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Keeping It Fresh As consumers, we all look for the expiration date on the foods and other items we purchase. It seems that everything has a code, telling when it was made and how long it will remain fresh and usable. This really is a good thing, since we certainly don’t want to pick up a loaf of bread and open it to discover it’s stale and a little moldy. Nor do we want to open a can of soda or beer and find it’s flat, tasteless and completely unusable. What’s your label telling us? When were you checked for freshness? How can your freshness be controlled? Is it even important? The simple answer is yes, it is important. The danger for us, as trainers, is that we can become tired and stale; our training techniques can become old, our material out-of-date and moldy. We need to be looking constantly to improve and renew. I use at least three methods to do this. First, I periodically review my training material and presentation from the point of view of my client; is the training appropriate? Is it lively and energetic? Does it hold my interest? If not, I rework the material, perhaps changing the sequence, often modifying or totally changing the learning activities. Second, I look for retraining opportunities, courses that I can take to renew myself as a trainer. I look for training that is designed either to improve my skills as a trainer or to broaden my knowledge of my subject area. I know for a fact that I am not the expert in the field; I am a trainer who can share my expertise, but I always have the need for deeper knowledge and more up-to-date information. Books, periodicals and conferences are helpful too. Finally, I look for renewal and inspiration through the people I meet in my classes. Whether you teach operators, maintenance workers, incumbent workers, continuing education students or college students – whoever – you will never encounter a class in which you don’t learn something new. You might learn an aspect of production you never encountered before; you might gain some insight into how exactly people benefit from your training. Or (gasp!) you might learn something about yourself and how people relate to you. Whatever it is, I guarantee it’s there in every training session you present. What you need to do is to be open to whatever it is, evaluate your own performance after the sessions, consider what you’ve experienced and apply it. Do that and you won’t be that loaf of plain white bread that never leaves the shelf; you’ll be the whole grain wheat that never loses demand. |
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