Comments Off on 12 principles of effective training
As a trainer of, amongst other things, presentation skills I came across my notes from when I first attended NLP Trainer Training with Realisation at Stenhouse back in the day and found these principles which are oh so relevant still today ……
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The flipchart/Powerpoint is NOT the training (John Rogers)
There are no difficult groups only inflexible trainers
Excellent training comes from CAUSE not Effect
Feedback feeds learning
Every response is a training opportunity
You reap what you Say – If you always do what you’ve always done …. the delegates will fall asleep!
Trainers with high Flexibility will reach parts that other trainers don’t even know about
Learning to trust your own resources is the most powerful learning of all
The trainers choice: whether you believe something is possible or not you are right
Inside every delegate there is a real person
The key to training is NOT in your head
Everybody has something to learn. Everybody has something to teach
Unconsciously I have stuck with these principles during the 20+ years I have been training leaders and managers – they have served me well – thanks Realisation at Stenhouse!
Are you interested in how we can help with developing these and other presentation and communication skills for yourself or your team? Check out our Advanced Presentation Skills wi th NLP course, or please get in touch at pat@quadrant1.com or on 07768 922244
What are you doing about Assessment Centres right now?
Current norms are preventing us in many cases from running traditional Assessment Centres but that doesn’t mean you can’t still identify top talent and potential leaders accurately and effectively. You may argue that there is ‘nothing like the real thing’ but we believe we can offer you an excellent alternative. So if you have suspended your traditional assessment centre approach due to current conditions do read on.
Assessment Centre Intelligence (ACI) provides an alternative to assessment centres with a remote, automated and objective on-line assessment and screening process. It works equally well for candidate selection for a job role as for identifying potential leaders within the organisation.
The starting point for this is a 30-minute award winning SmartQuestionnaire™ which accurately predicts behavioural preferences in relation to both jobs and Leadership competencies.
Benefits of Assessment Centre Intelligence (ACI):
How does it work?
Candidates take a 30-minute SmartQuestionnaire™, which measures 9 major components. (See below)
The system will then create an automated candidate short list, as well as a frame work for choosing your ideal candidate based on the job role. Remember, the system works equally well for internal leadership selection.
9 major components measured in the Smart Questionnaire:
Leadership Competencies (emerging and senior leaders) – Achievement orientation, communication, energizing people, impact and influence, innovation, leading people, learning agility, problem solving, resilience and perseverance, strategic thinking
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) – Knowing oneself, relationship leadership, self-motivation & self-management, social awareness & service orientation
Personality (psychometric assessment) – Intrinsic motivators, life values, predictive behaviours, behaviours under stress, underlying or hidden behaviours, potential strengths, potential weaknesses
Quantitative Critical Thinking – Numerical reasoning, problem solving
Engagement & Retention Factors (including intrinsic motivators) –Development expectations, social expectations, remuneration expectations, communication expectations, authority expectations, appreciation expectations, personal expectations, work/life balance expectations
Cultural Fit (aligned to organisational values) – Aligned values (personal vs company)
Remote Working Compatibility – Remote productivity, remote communication, remote leadership
Assessment Centre Intelligence provides an excellent alternative at a time when face to face assessment centres are not possible. You may love it so much you will want to continue even when face to face becomes available again.
We can help you to choose the best approach for your organisation:
Option 1 – Gain access to the system and be trained to run your own in-house ACI
Option 2 – We will run and manage a full ACI for you
Option 3 – Reports only – for development of individuals or teams and acquisition
I work with leaders from a cross section of organisations, helping them to transition from being an expert in their field to taking on leadership roles. We have known for a long time that leaders often feel bereft at having to let go of the day job and try hard to hold on to it, often giving the perception of micromanaging. Leadership courses do their best to train the new set of skills necessary for stepping up and on the whole do a good job. However, some industries in particular find it more difficult than others – industries where a high degree of risk aversion exists – engineering, manufacturing, IT, Utilities to name but a few.
The habits exhibited by potential leaders are of course an unconscious process and often don’t come to light even during the leadership training. Habits of behaviour and thinking which have been formed over time to accommodate the role of the day job and which now need to be changed if they are to step up to the challenges of leadership. A classic example is shown here –
the diagram shows the top two rows (Initiating and Motivating) of a paradox report for someone applying for a leadership role. The graph as a whole shows the person’s overall approach to work and the final two rows (not shown here) are Implementing and Maintaining thus giving us a complete picture.
For now, let’s just take a look at the top row which represents the setting up of any project or work requirement. It is called ‘Initiating’ – I sometimes prefer to call it the ‘visionary’ level because nothing has happened at this stage – it’s all in the planning, in the mind, in the imagination.
Incidentally this person has scored quite highly on both the Motivating and Implementation stage suggesting that he/she is very good at implementing a strategy and motivating others to get behind it once the strategy is in place. But now things are different. We are asking this person to step up and become a leader which he/she may well be able to do with some training but first needs the awareness of the gaps. The need for the skills used in the day job become secondary to those needed at the strategic level. Take a look at the first paradox graph in the diagram ‘Opinions’ – this person has a strong propensity to be open and reflective in his/her ideas and will spend time gathering those of others. It may take a while for this person to become certain and feel confident to express an opinion thus appearing ‘flakey’ to others. The key here is not to stop being open and reflective but to ask the question ‘what has to happen for you to be certain in this scenario?’
Similarly, the Decision graph would suggest that this person’s approach to decision making is erratic at most thus leaving people unsure of what might happen next. The preparedness to make a decision in a leadership role is key to success so work is needed here too. The one I find most fascinating is the Strategic Graph. Here we have someone who is unsure of their own opinions, finds it tricky to make a decision and is also risk averse. This may be fine in the day job, for example, we would really not want engineers to take risks with the engineering aspect of their role but this is different. Strategy by definition has risk attached, since it has never been done before. Remember this is at the initiating or visionary stage of the work – at some point this person will have to put a stake in the ground, having analysed the pitfalls and gathered and analysed enough data. A whole new set of skills which can be taught but need awareness first.
If you would like to know more about the unique and versatile Harrison Assessments Talent Solution approach, based on enjoyment theory, please do get in touch:
Oxford Against Cutting (OAC) is committed to working to help prevent female genital mutilation (FGM) of girls and women living in the Thames Valley. Quadrant1 supports OAC and the work that they do and we would ask for your support in a pre-Christmas appeal in raising vital funds so that they can continue their work to eradicate FGM.
How can you support OAC?
It’s very simple! Help Oxford Against Cutting raise FREE funds whenever you shop online by signing up to #easyfundraising. It doesn’t cost any extra and you’ll be helping to make a real difference with every purchase you make. It’s great and so easy! To find out more, visit https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/oxfordagainstcutting
All you need to do is choose to support OAC, shop online with over 3,500 online retailers such as Viking Office Supplies, Amazon, EBay, M&S and many more, and OAC will receive donations at no cost to you!
In this day and age of virtually full employment it can be difficult to recruit and retain your best talent. Recruitment alone is a costly process.
So what makes someone come to your organisation in the first place and what makes them stay? There is a general assumption that if we pay people enough they will want to stay but is this right and how will you know?
Using Harrison Assessments we can measure 8 factors which contribute to retention and engagement. We do this objectively not subjectively using an on-line SmartQuestionnaire™
. These factors include –
Development Expectations
Remuneration Expectations
Authority Expectations
Social Expectations
Appreciation Expectations
Communication expectations
Personal Expectations
Work Life Balance Expectations
The resulting report is the result of 30 years of research by Dr Dan Harrison into what makes people successful at work.
For further information on Harrison’s Engagement and Retention solution please click on the image below: