A lesson in audience awareness
A large consulting firm recently approached me and asked how they could improve their teaching program targeted at Lean Six Sigma Master Blackbelts. After looking at their materials it was immediately apparent what was wrong. There were 500+ presentation slides for a week long course. The topic, issue-based consulting skills. This is the point where I asked if they had piloted the program. Luckily they hadn't. I would not have wished the instructor role on anyone in the world. The participants would have eaten them alive.
I've always been a fan of the chaos principle when teaching. Probably from watching my father introduce a group of middle school kids to shop class by balancing a 10+ foot piece of lumber on his nose. This was followed by balancing an eraser on top of the lumber, on his nose. I'm not suggesting you perform theatrics in your instructor-led teaching, unless of course your audience is a group of middle school children. What I did take away from this experience was the necessity of knowing your audience. From the first day my father was able to capture the audiences attention and imagination and focus their energy into learning the material. Oh and even having fun in the process. Not knowing your audience can be the death of even an amazing training program.
After reviewing the materials I put myself in the shoes of the audience and said, what would keep me interested? How do you train a group of PhD/MBA graduates with enough brainpower to solve even the hardest of consulting problems in a heartbeat? Give them a real problem. That's it!
Day one the participants walked in to an executive board (the real executive board of the company) and were presented two separate real-life problems. They were introduced as an immediate need and the participants were asked if they would take up the challenge. How do you say no to the person who signs your check? They were given a deadline of Friday morning and the executives walked out.
Over the following days, myself and another instructor performed the role of engagement directors and slowly introduced them to the new content. A very slimmed down 150 presentation slides. The knowledge was then put to use in solving the problems they were presented.
By the 2nd day the teams were so involved and committed to solving the problems that they stayed past 5pm when the engagement directors left. We received emails late into the night and early mornings. They couldn't be stopped. On the final evening, teams rehearsed and fine-tuned their presentations well past midnight.
The response to the final presentations by the executives was shock and awe. In fact, one of them immediately after giving feedback raced out of the room to make a call. We later found out the real team put on one of the problems was still working on it. The classroom team had come up with a solution to the problem that the field team had not.
In the end the program was a great success and all because we paid attention to the audience. Never neglect their perspective or importance in a training program. If you happen to find yourself balancing a board on your nose, be sure to tell them you learned it in clown school. That was my father's favorite part.