Eureka - Train the Trainer

Training for Trainers

Essence – Get To The Real ‘Heart’ Of The Content

Help learners get to the real ‘heart’ (Essence) of a topic with this simple way to open your training or to start a new topic.  It works equally well on-line as it does face-to-face.

Try it for yourself now.

  • Go and get a paper and pen.
  • Think about your next training topic eg Sales, Customer Service, Presentations, Coaching, Project Management etc.
  • Write a 16 word definition (no more no less) of that topic eg a 16 word definition of Customer Service.
  • Typically here I’d ask you to share your definition with a partner.
  • Now reduce that 16-word definition by half by removing 8 of the least important words.  It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make a sentence at this point.
  • Now reduce your 8 words to 4 words.
  • Now to 2 words
  • Typically here I’d ask you to share your 2 words with a partner.
  • Your 2 words have helped you drill down to the essence of the topic.

I’d ask learners to share their 2 words with me and the group and I’d add them to a flip chart which would be visible throughout the training and which we’d keep referring back to.  I’d also pull out a few of the words as I started to introduce and move into the content.

If this was done virtually, then I’d ask learners to share their 2 words on a slide if your in Zoom, Adobe Connect or WebEx or via Chat in another platform.

The flow for your training is:

Preparation

  • Make sure learners have a sheet of paper or index card.

Activity

  • Ask learners to work on their own and write a 16-word definition of the training topic eg Definition of Leadership or Training or Meeting etc. It must be 16 words.
  • Get them to share their definition in pairs.
  • Now remove the 8 least important works (doesn’t need to be a sentence now).
  • Now remove 4 more word,
  • Now 2 more words.
  • Ask learners to share their 2 words that are the essence of the training content.
  • Add words to a flip char or whiteboard.

Call To Action

Rather than just ‘tell’ learners a definition of a topic or explain what a topic is about, involve them and get them to drill down to the Essence of the topic.  You can then use their terms throughout that topic.