Over the past three days I’ve been delivering training to a group of people, and it has made me think about what training and education should really be about.
Everyone in that room had their own experiences and things going on in their lives, and that includes me. I won’t go into those because they are personal, but some of what we covered was undoubtedly more significant to some than others.
They could have stepped away but they didn’t, and I reminded them it was their course and not mine.
I feel we developed a really good atmosphere as a group. People talked, asked questions, shared experiences and, without necessarily knowing what was happening in each other’s lives, supported each other. There was almost a silent understanding and a knowing nod that everyone has had or was having something going on.
The conversations became part of the learning. It reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time.
Training shouldn’t always be about:
“You must.”
“You should.”
“Do it this way.”
Sometimes it needs to be:
“You can.”
“Let’s adapt it.”
“Give it a go.”
People need knowledge and skills, but they also need to feel comfortable enough to use them.
For me, training isn’t just about putting information into someone’s head. It’s about creating an environment where people feel able to learn, ask questions, make mistakes and ultimately have the confidence to act.
And perhaps the biggest lesson from the last three days is that we don’t always know what the person sitting next to us is dealing with – but we can still make their day a little easier.
