In our online 4MAT instructional design course, Leading Training Needs Analysis to Define Results-Focused Learning Outcomes Online Course, we explore how to define measurable outcomes that guide the design process. We focus on four key questions that help shape the outcomes framework which you will use to filter activity and content choices. To ensure performance results, four key outcomes must be achieved: value, knowledge, skill and adaptation.
We work through three critical steps in the outcomes development process:
Step 1: Analyzing the gap in performance. Step 2: Defining the desired outcomes for the course. Step 3: Working with Subject-Matter-Experts to define the concept and content of the course.
Let’s take an example of a request for sales training and explore one of the four key outcomes you must define: the Value Outcome. The value outcome statement articulates what value shift must occur in the learner to ensure higher performance. How must the learner think differently in order for them to act differently?
To craft a solid Quadrant 1 outcome (and great training opening), you must get into the mindset of the high performer. How does the high performer think differently than the struggling performer? What do they value differently? An article by titled, “What Makes Great Salespeople Tick” by psychoanalyst Rapaille gives a great example of a fundamental difference between high performing and struggling sales team members. Rapaille shares that great salespeople are “happy losers” that view rejection as a challenge. Rapaille goes on to explain that our first experiences in selling shape our views. When we sold (or didn’t sell) that first box of Girl Scout cookies, a foundational view of sales was formed.
If we imagine Rapaille as our subject matter expert on the mindset of high performing sales people, we might articulate a Value outcome statement for this course which sounds like:
1. Engage/Value Outcome: Learners will learn to value rejection or negative responses from customers as useful feedback in the sales process.
In the case of dealing with rejection, great salespeople value negative feedback. A high performing salesperson sees the negative response as a valuable clue that redirects their sales approach. To create this mindset in low performers, requires a reframe of their existing beliefs that are a direct result of their previous experiences.
In our 4MAT train the trainer courses, we explore the four roles that trainers play when delivering a 4MAT-based design. In this step, the trainer plays the role of “Facilitator” and uses reflection and dialogue to connect the learners to what they already know about the content and establish personal relevance. Here the trainer introduces the big idea, or concept, that subject matter experts appreciate which leads to learner engagement around the topic being learned. The outcome statement will serve as a guide to define the focus of the content and concept for the course. When choosing the opening activity, think about how you can tap into the learner’s previous experiences of learning from rejection.
For example, in the sales course mentioned earlier, you might design the following opening:
4MAT Step 1: Connect
Reflect on early experiences in “selling” something. Can you recall being faced with your first rejection? Describe the experience. How did you feel? What was the impact of that experience? What did you learn from this experience?
Note: In this step in the 4MAT model, the learner is tapping into their experiences which shape their perceptions around the content. The activity choice focuses on personal experiences around rejection which links directly to the desired learning outcome. Skillful facilitation will lead learners to connect their past experiences and current view of selling.
4MAT Step 2: Attend
Share your experiences in your table group. Answer the following questions, as a group:
What were the commonalities in your experiences?
How did this experience shape your view of “selling”?
Note: In this step in the 4MAT model, the learners compare and contrast their experiences. The learners begin to notice themes and identify how perceptions shape their behaviors. Energy is building around the topic.
4MAT Step 3: Image
Using the materials provided by the facilitator, learners are asked to visually illustrate how positive and negative feedback from a potential “buyer” impacts your sales approach.
Note: Here the learner begins to see how their perceptions (which are shaped by past experience) influence their results. Imagine a learner sharing a visual with “positive=negative” written across the paper chart sharing, “Positive and negative cues from a buyer give me equal value. Each points me in the right direction.
There are an infinite number of activities to choose from when designing. When you couple this with the unlimited amount of content you can include, effective instructional design choices can become difficult. Well-defined outcome statements make the process of filtering content and measuring impact much simpler.
In our 4MAT train the trainer and instructional design courses, engaged learning professionals come from all over to explore how to design and deliver learning experiences that create measurable, lasting impact using the 4MAT model. After reading the book, Fascinate, I am wondering if what we are really trying to figure out as trainers is how to become more fascinating.
