LEGO® is great for gaining engagement and involvement in sessions, BUT as an L&D professional my eye is firmly on the underlying learning principles, one of which is the debrief. 

Without a purposeful debrief you’re simply playing with LEGO®!

Here’s just a few things to keep in mind:

• As part of the design of the activity, have a clear outcome for the debrief.
• Allow learner/s to consider what they have learnt from the activity individually before asking for examples of learning from group.
• To help solicit more insights, you could ask them:
  • What themes did they notice when others were sharing their learning?
  • Did people have different pieces but the same answer, or visa-versa?
  • What did they notice about their own answers / other people answers? 
• How would they draw their own learning from the activity back to our main topic of the session?
• Recap on main comments and help them reflect on anything not already mentioned.

This is just one of the things we discuss in the ‘LEGO® Workshop for Training Teams and ​​L&D Professionals’.  Check out the full content here:  https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/lego-workshop.html

#curiouslighthouse #learningwithlego #learninganddevelopment

“I like the idea of using LEGO® in my session, but don’t want to go full in yet.  Do you have a quick activity I could try out?”

This is a question I get asked a lot, so I thought I'd share a possible discussion starter as an example of how you can use LEGO® in a session, without making it the main focus.

• Introduce the LEGO®. (Some people might need a bit of theory here to accept play as a form of learning – see previous post on why I use LEGO® in my sessions.)
• Let them know you are going to ask them to build something from the LEGO® to help get a discussion started.
• Explain that the bricks can mean whatever they want them to mean.

Perception discussion starter

• Ask your learners to select three LEGO® pieces that represent their personality at work. (Xtra bags and LEGO® Accessory work really well for this activity)
• Ask them to explain why they chose those pieces.
• Ask them to pick one further piece that they think others may have picked for them
• Again, ask them to explain why they chose that piece.
• Continue the discuss linking to your session outcomes

 
This short activity is good because there are no perceived right or wrong answers.  It also allows everyone to have time to think about the topic before you launch into any theory or deeper discussion.
 
Want to find out more about learning with LEGO®?  Check out: https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/learning-with-lego-courses.html
 
#curiouslighthouse #learningwithlego #learninganddevelopment

Using LEGO® in your training, facilitation, or coaching sessions can really help learners engage on a different level.  But why use it at all? I often use these examples when opening my sessions (or when convincing Managers that we're not just 'playing'... we're learning!)
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• IT INCREASES ‘LEAN IN’ INTERACTION.  By this I mean, if you ask a question of your learners, they often go into their heads to answer, and if this is a group setting, only a few will actually voice their thoughts. By using LEGO® to build the answer, people have to use external processes too, plus everyone is encouraged to explain their build (answer) meaning more people are heard… they ‘lean in’ to the learning.  (Better conversation means even the quiet ones get heard.  With better engagement comes better overall learning.)
• IT ALLOWS FOR BETTER RETENTION OF LEARNING.  Building, explaining, and having some fun in the process makes the event more memorable, which when mixed with learning new information releases chemicals in the brain to aid retention better.  (Better retention means quicker uptake in changes.) 
• LESS EXPECTATION OF BEING CORRECT - LEGO® is a universally recognisable product. Put it in front of people and they simply start building, this is because LEGO® can mean anything to anyone.  With less restrictions on being ‘right’, more people take part and experience better learning.  (Less expectations mean quicker learning, which means better use of budget)

Want to find out more about how to use LEGO® in your sessions?  Check out:
https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/learning-with-lego-courses.html 
or 
www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/lego-workshop.html


#curiouslighthouse #learningwithlego #learninganddevelopment

Have you ever been setting up for your training workshop, and as people arrived someone announces, “I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M HERE!”

This question could have two different intents.

1. It could mean communication has failed. From a business perspective, poor communication about the actual training and from a learner’s perspective poor communication with their Line Manager to question why they are attending.
2. It could also mean they think they know everything already and are trying to let you know they don’t think they should be there!

What can you do as the TRAINER?

• Don’t be tempted to coach them (“Why do YOU think you’re here?”) This will just antagonise things.
• Keep factual. Explain what the training involves and who it is aimed at. Ask them what relevance this might have to their job role and look for responses.
• If they genuinely cannot make the connection, between the topics you are covering and their role or behaviour, ask them to call their Line Manager to clarify if they need to be there. (Booking mistakes happen!)
• If they are simply making a point that they don’t WANT to be there, you could dig a little deeper, but this isn’t always possible at the beginning of the session.  Ask them to join you up till the first break (which you can always bring forward) and then suggest they call their line manager to discuss alternative options if they still feel it’s not the right thing for them.
• As part of your opening, also discuss expectations, so if behaviour becomes an issue, you can refer back to it.
• If they (or anyone else for that matter) are continually disruptive ask them to leave and contact their line manager after the workshop to talk things through.
• Remember, it is not your role to make them stay!  It is your role to ensure you’ve established they fully understand what the training is about, and what the benefits of staying are, and the consequences of leaving entail.

