Leadership Lessons Blog

The Anatomy of an Effective Leadership Workshop

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We've all been there.  We attend a workshop because it has a great title, impressive speaker, and a timely topic.  We leave feeling that we didn't get our money's worth or we're bored half-way through because it is the same material we've heard about forever it's just been repackaged! 

If you are a responsible for identifying appropriate workshop for your company or you are simply looking for a good program to enhance your leadership skills you need to be able to assess its viability for you as well as for your company.  How do you determine whether a workshop is right for the people that work for and with you?  How do you ensure that the facilitator of the workshop has a strong track record for engaging an audience and more importantly, how do you ensure that when your employees return they can put what they've learned into practice right away. 

What is the anatomy of an effective workshop? 

1. Is the facilitator a subject matter expert?

Make sure the facilitator has a background in the material being presented.  Look for unique deliverables.  Has the facilitator written articles, a book, a white paper about the subject matter.  Is the facilitator a popular speaker at events?  Does the person have the ability to translate or convert information into a form suitable for the audience? 

2. Does the facilitator engage the audience?

Despite the fact that attendees tend to sit in the back of the classroom or conference room hoping to spend a few hours hiding out, most attendees at workshops what to be engaged. One of the goals of a strong workshop is provide learners with multiple ways to achieve knowledge.  Does the workshop allow for working in groups, in teams, in some interactive way?  Is the workshop designed to provide multiple analogies for attendees to grasp the material?  Adult learners need variety in teaching techniques.  Is some of the material designed for self-development?  Very few workshops are successful if they just include a whole bunch of power point slides and little else.

During the month of May, CC Consulting, LLC is offering companies the opportunity to WIN A WORKSHOP.  Go here to read details on how to enter: http://www.ccconsultingllc.com/win-a-workshop/

Remember:  "Teaching is not about imparting information; it's about making learning irresistible"
--Larry Goldfarb

Leadership Lessons--The Leader as a Trainer

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One of the most important activities you perform as a leader in your company is the role of the trainer.  If an employee feels secure in the role that he is performing for you, he is more likely to succeed and contribute at a higher level.  Oftentimes, we leave the training to another member of the team and although this is a good way to augment training, the employee should feel that their manager is invested in helping them to succeed.  Remember also that regardless of how long an employee has been in a job, anytime you introduce something new in the way of products and services, the employee needs time to LEARN how best to position the product or service, how to answer questions and most importantly how best to feel comfortable fielding questions.  Please keep the following in mind to ensure that you meet your most vital task as a manager:

1. Be Patient and Be Available:  Employees require time and energy when learning a new product or service or when they are new to a job.  Give them the time to feel comfortable.  Repeat instructions if necessary, cater to how the employee learns.  Some would rather read a book of documentation, some would prefer hands-on training and other need a bit of both.  Whatever the style, the manager must ensure they are willing to devote energy to the learning. 
2. Have a Plan:  One of the most frustrating parts of learning from someone who is disorganized is that the facts become jumbled and the learner gets confused.  As a leader, you owe it to your employee to be organized and to have an agenda or an outline of what needs to be taught and in what order.  If you are training an employee on a particularly difficult tasks with many steps make sure you break down the steps in to bite size pieces so that the employee feels comfortable swallowing the information.
3. Teach By Doing:  Many employees are also visual learners.  It really helps to watch someone performing a task in order to pick up the nuances, ask questions while they are in the process of performing the task and then letting the employee take notes.  Make sure you give the employee ample time to practice, while you are watching them.  In doing so, you are there to help them avoid errors or small steps you might have forgotten  a long the way. 

Whether we are adept at training in small groups or large groups, our employees expect us to be their guideposts for successful transitions in their work world.  Part of your on-boarding process needs to include a training plan for both new employees and seasoned employees especially if you are introducing new activities, products or services.