Summary: Professional-level training often is delivered with too much information and too little active learning to be effective. To do things better, we can take inspiration from how languages are taught.
In professional-level training one of the common problems is Death-by-PowerPoint. This is bad for the participants, because it’s not conducive to learning, and bad for the hosting organisation, because it does not elevate performance.
However, there is a strong business rationale for effective training. When training is done well, it is the basis of high performance.
This article highlights some ways, in which we can improve training. The defining characteristics of death-by-PowerPoint are, simply, too much of everything: too much information, too long in duration, too one-sided. These factors are not conducive to learning. If a training session doesn’t train, then it’s not providing a return on investment.
How then can we deliver training better? The answer to this question has several factors. In this article two factors are introduced: the amount of new information and interaction.
To understand effective quantities of new information, we can take inspiration from another complex field, namely languages.
Imagine that we are attending a beginner’s level language class, where we will start from zero with a language. If languages were taught like most professional-level training, we would cover basic grammar, vocabulary, and syntax in the first minutes, then quickly progress on to formal language, prose, rhetoric, and philology.
Obviously, this does not sound like something realistic. It might be a good structure for an intriguing public lecture, yet not one for practical learning.
In a single language class, realistically, what can we expect to learn?
Firstly, in practice there is only a little bit of new information. Beginner-level language classes start with simple phrases, simple questions and answers, and maybe some basic counting. If after the class we retain that information, it was a success.
To learn a new topic effectively, new information must be added in slow increments. We can be overwhelmed by information very quickly and, if we are overwhelmed, we don’t learn.
Secondly, language-classes incorporate active learning, meaning that the learners actually exercise the new information. For example, the teacher says in the language of study “My name is…” and then we repeat. Direct experience is the most effective way of learning, and this is true for any skill.
From the perspective of a proficient speaker in that language, a beginner’s class may feel like an adult does when attending a kindergarten class. It seems too simple. However, we must remember that complexity is relative. What is new and, therefore, difficult for one person may be easy for someone else.
Naturally, one class does not make us fluent in a language. Indeed, useful fluency often requires years of study and practice. Likewise, mastery of most professional-level skills and knowledge require long periods of experience.
Well structured training helps us to master any skill. Just like with learning languages, in professional-level training gradual progression of information and active practice are necessary for effective learning.
Ultimately, good training helps us to learn, progress, and achieve high-performance.
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High Performance through Great Training
My work is all about the design and implementation of great training for the purpose of high performance.
In this guide I’ve summarised my process for creating great training, in particular, how I follow a process of thinking about training at strategic, tactical, and logistical levels.
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