One of the facts I face as a trainer is that no one wants a training class to last two days. One day is a chore, half a day is best. I understand we are all under time constraints, but you really can’t learn writing, a software program, or much of anything else with four hours of training. The idea of “learn, do, teach” is not reassuring to me.
Adults, in general, will forget a little over half of what they learn in a training class within 12 hours. That means they have less than half the knowledge they received, which is often about a quarter of what they need. Using their class workbooks, they put their knowledge to use for a few days, then “train” the next person, who will also forget half of what they learn.
In about a month’s time, we have people passing on tiny bits of information, often with a shrug and “That’s all there was in the four-hour course.”
What to do? With shrinking budgets, I’m pretty sure that the answer is not “more time for training.” Here’s what I think will work.
1. Insist on exercises. When you show an outline of the class to the client, the first thing to go (to save time) are the exercises. That’s where you (as a trainer or training developer) want to put your foot down. The exercises set the information. They slow down forgetting. Struggle to keep those.
Piles of binders courtesy klaydoughdreams.blogspot.com
2. Reduce the information to a minimum. You are helping no one, least of all the class participants, by piling a lot of information into a short time. I made this mistake often, because it sounds like a better deal to cram two days of information into four hours, but it’s not. I often ask clients for three things they would like the class to know.
3. Teach through stories, examples and exercises. It’s better to do two exercises on one concept than gloss over it because the class is staring at you blankly. Repeat with different examples. Do more than one exercise. In other words, go deep instead of wide. It works better.
–Quinn McDonald is a writer. She develops and runs seminars and workshops through her company, QuinnCreative.
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