Why are we captivated by some people and not others? Why are we compelled into action by one message and not another? According to Fascinate author Sally Hogshead, the answer is “fascination.” Fascination is the most powerful way to influence decision making. Hogshead shares “7 triggers” that spark the fascination response. Allow me to share how Hogshead defines the triggers along with my own thoughts on how this might show up in the learning experiences you design and deliver:
1. Lust: If you engage lust, you attract others into the experience.
Think about how you invite training participants to move beyond thinking and engage in feeling. How do you invite in emotions? What senses are engaged? Do you tease with intriguing information, attracting the learner into the experience? Hmmm…
2. Mystique: If you trigger mystique, you’ll encourage others to learn more about your message.
How do you spark curiosity? Do you share just enough information before a training session to make learners eager to fill in the gaps? Do you incorporate mythology, stories and intriguing elements into your 4MAT instructional design?
3. Alarm: If you trigger alarm, you compel others to behave urgently.
How you do create a sense of urgency? Do you define the consequences of not acting? Is the consequence significant enough to warrant immediate action? Do you use deadlines, perceived negative consequences and even danger to move learners into positive action?
4. Prestige: If you trigger prestige, you will elevate others.
What evidence of achievement and prestige are incorporated into the training experience? Do training participants receive proof of achievement—certificates, merit badges or cool gear that signifies their inclusion in an elite group of the “all knowing.”
5. Power: If you trigger power, others will defer to you as the expert.
As a trainer, how do you establish your expertise? Do you influence the environment in such a way that learners willingly follow your lead? How might you use this influence to guide learning in and outside of the formal learning environment?
6. Vice: If you trigger vice, your message will tempt others to stray from the path of goodness and light.
As a trainer, think about how you encourage others to move beyond their comfort zones. How do you tap into unspoken desires? Do you leverage the basic needs of humans to be included, to achieve, to be fascinating? Are learners inspired to break with tradition?
7. Trust: If you trigger trust, your message will comfort others and put them at ease.
As a trainer, how do you build trust? Do you focus on a core message that is repeated consistently throughout the experience (4MAT aficionados would refer to this as the “concept”)? Do you bring your most authentic self to the experience? Do you invite in meaningful dialogue?
Fascinate is a book about marketing. Hogshead goes on to share that a company might choose to focus on a dominant trigger or create a combination of triggers to achieve the desired impact with the consumer. What are your thoughts on applying these triggers to creating desired learning impact? Your comments are welcome.
Source: Hogshead, Sally. Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. (New York: Harper Collins, 2010)
In our 4MAT instructional design courses and train the trainer courses, we often hear trainers share how difficult it can be to focus and sustain learner attention. Let’s explore how you can use 25 Coaching questions to focus the attention of the learner during the 4MAT Practice step. First, let’s explore why questions are important in the coaching process.
The neurons in your brain communicate with each other through electrochemical signals. These signals are triggered by incoming sensory information. What you notice and pay attention to over time shapes the neuronal connections in your brain. In the article, A Brain-Based Approach to Coaching, Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D., shares:
“The questions you ask of your brain significantly affect the quality of the connections it makes, and profoundly alters the patterns and timings of the connections the brain generates in a fraction of a second. Now, substitute the concept of ‘attention’ for the phrase “the question you ask,” and you get the statement “Where you focus your attention, you make connections.”1
If you want to create sustained behavioral change, you must generate focused attention on the behaviors that must be executed consistently to generate the desired training result. In the 4MAT model of instruction, the third part of the learning cycle is “Practice”. In this step, the learner applies the content and the trainer moves into the role of “Coach”.
