While there are several straightforward steps you can take if you find yourself sitting in a project management training class that isn’t all you hoped it would be, what do you do if you’re the training instructor and you discover the attendees aren’t getting the knowledge they need? Don’t despair, we’ve put together some guidelines that will put you on track to transform your teaching.
Attendees aren’t keeping up. It’s likely one of two scenarios: either you’re going too fast, or your material is too advanced for your audience. Before you leap to fix the problem, ask attendees for their input—their perception may not match yours. If you’re moving too quickly, determine where in the curriculum everyone was still on board and restart there. Slow the pace by encouraging interaction, which will also help the audience match their progress to the material.
If, instead, the training class topics are beyond the experience level of the majority of the audience, pause and do a brief question-and-answer session. This will help you determine how to narrow the scope and focus on those skills that will move attendees’ competencies forward without overwhelming them.
Attendees are bored. Again, there are two probable causes, one being a lack of excitement and the other related to materials that are too remedial for the audience. If your presentation just isn’t keeping people’s attention, spice things up by getting attendees involved. Solicit questions or encourage the audience to share relevant project experiences of their own.
If attendees’ skills are beyond the material you’re teaching, it’s time to go in-depth. Offer a case study to illustrate the more complex concepts in greater detail. It can also be helpful to break the audience into several focus groups and give them sample projects that will challenge them to implement the various competencies in real-world scenarios.
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Project management consulting and training tips by PMAlliance
