In the give-give culture of the internet I've posted this article which gives some interesting pointers for training adults. Please feel free to download.

CHARTER OF BEST PRACTICE FOR TRAINERS

Picture This!

You, the expert at the top of the room, static, lacking in energy and I'm sitting down usually on a hard chair for at least six hours. The deal is you stay static and I don't budge. You think I'm listening, I'm actually scheduling the weeks work. I'm desperately thinking about how I will juggle certain jobs now that I have lost a valuable day to training. And to make it worse, it's not even particularly relevant. I reach for the Ballygowan and try not to look too obvious as I break the seal and pour the sparkling water. Bubbles make a lot of noise. Later I wear the pencil out with my doodling and work lists. I keep an eye on the time and occasionally I hear what you - the expert trainer - has to say.

Have you ever been there? If you're the trainer in this scenario, you'll recognise this scene by the sinking feeling in your stomach. You'll be getting picture, no sound. You're not connected to the participants and they certainly aren't connecting to you.

If you identify with this make sure you never allow this to happen in one of you're training sessions.

THE CARDINAL RULE
Training adults is a noisy science. In order for it to work they have to hear themselves and others think aloud. That's called participation and if you're a good trainer, you should really be a good facilitator.

FACILIATION
Good facilitators change pace between being directive and passing on information and listening to where a group has got to. They also start a session by checking in to find out what people's
expectations are. This helps to clarify.

One of the most essential skills of facilitation is listening. Participants are impressed when you remember their names and who they are. Later on in a session, they are flattered when you refer back to something they said earlier. In order to do this you have got to be present and you have to listen.

As a facilitator when you're listening intently to one person you also need peripheral vision to make sure you're carrying the rest of the group with you.

From time to time it's useful to question people, using their name and asking them how they feel? what they think?, could they add to….This changes the energy in a room and keeps people awake. Be careful to use humour and not to humiliate anyone. If someone is apparently struggling because they weren't listening, say I'll come back to you on that later.

BODY LANGUAGE
Body language is critical in terms of keeping people in the room involved and interested. Watch that when listening to one person you don't cut out nine others.

When you're using the flip chart make sure that you do so from the side. Turning your back on the group allows them downtime when you most need their attention.

Make sure your body language is open. Avoid closed arms. Avoid sitting down unless the group is working on something. And even then your help could be required so circulate.

DRESS SENSE
Albert Mehrabian conducted research into first impressions and this is what he discovered:

58% Look
35% Sound
7% Words

Effectively this means that 93% of the first impression you create as a trainer when you walk into that room is non-verbal. The group is watching you from head to toe and listening to your sound, voice and accent.

Pay attention to how you dress. Look professional. For men - White shirts don't work. They drain colour from the face. Garda Blue works. Watch the newsreaders on television.

Avoid rolling up shirtsleeves - invest in short sleeved shirts. If you want to be taken seriously leave your jacket on as long as possible. Wear your best shoes for training sessions and make sure they are polished. People sitting on hard chairs in training courses have hours to look at these tiny details.

For women - the same rules apply. Try not to have too much fussy detail in jewellery. Pay attention to your hair and where possible tie it back off your face. The polished shoes and white blouse rule also applies!

VHF
We all process information on three channels. Visual, Hearing and Feeling - VHF. Most trainers make the mistake of concentrating on one channel. And they concentrate on this channel of communication for too long. Start a training course and give the participants a lecture for 40 minutes. The talk is packed full of fascinating information. After approximately 10 minutes, most of the audience has beamed out. You, the trainer overly relied on one channel - hearing.

Watch yourself at meetings, training sessions or presentations from now on. Pay attention to how long the speaker is holding your interest?

In order for a presentation to work, we have to mix and interchange the three channels.

Visuals have got to be interesting and easy to follow. Pictures really do tell a thousand words. Can you use a photograph, bar chart, graph, illustration or cartoon?

Hearing, modulate your voice and vary the tone. Practice projecting your voice and speaking from the bottom of your stomach rather than the tip of your throat.

