BrendaLearns
  • Blog
  • About Brenda
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • About Brenda
  • Contact

My Top 3: Reasons to Tell Stories in Training

6/7/2022

0 Comments

 

Death by Lecture

As humans in today’s fast-paced world, we often value getting the job done as quickly as possible. When it comes to helping people learn, lecturing’s, aka “just tell them everything they need to know,” becomes the unfortunate default mode of information delivery. Unfortunately, the process of knowledge transfer doesn’t work like a bank deposit, and we can’t just extract knowledge from one person and implant it in another. Instead, individuals need to engage with information so they understand what to do with those details and make them into their own, internalized knowledge. 

Tell Me a Story

You know who loves stories? Little kids. Do you know why? They are trying to figure out what the world is all about and what to do with all of the things they are experiencing for the first time. Just like adults use stories to help children understand the world, stories help adults make the transition from bland best practice or potentially useful technique to thing-I-actually-do. Let’s look at three examples of how stories can be incorporated into training to engage people in the learning process and help adults actually learn.

Reason 1: Stories Help Concepts Become Real

In training, many times we’re covering abstract ideas, and sharing models for how to apply those ideas. Stories help us make that jump. Here's an example:

Concept: 

During a training with customer service professionals, we're trying to help them understand the importance of getting to know individual customers and catering to their unique needs. 

Basic explanation:

"Each customer is different. Every person who calls us on the phone has their own point of view and personal struggles that we may know nothing about. We need to find out what matters to them and emphasize those points as we speak to them. Overall, be careful about making assumptions about people’s wants and needs based on your personal preferences."

Story to make the idea real:

"Here’s an example of learning about our customers and tailoring our approach to their wants and needs.

While working at a table at a church conference, my job was to discuss health insurance benefits with pastors currently working in congregations. I was there to promote a great new benefit where pastors could earn $250 for completing an online health assessment quiz. For me, taking the health assessment was a no-brainer, because I thought, “Yay! Free money!”

I quickly learned, though, that this was not the prevailing opinion among the pastors. Several stopped to express outrage that the church was trying to BRIBE them to take the health assessment. Since many of the pastors prided themselves on being more concerned with doing good in the world than with money, having a financial reward for doing something that they should do anyway became a disincentive. 

One church leader realized that a different approach was needed. She used the concept of stewardship—which means taking care of the gifts God has given to you, including your money and your own personal health. She told pastors that it was their duty as leaders of the church to model good stewardship by taking the health assessment (especially since another benefit was helping their congregation to earn a discount on their health insurance premiums).

​By keeping the wants and needs of the audience in mind, and realizing that they may be very different from our own, we figured out how to position this benefit in a way that resonated with our audience. " 

How the story helps:

This story takes an abstract concept (everyone is different) and drives it home. Since many people may identify with the person who would gladly take the health assessment to earn money, seeing a completely different, and often unexpected, viewpoint can be shocking. Adding details about people and context for why they have the values they do, can be eye-opening.

Reason 2: Stories Help People Learn from Other People's Experiences

When you first learn a concept, it may sound good in the abstract, but you're not sure how to apply that idea in the real world. In professions like being a police officer or a fire fighter, stories are a way that seasoned staff help rookies learn from other people's experiences. Here's an example of how to use stories to share real-world examples.

Concept:

With new corporate trainers, using proximity technique to deal with disruptive students in a classroom environment.

Basic explanation:

"When trying to manage students who are disrupting the classroom, using proximity can be helpful. In short, standing near a student can help them to realize that they need to change their behavior."

Story to share one person’s experience using the technique:

"During student introductions at the beginning of a sales training class, Alice, a branch manager sitting at a table in the back of the room, was explaining what she hoped to gain from class.

In the middle of Alice’s introduction, Jim (the top insurance salesperson in the region) answered his phone. He was sitting at the front table in the classroom, and there was no way for the whole class NOT to hear his conversation as he loudly explained the concept of accident forgiveness.

I asked Alice to pause for a moment, then walked over to Jim, and stood next to him for a moment. He looked at me, I smiled at him, and then he put his hand over his phone long enough to say, “I’ll step outside to finish this call.” I nodded to let him know that I appreciate it. Once he left, Alice finished up, and the next person did their introduction.
​
In this case, standing next to Jim was the cue he needed to realize that he was doing something disruptive and self-correct his behavior."

How the story helped:

​The story involves people with names and characteristics. This shows on sometimes challenging student, a high performing salesperson, and a situation that may resonate with students. It also shows how using a relatively simple solution can solve the problem, and help the trainer maintain control of their classroom. This story shows students how they can apply the skill, which may also help them identify when they could use a specific skill in their classroom.  

