Disturbing noises, a cramped seminar room – in classical training sessions and coaching, the environment plays an important role. A participant who feels uncomfortable and disturbed will leave the training with negative feelings. As a trainer, you can prevent negative influences with some tips.
Let me take you briefly into the following story: Tobias works as a sales specialist in a medium-sized company in Munich. His supervisor asks him if he would like to participate in a one-day seminar on presentation techniques – in Stuttgart. The trainer is said to have been in the business for many years and has a good reputation. Tobias agrees.
On the day of the training, Tobias enters the seminar building. He is a bit nervous because he does not know what to expect and because he did not sleep well. Upon his first step through the door, he notices a slightly musty smell that reminds him of his former neighbor, from whom he only has negative memories.
Together with ten other participants, he finally sits in a small room that measures at most 20 square meters. The walls are painted a dark gray, and only little light comes in through the single window. Tobias feels uncomfortable.
The seminar begins and the trainer does a good job. Tobias learns some new techniques but can hardly concentrate. Late in the morning, Tobias is supposed to present himself. Normally, he has no trouble speaking in front of people, but today it is harder for him than usual. He does not know where to stand in the small room so that everyone can see him from the front.
The persistent smell and the sleepless night soon give Tobias a headache. More than anything, he is annoyed that he is giving the other participants and the trainer what feels like a poor presentation. He knows he can do better and feels that today just will not work out at all.
Two fundamental influencing factors in the training environment
What went wrong on this seminar day? The trainer himself did a good job, and the content was well prepared. Perhaps Tobias himself could not provide a concrete answer to this question. Often, we are unconsciously influenced by our immediate surroundings.
Basically, there are two factors that can influence the overall mood and thus largely the success of the training:
Personal Connotations
Description: A connotation is something that resonates consciously or unconsciously. It is often a very personal feeling (individual connotation). For example, Tobias was reminded of his unsympathetic neighbor by the smell in the seminar building. Since the smell persisted throughout the day, the “resonating” negative feeling also continued.
Possible actions: Do you think that you have your hands tied as a trainer when it comes to such individual connotations? That is only partially true. Of course, you cannot sense and eliminate every unconscious feeling of your participants. But you can incorporate short time slots into your training in which you discuss beneficial and disturbing factors together. This way, you create a fundamental awareness of influences from the immediate environment, allowing the participants to better overcome blockages.
General Environmental Conditions
Description: By “general environmental conditions,” I summarize all factors that usually have positive or negative effects for all participants. In Tobias's case, the room was simply too small and too dark for him to feel comfortable.
Possible actions: As a trainer, you can try to find out the room conditions in advance and, if necessary, bring aids (for example, daylight lamps) or even find a new location for your training in time. Additionally, you can casually inform your participants about the rather uncomfortable conditions.
Solution: Comprehensive clarification about framework conditions
Tobias not only had the problem of being unconsciously reminded of negative feelings or that the room was unsuitable. He also did not know in advance what to expect. A strange place, unfamiliar people, unknown content. He also had not slept well that day and actually had no mindset for personal development, even less so for unknown situations.
What could the trainer have done here? It would have been helpful for Tobias to receive information about the framework conditions some time beforehand. Tip: In addition to information about the place and time, the trainer could have also sent pictures of the seminar room and, for example, prepared the participants in a humorous way for the local conditions, such as: “Dress in light colors and bring a good mood, then the room will shine even without a second window.”
Another solution: Blended Learning
You, as a trainer, can easily send this preliminary information via email – or incorporate it into your online guidance. If you link your face-to-face training with online units, you use the successful training method blended learning. The term derives from the English to blend = “to mix” and refers to the mix of various learning forms.
For pure information about framework conditions, online guidance may not be worthwhile. However, with this option, you can take advantage of numerous other benefits to make your training successful:
Online exchange among all participants, e.g., as a commenting function
Transfer tasks after the training
Assessing training success through surveys or tests
… and more! With online guidance, you can also move content from the face-to-face phase into the self-directed online learning phase. For example, Tobias could:
receive online information about the local framework conditions in advance,
get to know the other participants via chat and the trainer via video message beforehand,
spend less time in the cramped room listening during the actual seminar day and use the gained time for discussions about the current framework conditions,
revisit everything discussed online after the face-to-face training in the form of photo documentation and short exercises.
Getting to know methods in Blended Learning
If you already own our card game for blended learning, the rocket pack, you can take a closer look at card #24 – “The Environment Is Involved” on this topic and follow the link on the back to get more tips. There you will also learn how to draw your participants' attention to positive influencing factors in a concrete example.
Do you want to learn more about methods to make your training more sustainable and successful, but are not yet familiar with the card game for blended learning? Then get our rocket pack on Amazon now!
Until the delivery time, you can download the linked guide "Four Methods Constituted as Blended Learning" below, which also works without the card game.
Have fun with it!
