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How do people learn ?

An obvious first question for anyone designing a training program. Here is some theory on different learning styles along with some suggestions as to how to apply it when designing training programs for your staff.

Kolb’s Learning Cycle:

David Kolb proposed that people progress round a cycle of (4) learning events, the starting point being determined by their own preferred style.

1. Concrete Experience

Many people like to learn by having a concrete experience, often with limited preparation. Example – how many people when faced with a new software will say: “Just let me try it myself”.

2. Observation & Reflection

Others learn by the watching someone else performing the task or reflecting on what they’ve seen. Using the software analogy, many people will ask “Would you show me how to do it before I try it myself?”

3. Search for Underlying Theory

Yet others will need to understand the underlying theory before attempting the task themselves. Back to the software: “Can you let me read the manual first, please?”

4. Active Experimentation

Finally, there are those who prefer practical experimentation to learn: “I wonder how it might help me to complete that task”.

While most people progress round all four stages of the cycle, we tend to spend more time at some stages, depending on our own preferred learning “style”. When designing training courses it is essential that you have a balance of these four areas to meet the preferred styles of all trainees. It is not so important which you start with, but more importantly to include them all and remember that one method will not fit everyone.

Creating professional-level PowerPoint slides is an essential skill for Japanese managers communicating with their “global team”. Unfortunately, this is often done poorly due to a lack of English proficiency, training, or insight into how to do this well. Here are (5) points Japanese professionals need to remember when creating PowerPoint slides for a western audience:

1. Organize your ideas!

Great PowerPoint slides start first with a clear goal and great preparation. Many presentations fail simply because the presenter had not established the goal. Know your audience and what kind of information they are looking for. Know the goal of your presentation, what you want to achieve, and tailor your slides to meet this. Include only the main ideas and choose a flow structure to create smooth transitions and a clear message.

2. Write “Bullets” not sentences!

Bullets are short- “newspaper headline style” summaries of key information. They allow the audience to understand the main idea quickly without spending the whole time reading long sentences. If they are reading, they aren’t listening to you! Japanese business communication can tend to be “indirect” for reasons of politeness, grammar or style. This is a barrier to communication. From a western perspective, it also suggests indecisiveness or lack of information on the part of the presenter. Be direct! Identify the main noun in the sentence and eliminate small words such as (in, at, on, for). “We have over 20 locations in Japan” should read “Over 20 Locations” in bullet form.

3. Documents are not powerpoint slides!

We’ve all seen presentations where the presenter simply cuts and pastes an Excel file into a PowerPoint slide. This is called “Data Dump”. There is often way too much data for the audience to absorb. This is a misunderstanding of the purpose or power point slides. PowerPoint slides should support the message of the speaker, not overwhelm the audience. Detailed documents can be handed out at the end of the presentation.

4. Style matters!

Western audiences expect a certain amount of style. An “all text” PowerPoint presentation will be met with yawns and perceived as lazy. Do use professional quality photos, organize information in interesting ways, use color appropriately, and avoid animation. Design and style should complement the content of your presentation, not distract from it. Less is more, your audience will thank you.

5. Error Free!

Easily fixed spelling errors may be acceptable to a Japanese manager who understands the difficulty of using a second language in business contexts, but will these mistakes be acceptable to your head office in Germany? Western audiences expect professionalism and this includes both small errors and large. Be careful with word choice, a dictionary will often give you business vocabulary that is not entirely appropriate for the unique context you are describing. This causes confusion and distracts from the power of your ideas. Spell check, ask a native colleague to check the language used, and write carefully choosing the best word for each situation.

As a manager, coming up with great new ideas is only part of the challenge. The next step, and hardest step, is getting your staff to understand and learn the new skill or idea. High quality Presentations are an effective and straightforward way to transfer ideas, however sometimes an alternative technique will be more appropriate.

Here are (9) successful techniques for transferring skills and concepts to your staff:

(1) Demonstration:

A demonstration is an expanded form or presentation, where the trainer demonstrates the skill or technique in action. This is particularly helpful when trainees will be expected to perform the skill or capability themselves.

(2) Articulation:

Stop a presentation periodically and have trainees talk to each other in pairs about the presentation or activity. What does it mean to them? and how can they apply it in their life and work.

(3) Follow Me:

A variation on the traditional demonstration is to progressively transfer the responsibility to the trainees as they build confidence. The components are as follows:

• The instructor demonstrates the skill at normal speed to show what standard of performance is expected.
• The instructor will then do it again slowly to show the individual steps in more detail. (Each step is given its own number)
• The trainee now attempts each step in turn, with the instructor giving appropriate feedback and sharing tricks, tips, and general advice.
• Finally, the trainee does the whole process alone, slowly at first, then building up speed.

(4) Mnemonics:

Mnemonics are a powerful way of remembering abstract or random information. Why not build into the design a session that asks the trainees to create their own Mnemonics?

Example: Order of colors in the rainbow, or visual spectrum

(Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)

Mnemonic: Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain

(5) Flowcharts / Diagrams / Drawings:

Give trainees an unfamiliar piece of text or some new information. Ask them to study the information in pairs and then to produce a flowchart or diagram that summarizes the process described in the text.

(6) Whole Body Learning:

Get trainees up on their feet and using their whole bodies in the learning process. Many people learn better when there is physical movement or “action” attached to the process. Here is an example of how to teach “social styles” involving physical movement.

• Ask trainees to stand up and imagine a line on the floor- one end is “task focussed” and the other is”people focussed”.
• Ask them to stand where they think they normally operate.
• Next, introduce a second axis at right angles to the first axis. To the left go people who “ask” and to the right people who “tell”.
• Keeping their original positions along the first axis, ask trainees to move left or right by an appropriate amount to show how they influence people.
• Once the movement has stopped ask everyone to see where others are then open a discussion on the four different styles represented.

The physical movement will have two effects. First, generating interest for what it all means and secondly, that once all the answers are given, trainees will remember information better as it is associated with a memorable event.

(7) Discovery:

Instead of “telling”, the instructor asks a question that leads to what the trainees have to learn.

• Instructor asks a question.
• Each trainee then writes down his or her thoughts without reference to others.
• Delegates then share what they have written in pairs or threes.
• Optionally, the pairs or threes combine to create larger groups, which again compare their answers, and then agree on a “group answer”.
• The instructor asks each group in turn for one idea they have had, and writes the useful ideas on the board, perhaps saying a little in support of each idea.

(8) Video/DVD:

Using video/DVD can be a very powerful way of transferring skills or concepts, provided the content is really “on target”, short and to the point. Video/DVD provides a good ‘change of pace” from a lecture format. Use it in short bursts rather than long periods of time to avoid tiring out the audience. Longer videos will lose their power as they are passive, the trainees will become bored similar to a long lecture.

(9) Collaborative Pre-Test:

This is a very effective way to start a training course or session. Gibe trainees the “final exam” right at the beginning of the course or session. Ask them to collaborate with each other to see how much they already know or can figure out using the available reference material, i.e. reference guide and current knowledge. Once this knowledge or (lack of knowledge) is established, it creates the space for learning. Both instructor and trainees will understand weak areas of understanding from the very beginning allowing a more focused program.