Reason 3: To Give Context for Technical Training

When I’ve observed technical trainers, most of them are great at taking people through the step by step process needed to make something work. However, many times the question “why would we ever do this?” is missed. If people don’t get why the process matters, they will have a hard time mustering up enough energy to pay attention. Here's an example of how to use a story to set up a scenario within a technical training course.

Concept:

Showing students in an intermediate Microsoft Word class how to use the mail merge feature to create mailing labels. 

Basic explanation:

"We’re going to create mailing labels. This would be helpful if you needed to mail the same item, like a marketing campaign, to multiple people. You could even use a mailing list that you had saved in Excel as the starting point for your mailing labels."

Story to illustrate why you'd complete this process:

"Joanie and Chachi are getting married and having the big wedding of Joannie’s dreams.

Now that it’s time to address invitations, her best friend, Jenny Piccalo, points out that addressing 500 envelopes by hand is going to be excruciating.

Joannie has a great idea! Why not use the Excel file they’ve created and use the Mail Merge feature in Word to create mailing labels! They can even use one of those handwriting style fonts to help them match the script on the invitations.

Let’s look at how to set that up."

How the story helped:

Especially in technical training, sometimes we get so caught up in the “click here, click there, GOOD LORD NOT THERE” aspect of it that we forget to tell students why they’d ever bother to do the process we’re explaining. Giving them a why, in this case a why that aligns with concepts people know (the joys of managing the postal aspects of a big event) and incorporating fictional characters (who doesn’t love a little Happy Days reference?) adds a layer of lightheartedness that is often missing from technical training. 

What Do You Think?

​Why do you think telling stories in training is beneficial? What is your favorite story to tell? How does it enhance the learning process? Include your thoughts in the comments. 

Learn More

  • Making it Stick: Telling Stories 
  • What does storytelling in training look like? 
  • The Art of Immersion: Why do we tell stories?
  • Joanie Loves Chachi 
0 Comments

My Whirlwind Business Trip by the Numbers

7/14/2018

3 Comments

 

Business Travel: Perception vs. Reality

In movies and TV shows, business people are always jet setting off to exciting locations to do fabulous things. As with most other details in movies (the size of a newborn baby right after delivery, how close tourist spots are to one another in a big city, how windshields in cars actually break), this is not so much how business travel really goes.

It’s not glamorous outfits, first class flights, and limo rides to fabulous locations. I’ve found that it’s a lot more rushing around trying to make flights, hurriedly preparing to do a presentation, trying to find all the places you’re supposed to be, figuring out where and when to fit in a meal, and finding moments of joy in the midst of the hurry and chaos.  

​Here are a few key details on the realities of my most recent business trip.
Picture
Most of my travel time was spent in airports waiting.

My Business Trip Statistics

Time Breakdown by Activity

  • Calendar days of work trip: 4
  • Hours away from home: 83
  • Hours in Denver, CO: 26
  • Hours in Greenville, SC: 16
  • Hours in Philadelphia, PA: 20
  • Hours spent sleeping: 16 hours
  • Hours spent traveling (planes, trains and automobiles): 15
  • Hours waiting in the airport: 10
  • Time spent in security lines: 20 minutes (thank you, TSA Pre-Check)
  • Time spent outside: 40 minutes. Tops.
Picture
TSA Pre-check costs $85 for 5 years and enables you to pass through airport security in record time. TSA Pre-Check is, by far, the best money I have ever spent.

Counting All the Things

  • Flights taken: 6
  • States I set foot in: 6 (Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia)
  • Frequent flier miles earned: 7,130
  • Packs of gum chewed during airplane take offs and landings: 3
  • Times air pressure in-flight caused enough pain that I cried: 1
  • Times I got a whole row to myself: 1
  • Times my coworker Melissa nearly had a heart attack because she thought we had a 4+ hour drive to get to a hotel instead of the originally thought 30 minute drive: 1
  • Times my coworker Melissa  had a HUGE sigh of relief realizing that 4+ hours is how long it would have taken us to walk, not drive, to said hotel: 1
  • Movies watched in-flight: 2 (Justice League and I, Tonya)
  • Audiobooks finished in-flight: 1 (How to Lose a Marathon by Joel Cohen)
  • Bottles of water I consumed on this trip: eleventy billion (this is an approximate number)
Picture
Not to brag, but I once got a whole row to myself. Once.

My Trip in Pictures 

Here are my most exciting pictures from this trip. Go ahead, folks. Drink in the glamour. 

What do you think?

What has your typical work travel experience looked like? Add your thoughts in the comments.

