4 Ways to Make Your Leadership Training Program Feel More Intimate
I talk a lot about training as an avenue to create trusting relationships and psychological safety in your nonprofit. But what do you do when the training facilitates a large cohort of learners and it becomes harder to build those relationships?
Today I am talking about what you can do to make those large cohorts of learners feel a bit more intimate.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
03:49 Breaking a large cohort of learners into smaller groups
05:13 Using technology to facilitate learning
06:30 Providing access to personalized coaching and learning during live sessions
07:29 Ensuring access to additional supports
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4 Ways to Make Your Leadership Training Program Feel More Intimate
If you've been around this podcast for a bit, you know how much I talk about training as an avenue to create trusting relationships and psychological safety in your nonprofit.
But what do you do when the training is big?
Meaning you have a lot of people who are attending and it becomes harder to build those relationships.
If the training is more than 10 or 12 people, and you aren't sure how to make it feel more intimate so that those relationships can be built, this blog post is for you.
At the beginning of 2023, I took a course to learn more about podcasting. So probably not related to the training that you are doing in your nonprofit. But the person who led the training allowed up to 50 people in each cohort.
That's a big number, 50 people.
And yet she did this all while maintaining a personal touch and facilitating lasting relationships for those of us who attended the training. And so I want to share a few of the things that she did that I think you can do too so that we can make those large cohorts of learners feel a bit more intimate in 2024.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
Use Small Groups to Facilitate Relationship Building in Your Training Programs
Leverage Technology to Connect Learners Outside of Training Sessions
Provide Personalized Coaching and Learning in a Training Session
Maximize Learning Potential through Additional Support Systems
For some background, the course was blended. We had self-paced eLearning modules that we had to complete each week. And then we also had one live virtual session with the facilitator each week. The course ran for 12 weeks.
1) Use Small Groups to Facilitate Relationship Building in Your Training Programs
From day one, the facilitator paired us into smaller pods. So while there might have been 40 to 50 people in a group, she was grouping us into smaller pods of four to five people. And our goal within that pod was to encourage each other and cheer each other on.
In this pod, we could ask each other questions throughout the week. If we were completing an eLearning module and something came up and we weren't really sure what to do about it, they were there.
We did this through Voxer, which is a voice messaging app.
We were able to communicate with the smaller group throughout the experience. We were also encouraged to meet with our pods over Zoom if we wanted. And so once a week, my little pod of four to five people would get on Zoom and we would talk about what we had accomplished or what questions we still had or what we still needed to do.
Sometimes we were overwhelmed and the Zoom call was just a little bit of venting. And sometimes it was getting someone else's objective opinion on something. And so we were able to go through that experience together and we were invested in each other's experience.
This small group setting is what allowed us to build those stronger relationships.
2) Leverage Technology to Connect Learners Outside of Training Sessions
The next way to make training a large cohort of learners feel more intimate is to use technology.
Voxer, this voice messaging app, was a great way for us to connect with each other outside of the sessions without feeling like we were interrupting someone else's day.
At the beginning of this experience, we weren’t friends, we didn't really know each other, and I had never met any of them. And so this allowed us to send and receive messages without disrupting each other. But it was still accessible.
It's just as accessible as receiving a text but it's a separate app. So it allows you to feel like you have more control over going and checking it versus a text message which sometimes feels like an interruption.
The same type of thing can be done in other apps or technology like
WhatsApp
A discussion board platform in your LMS
A knowledge management platform of some sort like Teams or Slack
There are a lot of different ways that you can use technology. There are so many different tech options at our disposal that it can sometimes be overwhelming as well. But we have a lot of options; we just have to figure out how we want to use them to create that intimate learning experience.
3) Provide Personalized Coaching and Learning in a Training Session
Now, the next thing I want to talk about is that we were able to submit questions for the facilitator ahead of each live virtual session.
So again, we were going through those self-paced eLearning modules each week and then attending that live virtual session with her. If questions came up as we were going through those eLearning modules or the experience in general, we were able to submit those to her. And then she would read those questions and provide coaching or feedback to us on the call. And so that allowed her to provide real time personalized coaching and learning to any participant who wanted it.
Imagine if your learners showed up to a training and received real time, personalized coaching and learning. They would have so much autonomy and clarity as they start to implement whatever it is they're learning. That's huge.
4) Maximize Learning Potential through Additional Support Systems
The next thing is access to additional supports.
So in addition to those eLearning modules, the live virtual sessions, and the pods, the main facilitator also had another facilitator who offered weekly office hours calls. This was optional - we didn't have to attend - but it gave us a place to jump on and ask questions if we needed to.
Sometimes those questions were more logistical or technical like
accessing a file
troubleshooting the system
Sometimes those questions were more tactical like
how to implement what we were learning
Sometimes we could just ask questions until we could more fully formulate the question we wanted to ask in that live virtual session so that we get the most out of our time together.
This provided a high-touch experience where we felt supported in our learning journey. And I believe nonprofits can do that too. We can provide those additional supports so that the learner feels supported from the beginning to the end of their learning journey.
Now, hopefully, as I shared these 4 examples from my own experience,, you were thinking of ways you could incorporate these methods into your own training offerings. But if you're still not sure, schedule a call with me so we can discuss those options. I truly believe Learning and Development has a role to play in creating trusting relationships across the organization. So not making your training feel more intimate just seems like a huge missed opportunity. And I don't want you to miss that opportunity.
I get that it can feel overwhelming. I get that it takes time. I get that it takes resources, and I get that it might require buy-in or even a new skill set for your facilitators, but it's worth it.
To hear the full conversation I had on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 66.
The Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective
Do you wish you could connect with other nonprofit learning and development leaders?
I know what it feels like to want someone to bounce ideas off of and to learn from, someone who really understands you and your work. Imagine if you could have a simple way to meet people in the field, ask questions, and share information.
That's why I created the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective – so nonprofit L&D, talent management, and DEI leaders can connect with each other quickly and easily in a virtual space.
When you join this community, you will walk away with a new, diverse, and powerful network – and a sounding board for your staff development needs.
So if you're ready to exchange ideas and collaborate with your peers, come join the Nonprofit L&D Collective.
