​What Many Companies Don’t Know about Training

What would you say participants report as the most valuable aspects of leadership training programs? The new business models? The articles and resources? The engaging facilitator? Actually, none of the above. The majority of participants say the opportunity to interact and connect with peers across the organization! Yet, participants who attend traditional leadership courses spend most of their time listening to the talking head in the front of the room and typically only connect with peers during breaks and lunch.  

Are we saying ditch the content and just let people socialize during training courses? No, not quite. What we do is provide new models and fresh approaches while also optimizing the time leaders spend interacting together.

It's time to start creating training that maps to the learning formula many of us in the training industry have known for years: The 70-20-10 rule. 70% of learning occurs through experiential practices, 20% comes from learning from peers, and 10% from the content itself.
 
We can all intuitively understand this if you just think of the way you learn on a daily basis. Most likely, you're learning from YouTube videos, articles on LinkedIn, TedTalks, TV, magazines, conversations with friends, etc. We’re learning all the time in informal, easy digestible bites of information. We soak up and seek out knowledge when we need it or when a topic seems intriguing.
 
We believe it's time to change the game of how we teach leaders in organizations. Training should earn the audience’s attention by creating engaging, relevant, intriguing content that leaders are excited to discuss with peers and test out on the job.

Take a peak at this 3 minute video to learn a new way to deliver training for any content. The concepts are intuitive and the learning sticks:

• First, deliver bite-sized pieces of information before participants enter the classroom.
• Then, in the classroom offer a "Learning Lab" environment that allows participants to play with the concepts, wrestle with ideas, and discuss applications with their colleagues. 
• Next, allow participants to create thoughtful experiments on the job and give them time to implement.
• And, lastly, provide structured reflection to examine what worked/ didn't work so they can tweak their plans and continue learning.

This approach emphasizes the experiential element to training and encourages continued learning, beyond the classroom. We challenge you to implement a few of these ideas and let us know how it works. If you're feeling stuck and need some ideas, give us a call. We love brainstorming new ways to bring your content to life and create real learning for leaders.