Every question has a corresponding set of possible answers. The design of the question determines how broad or narrow the response field becomes. For example, when I ask the question, “Do you agree with me?” the response field is limited to a “yes” or “no” option. When I ask the question, “What do you agree with in what I just said?”, the response field broadens considerably.
Almost every train the trainer program will reference the importance of asking questions. Part of the art of crafting questions is the awareness that the question opens up the space for the dialogue. There are times when you want to narrow that space. For instance, when you are leading the learner somewhere specific or you are short on time. And, there are times when you want to open that space wide and see what might emerge in the dialogue.
Many of us get concerned about encouraging dialogue because we are worried that we can’t get the conversation back on course. The questions you ask can help you lead the conversation and redirect when needed.
Narrow Broad
Do you agree with me? What do you agree with in what was just shared?
Does this make sense? What part of this conversation is intriguing you?
Are you okay with this? What’s working for you? What could be better?
February 2, 2010
Dan Pink and I had a chance to connect in between speaking at the Serious Business conference in New Orleans last weekend. Dan just released his latest book, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. In his book, he shares the 7 Reasons that Carrots and Sticks (Often) Don’t Work…here are 3:
- They can extinguish intrinsic motivation.
- They can diminish performance.
- They can crush creativity
This book has interesting applications to 4MAT training design and delivery. The essential purpose of the 4MAT Engage step is connecting to the intrinsic motivation of the learner . Many train the trainer programs emphasize integrating fun activities. Engaging the learner requires more than fun activities-it requires a deep connection to the greater purpose of the learning. When this doesn’t happen, we risk performance and creative adaptation.
February 1, 2010
“Shift in how we perceive the world occur because what we experience changes the questions we ask. Seeking answers to questions we have never asked before changes our brains so we can practice differently and thereby craft new experiences.”
-Coaching with the Brain in Mind, David Rock and Linda Page
In our 4MAT Train the Trainer programs, we explore in depth the power of artful questions. Questions drive the learning process. The questions we ponder serve as the filter for the information and experiences that come at us. We pay attention to the information that is relevant to the questions we are seeking an answer for and disregard the information that is irrelevant. When we shift the questions we are asking, we reshape the filter and what was previously irrelevant suddenly becomes relevant.
Trainers can easily shift the learner’s attention by reshaping the questions the learner is asking. We do this through the questions we seek to answer in our design and the questions we pose in our delivery.
In training design, there should be one overarching question that is being explored. In 4MAT, we call this the “Essential Question”. What is the point of the learning process? What is the question we are seeking an answer for? In the 4MAT Train the Trainer program, 4MAT 4Delivery, our essential question is: “How does the trainer’s delivery approach impact the learner’s experience?” All of the content and practice in the program is designed to explore the complexity of this question.
In training delivery, the questions are crafted to move the learner along the learning process. Before delivering the course, the trainer should craft questions they will use to transition the learner through the learning process. A trainer also needs a “toolkit” of questions to pull out when the learning process needs to be stimulated. These “toolkit” questions are independent of content-you can use them in any learning situation. Here are examples of some of our favorites:
What are the themes showing up in this conversation?
If you could focus on answering only one question, what would that question be?
That’s interesting, can you tell me more about this?
How does this idea connect to your experience?
What did you notice about this experience?
Did you notice any familiar patterns in yourself or within the group?
What would you predict from?
How would you adapt this to…?
What would you predict from…?
What has worked in the past?
Feel free to share your favorites–what questions do you use to lead the learner to the next step in the design
How would you adapt this to…?
What has worked in the past?
Comments: Share your favorites–what questions do you find yourself using frequently to lead the learner to the next step in the learning design?
January 29, 2010
I took along David Rock and Linda Page’s book, Coaching with the Brain in Mind, on a recent trip to an off-site train the trainer program. This is an excellent “textbook” for 4MAT trainers interested in learning the brain basis for effective transformation of behaviors. Rock and Page reference Bandler and Grinder’s work on paradigm shifts calling them “the difference that makes a difference”. They go on to give us metaphors for this shift including, “a curtain lifted”, “a light went on” or “I’m seeing with new eyes”. As I read this, I thought what a great 4MAT Connect step for a design. For example, imagine opening with this as a Connect activity:
“We have all experienced a moment when everything shifted for us. Sometimes this is a radical shift in our life: a marriage, a birth or a loss. Other times, it is as subtle as comment that someone makes in passing. This is the “difference that makes a difference”. When has a difference made a difference in your life?
