Top Ten Mistakes Made By Even The Most Experienced Training and Development Professionals*
It happens to the best performers of every profession. Athletes and their coaches make game day blunders.Olympic ice skaters fall, track and field stars misread their competition schedules and miss events. Tragically, even the most skilled doctors make errors.
Experienced training and development professionals make occasional mistakes that, although not life-threatening, have profound effects on training program success. Here's a compilation of the top ten mistakes made by even the most experienced training Presented in no particular order of importance (they are all equally important in my opinion) they are as
follows:
1. Presenter does not adequately establish his/her credentials/knowledge base to the audience.*
Research has shown that "knowledge of the subject matter" is one of the most important characteristics of an effective presenter. Audiences make this judgment within the first four minutes of the program. Too often, presenters rely on the introduction of the host and/or their assumption that the attendees already know and respect their credentials. The presenter may need to take a few minutes and briefly let the audience know their credentials (current/previous job titles, university degrees, client list, years of related work experience, projects completed/published) so the perception of credibility is
established. Maintaining credibility depends on subsequent trainer behavior, but you can't maintain what you don't establish.
2. Presenter does not communicate the agenda and/or the goals for the training session at the beginning of the presentation.*
Adults learn best when they have a clear idea of the topics that are going to be presented as well as the expected outcomes of the presentation, answering the question "by the end of the training program, participants will be able to..." Adults are generally uncomfortable being "left in the dark" for too long about the content of a presentation. Too often, presenters wait too long before sharing this information with the audience and when they do, the agenda and/or goals are too ambiguous to focus everyone's attention and achieve desired outcomes.
3. Goals for the presentation are not SMART.*
The old acronym in training jargon for SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, result-oriented and time bound) is very applicable when it comes to job performance management as well as training program outcomes. The "SMARTer" the training goals are, the more likely the adult learners are going to achieve the behavioral changes that are desired. Conversely, the less SMART the training goals, the more likely the desired behavioral outcomes will not be realized.
4. Presenter does not adequately explain (in relation to the organization's vision and mission) why the training topic is important to the attendees.*
Training programs should be intimately tied to the mission of the organization and/or its strategic goals. The presenter needs to make
that connection for the audience in no uncertain terms. It is one of the many variables that the presenter needs to address if he/she is going to realize the desired change that the presentation is trying to achieve.
5. Presenter does not adequately explain (in relation to individual participants) why the training topic is important to the attendees.*
Part 2 of reason #4 above, attendees should see the reason for training in terms of that other old training axiom What's In It For Me?
(WIIFM). It is the presenter's responsibility to make the WIIFM connection very clear to the audience. Without addressing this item and the previous one, the audience sits there with the collective the question of "why should I view this presentation as important to me, my job and my organization?"
6. The presenter does not give an opportunity for attendees to speak or interact at the beginning of the session.*
Most, if not all attendees, have needed to feel a level of affiliation, inclusion and/or influence with the other people in the training room. If these needs are ignored from the beginning of the session, adult learners will not be as ready to learn as they could be. Training
programs can be perceived as ponderous with the instructor feeling like he/she is doing all the talking and getting participants to talk is like "pulling teeth." This problem can be addressed in a variety of ways that facilitate attendees sharing relevant information with either the large group or the people sitting next to them early in the training session.
7. The presenter is not an effective time manager.*
Starting late, ending late, coming back late from breaks, not providing a break at appropriate times all point to a presenter who is not an effective time manager. In addition to being the content expert, trainers are also expected to effectively manage training program time. Realistically, if presenters want to cover the agenda and accomplish the training program goals, they will need to use
every available minute toward this purpose. Attendees get a mixed message from presenters who tout the training program's importance while mismanaging valuable program time.
8. The presenter uses a limited variety of learning activities.*
Presenters have a tendency to spend an inordinate amount of training time imparting their extensive subject knowledge to attendees. While lecturing is a time-honoured and valuable learning activity, it is not the only effective technique that is available to the presenter. Facilitating small group discussions, case studies, role plays, instruments and videos all serve training program goals by helping attendees learn interactively. Studies have shown that learning accomplished in this way is longer lasting, more enjoyable and builds relationships within the attendee group.
9. The presenter tells a joke and/or humorous story at the beginning of the training program.*
The Law of Effect says, in essence, that a training program that begins on a positive note will generally continue to be a positive
experience for attendees. The same is true in reverse for training programs that begin on a negative note; the spiral downward from the beginning is unmistakably painful for all involved. Beginning a training program with a joke and/or humorous story (as defined by the presenter) is a very risky undertaking. Humour is a very subjective matter, and what is funny for one person may be downright insulting to someone else. Beginning a program with a joke and/or story that is not well received can be a fatal mistake, causing irreparable damage to the credibility of the presenter and ruin the training experience for all attendees.
10. The presenter has not built in evaluation criteria to measure the impact/success of the training program.*
Training evaluation is generally based on four attendee related criteria; reactions, learning, behaviour and results. Evaluation data is essential for many reasons; it tells the presenter what to do differently next time regarding program design, it measures the impact of the training program in terms of participant learning and behaviour change and it documents the net results of the overall training effort to the strategic goals and bottom line of the organization. Without evaluation criteria, training impact cannot be measured, the success of training cannot be decided, and the value of the entire training effort cannot be determined.