Shrewd training: Liz Kentish, Kentish and Co
Every child has a favourite teacher. Someone who brings the subject to life and inspires them to discover more. And there are always less favourite teachers who make even the most exciting subject as dull as dishwater. But, while some teachers are undoubtedly better than others, it is often the style of teaching that makes the life of Gamal Abdel Nasser interesting to one child, nomadic tribes thrilling to another and Pythagoras’s theorem the bee’s knees to other students.
And the same can be said of training courses in the construction and facilities management sectors. So much of a delegate’s enjoyment and achievement of a course is down to the style of teaching of the trainer themselves.
Everyone processes and learns information in different ways. Children and adults have three different learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learners like graphs, charts, pictures, and seeing information, are able to memorise and recall various facts, tend to remember things that are written down and learn better in training courses by watching. Meanwhile auditory learners retain information through hearing and speaking and prefer to be told how to do things and then summarise the main points out loud. They may learn best with background music. And finally kinesthetic learners like to use a hands-on approach to learn new material, would rather have someone demonstrate how to do something than verbally explain it, and prefer group work, often while fidgeting or fiddling with other things.
But the reality is, that in the Middle East, training courses only appeal to auditory learners. Here the tradition is for the trainer to download their knowledge to their students and for the students to respectfully listen and take notes. There is little in the way of interaction and collaboration and scarcely an opportunity to challenge the lecturer and debate the points made.
In addition to the three styles of learning, learners are either independent or dependent. The vast majority are dependent learners meaning that they work better in collaborative groups. Again, the traditional way of training in the Middle East doesn’t support the majority of people – dependent learners. The old style of theoretical learning only appeals to a certain style of learner.
This means that a large proportion of the students or delegates are not gaining the full benefit from their training. A more collegiate and collaborative approach to learning, which is more typical in the UK facilities management (FM) market, would benefit all delegates and ensure that everyone gains the maximum benefit from their training investment.
The FM sector needs to take a more holistic approach to professional learning. We don’t just learn by looking and hearing, but with all of our senses. Bringing music, laughter, movement, different smells, toys, brain food such as nuts and fruit, can all help to create the most memorable – and therefore most effective – learning experience.
And there are other benefits of a collaborative approach. Students don’t just sign up to a training course to benefit from the trainer’s expertise, but also to learn from the other students. Through group work on a training course, they can share experiences of their day jobs and what tools, techniques and ideas work and what don’t. Through this discussion, they create a professional network of mutual support which lasts long after the course notes have been consigned to the filing cabinet.
It can also break down barriers between the different groups in the Middle East. Interactive training sessions can see both nationals and non-nationals working together as one team, while being respectful of their different cultures. This will not only allow them to work together better once back in the workplace but will create a better performance for that organisation and its clients.
To test how people like to learn, ask them to recall a great learning experience. Chances are it won’t be a formal lecture but something like someone coaching them, a mentoring morning, a practical on-the-job training session or perhaps a tour around a building by the facility manager.
Which brings us back to the classroom. Infants are taught the basic of learning – to read, write and count – using all of their senses. They write numbers in chalk on the playground concrete, they chant words, they create dance rhythms to basic calculations, and they use new words to describe unusual smells. FM trainers in the Middle East need to take tips from the classroom to get the most out of professional learners. We need to be brave and step outside our comfort zone to get the best learning experience.