Learn More

  • About the wonder that is TSA Pre-Check
  • 4 Misconceptions About Business Travel
  • Just How Bad Is Business Travel for Your Health? 
3 Comments

My Top 5: Adulting Advice for my Teenage Daughter

4/8/2018

0 Comments

 

Adulting is Hard

One of my goals as a parent is to help prepare my now teenage daughter to be a functional adult who makes good decisions and is happy and healthy. Here are my top 5 focus areas to position her for adulting success.

Tip 1: Plan ahead to avoid creating emergencies.

  • Have a plan and at least one back up plan. Circumstances change. Don’t be surprised.
  • Dress appropriately for the weather and activity. Sometimes this means walking shoes and bringing a sweatshirt. At other times, it’s an evening gown and high heels.
  • When you leave the house, bring your phone, wallet and keys. Every. Single. Time.
  • Find out a consistent place to put your possessions. If you lose things, you’ll have to manage without them or pay to replace them. That thing you can’t find? It’s wherever you put it.
  • Dye your hair whatever crazy color you want, just think through what you’ll do about roots.
Picture
Plan ahead to avoid creating emergencies.

Tip 2: Take control of your personal safety and security.

  • Do not share passwords and passcodes for your house, phone or computer with anyone.
  • Don’t act like a victim. Be aware of your surroundings, walk with purpose and project confidence. Keep your head up and your nose out of your phone.
  • Keep yourself out of harm’s way. Don’t ride with a drunk driver. Don’t go on a date with someone who creeps you out. Don’t walk in a place that feels unsafe.
  • Answer your phone and check your messages. Your phone’s main purpose is not Instagram. It’s your lifeline so you can communicate with others. Being reachable=more personal freedom.
  • Don’t start a fight, but be ready to end it. Try to diffuse, or avoid, situations that could turn into an altercation. If worse comes to worse, defend yourself. 
Picture
Take control of your personal safety and security.

Tip 3: Have positive interactions and build healthy relationships.

  • Greet people and smile. Say please and thank you. One kind act can make all the difference in your life, and the lives of others. Be a positive force in the world.
  • Not everyone will like you, and you won’t like everyone either. Be at least civil to people, but don’t be anyone’s doormat.
  • Sometimes you need to turn to an adult for guidance and support.  If you don’t talk to me, talk to your dad, your step-dad, your best friend’s mom, or a family friend. Let one of us help you.
  • You get to say no without giving a reason. You can decide not to spend time with someone, not to receive a hug from someone and not to loan your possessions to someone else.
  • I don’t care if you are interested in men, women, both or neither--just don’t date someone who is mean to you.
Picture
Have positive interactions and build healthy relationships.

Tip 4: Attend to your overall health and well-being.

  • Pay it forward. Hold the door open. Give someone a dollar. Tip well. Wave back at small children. Doing good deeds without expecting anything in return increases your well-being.
  • Appreciate what you have and be grateful. Take care of your things and appreciate the experiences you have. Don’t take things for granted or act like the world owes you.
  • Listen to your emotions. They help you know when something is wrong and needs to change, or when something is the right decision. Use your head, but be sure to trust your gut.
  • Stay active doing things you love to do. Skate, hike, swim and play games. Take a walk with a friend. Ride your bikes to do errands. Build exercise into your life so it’s not a chore.
  • Skip the cigarettes. No one ever looks back and thinks, “Boy am I glad I started smoking.” 
Picture
Attend to your overall health and well-being.

Tip 5: Commit to personal growth and positive change.

  • Get enough education to get a job you will like where you can support yourself.
  • Learn about multiple points of view. In the media the two most extreme viewpoints are represented, and the majority of people who are in the middle are dismissed. Seek out people, experiences and viewpoints that challenge the status quo.
  • Being open to changing your mind is growth, not weakness. As you meet people, live life and acquire more information, your views should evolve.
  • Complaining about all the actions people SHOULD  take to solve your problems gets you nowhere. Figure out what you can do, both short term and long term, to improve the situation.
  • “Being smart” is a journey, not a destination. Always keep learning and growing.
Picture
Commit to personal growth and positive change.

What do you think?

What are your top pieces of adulting-related advice? Include your thoughts in the comments. 

Learn More

  • 10 Pieces of Advice I hope my Kids Won’t Ignore
  • The Best Advice You Can Give To Your Kids
  • 11 Pieces of Advice To Give The Teenagers in your Life  
0 Comments

    Author

    Brenda is an innovative learning and development leader, instructional designer, and continuous learner. 

    Categories

    All
    Adulting
    Career
    Entertainment
    Health
    Inline Marathon
    Inline Skating
    Instructional Design
    Knitting
    Learning And Development
    Parenting
    Roller Derby
    Roller Skating
    Running
    Skating
    Time Management
    Training
    Travel Tips
    Values
    Wellness
    Yoga

Proudly powered by Weebly