The questions the trainer asks in this step should be aimed at focusing the learner’s attention on the quality of the practice application of the content being learned in the course. To help you increase your inventory of coaching questions, here is a list of 25 Coaching Questions you can use to focus the learner’s attention during practice training activities:
25 Coaching Questions for Trainers Using the 4MAT Model
1. What worked?
2. What could have worked better?
3. What do you notice about your application?
4. If you were your own coach, what coaching would you give yourself on this?
5. How could you turn this around?
6. What are three things you would improve?
7. What would you do again?
8. What would you not do again?
9. If you were a customer, how would you evaluate your approach? Your results?
10. What are three actions you might take to apply this with different results next time?
11. On a scale of 1-10, where is your application?
12. What would it take to move from a 5 to a 9?
13. Where are you comfortable? least comfortable? Why?
14. What can you learn from this?
15. How else might you approach this?
16. What do you notice?
17. What could you pay more attention to?
18. What themes do you see showing up in the work of the group?
19. What differences do you notice in your application and others?
20. What one behavior (or thought) if executed consistently would make the biggest difference in your application?
21. What insights have you gained through this practice?
22. What do you think you should do first? next?
23. What would you do if it was entirely up to you?
24. If you saw someone else in this situation, what would you suggest that they do?
25. If you weren’t holding anything back, how might this look differently?
What other questions would you add to the list?
1David Rock and Jeffrey M, Schwartz, M.D. Journal of Coaching in Organizations, 2006, 4(2), pp 32-43.
As a result of some interesting dialogue in one of our 4MAT train the trainer courses, Karen Hann, Senior Education Manager, and Denise Johnson, Performance Improvement Consultant, of Tupperware came up with a visual concept of how the 4MAT model improves performance internally and externally in an organization.
Since the 4MAT model was developed in 1979 by Dr. Bernice McCarthy, over 1 million people have discovered their learning style strengths using the 4MAT® Learning Type Measure. This is one of the most common ways that individuals are introduced to the 4MAT model-by identifying their individual learning style strengths. In the illustration below, you will see that this increased self-awareness is the launch pad for a common language that can be used to improve teaming, communication, engagement, training, execution, leadership and coaching.
4MAT creates a foundation for leadership and coaching skill development—4MAT is a simple framework for leading, managing, coaching and performance improvement.
4MAT provides a model for execution—The 4MAT four-step model is a framework for getting things done. Project teams can utilize this framework to build a plan and identify potential barriers for successful execution.
4MAT dramatically improves the impact of training—4MAT dramatically increases the measurable impact of instructional design and delivery by organizing the essential content around four critical learning outcomes that deliver on expected training ROI.
4MAT provides a framework for engaging others—The 4-step model directly applies to planning meetings, sales presentations, coaching and marketing.
4MAT builds complementary teams—Team members and leaders can use the awareness of individual strengths to assemble teams with complementary skill sets.
4MAT increases self-awareness—The Learning Type Measure provides individuals with an awareness of their natural learning strengths along with concrete strategies for effectively interacting with learning styles of fellow team members.
The 4MAT model focuses on leading all learning styles through a complete learning experience. We know that each learning style may prefer to linger in one of the four parts of the 4MAT learning cycle. The Type One learning style particularly enjoys dialogue and reflection. We focus on this in the first part few examples of Engage strategies that are effective in generating dialogue.
Below you will find a few examples of training activities that work in Engage. The last one, “Simulations”, is often missed as powerful tool for creating shared experience. If you are thinking about incorporating games and simulations into your training more frequently, you’ll enjoy the TED video below.
Quotes
Quotes are powerful because they express an idea or concept from a personal point of view. Encouraging learners to reflect on a well-chosen quote invites deep thinking around the concepts being shared.
Example:
Share 4-5 quotes related to your course content from different authors. Invite learners to reflect on their own experience around the course content and to choose a quote that best aligns with their experience. Ask learners to share their experience and chosen quote with a partner.
Intriguing Statement
Open with a compelling statement that grabs the attention of the learner. Invite them to reflect on the statement and their reaction to the statement. Invite learners to share in small groups.
Example:
You might share a surprising statistic such as “Despite potentially fatal consequences, 7 out of 10 heart attack survivors do not maintain their commitment to lifestyle changes.” Connect the statistic to the content and invite learners to reflect. “Change can be difficult, even when the stakes are high. Reflect on a change you have struggled to make. What factors make change difficult?”
Individual Reflection
Inviting learners to reflect on a personal experience that relates to the content being shared allows the learner an opportunity to explore what they already know about the content.
