Trainer Tools

It is a rare performance management training course that doesn't include the ubiquitous SMART acronym within it - and it is a rare organisation that doesn't demand its people create a yearly clutch of SMART objectives to meet the needs of their performance management process.

And that's the problem.

SMART objectives are often written to meet the needs of the process - not the people - they are written to fulfill the requirements of the clever acronym, but not actually to respond to the particular challenges of the individual job holder and their manager.

This is a long-running bugbear of mine, and it was good to hear that one of this podcast's great supporters and contributors, Garry Platt, had encountered exactly that problem during his consultancy work.

Garry Platt is an experienced training consultant with more than 30 years experience in the business. He has worked with a number of international organisations helping them to enhance their approach to training and development. Within the last 12 months he has worked with Deutsche Post DHL, Formica, Siemens, Mercedes AMG F1 Team and was the keynote speaker at the SHE Conference in Blackpool.

Academically qualified to Masters Degree level in Education, Training and Development his work combines current research and study in Human Resource Development with a pragmatic and workable approach.

During the last 10 years an area of specialisation has become the evaluation and return on investment analysis of training delivered in organisations. Drawing from the experience of hundreds of companies and organisations he has drawn together a large range of methods and approaches which many organisations have selected from and introduced into their own.

Garry currently works for EEF and can be contacted via his LinkedIn profile or email ([email protected])

As good as they sometimes are, often it's just very difficult to write SMART objectives: it's not only hard to articulate the specific behaviour, it's next to impossible to create an appropriate measure that doesn't just tot up something numeric that's vaguely related (but not very important).

However, we're made of strong stuff on the Trainer Tools podcast, and just because something is difficult is no reason not to do it! So in this episode Garry talks me through his approach to what he calls behavioural objectives.

Trying to SMARTify your objectives need never ruin your life again!

Garry Platt is an experienced training consultant with more than 30 years experience in the business. He has worked with a number of international organisations helping them to enhance their approach to training and development. Within the last 12 months he has worked with Deutsche Post DHL, Formica, Siemens, Mercedes AMG F1 Team and was the keynote speaker at the SHE Conference in Blackpool.

Academically qualified to Masters Degree level in Education, Training and Development his work combines current research and study in Human Resource Development with a pragmatic and workable approach.

During the last 10 years an area of specialisation has become the evaluation and return on investment analysis of training delivered in organisations. Drawing from the experience of hundreds of companies and organisations he has drawn together a large range of methods and approaches which many organisations have selected from and introduced into their own.

R equals e to the power of minus t over s.

Or, to put it another way, people forget about 80% of what they learn on a training course.

That might not be exactly true, Ebbinghaus's research and "curve of forgetting" equation is not the most rigorous of science, but it's probably true-ish and that's good enough for this podcast!

In this episode I talk again to Roger Greenaway, an expert in experiential and innovative training methodologies. We talk about what "learning transfer" really means, and then discuss some unusual and creative ways of designing training courses so that learning transfer is more likely to occur.

Roger Greenaway specialises in making experience-based learning more participatory, dynamic and effective. He does this by training facilitators in the skills and techniques of active reviewing (debriefing), what he calls "the game after the game".

During the last 20 years Roger has worked with education and training organisations, departments and networks in 35 countries. Typical themes are 'Facilitating Learning from Experience'; 'Moving Bodies, Moving Minds' and 'Training for Transfer'.

Roger's recent work has included training Agile coaches in active debriefing techniques (USA); training university staff in facilitating values (Singapore); training oil industry managers in big picture thinking (Iran); helping a conference team find active ways of achieving conference goals (Ethiopia); training university lecturers to increase student engagement and participation (South Africa); training police trainers, military trainers and business educators (UK); and training outdoor educators and trainers around the world.

Roger's PhD was a study of Powerful Learning Experiences in Management Learning and Development (1995). He now writes in more accessible and practical ways in his free newsletter Active Reviewing Tips at http://reviewing.co.uk

Human beings need to feel comfortable to be able to learn.

To feel comfortable within a group they need a sense of acceptance and control. To build rapport with other learners and the trainer, they need to go through rituals.

Icebreakers can help us do that.

However, they can also help us achieve the exact opposite. If they are not well designed for the course content and the group they can make people feel uncomfortable and wish they were anywhere else but in your training room!

In this episode of the Trainer Tools podcast, I talk to Paul Tizzard, author of three books about icebreakers, about how to make sure they work!

Paul Tizzard did his first "Train the Trainer" course in 1986 and has been a professional trainer since 1996 and independent since 2001. He is a trained presenter, coach and facilitator. Since becoming independent, he has been fortunate to work in many different countries with an eclectic range of industries and companies.

I feel extremely lucky to have the best job in the world

Paul set up Virgin Atlantic's Flying Without Fear programme, has written five books, is a Fellow of ITOL and has run more learning events than you could shake a stick at.

If I am lucky, I will pop my clogs about 95 years old whilst writing on flip charts!

Click here to visit Paul's website

I thought it'd be a bit of fun to chuck in the odd short podcast at random intervals (this might stretch the definition of "fun" to breaking point) in a new sub-series of casts called TT Shorts.

This is the first one, from our old friend Jon Kersey, and it's a quick and easy technique you can use during teambuilding events.

Jon Kersey has over 15 years experience in the training and personal development world, significant experience of the retail (The Burton Group, Comet and River Island), financial (HSBC) and public sectors, and international experience having trained in organisations in South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

As an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and Trainer he is able to encourage clients to achieve permanent behavioural change enhancing their business through a deeper level of personal understanding.

