Creating the right mood
Daftar isi
14. Creating the right mood for the moment
Set the tone
- Set the tone for the training in your own manner.
- Be aware of your own state
- State of trainer has a big impact on learners
- Appear energised and enthusiastic, positive, well prepared
- Well rested and alert
Build rapport
- Welcome participants
- Make sure they know you are interested in them as humans, that you care and have empathy and that you really are trying to deliver something of benefit
- Friendly and approachable.
- Fresh.
- Sincere.
- Address concerns or practical considerations that have impact on training
- Share similarities and commonalities
- Learn and use people’s names ASAP. Name tags or signs. Games can help.
Stress and repeat the benefits of the training
- People need a reason to learn - relevance and purpose is very important
- Overview of what participants will learn and why it will help them
Keep up the energy
- Sessions should be short and punchy
- Regular breaks are important – toilets, moving, time for reflection, drinking
- Use of energisers
- Using variety
- Participative approaches
Put people at ease
- Understand the reasons why some people may fear/dread training
- How to avoid these negative feelings getting out of hand – telling people in advance about activities and what they will and won’t have to do.
- Explain the reason for any activities, purpose
- Get feedback frequently.
Use good humour
- Be relaxed and be faithful to your own sense of fun and good humour
- Relate humour to the training topic or the point you want to make
- Use funny anecdotes to illustrate a point
- Keep it simple and clear
- Develop the capacity to laugh at yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
- Keep the humour relatively disciplined so that you don’t get off track or waste time
- When things go wrong, or you make a mistake – show that you are relaxed enough to laugh about it, and laugh at the situation.
- Remember that you don’t have to be original – you can ‘borrow jokes’ from well-known comedians or sources of funny material.
There are a few simple pieces of advice about what NOT to do with humour
- DON’T announce that you are going to tell a joke, let it come as a surprise
- DON’T practice too much, it should come naturally
- DON’T insult or hurt anyone or their religion, gender, political beliefs etc
- DON’T drag it out or muffle the punch line.