Train-the-Trainer Tips on Using Technology to Follow Up with Learners

I don’t think I could ever willingly go off the power grid.

Over the last few decades, I have become increasingly dependent on electricity for the very basic things in my life—like learning. I have my calendar on my iPhone, and all my phone lists are digital; I check email on my phone and computer. What would I do without the Internet for blogs, newsletters, new ideas? Some people even read books on electronic devices…In how many days do you think many of us would go bonkers if a rolling blackout began?

Digital communication and learning is a given. So many people trade great ideas on what the best learning tools are (Jane Hart’s top 100 lists as voted on by over 500 learning professionals and posted 10/17/10 http://bit.ly/cBCkFA), the best books on adult learning (as posted by sticklearning blog http://bit.ly/cXeNam), or the most convenient ways to learn new languages (by podcast http://bit.ly/cjA31m).

 

Sales professionals seem to be a crew that actively seek out applications for technology. Emails I receive show me some strategies, techniques and factoids sales people are using to keep their pipelines filled, and I think these ideas have a lot of application for training. Why re-create the wheel when another industry has already found a better, faster, easier way to build, distribute and install the wheel?

 

A few tips I’ve seen recently you can easily use in training are below. I’ve also added some learning applications.

 

1.Use a voicemail phone tree to send information, reminders or additional tips after training to keep the information fresh for participants, remind them of a key learning, or add a quick, relevant tip they can implement on-the-job. Send the message out at after work hours so the message is on their voicemail. It can then be saved and perhaps even listened to multiple times, and it allows the participant to listen and review it while hopefully jotting down a note.

2.If you want to connect with participants after a session for a follow-up, send an email with a question in the subject line like “Should we meet Tuesday at 2 p.m.?” If you want to meet with both the trainee and his manager, this is a good way to get a quicker response from both. If you are all at the same company, you can send an invitation to a meeting via Outlook or survey the participants and schedule the meeting at doodle.com or timetomeet.info.

3. Actually take the time to type or, even better, legibly handwrite a note and mail it through snail mail (okay, interoffice mail works, too…) if you want to connect with somebody or encourage them in some way. With technology being the “wave” of today, and not just the future, so many people forget the “old school” ways of connecting with people—you know, before telegrams, partylines and the local gossip.

 

As a trainer, as educators, we invest in the life-long learning of those with whom we come in contact. Part of our job, innately, is to provide the environment in which those learners can feel motivated. Keeping in contact with them in a variety of ways before, during and after can help increase the motivation to learn as well as the actual application of that learning later. Variety is the spice of life, I hear.

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