WE REVEAL THE TRAINERS’ SECRET: HOW TO DISTINGUISH A GOOD TRAINING PROGRAM FROM A BAD ONE :)

The training market offer can be overwhelming. Under the slogan “team building and communication in the team,” we find a whole range of proposals from paintball and building a Goldberg machine (it lookslikethis) to team coaching and VR games. How to recognize, in this jungle of possibilities, which training will actually bring results?

Am I expecting fun or change?

At the beginning – these effects need to be defined. The offer of “team-building” activities can be roughly divided into:

1. activities that simply provide good fun
2. actions that aim to teach new skills or change the way of working

In this article, we will focus on recognizing valuable proposals from category B, which of course does not mean that team integrations are not important or that training should be boring. Quite the opposite. You just need to remember the goal and consciously choose what matters to you.

> > Make sure the activity provides an opportunity for integration?

When planning an event from category A (fun without an educational purpose), it is worth paying attention to creating opportunities for conversation and joint activities. With an emphasis on the word “joint”.
A trip to a VR salon where everyone has their own station, sliding down an ice hill in a tube, or completing a high ropes course are undoubtedly attractive activities 🙂 but definitely individual ones. They do not create opportunities for collaboration and getting to know each other better.

More beneficial for team integration will be group VR games, escape rooms, or low rope courses # (low rope courses, i.e., LRC courses are part of our workshop module but can also be a standalone attraction), because they require working together.

It can be somewhat confusing when browsing offers that attractive activities providing opportunities for contact are sometimes used independently or as one of the workshop modules in training. But more on that – later in the article.

In summary, if we are planning an activity like brewing craft beer, we should check whether the workshops will be in the form of a presentation (not good) or interaction and teamwork (go ahead and book it). And of course, let’s not expect an improvement in communication quality to last longer than the evening after the workshop 🙂

What change do I want to achieve in the team?

Let’s assume that besides rewarding the team with an attraction, we want to invest time in something that will translate into better quality collaboration. So we decide on option B. The market offer is still very broad. What’s next?

> Check if the list of promises is not longer than the training program..?

Trainings that offer a bit of everything often offer everything and nothing. If we read that the result of a 1-day training is supposed to be: “defining roles in the team, improving daily communication, dealing with conflict, increasing assertiveness, diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of the team, more effective time management, and better quality collaboration”, a red flag should go up. Note: Each of these topics can fill an entire training day with content!

A professional trainer will want to schedule a conversation to clarify your needs. If you actually want to cover all the topics mentioned above, they won’t promise to complete them in one day, repeating like a refrain “Boss, you will be satisfied!” or “Sir, it will be done perfectly!”. Instead, they will ask questions that help you determine priorities or locate the source of the problem. It may turn out that a change in one area (e.g., improving time management) will translate to other areas (lower stress levels, improved atmosphere).

What distinguishes a bad training program from a good one? An example with a VR game

You see a training program with a new, interesting tool: a VR game. You check if it is team-based – it is! Good. Now, how to recognize if it’s a valuable training or just an opportunity for fun?

The answer is simple. A good training program is based on the so-called Kolb’s Cycle, which consists of 4 stages of adult learning. The good news is that once you know this structure, recognizing a valuable program will no longer be a mystery 🙂

Stage 1: Experience
The learning cycle begins with experience. In our training on communication in the team, this can be a module with the mentioned VR game. Participants act in small sapper teams: one of them stays in virtual reality and defuses the bomb based on instructions given by experts from the team. The experts do not see the bomb, and he does not have access to the instructions… and precious seconds

Stage 2: Reflection

After the game, the trainer leads a discussion so that participants have the opportunity to share their conclusions and reflections from the experience. Everyone talks about their impressions. It turns out that in one of the teams, the experts did not ask the sapper questions about what the bomb looked like and kept exploding over and over… In another, the sapper talked about a green button, while the experts talked about a round button. Only halfway through did it become clear that it was about the same element. At this point, the trainer can write down conclusions, for example, in the form of a list of factors that facilitate and hinder communication.

Stage 3: Conclusions/Theory

Finally, the moment comes for synthesis and formulation of more universal principles. For example:
“The fact that I clearly stated what it was about does not yet guarantee that the recipient understood me. Only if they correctly repeat it in their own words (paraphrase), do I have confirmation that they did”
In the training at this stage, we introduce the group to the selected communication theory tailored to the expected training outcome.

Stage 4: Implementation

Effective bomb defusal in virtual reality is not everything. The question is, how can we use the newly discovered knowledge in professional settings? At this stage, we practice new skills on examples that are as close to everyday situations as possible. We use role-playing and case studies, for instance.

And once again…

The Kolb cycle repeats several times. After practicing the new communication model in the team on realistic case studies, there should again come a moment for reflection, theory, and re-practice… at a more challenging level. Or to plan changes in real life, outside the training room. A professional will also propose post-training consultations or follow-up workshops to discuss participants’ impressions from testing the content after the training.

So if you recognize the recurring 4 elements of the Kolb cycle in the proposed program, it’s a sign that the author knows what they’re doing, and the training has a chance to bring real effects.

So what does a weak training program look like? It will skip some elements of the cycle, so we will find, for example, a large dose of theory without guidelines on how to implement it (effect: confusion) or lots of activities without time to draw conclusions (effect: we had fun, but what does it have to do with life?) We avoid such programs. A better option would be an escape room 🙂

Article and illustration author: Zosia Augustyniak #