Tip #152: Educating Managers About Training

I blame it on the approach that many college professors still model. If lecture is good enough for higher education, then many business owners and managers assume that lecture is good enough for their employee training. But as we know, "good enough"is not necessarily the most cost-effective use of training dollars, because there is a lot of learning slippage that occurs.

When a company is interested in training on any topic, I like to meet with the owners or managers to discuss their desired results. When their employees walk out of the training, what does management want them to think or do differently? Sometimes the desired results are attitudinal changes and at other times the focus is on specific skill building. Regardless of the desired end result, I have found that introducing two concepts into the discussion makes all the difference in the ultimate training that is approved.

First, I walk them through the building blocks of learning (Bloom's Taxonomy of Behavioral Learning Objectives), drawing each step as I go. I ask them if they will be satisfied if their employees leave the training knowing something but not understanding it, the way I can tell them that E= MC2 without knowing what I really mean. Understandably, knowledge alone is usually not the level of learning that appeals to them.. So I ask them if they want the employees to understand what they have learned, which typically garners nods of agreement. So we know that we need to at least get to comprehension. And if attitudinal change is desired, that is where we will stop. However, if skills are involved, I ask them if it will be all right if the employees know and understand the new skill or technique, but don't use it. If it is not all right (and we can count on that response!), then I explain that application is the next required level of learning.

Once we have determined that either comprehension or application is appropriate, I ask them what level of learning lecture alone can accomplish. I may need to coach them with the answer, by discussing what many of us were taught years ago regarding lecture: "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you've told them.."I point out that with lecture, we only know that the lecturer knows the information to the third power. We have no idea if the participants know or understand the content of the lecture until they have some opportunity to interact with the information. This neatly brings us to the need for more participant-centered learning methods, such as large and small group discussions, pop ups, question and answer sessions, questionnaires, worksheets, case studies, and games. It is a short step from this to the next point, that in order to achieve application as a learning level, the participants need to be able to practice what they have learned in the classroom. At this point, we can introduce hands on, simulation, and role playing exercises.

To cement the idea that lecture alone is probably insufficient for their desired training results, I pull out a copy of Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience and Learning. This reinforces our previous discussion of learning levels and interactive learning methods by showing the correlation between our level of involvement and how much we tend to remember. Even lecture with visual support garners only 50% retention. The minute we add an opportunity to discuss the content, that increases to 70%- and if we can both say and do it, retention is increased to 90%.

If they want effective and lasting learning, which is the most cost-effective use of their training dollars, then participant-centered learning methods are the logical and only solution. Few reasonable people will argue with that conclusion!!

Tip #151: The Source of My Inspiration for Business

I have four brothers- and all five of us are in business for ourselves. I have owned my own training and consulting firm for over 25 years. My first brother is an award-winning poet and teacher who runs a highly acclaimed and often honored printing press. My second brother owns a very successful national security firm. My third brother is an amazing instrumentalist, music teacher, carpenter and artist. And my fourth brother caters to the famous in California with musical extravaganzas and business products.

All five of us are also heavily musical. My first brother was first clarinet for the Albany Symphony Orchestra. My second brother has performed with the New Lost City Ramblers and now plays klezmer music as a sideline. My third and fourth brothers make their living with music. And I dabble with the piano and use music throughout all of my training programs.

None of this is surprising. My father, Seymour Solon Levine, has been a clarinetist all his life. Classical music continually played in our house and my father expected that each of his children would master at least one instrument. Oboe, clarinet, piano, violin, trumpet- every school day afternoon was filled with homework and practicing. Throughout my childhood, family gatherings always included instrumental recitals.

My father also owned his own engineering and marketing business. So the dye was cast very early. My mother, Merle Plockie Levine, inspired three of us to become teachers. My father inspired all five of us with the impetus and initiative to work for ourselves. He showed us all that it was possible, though not always easy.

