This weekend I spent a lot of time learning to use some video creation software. When I watched the demo, it looked so easy. A video from start to finish in less than two minutes. Wow! Then I started making my own.
Step 1: Load your keywords. I don’t have any keywords yet. What should they be? How do I know what’s best? I want to create something that will really WORK. The tutorials don’t show me how to do this. I know. I watched them all. So off I went and learned what I needed to know on my own. So add another 45 minutes, and I now have my key words.
Step 2: Load your content. I don’t have any content to load. What should I say? What is the message I want to drive home? How much can I put on each slide? Guess what? The tutorials don’t say. So 45 minutes later I have my content.
I had to follow that same process for loading my music, timing the slides, etc. So after 6 hours (two minutes had looong passed) I had my first video.
This whole experience reminded me that people come to our train the trainer (and other) programs with various levels of experience, preparation, and knowledge. For the most part, as trainers, we are way ahead of them all. And we may not remember what it was like to be a novice or how much of the content we view as intuitively obvious to the casual observer when it’s not.
So my experience reinforces what I’ve recommended to trainers for years – plan your course and then decide what the most important two-thirds is. What are the two, three, or four most important pieces of knowledge or skills you want people to use as a result of your training? Focus on those and create time for them to practice and apply during the training. Then align it with their managers’ transfer strategies to ensure they use the skills and apply the knowledge in practical ways during the first 30-45 days after training. You’ll see your results soar. You’ll see participant satisfaction soar. And more than that you’ll see your training getting greater buy-in and support from line managers!
