You're starting a career in training. What are the most common mistakes to avoid?

When it comes to training, specificity is key! Addressing your audience in a way that resonates with their specific needs and interests is crucial. Generic training programs often miss the mark, leaving participants feeling disconnected and unengaged. In my experience, I've found that tailoring training to the unique requirements of different departments is essential for success. By customizing content to address specific challenges and goals, you can ensure that every participant feels valued and engaged throughout the learning process. Remember, training is not one-size-fits-all. Take the time to understand the needs of your audience and deliver a bespoke learning experience that truly speaks to them.

Knowing your audience involves more than just demographics; it's about grasping their learning styles, prior knowledge, and motivations. Without this insight, training material may miss the mark, resulting in disengagement and limited retention. Take the time to conduct thorough audience analysis, gather feedback, and adapt your approach accordingly. Tailoring content to resonate with your audience's needs and preferences enhances learning outcomes and fosters a more enriching training experience overall.

Understand your audience and customize the training based on their educational background. Utilize practical examples to make the content relatable and engage participants by encouraging them to reflect on the topic before the session. Consider assigning a brief research task beforehand to pique interest and ensure active participation right from the start. It's crucial to remain open to improvement and training yourself. Following the training, inquire about your audience's learning experience, their enjoyment of the session, and any additional expectations they may have had. Remember, learning is a continuous journey, not only for your students, but also for yourself.

1. Lack of knowledge about the topic: Prepare extensively on the topic what you are going to deliver. If possible do a research on different aspects and parameters of the topic. 2. Lack of engagement: Effective audience engagement is absolutely needed when it comes to the fact that whether training is really making an impact or not. 3. Overloading of information: It is not advisable to overload the audience with information. Keep the topic crisp, intact and discussion oriented. It will help to have less confusion and clarity over the matter. 4. Not keeping time for Q&A: Adherence to timing is important and try to keep at least 10 minutes for Q&A which will identify whether topic has been well understood. 5. Don't make audience size heavy.

One thing to absolutely avoid is preaching. There is a very thin line between imparting knowledge as a trainer and going into the preacher mode; and as trainer we have to be extremely mindful of it.

As you embark on your career in training, it is essential to be mindful of several common mistakes that can hinder your success. Firstly, ensure you thoroughly understand the needs and learning styles of your trainees to tailor your approach effectively. Additionally, avoid overloading them with information and instead focus on quality over quantity to facilitate better retention. Lastly, maintain open communication with your trainees to address any concerns or feedback promptly. By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can set yourself up for a successful and impactful training career.

Let’s talk about the goal of training: retention of actionable knowledge. Never loose sight of the KISS principle. 1,2,3 and A,B,C is what is needed. When your audience wants to go beyond 1,2,3 and A,B,C then recognize that as “advance training.” I think that one mistake many trainers make is overestimating what the audience will learn during the session. Keep it simple (1,2,3 and A,B,C) and focus on the objectives, always make sure the target audience masters the basics before moving on to advanced.

Ensure that your training objectives align with the goals and expectations of key stakeholders within your organization. This alignment fosters support and investment in the training program.

Setting clear training objectives is crucial for the success of any educational program. Objectives define the desired outcomes, guiding both the trainer's preparation and the learners' focus. They help in creating structured content that is aligned with learners' needs, facilitating measurable progress. Clear objectives also empower participants by providing a clear understanding of what they are expected to learn and achieve. This clarity enhances motivation, as learners can see the direct relevance and application of the training to their professional or personal growth. Ultimately, well-defined objectives ensure the training is effective, efficient, and valued by all involved, leading to better retention and application of knowledge.

Here is where I regularly fail, and there are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, my ego! I have many examples from my career that I like to share and I fail to embrace the fact that often my audience has more relevant and up to date experience! Secondly, time. It is easy to control time when you control the PPT clicker. Much harder to do when you have open the floor to discussions. However, over the years I have come to understand that discussions and active learning is far more beneficial to the the training audience than listening to a middle aged old man drone on and on.

I definitely agree! Most presenters today in the age of available information and design tools remain stagnant in the way of presenting. As a participant and trainer I know that the audience should be the priority in the pace and not the number of slides and ideas one is yet to click over. The flexibility of the presenter is of utmost importance to allow the audience to exhaust and satisfy themselves from the current point interest in the presentation not to hang up on planned materials. An engaged audience will have better retention than a quiet audience who you navigated the entire deck.

Encourage learners to take turns teaching or explaining concepts to their peers. This not only reinforces their own understanding but also promotes peer-to-peer learning and collaboration.

El proceso de aprendizaje para que sea efectivo debe ir mucho más allá de una comunicación de la formación de forma pasiva, donde los alumnos sean una audiencia que no participa ni interactua con la formación, pues si no sería más bien un proceso de comunicación. Hay que buscar una metodología que permita al alumnado construir y participar en el propio proceso.

Yes, active learning is a must! We have to engage our learners to ensure they understand concepts. It also helps to get people involved who aren't the first to volunteer to answer or complete a task.

Depending on which audience you're delivering training to, you'll want to adapt your fun memory challenges and group (or pair) exercises to fit their age, current maturity with the content, and time remaining for the section you're in. Offer sufficient opportunity for the students to get hands-on with the 'new material' so that they're able to see the theory in practice. Mix individual exercises with small group activities, allowing them to teach each other. Doing so builds understanding, not just recall, plus important human connections. Tell a compelling story, one in which students see themselves, and your content will be hooked to an existing framework in their minds. Add some positive emotion and POW, your student satisfaction grows.

One of my beliefs is that information rarely changes anything. What is required is knowledge which is information at work. This means in any training you must lay the informational ground work and then create an opportunity to use the concepts in realistic, simulated situations. This crosses the chasm from awareness to practice. Incorporating feedback and coaching allows the learner to develop confidence in the practice and begin to assimilate the learning.