Because of his national business clients, my father frequently flew around the country. Three of us still emulate that continual travel to serve our national clients. When he was in his mid-nineties, my maternal grandfather shared his secret belief about my father’s travels. He drew forward conspiratorially to tell his story, and I fully expected to hear some alarming news that perhaps my father had had a forbidden sweetheart in one of the major cities to which he often traveled. But no, that wasn’t why my practical naval officer grandfather sounded so scandalized. According to my grandfather, the reason my father traveled so often was to have time and privacy to practice his clarinet, away from a home filled with five small children! You can just imagine my relief!

When my father retired from the business world, he apprenticed himself to Sam Goody to learn how to repair instruments. Now in his mid-eighties, my father continues to play clarinet in a variety of orchestras, bands, and chamber groups- and repairs all types of wind instruments from schools and individuals throughout the region. His business IS music!

An engineer by training, when Dad was afflicted with Bell’s Palsy a number of years ago and was unable to close his mouth tightly around the reed, he solved the problem by designing a clamp that enabled him to continue to play his beloved clarinet. Throughout his life, he has modeled dedication, creative problem solving, drive, persistence, ingenuity, and a complete unwillingness to take “no” for an answer.

I have often written about people who helped me along my way, sharing information and tools to improve my skills and my effectiveness as a trainer. My father is the reason I am in business for myself. To this day, he continues to provide business and marketing insight and suggestions that shape the way I do business. He is the source of my inspiration!

This week’s Tip concerns how to how to market effective participant-centered training to managers who believe that lecture is enough

Tip #150: What NOT to Do When Interviewing A Potential New Client:

26. be unwilling to be flexible on work expectations
27. neglect to add into a contract limitations on edits and revisions
28. neglect to add into a contract provisions for work beyond the initial scope of the project
29. forget to ask for referrals and references from the client after completion of a successful project
30. disregard your intuition that the client might not be the right fit for you
31. walk into situations where they are looking for a –fall guy” to blame
32. assume you know what the client means or wants without asking clarifying questions to make sure you are on the same page
33. accept work that is contrary to your ethics
34. talk the client out of hiring you
35. be unrealistic about workload and time commitments
36. overbook yourself rather than negotiating a more reasonable time frame
37. speak negatively about former clients or client experiences
38. go into the meeting without having all relevant experience, references, and project dates available
39. neglect to anticipate questions and prepare answers
40. neglect to anticipate and plan how to minimize or address client concerns
41. assume that larger corporations are more professional and fiscally responsible than smaller companies
42. neglect to propose follow up services as part of the project package
43. plan to work without a written contract
44. be apologetic about your fees
45. be unprepared to discuss your fees
46. rush to answer questions rather than taking time to think them through
47. assume the client needs an immediate proposal the next day rather than asking or negotiating a reasonable turnaround time
48. tell the client what they should think or do, versus what they are prepared to think or do
49. believe your business and professional credibility begin and end with the outcome of the interview
50. forget to consider each client interview situation as an interesting new learning opportunity!

Tip #149: What NOT to Do When Interviewing A Potential New Client:

1. tell them what they're doing wrong
2. push them to do more than they are ready to do
3. get lost and be late to the meeting
4. put on hand cream just before you shake their hands
5. turn the interview into a training session
6. assume that you are the only consultant being interviewed
7. firmly suggest that the client consider his or her culpability for the issue under discussion
8. terrify the client that sensitive issues will need to be discussed
9. ask the client to betray their loyalty to management, no matter how poor the management appears to be
10. exhibit a sense of humor when the client is humorless
11. lose articles of clothing or jewelry during the interview
12. flirt with the client
13. think out loud when asked about a potential approach to an issue
14. neglect to do research on the client, so that references and examples are relevant to their industry
15. do lots of work for the client in good faith prior to receiving a signed contract
16. make assumptions that the fee is understood rather than explicitly stating the fee upfront
17. bidding on work without getting a clear idea of the context and extenuating circumstances that may affect the time involved
18. take personally the personality traits of the client when under duress
19. get blindsided with additional issues or processes that the client neglected to mention and you had no reason to expect or inquire about
20. go into the situation as the crusader rabbit, ready to take on the establishment and protect the employees when you are actually hired by the establishment and have no real control over the situation
21. promise confidentiality when you have no control over what people say
22. use extreme examples to make a point, thereby distracting and derailing the client's attention and comfort level
23. humbly minimize your expertise and competence
24. neglect to check with references ahead of time, to ensure that they are willing and available to provide positive support
25. inadvertently misrepresent yourself, your expertise, or your experience

