Mindflash

Getting negative feedback sucks: it’s painful to hear that your training misses the mark. But if you’re truly committed to improving the quality of training and inviting opportunities for personal growth you need to look beyond the short-term pain and focus on the long-term gain. This requires setting fears aside and asking for negative feedback in the form of constructive criticism.... Read more »

Beyond being entertaining, stories have the ability to touch our imaginations and emotions and affect our behavior. Because stories are so powerful, they can be a highly effective way to grab your audience’s attention, present content in a relatable context, and make training “stickier.” In this post, we’ll look at some pointers for effectively using stories in training. ... Read more »

Perpetuating certain training myths like the “bad trainee” or “ideas over execution” can be an easy way to side-step larger problems. The reality is, these myths are an easy way to address problems in the short-term, but failure to bust these myths can lead to much bigger long-term problems. In this post, we’ll explore three typical training myths and how to bust them to create better training. ... Read more »

The task of keeping online training lively and memorable requires the constant application of great design, clear, clever writing, and engaging visuals, so it’s easy to end up in a design rut. To help spark your creativity, I’ve gathered 3 free PowerPoint templates, available for download in this post.... Read more »

Whether it’s a lack of clarity on the part of senior executives or a lack of resources to execute accordingly there are a countless reasons training projects fail. However there are 3 pitfalls which almost always guarantee a spectacularly bad outcome: (1) No clear target, (2) poor project management, and (3) anonymous trainees. When failure is NOT an option, consider the following ideas for dodging the pitfalls and paving a path to success. [Infographic]... Read more »

Audio serves a vital function – particularly in online training – by breathing life into your material, setting the tone, and grabbing your trainee’s attention.  But we need to know when to use it for the greatest impact, and how to do so in a way that’s low-cost and high-quality.   If it seems like using audio is too complicated or technical, let me assure that it’s not. This post includes 4 Audacity tutorials I’ve pulled together to get you up and running AND show you how to edit your audio for higher-quality results.... Read more »

Many of us have already recognized and developed our training design superpowers, but what if you’re the team’s utility – doing a little bit of everything – and you haven’t quite found your niche? Or, what if you’re new to the world of online training and aren’t really sure what your superpower is yet?  In light of those intimidating and omnipresent villains known as “Vanishing Budget” and “Soul-Crushing Workload,” how can you defy the odds, find your training strengths (and weaknesses), and use that knowledge to develop your training design superpowers? ... Read more »

In last week’s post, we examined the use of Active Voice and Passive Voice to help Grammar Phobics write clear and compelling training.  Now let’s look at two writing rules traditionally revered by the Grammar Gurus of the world – and why you may want to ignore them.... Read more »

When it comes to business writing, it seems most of us fall into one of two general categories – Grammar Phobics or Grammar Gurus. But whether you’re phobic or a guru, we can all agree that good writing is the foundation of great training. So let’s start out with one simple rule grammar phobics should embrace: writing in an Active Voice.... Read more »

For those of us in the training design and delivery world, mandatory training triggers a triple-groan. Not only do we need to create or update mandatory training every year, but we also have to complete it, and then spend countless hours cajoling, begging, or threatening our trainees to complete it. So how do we move beyond the collective groan and design it to feel a little less like an annual punishment? ... Read more »