Feeling - can you pass anything around for the group to touch and feel? Have you a sample of what you're speaking about? Smell is also incredibly powerful at evoking memory or transporting people.

HOUSEKEEPING
As the trainer you should always be in the training room before any participants arrive. A good 30 minutes is essential for set up. Otherwise, a participant arrives recognises you and decides to have a chat. A chat is the last thing you need as you arrange your paperwork and prepare for the butterflies to fly in formation.

Watch the air conditioning and if you're not working in a hotel, make sure the room is aired before the course and during breaks. 10 adults and one trainer all using the same air supply for six hours can be intense.

Clicky pens, crunchy hard mints and ice in the water jugs may or may not distract you. Be prepared. When asking people to turn off their mobile phones you could also mention the pens by holding one up. This causes a laugh and you won't hear that most irritating noise. There are people who click to every original thought. The noise also annoys other people so you're doing everyone a favour.

Notes should be given at the end of a session otherwise people start reading ahead. If you distribute handouts during the day do they need to be punched? Reading lists are also a great idea.

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
In training we're usually dealing with three types of people:

1. Learners - who want to be there and get as much as they can from the session
2. Holiday makers - who want to have as much free time as possible
3. Prisoners - who were sent on the course and resent being there

A training session can be thrown off course by a variety of uncooperative behaviour. Here are some personality types and some ideas to help you deal with them.

Remember, the same stuff can happen in meetings, panel discussions and presentations.

The Negative Person
More often than not their problem is legitimate. Most of the problem may have nothing to do with your training session. Allow the person to speak, don't interrupt, see it from his point of view and check if there's any common ground. Should he be at this session or not? By allowing him to vent his frustrations you see what's underneath and you can decide to:

* Empathise and move on
* Decide if these issues need to be addressed immediately
* Agree together if this issue can be sorted at break, lunch time whenever…he buys in and stays quiet until that point

Your job is:

* Not to take the issue personally
* Don't get drawn into the argument
* Don't show anger. Keep calm (outwardly) if you show the group that the negative person is getting to you, you're demonstrating a lack of ability to deal with the situation
* If the person is making wild, exaggerated statements canvass other opinions in the group. This clearly shows the negative person that his opinions don't represent those held by others in the group
* Reverse roles, ask the frustrated learner for his specific ideas on how to deal with the difficulties
* Call a break and take time to think about this situation
* Let peer pressure deal with the culprit
* Address antagonistic questions as serious - answer them and move on

THE CHATTERBOX
If you know in advance that the chatterbox is in the group, agree a learning contract with the group about everyone getting an equal opportunity to participate. When she goes off course, use her name and say Mary, remember we agreed……..

Pay attention and when she' s speaking, watch for her to take a breath, break in by saying "so what I hear you saying is….. Now who else feels the same?"

Go around the room looking for one idea from each person. If anyone doesn't have an idea just say pass.

Frequent eye contact with the chatterbox invites additional comment. Avoid it!

Direct questions to other people in the room.

If the chatterbox is difficult to stop, ask to speak with her at break and affirm her for her contributions so far but stress the importance of everyone getting a chance to speak.

THE RAMBLER
Summarise the rambler's point of view in order to bring clarity before moving on.

Emphasise the importance of staying on schedule. Interestingly, if you can finish five minutes before the official end time, people hang on and chat. If you finish bang on time they usually have another pressing engagement.

Record the ideas on flip chart this avoids repetition and helps the rambler to organise their thoughts.

If you feel that this tool kit doesn't hit the spot and that you usually encounter more difficult situations - read on. Paul Watzlawick developed the idea of using psychological judo. He first 'prescribed the symptoms' to a patient who suffered from insomnia. He urged the patient to do everything in his power to prevent himself from sleeping. Within a few days the patient was sleeping normally.

See if you could use any of this psychological judo on a heckler, know all, whisperer, silent one, hair splitter or doodler.