Tip #148: Teaching for the Small Business Development Center

t all began when I began to think about starting my own business. The University of Wisconsin had a Small Business Development Center that offered free counseling to individuals in my situation, so I scheduled an appointment. I was very concerned about the number of training consultants in the Madison area, feeling that the competition might be too stiff. When I met with the Director, William Pinkovitz, he assured me that there was nothing to worry about. As long as the other consultants were doing a good job., businesses would hire me for the unique capabilities that I had. The problem would arise if the other consultants were NOT doing a good job, because then the entire training industry would have a bad reputation and it would make it difficult for any of us to do business.

As we discussed my areas of expertise, he asked me if I would be willing to teach for the Small Business Development Center itself. Saying –yes” was one of the best decisions I've ever made! For years, we offered the only evening workshops in the area on personnel management and human resources topics. The Center publicized the programs throughout the region and I suddenly had their marketing expertise to promote me!!! The programs offered me immediate access to local businesses. I began to have name and face recognition as a trainer, which was an amazing gift for a new business.

In addition, when Joan Gillman joined the Center shortly after I met with Bill, she had all sorts of creative ideas for additional services to business. This included the Women's Breakfast Series on different topics, which was and continues to be wildly successful. It was a wonderful showcase that afforded access to hundreds of women at every level in business.

Not only did Joan become a good friend, she was also a marketer extraordinaire on my behalf (as well as the behalf of many other trainers). Joan promoted me as a speaker and workshop leader for every small business conference in the state. When inquiries came for onsite training from local businesses, she referred them to me. Joan nominated me for the Small Business Trainer of the Year, which gave me a monetary prize that enabled me to attend a professional conference. She was and still is my best promoter and business advisor.

If you've been reading these Tips for the past few months, you'll recognize her name. Joan not only opened doors for me locally and throughout the state of Wisconsin, she brought me to teach in Croatia. She is still the very first person to whom I refer any consultant wanting to get into training.

Over the years since, there have been many other wonderful people who have opened doors for me, pushed me in directions I never anticipated, and gave me opportunities I will always value and can never adequately repay. We absolutely do get by with more than a little help from our friends!

Tip #147: Teaching in a University Degree Program

During the years I had been teaching in the evenings for UW-Madison Extension and the Madison Area Technical College, I had held down a day job working for the State of Wisconsin in personnel management. Therefore, when I saw that Cardinal Stritch College was looking for ad hoc instructors for their Continuing Education Programs for Adults, I felt confident enough to apply. They required a Masters Degree, which I had earned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Once my application and resume had been accepted, the next stage of the selection process was to present a ten minute program. I think I may have done mine on Win-Win Negotiation, incorporating all that I had learned from my studies with Dr. Madeline Hunter to make the training educational, interactive, and entertaining. I know I brought koosh balls and bowls of candy, as well as my colored cartoon overheads.

It was quite an education to sit in on all of the presentations. I was amazed to see how much a ten minute presentation revealed about a trainer's skills! Later, when I interviewed trainers for my own company, Laurel and Associates, Ltd. ., I remembered and used this process. From that point on, all of my skill-building training programs (in communication, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, conflict management, assertiveness, and train-the-trainer, etc.) have included skills practice for ten minutes.

I was delighted to join the ad hoc faculty to teach in the first evening continuing education program in management for adults that was offered in the Madison area. Cardinal Stritch offered an Associate Degree, a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Science degree. The program involved four-hour sessions offered weekly for 56 weeks. The students took one course at a time, with each course lasting for four sessions. I was hired to teach two courses for the Masters of Science in Management program: the very first academic course they received, which was Personnel Management- and one of the last, which was Organizational Development. I also taught the very first session that students in all of the programs attended: Orientation.