Where might you apply this?
A customer service training focused on the little things that make a big difference.
A goal workshop focused on how incremental improvements create the progress.
A creative thinking workshop illustrating how a simple shift in perspective can radically change the view.
In the 4MAT model of design, we emphasize the bigger concept that overarches the content. Concepts transcend the content. Where else might you apply the concept of a “Difference that makes a difference”?
January 21, 2010
In our 4MAT Train the Trainer programs, the most common challenge trainers share is how to deliver a large quantity of content in a narrow window of time. When we receive requests for training, they oftentimes come in the form of a list of content that needs to be included. The familiar “We already know what we want to cover in the course” is heard as the requesting manager hands you the 452-page procedure manual. Defining the overarching concept you are conveying is the first step in addressing this challenge.
Concept is the big idea, the core, the essence that runs through the content. It is the essential meaning of the content. It is what an expert grasps that a novice doesn’t. The concept connects all the details and topics together. When you focus design around what best delivers the concept, you find there is room to eliminate non-essential stuff.
For example, imagine you are teaching a course on conflict resolution. What’s the 4MAT concept? If you decide that the bigger idea that weaves through conflict resolution is”getting to win-win”, you now have a clearer picture of what you are conveying. The concept becomes a filter for determining what is “nice to have” content versus “need to have” content.
Defining concept requires some effort. In our train the trainer programs, we invest a great deal of time on how to nail this. With a clear concept defined, the rest of the design work flows. Most importantly, when you do the heavy lifting on figuring out what the content is really about, the learner doesn’t have to.
Here’s some questions you can ask to begin to think about the concept of your 4MAT design:
What’s the big idea?
If I had to sum this up in a word or two, how would I do that?
If I asked a subject matter expert to sum it up, how might they respond?
What does a high performer (unconsciously competent) grasp about this content that a novice misses?
December 28, 2009
In our 4MAT Train the Trainer programs, trainers often share that editing content is often one of the most difficult design tasks. The key to extracting the core concepts from a subject matter expert lies in the trainer’s ability to move the subject matter expert back down the “competency spectrum”. When we look through the lens of 4MAT, we can see four distinct areas where distinctions between expert/high performers and novice/low performers show up:
Engage-4MAT Quadrant 1-Appreciation
What differences exist in the appreciation for the content’s value between the expert/high performer and the novice/low performer? What does an expert have an appreciation for that a novice does not?
Share-4MAT Quadrant 2-Knowledge
What knowledge does the expert/high performer possess that the novice does not? What does the expert/high performer understand?
Practice-4MAT Quadrant 3-Skill
What tactical skills does the expert/high performer possess that the novice has yet to develop? What do they do differently?
Perform-4MAT Quadrant 4-Adaptation
What differences exist between the expert/high performer’s ability to adapt, innovate or overcome barriers to implementation?
The following questions represent the types of questions you can use to determine the key concepts underlying content, as you begin your 4MAT training design. You can use these questions with subject matter experts or with senior leaders requesting training to improve performance:
1-What does someone have to have a strong appreciation of to do this well? If you had to sum this up in a word or two, what would it be? Was there ever a moment when you had an “aha!” around this and suddenly it all made sense? If so, will you share this with me?
2-What does someone need to understand to do this well? Of everything you shared, what is most important? If someone were to get “all caught up in the details” around this content, what “big picture” might they miss? When you picture how this fits together, what image comes to mind?
3-Where do most people struggle in applying this? If you were assigned to give someone feedback on applying this, what would you look for? If you were watching a high performer and a low performer applying this side-by-side, what differences would you see?
4-What kind of situations would require someone to get creative in applying this information? Where might the “wheels come off of the track”? What advice would you give someone to help them prepare for the barriers they might run into when applying this content? If this training program were 100% effective, what behaviors would you observe in the participants? What results would you see?
In the next installment, we will explore the process of defining the concept for your training design.