Looking to increase your Training teams skills?  Then check out: https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/learning-and-development.html 

​ #curiouslighthouse #learninganddevelopment #HRBP

Have you ever been setting up for a workshop, and as the learners start to arrive, someone asks “HI... WHAT TIME DO WE FINISH?”
​
This can be a genuine question! But the fact that they ask it as soon as they walk in through the door can sometimes feel rather personal!
In my experience this has very little to do with you and is usually either about their external commitments – project deadline looming, childcare concerns or that they do not see the worth in the topic being trained.

So, what can you do as the TRAINER?

• Answer their question straight away and then follow this up by asking if there is anything you need to be aware of.
• If there is a genuine concern about completion of business-critical work, and there are alternative dates, ask if they need to reschedule. (Get them to check in with their line manager before confirming)
• If they need to leave early because of other reasons (Getting a lift / childcare etc, ask them to make arrangement with someone in the sessions to catch you up with what they will miss. By doing this, you are passing responsibility for their learner back to them.
• If they are asking because they actually don’t want to be there, ask what they know about the training and the reason for it. Spend time building rapport and making sure everyone is clear on this as part of your opening
• Above all else, don’t make them feel like they’ve personally insulted you. This will simply cause them to withdraw.

Looking to increase your Training and Facilitation skills? 

​Then check out:
https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/learning-and-development.html 

#curiouslighthouse #learninganddevelopment #HRBP

Back in the early 2000’s I was a Customer Adviser at B&Q helping out with in-store inductions. A Trainer’s role became available for a ‘proper’ Trainer’s roles and I applied. I’m sure I had less formal training experience and I certainly no qualification in training then others applicants, but they asked me to join the team!

Many people had an input into this shift in my career, but two in particular I want to say a formal thank you to. Toby Carpenter who was heading up the training team at the time and saw some sort of potential in me and decided to give me the chance to learn on the job... THANK YOU.

And Andy Granston, my Line Manager and mentor who I often site, when I run my own Management training session, as a great role models in management... THANK YOU. 

Who would you like to thank for helping you out in your career?

Ps The image is of a paperweight handed out to us ‘Trainers’ for a project we ran as a thank you… yes I still have it after all this time! (Proving that a Thank-you can stay with you for a long time!)
​
#CuriousLighthouse #career #ThankYou

The 'knowledge tree' sounded like a great idea in my head. A great visual prop with brightly coloured gift tags for the delegates to right down their learning after each of the 6 sections we were running through during a workshop.

I had planned to use the leaf tags as part of a reflective exercise at the end of the session, but made a call to knock-it-on-the-head and changed the final exercise to a facilitated discussion, as it became clear that things were going to get overcrowded very quickly and getting up to place the tags was becoming rather monotonous.

Did I fail?

Yes, and no!  As a Trainer, it's comfortable to find an activity that works well and repeat it with different audience’s time and again, making tiny adjustments as needs be. But 'repeat and succeed' can only support your own, and your learner’s development for so long. Facilitating creative learning pushes you to think more about your design process.
 
But with more creativity comes more opportunity to fail.

So, why bother?

Put simply, if a Trainer isn’t willing to try out new ways of engaging their learners, they’ll soon have no learners left to try anything with at all!  In a world of instant gratification, our attention levels need more stimulation to learn.  Building in creative activities into training sessions is just one way to help this.
 
Failure is an option, but…
 
No one plans to fail, but with failure comes insight, (and also a healthy dose of resilience!)  So, the trick is to fail with a back-up plan that won't affect your learners experience or leave you in a flap!
 
I will use the tree again, but next time it will be more succinct, allowing my learner’s ‘leaves of knowledge’ to flourish and for my own creative design to continue.

When I landed my first official job as a Trainer for a large DIY store many moons ago, I was delighted!  I learnt on the job, running rousing inductions and traveling the length and breadth of the UK to meet eager (my words not theirs) learners to induct them.

After some time, I realised that if I was going to progress to other forms of training i.e. Management Development, I was going to need to develop my own skills further.  Back then the key attributes of a great Trainer were

Props can really help increase curiosity and engage learners in different ​ways to traditional discussion.

I used this prop during a Mini Masterclass about 'Proactive Management Conversations.'  Can you tell what it is and why I might have used it? 
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In training design, the 'flow' of the session is paramount. It’s like a well edited movie, you shouldn’t notice the edits, just the great story line. But, sometimes interjecting something unexpected can rouse us from our comfortable state and make us sit up and pay attention. This is often referred to as a ​...

The live on-line Q&A session was starting in 5 mins, and I was frantically making up questions just in-case no one asked any!  Self-doubt is not something I’m used to feeling, especially having spent many years successfully running face-to-face training sessions!  But here I was, about to hit ‘unmute’ on day one of our 5-day challenge, wishing...​