He is qualified in various psychological profiling tools including MBTI, PRISM, TMI and is an NVQ assessor and verifier, and sits on the council of the IDM (Institute of direct & digital marketing).

Jonathan now owns his own consultancy: Red Consultancy

How we begin learning events is vital in setting the right tone for the day.

To get the best learning, we want to create a creative a safe environment that is fun and allows for people to express themselves playfully, allows for mistakes, lets people feel that they can challenge and be challenged, and above all exposes the learners to views and perspectives different than their own.

There is no one single magic bullet for achieving this, it's done through lots of little things that together contribute to building that learning environment.

In this (short!) episode I speak to Kevin Stephens about a simple technique he uses to kick off change management training. Kevin's whole approach to training is to focus on creating the conditions for learning using accelerated learning techniques, and in this episode he introduces us to a quick and way to start that process off.

Kevin Stephens is a Learning and Development practitioner who specialises in helping people get the most of their working relationships by delivering bespoke management and leadership programmes.

He has a large well of experience, gained from over 20 years working in senior management within a large international organisation and from having worked extensively with public and voluntary bodies. This has enabled him to help people overcome leadership barriers, whether they are experienced leaders or new to management.

His approach is to focus on making the learning environment fun, engaging and social, giving people the time and space to share experiences that help them to think through and address their personal challenges.

Kevin is Chief Executive of Winning Edge (UK) Ltd - a training company with the motto "Bringing your training to life".

He can be contacted on 07860 514314

In this episode of the Trainer Tools podcast, John Tomlinson talks to Larry Reynolds about three different ways he uses stories during his training events.

Larry Reynolds is managing partner of Courageous Conversations at Work. He help business leaders to create high performing teams where people love to work. If you want to have more courageous conversations at work why not sign up for Larry’s free weekly leadership tips.

Recent clients include Next, Tetra Pak, NHS, schools and universities.

"Some learning happens in the training activities, but there's a whole lot more learning that can happen in the review process" - that is the philosophy behind Roger Greenaway's Active Reviewing model. 

In this episode of the Trainer Tools podcast, I talk to Roger about his method to not only keep the energy, enthusiasm and inclusion of training activities high during the debrief session, but also to dig deeper and maximise the learning opportunities from training room activities.

Roger Greenaway specialises in making experience-based learning more participatory, dynamic and effective. He does this by training facilitators in the skills and techniques of active reviewing (debriefing), what he calls "the game after the game".

During the last 20 years Roger has worked with education and training organisations, departments and networks in 35 countries. Typical themes are 'Facilitating Learning from Experience'; 'Moving Bodies, Moving Minds' and 'Training for Transfer'.

Roger's recent work has included training Agile coaches in active debriefing techniques (USA); training university staff in facilitating values (Singapore); training oil industry managers in big picture thinking (Iran); helping a conference team find active ways of achieving conference goals (Ethiopia); training university lecturers to increase student engagement and participation (South Africa); training police trainers, military trainers and business educators (UK); and training outdoor educators and trainers around the world.

Roger's PhD was a study of Powerful Learning Experiences in Management Learning and Development (1995). He now writes in more accessible and practical ways in his free newsletter Active Reviewing Tips at http://reviewing.co.uk

In the eighth episode of the Trainer Tools podcast, I welcome back Garry Platt to begin a series of casts on his specialist subject: Transactional Analysis.

Transactional Analysis, or TA, is a theory of how humans interact with each other - its main application being to help understand human behaviour and communication: each interaction between people being called a "transaction". It was developed by Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne and has been a tool in the trainer and coach toolbox for many years in helping us understand ourselves and our own interpersonal behaviours, but also understand those of others.

We're going to do a whole series on this because it's such a broad and interesting topic, so this is just the start of something!

Garry Platt is an experienced training consultant with more than 30 years experience in the business. He has worked with a number of international organisations helping them to enhance their approach to training and development. Within the last 12 months he has worked with Deutsche Post DHL, Formica, Siemens, Mercedes AMG F1 Team and was the keynote speaker at the SHE Conference in Blackpool.

Academically qualified to Masters Degree level in Education, Training and Development his work combines current research and study in Human Resource Development with a pragmatic and workable approach.

During the last 10 years an area of specialisation has become the evaluation and return on investment analysis of training delivered in organisations. Drawing from the experience of hundreds of companies and organisations he has drawn together a large range of methods and approaches which many organisations have selected from and introduced into their own.

Garry currently works for EEF and can be contacted via his LinkedIn profile or email ([email protected])

How much effort we put into the very first part of training courses, in breaking the ice and building rapport, can directly impact the effectiveness of the rest of the day. This is especially true if you rely on input from learners and seek to create a social environment where people learn from each other, not just the trainer at the front.

Jon Kersey always invests time here, more so than any other trainer I work with, and in this podcast he shares his three favourite techniques.

Jon Kersey has over 15 years experience in the training and personal development world, significant experience of the retail (The Burton Group, Comet and River Island), financial (HSBC) and public sectors, and international experience having trained in organisations in South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

As an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and Trainer he is able to encourage clients to achieve permanent behavioural change enhancing their business through a deeper level of personal understanding.

He is qualified in various psychological profiling tools including MBTI, PRISM, TMI and is an NVQ assessor and verifier, and sits on the council of the IDM (Institute of direct & digital marketing).

Jonathan now owns his own consultancy: Red Consultancy