The students were all working adults, ranging in age from their middle twenties to their late fifties. They came from all over the area, some driving more than an hour one way to attend the classes, which ran from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

I learned so much from them:

First, that they were creatures of habit. When I returned to teach the last class, they were all still seated in the same arrangement they had assumed over 50 weeks prior!

Second, because of the travel and class time, many were tired and hungry. I found that encouraging them to bring something to eat and giving them ten minute breaks every hour kept them much more alert. It wasn't until much much later that I learned that the brain gets saturated after fifty minutes and needs that time to relax and reboot.

Third, they were already living and working what we were teaching. The classes only served to give them a common vocabulary to discuss their experience. Their examples and stories brought every management principle to life.

Fourth, given the opportunity to propose questions for their examinations, they came up with questions MUCH harder than anything I would have asked!

Fifth, once they had reviewed the class and homework requirements for earning an A, a B, or a C in the course, almost every one of them contracted for an A and achieved it. They proved the power of setting goals and accepting personal responsibility for their own learning.

Sixth, they did a terrific job on their research papers, continually teaching me new information, new perspectives, and new applications.

Seventh, that four hours was a good period of time for learning.

Tip #146: Jumping In Without A Net!

After I had been an Assertiveness trainer for UW-Madison Extension for over a year, I was eager to expand my repertoire as a trainer. So I was very excited when there was an advertisement in the paper for an ad hoc instructor in Supervisory Management at the Madison Area Technical College. I submitted my resume and had a very nice interview with John Lalor, who was the Director of the Marketing Department that housed the Supervisory Management Technician associate degree program. A few weeks after that interview, I got a call in the evening from John. Apparently, an ad hoc instructor who was slated to teach a semester-long Supervisory Skills course was not able to fulfill his commitment. John needed an instructor immediately, to start the very next evening!

I was completely overwhelmed and protested that I had only taught Assertiveness- I knew nothing about Supervisory Skills!!! John was very reassuring, telling me that there was already a text book and that he knew I would do a wonderful job. I disagreed, knowing full well that this was WAY out of my league! But John persisted, even agreeing to meet with me in the early morning before I left for my day job with the state.

Although I am sure that I prepared a lesson outline and printed off materials sometime during the day, I really don't remember WHAT I did that first evening class. For the rest of the semester, I was always only one chapter ahead of my class. I also went straight to the library to find as many books as I could on the subject, liberally drawing content and activities from every likely reference source.

Luckily, the text book: The Art of Leadership, by Lin Bothwell, had terrific content and lots of activities, questionnaires, and self assessments. Its content and approach validated the use of dialogue, group activities, personal action plans, progress reports, and colored cartoon overheads to emphasize key points that had worked so well in the Assertiveness classes. I still refer to it to this day when I design supervisory training.

I found that I loved the subject and really enjoyed the students, many of whom were already in the work world. I was also stimulated by the constant challenge of coming up with creative and effective ways to teach new content and enable the students to experience and apply their new learning. Since the entire subject area was uncharted domain for me, I felt free to experiment with lots of different teaching methods.

When the semester was over, there was a need for someone to teach the next course ( I can't remember whether it was Running Effective Meetings or Active Listening Skills or Conflict Management). John asked me to do it and I said "Yes.” Although I didn't know anything about the topic, I now knew how to research content, create lesson plans, and incorporate educational as well as entertaining activities that launched the students on their own voyage of self discovery.

That began an entire second career for me. Each semester marked the need for a course on a new topic and I always said "Yes” and then made a mad dash to the library to start my research. Thus I slowly built up my repertoire of topics, as well as developed great relationships with many of the students. One of them actually became a life long friend, Teri Pickering, whom I am visiting this weekend to belatedly celebrate her birthday.

As you can see, this MATC teaching experience gave me many gifts. The key gift was the opportunity to face my very real fear of inadequacy. I gradually learned to trust that, if I did my homework and honored basic adult learning principles, the result would be mostly good. I was also forced to accept that I would always be a work in progress.

Lorraine Ortner-Blake pens the following quote on one of her beautiful art cards:

"When you come to the edge of all the light you've known, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen. There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.”