Let’s start with some big questions… Does your organization aspire to solve a problem, declare victory, and go out of business? If so, what would victory look like – and when will it happen? Are you building a resilient nonprofit that can persist and thrive? How would you know? How do you measure resilience? When you step back, who … [Read more...]
Training both sides of the brain
Take a look at these two photos. Which one looks like the more engaging learning experience? Given a choice between the two, where would you rather be? Your answer may depend on how your brain works. Your brain isn’t one thing In the 1960’s, psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry proposed that the brain’s left … [Read more...]
The Value of Being Wrong
There I stood, at the front of the room, introducing the workshop. After reviewing the agenda, and asking the group to suggest additions or changes, I offered the following. “If you disagree with my advice, or any content in this workshop, please challenge me. It’s always a good session when somebody picks a fight, so bring it … [Read more...]
In Praise of Role Plays – Because Sometimes You Need to Make People Uncomfortable
After leading a recent fundraising training, I read the following comment on one of the evaluation forms: What was your favorite part of the workshop? The role play. What was your least favorite part of the workshop? The role play. Clearly, this person had participated in something uncomfortable, learned a lot from the experience, … [Read more...]
Take It Outside: Why Your Next Training Should Include Time Outdoors
This post was inspired by a photo. Take a look. You want to be part of this workshop, right? It was a lovely fall day in Colorado, at an event sponsored by the Community Resource Center. We had more than one hundred people in a church hall – good light, great acoustics, a very nice venue. And yet – a hundred people can only sit … [Read more...]
Three Ways to Get Students Talking and One Way to Shut Them Up
Have you ever been afraid to raise your hand and speak up? Perhaps you weren’t afraid exactly, but you wondered if you might look foolish or ask a dumb question. If you’re like me, anxieties like that can keep you from speaking out. A great trainer works in many ways to encourage everyone to participate – both the naturally talkative … [Read more...]
Five Steps to Success: A Simple Strategy to Help You Become a Great Trainer
If you’ve been reading our blog, you know that the most effective trainers use activities, rather than lectures, to draw out the wisdom and expertise of the people being trained, People learn more when they build on their own experiences, rather than listen to you talk about yours. Yes, it’s possible to take this approach too far. … [Read more...]
Benchmarking Bad: Three Common Trainer Mistakes – and How to Avoid Them
Lately, I’ve started train-the-trainer workshops with the following question: “Has anyone ever attended a bad class, a bad workshop, or had a bad learning experience?” When everybody stops laughing – because who hasn’t? – I ask them to gather in small groups and list “the benchmarks of bad.” It’s always a lively conversation, … [Read more...]
How to Stop Talking and Start Training
Why is it so dang hard to stop talking too much when you're trying to train people? Recently I sat in on a 3-hour teaching session, given to a small group of 10 adult learners. The topic was fundraising and every one of the people in the class had some real-life experience with that subject. I was just an observer, curious in part … [Read more...]