10 Tips for Tele-Training

Over the past few weeks, I've successfully conducted a number of Tele-training courses with clients in Asia.
I was skeptical regarding phone delivery, but the clients love it, and I have to admit that they're learning the material just as well as my classroom students do.

I want to share some of the process I've used and capture best practices for your use.

What is Tele-training?

Tele-training is training that occurs over the telephone.
There are no other technologies in usage during Tele-training (no live video, no web browsers, no computers, no transmitted slides).
Slides or documents are used/driven at the receiving end of the training, if needed.

Why Tele-training? Because it:

• Eliminates travel costs
• Accelerates delivery cycle-time (no waiting for an instructor to fly)
• Makes training available to all (working at home, from an airport, or a remote office, for example)
• Enables economies of scale across offices or regions
• Attracts more diverse training audiences across offices or regions
• Reduces or eliminates technical barriers (such as slow video connections, software incompatibilities, passwords, etc)
• Can reduce classroom time, as homework is assigned for offline completion
• Is less expensive for the client
• Simulates the actual work environment, since much of global work today is done by telephone

What Tele-training has been conducted?

I've used Tele-training for a number of audiences and courses, such as:

• Coaching skills for Service Managers across the US.
• DiSC Behavior Profiling for Korean Sales and Service Managers.
• Global Culture Training for a engineering group in Singapore
• Employee Development Training for HR Business Partners in Asia.

Is Tele-training just Instructor-led training over the phone?

No.
For Tele-training to be successful, the course must undergo some level of redesign.
This redesign may be minor, or it may be extreme.
One of the above courses, for example, was redesigned from an 8-hour instructor-led course, to a 4-hour Tele-training.
The tele-training is now conducted as two 2-hour sessions, with pre-work and home-work between the two sessions.
This allows the content to be delivered in half the classroom time.
Additionally, the materials were redesigned as an interactive, visual workbook.

This new workbook is easier to read and far more engaging.
It also eliminates the need for a PowerPoint slide deck, as the visuals are integrated into the workbook.

What are the Best-Known Methods for Tele-training

I'm continuing to learn, as I conduct more sessions, but here are the lessons thus far.

1. The course must be reviewed and redesigned for Tele-training. Do not attempt to deliver an instructor-led course by phone without customization.
2. The learning and performance objectives must be very, very clear.
3. The course should be exercise-based. Tele-training is not a format for lectures.
4. Pre-work and homework must be completed. If not, the objectives will not be met.
5. Sessions should be limited to 2 hours, unless there is significant co-facilitation on the receiving end.
6. For a two-session course, there should be 48 hours between sessions (example: Tues & Thursday). Shorter periods will not allow time for homework. Longer periods limit retention.
7. In most cases, classroom sizes should be limited to 8, to provide adequate participation.
8. A champion/facilitator should be on the receiving end of the course. In each successful session to date, there has been a champion on the receiving end of the training who has helped facilitate materials and discussion.In all cases, the facilitator has been familiar with the me and my methodologies. This makes the process seamless for the participants.
9. Materials should be engaging and clear. The instructor is not be in a position to entertain learners nor to explain ambiguous materials. Tele-training will test the clarity of your materials.
10. I keep a list of all attendees and specifically call on individuals for Q&A. This ensures involvement, engagement, and evaluation.

My goal for next year is to conduct at least 3 workshops a month by tele-training.
I'm currently reviewing all of my courses to see how I can adapt them for this mode of delivery. Planning the participants pre-work and homework assignements is key making the program work.

What are you experiences (as a facilitator or student) with tele-training?