Learning in an anxious economic environment

Places please for effective instruction

In this article, we will offer tips for delivering effective learning in an anxious economic environment.

The last few months have been rough ones for the training industry. As always, one of the first departments downsized is Training. To make matters worse, any training professional who has a pension plan, a 401K, or an investment in stock has seen their retirement investments fall precipitously.

Most of those experiencing anxiousness aren’t starving, poor, or otherwise deprived of essentials. The conversation was rather centered on apprehension about what the future might hold

This feeling is similar to the emotions learners cope with when required to attend learning. It’s a dull, droning feeling of dread. This insight may help you relate to your learned and help them overcome their own learning apprehension.

Here are five tips to confront that learner dread.

Tip One – Stage Your Learning Environment
Ensure the learning environment aligns with the message you wish to project. A messy learning room, with chairs scattered against the walls, trash on the floor, and peeling paint on the walls, suggests a lack of concern for the message.

We all know instinctively that we should not expect excellent food and service at a filthy restaurant. We also, if only subconsciously, wonder what we are getting ourselves in to when a doctor’s waiting room has dirty carpet and grease stains on the walls from too many resting heads.

Would not the same human reaction occur when a learner enters a dirty, smelly learning environment? Suggest that what you are teaching is professional. The room is your stage. Ensure it tells the story you want told.

Tip Two – Suggest Positivity
If you believe they can’t learn it, or shouldn’t be there, they will believe it too. From the first moment the learners spot you to the moment they leave your presence, at the moment they get something right and the moment they screw it up, you should be positive; focused; in your element; glad they are there; knowing that they can learn this too. That way you suggest the positive outcomes you want.

Tip Three – Perform Purposefully
Do nothing without a reason. Make your personal stories, your mannerisms, your talking points, and your PowerPoint slides purposeful in furtherance of the learning goal. This will communicate to your learners that you are in control. They then can relax and follow your lead.

Tip Four – Demonstrate Confidence
A confident, positive, knowledgeable instructor hastens the relaxing that must occur in order for the dread to dissipate. A bumbling, hesitant instructor alienates his attendees. Learners who sense you are not sure of yourself will opt for self-protection and either withdraw or attempt to control their learning experience. Present with the confidence that you, like the magician, can work miracles.

Tip Five – Deliver Value
Ensure that the learning you deliver is filled with chances for your attendees to discover and savor tangible, actionable information. Suggest the knowledge you want but let them uncover it. The surprise of self-discovery makes the learning memorable.

Conquer the Dread
Stock markets do rise and fall. Learners choose to learn or not. They likely will enter the room full of apprehension. The correct suggestive behavior delivered by you can conquer their dull drone of dread.