December 18, 2009
In a recent 4MAT Train the Trainer program, the conscious competence model was explored. I have been unable to find the definitive source on the Conscious Competence model. If you have a source, please share it with me in the comments field.
The four-step process that takes us from “unconscious incompetence” to “unconscious competence” looks like this:
1. Unconscious Incompetence – “I didn’t even know that I didn’t know that.”
2. Conscious Incompetence – “There is a lot that I need to learn about this.”
3. Conscious Competence – “I can do this, if I focus.”
4. Unconscious Incompetence – “I do this without even thinking about it.”
We design learning experiences to move learners further along the competency spectrum. First, the learner must have an awareness of what they don’t know and that there is room for growth. If you have ever tried to “teach” somebody something they believe they are already know, you know this is a not-to-be-missed stop in the learning journey.
Next, we must manage learner overwhelm that can emerge when a learner realizes how much there is to be learned. Strong organization of the content and practice is important in this phase.
Third, the learner moves into the world and practices. Coaching and ongoing feedback is important here.
Finally, the learner arrives into unconscious application. When the learner becomes a subject matter expert, they quickly forget that what is obvious to them is not so obvious to the rest of us mere novices.
This is where effective subject matter interview techniques become critical. Needs analysis is focused on figuring out how we move novices down the competency spectrum. To figure out what content must be included, we have to get into the minds of the experts. We will talk more about how we do this in the next installment.
By the way, I couldn’t resist sharing the Star Wars poster found on Demotivate Us. Definitely, a classic “I didn’t even know that I didn’t know that” moment.
December 2, 2009
“Memory is enhanced by creating associations between concepts. This experiment has been done hundreds of times, always achieving the same result: Words presented in a logically organized, hierarchical structure are much better remembered than words placed randomly-typically 40% better”1
We begin every 4MAT Train the Trainer program with an expectations exercise, exploring the training design issues our participants want to explore. One of the most common issues is how to seamlessly connect the parts of the design. Creating associations between the pieces of content being shared embeds meaning. When the learner understands the underlying meaning that connects the topics, learning increases significantly.
In Brain Rules, author John Medina references the work of John Bransford, an education researcher who answered the question, “What separates novices from experts?” Bransford identified six characteristics. One of the characteristics is relevant to the conversation around meaning in learning. “[Experts’] knowledge is not simply a list of facts and formulas that are relevant to their domain; instead their knowledge is organized around core concepts or “big ideas” that guide their thinking about their domains.”
When working with subject-matter experts, the trainer should be focused on determining these concepts. This might sound easy. However, it is easy to be overwhelmed by all the possible content topics and miss the bigger idea.
What if we simply asked the experts to identify the concepts? This sounds like a simple solution, but one of the outcomes of growing expertise, is the tendency to forget what it is like to be a novice. The conscious competence model illustrates the movement from unconsciously incompetent to unconsciously competent well:
When working with subject matter experts, the trainer must lead the expert to a next level of competence-an awareness of conscious competence. In the next installment of this series, we will talk more about how awareness of the conscious competence model influences training design.
This is the first of a four-part series on getting to the concept. Stay tuned.
1Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. Seattle: Pear Press, 2008.
November 19, 2009
We were thrilled when Susan Scott happily agreed to facilitate a web workshop for our learning community. In this one-hour workshop, Susan shares the key ideas from her latest book, Fierce Leadership, including the 6 Worst Best Practices.
In the 4MAT model, there are four roles that a trainer plays when delivering a learning experience: facilitator, presenter, coach and evaluator. Fierce Conversations offers strategies for building skill as a facilitator, coach and evaluator. Each of these roles require the ability to see what’s underneath the surface and call it like it is. Watch the Fierce Leadership, featuring Best-selling Author Susan Scott video.
October 16, 2009
Almost every time I am in dialogue with a group of trainers on learning styles, someone will ask about leading the younger generation. We invited Generation expert, Bruce Tulgan, author of 17 books on what makes the New Generation tick, to share the greatest myths surrounding Gen X and Gen Y. As a trainer, there is much to be learned from Bruce’s research on what must be present to optimize engagement of this group of learners: Watch the Bruce Tulgan: Not Everyone Gets a Trophy video.
October 15, 2009
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