How I would have loved a guide in my first few months (or years) in the Learning and Development (L&D) field to turn to when I fell into situations…that arise for anyone new to training. That’s what my book, “Troubleshooting for Trainers,” is: the troubleshooting guide experienced trainers wish they’d had when starting out. Like a troubleshooting guide that’s part of the operating manual for a new appliance that has started acting up, this book will provide you with in-the moment fixes and longer-term solutions for some of the common challenges faced by new trainers at every stage in the L&D process.
I’ve collected the challenges addressed in this book from new trainers I’ve spoken to at ATD Core 4 conferences, from the Learning Design: Fundamentals class I teach at NYU’s School for Professional Studies, and over the 20-plus years I’ve coached and mentored people entering the field. In each section, I’ve included some quotes representative of the situations these new trainers have faced, and I’ve labeled them as “The Problem.” Solutions come primarily from my own experience. Here is an example challenge from the book:
Challenge #4: I don’t know what’s just a fad
Description
Massive open online courses (MOOCs), social learning, gamification, artificial intelligence (AI), click training—what’s just a fad, and what’s a good fit for your training goals? Which learning innovations are going to stick around, and which will be temporary, lasting only until the next stylish notion comes along? You want to be on the cutting edge of technology, science, and approaches to learning, but you need to be careful of being lured into solutions that are not instructionally sound.
Solutions
While there is no way to predict the future, here are some strategies to determine whether a new approach to learning is going to be a short-lived fad or a long-term trend:
Determine If the Approach Is Instructionally Sound
When a new approach ties back to adult learning principles and is based on research, it is likely valid. Whether it will stick around is more a matter of how well publicized it is and how attractively it is packaged. Microlearning is an example of a more recent trend that is rooted in two core cognitive psychology findings: the spacing effect and the testing effect. Microlearning is training delivered in bite-size chunks; it is scenario-based, integrates feedback, and utilizes social media for motivation and tracking. It checks all the boxes for what we know about how adults learn, and, therefore, is instructionally sound.
As a counterexample, consider fidget spinners. These little toys are marketed as ways to help learners with ADHD focus, and as a way for anxious students to channel nervous energy. Some claim fidget spinners can have health benefits, such as easing stress. But there is no evidence that sensory treatments such as fidget spinners are effective in these instances. While some scientists talk about how spinners can help in theory, no empirical studies back up these assertions. While the spinners once were so popular that finding them was impossible for a brief while, they now are banned from many classrooms, because they are seen as more distracting than instructionally sound.
Look to the Tried and Tested
There are people who want to be on the forefront of new technology—early adopters—who might benefit from lower pricing (before it’s been proven, it may be a bargain) and being ahead of the game (they’ll have this process seamlessly integrated by the time others are just getting on board). And then there are those who want to wait and see. They want evidence of a technique’s effectiveness. The only true way to know if something is a fad or is going to be a lasting approach is to wait for evidence that it works. For instance, many training teams have jumped onto social media—wikis, blogs, Twitter—for learning, when the evidence of these platforms’ effectiveness has been fairly weak (Clark 2015). This is not to say you shouldn’t at times try out different, untested approaches, just that the risks of such approaches are greater; therefore, you want to be wary of making too big an investment in them.
Make Sure the Data Is Valid
Most trends have data behind them. You want to make sure the data is valid. Clark Quinn, author of “Millennials, Goldfish & Other Training Misconceptions” (2018), suggests that a good rule of thumb is to always ask if the data was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Unpublished data is suspect, because why wouldn’t you publish if you could? Beware of someone saying they have data that can’t be shared for proprietary, or other, reasons. Proper research includes sufficient information for peers or other researchers to replicate the study to see if the same results are produced. Peer review isn’t everything—it might include its own errors—but it’s a good indication of scientific rigor.
Make Sure the Approach Helps People Do Their Jobs
When solutions are created in response to real problems, they will be enduring. But when products or processes are created to solve a problem that doesn’t truly exist, they likely will fail. Look at the origin for a new approach. If it springs from a real need, or fills a business gap, it is likely to be long-lasting. Trends solve problems and get stronger over time, as more and more people think about the same issue and how to resolve it in more effective and elegant ways. Curation is a recent example of a trend that’s growing in response to a problem: the glut of digital information available with just a few clicks, and the need to help learners connect to the portion of that information that is relevant and valid.
Determine Whether the Approach Is Related to a Larger Trend
A learning technique that is grounded in how people operate in the real world also may gain traction. Tarah Cicero, Learning and Development specialist at Lehigh University, provides these examples: “Outside of the workplace, individuals tend to watch short videos on YouTube when they need to quickly learn how to do something. For that reason, we’ve incorporated short videos (around three minutes or less) into employee training. For example, we created a series of instructional videos for our online performance review process, which has steps that occur throughout the calendar year. Each step in the process has its own short video demonstrating how to navigate the online tool to successfully complete the step.”
Excerpt from “Troubleshooting for Trainers” by Sophie Oberstein (ATD Press).
Sophie Oberstein is an author, coach, adjunct professor, and Learning and Organization Development (L&OD) consultant. She’s worked in the field of learning and organization development for years at public and private organizations, including Weight Watchers North America; Columbia University Irving Medical Center; the City of Redwood City, California; and Citibank, N.A. Oberstein holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management and postgraduate certification in training and development. Her certification as a professional co-active coach (CPCC) is from the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI). She is on the faculty of the NYU School of Professional Studies Leadership and Human Capital Management department, where she developed and conducts both the fundamentals and the advanced courses in the learning design certificate program. Her previous books, “10 Steps to Successful Coaching,” Second Edition (2020) and “Beyond Free Coffee & Donuts: Marketing Training and Development” (2003), are available from ATD Press. Her latest book is “Troubleshooting for Trainers.”