Example:
Invite learners to reflect on a recent experience related to the content. In a conflict resolution workshop, you might share something like, “Reflect on a high point in your career when you were particularly engaged in the work you were creating. What was present that contributed to this state of engagement?”
Personal Storytelling
Sharing personal stories related to the content is an excellent way to explore the knowledge the learner brings to the learning experience. Invite learners to reflect on a previous experience, related to the content.
Example:
Reflect on an experience you had on “above and beyond” customer service. Share your story with a partner. What commonalities do you notice in your experiences?
Provocative Questions
Learning begins by seeking the answer to a question. A well-chosen question can invite reflection and draw out learner perceptions and previous experiences. Begin the session by posing a question or series of questions.
Example:
In a first-time manager workshop, you might begin with a question such as, “What inspired you to want to become a leader in our organization? What do you most hope to contribute? How has your experiences working with different types of leaders influenced your answers?”
Simulations
Games or simulated experiences are a powerful way to create a shared experience amongst learners. When you begin with a simulation, you create a point of reference for the remainder of the course content delivery.
Example:
In a workshop on accountability, a game or simulation that involves groups of 4-5 learners working to accomplish a task under challenging circumstances would illustrate the need for individual and team accountability. The remainder of the workshop could be focused on debriefing the simulation insights.
In our 4MAT Train the Trainer courses, trainers often share that the Image step is one of the most difficult steps to nail in the 4MAT model. It is challenging to simplify content into a compelling image. At DevLearn last week, I was interested to see how Patti Shank approached visualizations in her breakout session titled “Getting the (Complex) Picture with Visualizations”.
Why Images? Patti summed up the power of images: they are concise, they reveal what is hidden, they illustrate complex relationships and they are generally more engaging than words. When choosing the appropriate visual, Shank recommends:
1-Begin by asking the question, “What question am I answering with this visual?” Articulate the question before you seek to find the right visual answer.
2-Answer the question, “What relationship am I trying to illustrate?”
Is the relationship of the data spatial? chronological? conceptual? qualitative?
Should I use a diagram? chart? map? relationship web?
Is the interface static? interactive? animated?
3-Look for examples of visualizations that might work to show the relationships.
Shank shared many examples of images in her session that could serve as inspiration. One of the most powerful was the video, “The Civil War in 4 Minutes”. The video is displayed in the Lincoln Library and quickly tells the story of the Civil War. If you watch the entire video, you will see how the context is created using the visual cues. There is much that can be learned the simplicity of how this visual story is told.
Here are a few more examples to get the creative juices going:
The power of context when presenting data can be seen in this TED video featuring David McCandless. David’s blog is worth a tour for visualization inspiration.
“The National Debt Road Trip” uses simple graphics and a road trip metaphor to tell the story of growing national debt. The road trip metaphor illustrates context brilliantly and visually.
Many train the trainer programs encourage the use of games that serve as metaphors for the content being learned. Why and how does this work to enhance learning? For most people, metaphors are seen as a device to creatively articulate some idea. Poets, musicians and creative storytellers are often perceived to be the masters of metaphor. On the contrary, we are all quite masterful at using metaphors.
In Metaphors We Live By, authors George Lakoff and Mark Johnson share, “…metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.”1
We think in metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson illustrate brilliantly the many ways we think in terms of metaphors:
We think of time as money2:
“How did you spend your time today?’
“There was just not enough ROI on my time on that project.”
“You need to budget your time wisely.”
We think of an argument as a container3:
“That argument has holes in it.”
“Your argument won’t hold water.”
As trainers, we need to understand that a difference in metaphor will create a difference in understanding and approach. For example, many people perceive conflict as a “battle” to be won:
“I’m prepared for battle.”
“I’m going to take him down.”
“He won’t know what hit him.”
What if that metaphor were shifted? What if conflict were viewed as a creative process? as a collaboration? as a dance with each party taking turns leading? How might that shift the way we prepare for, approach and resolve conflict? A shift in the metaphor we use to understand, shifts the way we think and they way we act.