THE HECKLER
His job is to get you to connect and engage. You might use some of the above strategies and they may not work.

If you employ peer pressure, the heckler might just enjoy being ostracised so how about turning the tables?

Tell the group that John is the official devil's advocate for the session. His point of view is invaluable. It helps all of us to see both sides of the picture. Give him permission to interject when he sees the group going astray. You have converted a negative, annoying heckler into something positive. Within no time at all, his contributions become considered and useful. His time in the sun has now become official and his heckling energy is used to good effect.

THE KNOW ALL
The know-all can be particularly intimidating for an internal trainer. Peer pressure probably wouldn't work in this situation because everyone knows that Dr. Neasa Moran does know it all. Your task as trainer is to pull her aside as quick as you can and explain that this course may not have a lot to offer her personally. She could
choose to either leave the course or do you a big favour. See if you can get Neasa to help in any way. Share the stage without relinquishing your authority. Pretty soon she will start to be on your side and you have diffused a situation, which could be difficult for you and uncomfortable for course participants.

THE WHISPERER
All trainers take it personally when whispering starts. Some react by being like a 'National School' teacher in pouncing and embarrassing the offenders. A much better strategy is to say to the group this point is so important, I'd like you to turn to the person beside you to share your thoughts and confusions in order to emphasise or clarify your understanding. Wait patiently. The group will finish. The whispering continues and peer pressure affects the whisperers. Soon any potential whisperer will ask you the question.

THE SILENT ONE
In a consensus style meeting the shy quiet person can be very frustrating. Find time where you can say to the group that some shy and quiet participants get a great deal from meetings or presentations but they do not feel they need to contribute verbally. Avert your eyes from anyone in the room who is quiet and shy. This encourages those participants to keep their thoughts to themselves if they so wish.

Watch this space…. Far from heaving a mental sigh of relief the quiet ones find ways to contribute. They don't want to be labelled as shy!

THE HAIR SPLITTER
Hair splitters are characterised by intolerance of generalities, ambiguity and analogy. They are different from hecklers who want to destroy or know-alls who want to shine. In meetings they can throw the whole show off course with obsessive attention to minute detail.

Your job with a hair splitter is to:

1. Welcome his attempts to preserve accuracy
2. Explain there is a temporary need to simplify some points during the preliminary phase of discussion
3. Ask the hair splitter to help the meeting by making a written list of all his points
4. Agree during a break with all of his points and ask for suggestions on how to specify the generalities
5. Add two or three extra points which you feel had been
over-simplified in the meeting but which he had not picked up himself

Lastly, ask the hair splitter to read his list to the reconvened meeting. His presentation usually works hard at fitting into the consensus of the meeting rather than splitting hairs.

THE DOODLER
Overt discipline or biting sarcasm as a method of controlling a doodler won't work. It will only evoke defensiveness from the doodler and antipathy from his neighbours who were quite enjoying this visual break.

Why not invite the doodler to do one summary cartoon for each module of the course? Supply him with transparencies and markers and watch the other participants' work hard at summarising too.

In summary then, here are the top 10 tips:

1. Be a good facilitator
2. Pay attention to your body language
3. Avoid white shirts, wear polished shoes and look professional
4. Remember good communication works on three channels - VHF
5. Arrive in the training room early
6. Be careful about ambient noises and air conditioning
7. Listen to course participants
8. Practice using the tool kit for dealing with difficult people
9. Finish five minutes before the official close
10. Enjoy…Your enthusiasm is contagious

RECOMMENDED READING
The Trainer's Tool Kit - Cy Charney and Kathy Conway, published by Amacom
7 steps to fearless speaking - Lilyan Wilder, published by John Wiley & Sons
Dealing with difficult people - Roberta Cava, published by Piatkus
How to master meetings - an article by John Townsend, managing director
of Interaction training seminars and workshops.




© MICHELINE EGAN, FOXFIELD, CASTLEBAR CO.MAYO
tel: 094.902.8179 - mobile: 087.2508340