Focus Magazine - Spring 2015 - 15

FRONT OF THE ROOM
Brian Lange

'Today Kind of (Stinks)'
There is a lot
at stake at the
beginning of
a session.

ometimes we use the cold, hard reality
we face (or think we face) to find the
right words to describe a given situation.
For some, there's a real-world aspect to this
approach that seems to make the word choice
fit. For others, the blunt message conveyed
serves to lessen their resolve/interest in moving
forward. When the words we select to describe
a situation happen to appear at the beginning
of a training session/module-the stakes are
even higher.
A trainer shared with me recently that when
he is teaching the really technical, hard-core
content of his company's disease-state and
therapeutic remedies, he begins the day by
sharing, "Today kind of sucks." For him, he
feels he's being realistic about acknowledging
that the content includes a fair amount of
lecture, and explanations of complicated slides
and concepts. In a way, he tries to use the line
as a little dose of levity to get everyone
prepared for the content. I'm sure some
learners may find this a refreshing approach,
and even appreciate the facilitator's candor. I
have been wondering, though, if there are
competing needs that may benefit even more
from a diﬀerent approach.
If we place ourselves in the shoes (seats!) of
audience members, we would do well to
consider what they might want/need from their
trainer at the beginning of a session. In many
cases, they want to feel confident that the
material being covered will be relevant, and
worthwhile. ey may also want to feel that the
trainer is engaged and will be taking them
(figuratively) somewhere that's leading toward
information that will ultimately help the
learners to perform well/better in their jobs.
So, there is a lot at stake at the beginning of
a session - even for a complicated/technical
one. Another option for us as trainers would be

to set the stage, even realistically, with an eye
toward meeting the hopes/needs of the
audience. A key question is, "What is the
payoﬀ of the learners grasping this content?"
Trainers can use the answer to this question
to fuel their own delivery: It can impact their
conviction - and even enthusiasm for the
content - when they know how/why it is
ultimately meaningful outside of the classroom.
A point of clarification: Understanding the
payoﬀ is for the trainer's benefit, not to be used
as the "what's in it for you" appeal to the
audience. Ideally, the components of the
opening the trainer uses should serve that
purpose in a way that the learners have a
chance to discover/understand what is oen a
topic that trainers feel compelled to apologize
for, unintentionally diminishing its potential by
referring to it as "dry" or "boring." However, if
you consider the payoﬀ of knowing all of the
related components and processes, you realize
that patient safety, resource utilization, absence
of fines/penalties, more corporate earnings
available for reinvestment/performance pay
plans, etc. are actually desirable and important!
is realization should help fuel the trainer's
delivery, and the resulting enthusiasm and
significance should parlay into the audience
catching on to the relevance of the material
with no need to "weaken" the content by
apologizing for it.
In which session might you rather be a
learner: e session that begins with "today
kind of sucks" or "today kind of rocks"? Keep
your answer in mind as you shape your
openings for technical/dry sessions. Remember,
there is no "right" answer: It simply comes
down to putting yourself in the seat of your
learners and imagining what might feel right
for them as you begin your session together. I

Brian Lange, blange@perim.com, is with Perim Consulting and serves as lead facilitator for LTEN PrimeTime! For
Trainers Core and Masters workshops. He blogs at www.WorkplaceInﬂuence.blogspot.com.

FOCUS | SPRING 2015 | www.L-TEN.org

http://www.WorkplaceInfluence.blogspot.com http://www.L-TEN.org

Focus Magazine - Spring 2015

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