Over the next 29 days, you’ll learn how to:
- Engage learners before they walk through the door so they’re ready and eager to learn
- Create content that can be used before, during, and after ILTs to reinforce learning at each stage
- Involve business partners early to set yourself up for success, and to measure the value created
- Leverage the unique strengths of ILT to create lessons that are compelling and actionable
- Measure the value your ILT creates
Let’s jump right into three things you can do to make an impact now: setting learner expectations, engaging direct managers, and building curiosity and anticipation.
1. Set proper expectations.
Setting proper expectations does two things. First, it gives us material that we can pull forward to use during the training. Second, it provides material we can later use to analyze the training and do some follow-up reinforcement. We’ll revisit this in a bit more depth later.
To set proper expectations, you’ll send out a short survey as soon after learners sign up for the training as possible. This initial survey is quite distinct from and serves a different purpose than a needs assessment.
The survey will include three to five questions. Here are my go-to’s:
- After this training, how do you believe the way you do your job will be different?
- What are the top three specific things you are hoping to learn?
- What are your manager’s expectations for this training?
- To what extent is your manager supportive of this training?
2. Involve direct managers at the outset.
Next, we need to bring learners’ direct managers into the mix. The format is much more flexible here—a survey will do the trick, or you could simply interview each manager for 15 minutes or so.
Either way, the goal is the same. If we’re going to change behavior — which, after all, is the entire point of the training — we need to establish clear communication with managers so we know what that behavioral change looks like.
This step also has a bonus effect: it’s much easier for managers to disengage later if they haven’t been asked their opinion ahead of time. By establishing lines of communication early, you’ll learn which managers support your learning initiatives at the outset. That knowledge is especially helpful if you plan to scale your training later.
Questions for direct managers:
- What is your level of familiarity with this training?
- After this training, how do you expect the way this job is done to be different?
- What are the top three specific things you hope will be learned?
- To what extent are you supportive of this training?
✓ Action item: Download and import these questions using this CSV and these instructions (not necessary if you completed the above action item).
3. Build curiosity and anticipation.
In her book Neuroscience for Learning and Development: How to Apply Neuroscience and Psychology for Improved Learning and Training, Stella Collins tells the story of a UK professor who, prior to a lecture, sent a ￡10 bill to learners and asked them to purchase a pillow to bring to the session.
I still don’t know what the pillow is for (if you do, please hit reply and let me know!) but the purpose is almost beside the point. What a fun, creative way to pique curiosity.
It’s been demonstrated by research over and over again: when learners are curious, they work harder to find answers, remember answers, and enjoy feelings of satisfaction and reward.
Below I’ve linked to a list of tactics you can use to heighten anticipation so learners walk into your training session eager and receptive. This list is by no means exhaustive, nor will you use one of them in every situation (especially if you plan to scale).
Instead, this list is meant to get your creative juices flowing.
✓ Action item: Using the pre-filled list as inspiration, jot down your own ideas for building anticipation before training.
Thank you for reading T. In two days, we’ll take a step back and created a shared language through which we can clearly convey the value of ILT to our business partners.
Best,
Sam Cauthen
COO, Poll Everywhere
Sam Cauthen
COO, Poll Everywhere
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