Balancing theory and practice can be a huge mistake that you would never want to make in your training programs as it makes you monotonous and makes the audience lose interest in your training programs. Set clear examples or conduct activities and breakdown the concepts or principles that you want them to understand through those examples or activities. This results in a high engagement rate of the audience throughout the session.

"To avoid this, you need to balance theory and practice in your training." Wow! I have failed this category. I have presented training with principle only. To me, my message was spot-on, but to my audience, it was missing a critical piece- the practical. They needed to hear and or see how the theory worked in a real life situation. They needed to hear how quantity supported quality. Without it, my message was just words sitting in isolation. It needed a cause to satisfy. An action to fulfill. Bottom line... My theory needed practice and my practice needed theory. The balance of the two gave my audience an optimal learning experience.

Nivelar la teoría y la práctica es de vital importancia en la formación a cualquier nivel. La teoría permite estandarizar y homologar conceptos en el grupo, la práctica facilita el aprendizaje y la comprensión así como la retención. Se aprende haciendo

Divide your training session into distinct time blocks for different activities or topics. Allocate sufficient time for each block based on its importance and complexity, ensuring a balanced pace throughout the session.

1) Always plan to do less than you want - you'll often still fill the day 2) Decide in advance which 2/3/4 elements you'll NOT deliver when time gets tight - the key here is to consider what is critical for the subject in hand Planning is important, and so is flexibility. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy". Or if you prefer it a bit more rugged... "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face" (10 bonus points if you know who said those 😄)

Do’s Trainer shall practice the deliverable before actual day of training to match the time bound session. Don’ts Trainer shall focus on the training context relevance only to avoid exceeding the time limit of session.

Whoever delivers the training may not be the person who architected the content. Often times it was instructional designers, and they built the course in a way that provides adequate breaks and smart transitions. Once you've delivered the class enough times, you'll begin to see where your groups get hung up. Develop fun challenges to boost key learning and enhance recall. Use group exercises that chunk down the sticking points. Self-teaching dramatically improves retention. Manage time throughout the whole course by sharing up front that you'll use a timer everyone can see, which helps keep philosophical-type Q&A until after class. Use a 'parking lot' for other questions they'll be able to answer themselves later in the class. Have fun.

Again, set expectations for your trainees. Let them know how much time is allocated for each block of learning. Also, if possible, streamline the volume of info that you want to push. People rarely retain the bulk of your presentations anyways.

Utilize Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation as a framework for assessing training effectiveness. This model includes evaluating reactions, learning, behavior, and results, providing a comprehensive understanding of the impact of training on both individual learners and the organization as a whole.

A common mistake to avoid is neglecting to evaluate and adjust training in order to meet your audience's needs and learning styles. Not keeping your audience engaged throughout the training can lead to an ineffective session. It's crucial to understand and identify the learning objectives and who your audience is, in order to curate relevant and engaging training sessions. Seeking feedback is a must in order to improve and assess the impact of the training as well as the ROI. Seek feedback from participants through evaluations in real time after training sessions and from your peers!

I think one of the most common mistakes trainers maker is ignore logistics, not knowing your material or what you need to deliver your training assuming other people will take care of it , only to arrive to your training realising you are short on materials. So know your logistics even if you are not the one responsible for it.

In my first training role I was provided with top-notch training materials. I learned the material and taught it, much like any other training program, I imagine. I thought I was doing a great job. I received feedback from every student on every class the same day the training took place, while the details of the class were still easy to recall. When one student critiques your training as being 'too fast,' you may tend to ignore the feedback. But when three students, in the same class, say you went too fast you realize they may actually be right. When this happened to me I suddenly valued the feedback as my most potent tool to improve my skills. Now, if I do not receive this feedback I feel as if I've been denied a growth opportunity.

Some common mistakes to avoid include neglecting to tailor your training approach to the audience's needs and learning styles, failing to engage participants effectively, and not seeking feedback for continuous improvement. It's important to thoroughly understand the learning objectives and audience demographics to create relevant and engaging training materials. For example, if you're conducting a workshop on communication skills for a group of introverted individuals, you might avoid overly interactive or high-pressure activities that could make them uncomfortable. Seeking feedback from participants and colleagues can help you refine your training methods and ensure they are effective.

The combination of theory, practical cases but also peer learning is what I find always draws interest of the participating audience. More often than not participants have experienced or have learnt practical ways in their business environment that are highly relavant to the training offered. Using these not only as lessons learned but as a means for the participants to relate to domestic issues always draws a high level of attention - not to mention that from these you can then apply the principles learnt during the training in order to draw win win outcomes from the situations faced in real life. It ultimately rebounds on those who are starting up in the business as they can relate to real life cases already experienced by their peers.

Delivery matters! The most qualified subject matter expert in the world will still disengage their audience without the right presentation skills. Comfortable body language, Inflection, tone, eye contact, intentional pauses… all are important to captivate learners and deliver information in a way that it will be retained. Practice makes perfect.

Don’t assume that your Subject Matter Experts (SME) are trainers. The two are not always mutually exclusive. Your role as a trainer, among many things, is to work with the SMEs and extract the salient points from any information and make it digestible for your audience. The SMEs will be a font of knowledge, but it’s the role of a trainer to be able to chop up the information, and through the application of learning theory and application, create a narrative which will allow people to understand and apply.

If it is your first training program, you should definitely plan and prepare as per your knowledge and suggestions from seniors but you should be making maximum mistakes so that you can learn from it and for the next sessions you would be an well experinced and learned trainer. The most important thing to do is to observe your mistakes and learn from it.