VIDEO BLOG: Learning activities. The right recipe for successful training.
What’s the recipe for engaging learning activities? Variety. In this video, Mehdi Chahed, an IFC-certified master trainer, shares practical tips for keeping learners engaged by combining different activities—from discussions and role-plays to case studies and quizzes—and alternating between individual, pair, and small-group work.
Stop Designing Courses. Start Designing Learning.
Some years ago, a large corporate organisation contracted me to design a programme for SMEs in its value chain. Similar programmes were already being run in some of its sister countries, so from the client’s perspective the assignment probably seemed straightforward: design the course and get on with it.
Learning and Development Is Bigger Than Training. Much Bigger.
Ask ten people what Learning and Development means and I suspect several will give you some version of the same answer: training. One person may say L&D organises courses for staff, another will point proudly to the annual training calendar, while someone else will mention workshops, online courses or certificates.
Session Recap or Key Takeaways? Please Stop Treating Them Like Twins
Every so often, a facilitator asks me a question that sounds simple until you begin unpacking it: “Margaret, what is really the difference between a session recap and key takeaways? Aren’t they basically the same thing?”
What Should a CEO Ask the Head of L&D?
A CEO does not need to know how to design a learning programme, choose a facilitator or debate instructional methodology. But a CEO should know something far more important:
Is this organisation building the capability its strategy depends on?
Your Managers Are Part of Your L&D System. Whether You Realise It or Not.
We spend a great deal of time talking about L&D departments, training budgets, learning platforms, facilitators and programmes.
But one of the most powerful influences on whether people actually develop at work may be sitting much closer to them.
Their manager.
Learning Does Not End When the Workshop Ends. So Why Do We Behave as Though It Does?
The workshop was excellent. The facilitator was engaging, the participants were enthusiastic, the evaluations were glowing and everybody left with a certificate. Three months later, however, very little has changed at work.
Does that sound familiar?
CEO, Stop Asking L&D: “Do You Already Have a Course on This?"
“Do you already have a course on this?”
I have been asked that question more times than I care to remember. A client identifies a problem, decides that training is the answer and then approaches the Learning and Development professional with what appears to be a perfectly reasonable request: “Do you already have the course?”