Cohen Steven - Safety Training That Transfers: 50+ High-Energy Activities to Engage Your Learners

2015 ASTD DBA Association for Talent Development (ATD)

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When we started our business in 2011 we were warned by our first client that the training participants were not going to enjoy activity-focused training. One of the first participants who walked into the room made a sly comment about being back in kindergarten, due to the pipe cleaners, modelling clay, markers, and candy in the room. There were a lot of inquisitive looks and jokes as everyone filtered into our non-traditional training space.

Believing in the power of action-based learning, we kicked off our training session with a bang. Everyone in the room had to stand up, find a partner, stand back to back, and then change five things about their physical appearance. They then turned back around and had to guess what was different. We explained this was not going to be a training program like they had ever experienced and we wanted them to be open to embracing a new style of learning, just as they had been open to engaging in a non-traditional training activity. It only took a few moments for the participants to settle in and connect with the learning at hand.

We were leading a regulatory refresher training course covering mandatory topics relating to certain safety requirements governed by the mining industry. Every year the participants went through the same training, on the same topics, in the same way. That yearin our classthey got a taste of what safety training should be. They learned about awareness through a scavenger hunt, practiced maintaining safe speeds during a relay race, learned about electrical safety by playing the game operation, and even learned about explosive hazards by setting off a blast using Diet Coke and Mentos. There were 75 participants and after the eight-hour session, many of them came up, shook our hands, and thanked us for the best training program they had ever been to.

One of our main reasons for writing this book and sharing our knowledge is to break down the paradigm of how training gets done in many organizations. We have trained hundreds of people during the past few years, and every time, with every client, in every country, we get the same engagement, participation, and feedbackthis was great! We want to let people know that training does not have to be boring! Boring training is a waste of time, money, energy, and resources. The National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine, found that people only retain 5 percent of content when going through a lecture-focused training session. Five percent! After eight hours of being bombarded with information, we only walk away with 5 percent of learned information.

We wrote Safety Training That Transfers because conducting sessions that use 300 PowerPoint slides, monotonous lectures, uninspiring deliveries, or outdated and irrelevant information is not trainingit is a time waster that needs to be stopped. This is a book for those who think their employees will not embrace and participate in action-based training.

This book is also an acknowledgment that safety training, while often neglected, is an essential part of our work life. Private industry employers reported nearly 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. OSHA cites that employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct workers compensation costs alone. Safety in the workplace is something we take very seriously and are extremely passionate about. We believe that everyone has the potential to be great; they just need a catalyst to help unlock it. This book is that catalyst. It is a means to help create experiences that can change the way work gets done. It is about creating a workplace where people can do their job in a way that is safe and productive.

Each of the six chapters in this book features activities focused on different aspects of a safety training session. An explanation of the materials, purpose, instructions, and application is provided for each activity.

1. Materials

Most of the materials used in the activities can be found in the majority of work areas, however some items may need to be purchased. This book was not designed to be a spur-of-the-moment resource for on-the-fly training purposes. It will be most useful to those who take the time to read through each activity and understand how it applies to their training needs, identify why it is important, and create a plan for gathering the necessary materials prior to commencing.

2. Purpose and Overview

Malcolm Knowles, the father of adult learning, explains that we have to understand the purpose and benefit before we decide to engage with learning. As adults we need to see some value associated with the things we do. In the purpose and objective sections of each activity, we outline why the activity is important. When conducting your training program, it is important that you spend some time explaining what the participants are about to do and why, before going on to give any directions. Give them the reasons so they understand the valuesetting up the activity this way is critical to ensuring your participants fully understand what is being asked of them.

3. Instructions

The directions to our activities have been specifically crafted in a way that allows for clarity and successwe use these setups in our training sessions and they have worked well for us. There is an art to making sure you say the right words when providing directions. Our goal is never to trick our trainees, but to provide them with enough ambiguity that will lead to the outcome we want. It is important, however, that your trainees fully understand what to do. We often have a few participants repeat back exactly what the group will be doing, which is called aligned understanding and will make a significant difference as your trainees go through the exercise.

4. Delivery

There is a difference between doing an activity and playing a game. An activity is a purposeful experience that brings people together for a shared learning experience; a game is something that is done simply for fun. Even though many of our activities are fun, they have an important message or generate an important experience that directly relates to the safety theme. It is critical to debrief the group after every activity, because building the connection between what the participants did and why they learned it is the most important part in executing an effective training activity. Have the group start a dialogue to share their learning experience and help understand its connection to the activity. Application is essential to changing the status quo, but this wont happen unless the learning is internalized and well understood.