating Engaging Training Efforts

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