As trainers, the metaphor is a powerful tool for understanding the concepts that guide the learner’s understanding and approach. If we want to shift behavior toward a desired outcome, we must identify what metaphor will best guide the thinking and action of the learner. In the 4MAT model, the Image step creates an opportunity for the trainer to explore and, if necessary, shift the metaphors learners use to understand and approach the learning content.
Imagine that you are leading a workshop for department managers on the strategic planning process. Which of the following visual metaphors would you use to create a shared understanding of the process you are leading the group through?
Telescoping spyglass-illlustrating how the individual, team, department and division objectives must be integrated and focused on the long-range vision
Mason jar with rocks, pebbles and sand-illustrating how we must allocate space for the big initiatives (rocks), then secondary initiatives (pebbles). Otherwise, all of our resources (the space in the jar) are consumed with low impact initiatives which generate minimal return (sand).
Pie-illustrating that there is a limited budget and limited resources (pie). Each department’s allocation of budget (slice of the pie) will be determined based on the merits of plans submitted.
What metaphors have you used in training design and delivery to shift thinking?
1Lakoff, George and Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors We Live By Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 3.
In the Mastering Training Design program, we explore the differences in how learners process information. When we “watch”, we make sense of new information through reflection. We ponder the meaning and listen to our inner voice. When we “do”, we make sense of new information through action. We take action and move out into the real world. Some of us prefer to linger in watching and some of us prefer to move quickly to doing.
The trainer’s role is to guide the learner through this movement from inner reflection to outward action. The 4MAT model outlines specific steps that address what the trainer does and what the learner does to create this movement.
Here’s a quick 4MAT video I created in response to questions our last group of trainers posed about how to address watching and doing in training design:
A learner’s preferences indicate where the learner lingers in the learning cycle. Regardless of learning style, every learner moves through all four stages of the 4MAT learning cycle. In The Art of Changing the Brain, Dr. James Zull shares that there are four stages of the Learning Cycle:
Neuro-speak
Translation
1
We have a concrete experience.
Something happens
2
We engage in reflective observation and create new connections.
We watch and reflect.
3
We generate abstract hypotheses.
We think about it.
4
We do active testing of hypotheses, have a new concrete experience and a new learning cycle ensues.
We move into action, something happens and the cycle begins again
When we follow the 4MAT Learning model to design and deliver, we craft experiences that mirror the natural learning cycle.
Three Things Every Trainer Should Know About Learning Styles Any trainer who has logged a few hours in front of a classroom or read through the diverse spectrum of responses that show up on a post-training reaction survey recognizes that learning differences are real. A Google search on “learning styles” recently displayed over 16,500,000 results. Clearly, there are many people out there talking about how to address learning styles. What should a trainer know to address learning differences? There are three things every trainer should know about learning styles:
What is a “learning style”? Learning style refers to personal preference for how you like to take in and process information. The most recent brain research confirms that when we learn new information, the activity in our brain follows a defined cycle. This path is universal, regardless of learning style. Your learning style describes the part of the learning process you enjoy most and default to in new learning or problem-solving situations.
How should I address learning styles? When you first discover that different people have unique preferences, you might think it would be advantageous to group learners by style and teach to their preference. Some learning styles models advocate this. Brain research shows us that for learning transfer to occur, the learner must move through all four parts of the learning cycle. The 4MAT model provides a framework for addressing the needs of all learning preferences while also ensuring learning transfer.
There is a difference between using “style strategies” and brain-based teaching. In the recently released book Evidence-Based Training Methods: A Guide for Training Professionals by author Ruth Clark, learning styles are referred to as a “myth”. The idea that we should group learners by style and teach only to their preference is indeed a myth. This book brings forth a healthy distinction in the conversation around learning styles. To engage each learner, we must address their unique needs. To fulfill the learning objective, we must lead the learner through the learning cycle. When you apply the 4MAT model, you accomplish both.
In our online 4MAT instructional design course, Leading Training Needs Analysis to Define Results-Focused Learning Outcomes Online Course, we explore how to define measurable outcomes that guide the design process. We focus on four key questions that help shape the outcomes framework which you will use to filter activity and content choices. To ensure performance results, four key outcomes must be achieved: value, knowledge, skill and adaptation.
