Corrections or additions?
This article by Caroline Calogero was published in U.S. 1
Newspaper on July 26, 2000. All rights
reserved.
Creative Training
E-mail: CarolineCalogero@princetoninfo.com
Did you nap through your last corporate training
session?
Or were you the teacher, trying to make a wake-up call? Trainers
should
learn how to make the courses they run — dare we say it —
enjoyable, says Jane-Alyse Von Ohlen, who teaches a course in
Creative Training Design as part of the training certificate program
at Mercer County College.
“How do you make it fun? How do you make it so people want to
be there, so they’re not what we call training hostages?” Von
Ohlen asks.
“You need to have the basics first. You need to have some
presentation
skills. You need to understand how adults learn, how to create a
program
or a presentation.” Von Ohlen explains most adults like to learn
by relating a topic to their own personal experiences or by
understanding
how an idea can be applied to their own lives.
Her course is scheduled for Tuesdays, August 1 and 8, at 6:30 p.m.
Cost: $90. It is not a course for the inexperienced; prerequisite
courses in training fundamentals and/or the equivalent work experience
is required. Call Lynn Coopersmith for information at
609-586-4800,
extension 3241, or to register call 609-486-9446.
Von Ohlen will discuss how to use music as a tool to energize a class
or put people at ease. Room arrangements will be deliberated including
the podium dilemma. Podiums are considered a definite no-no since
they create a barrier between speaker and listener. “We look at
creating an atmosphere,” she says.
The ideal group size for break out activities will be considered.
Even flip charts and handouts will be subject to scrutiny, including
how to make them more appealing by using color and pictures.
Von Ohlen is the training and development manger at Virtua Health,
a health care system with 7,000 employees that runs five hospitals
and two nursing homes covering Burlington, Camden and Gloucester
counties.
She lives with her attorney husband in Roebling, majored in human
resources at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, Class of 1995, and has
a master’s degree in training from St. Joseph’s University in
Philadelphia
(E-mail: jvonohlen@virtua.org).
She readily gives away a few experienced trainers’ tricks of the
trade:
Peppermints make the ideal after-lunch treat. The mintis energizing and counteracts the effects of a full stomach.Give freebies. She believes in buying a bit of good willby tossing out little giveaways like stress-reducing squeeze ballsto those who answer questions. “People like free things,”says Von Ohlen.Open and close creatively. “To start, I sometimesask everyone to draw pictures representing aspects of their life.I always draw first on a big flip chart, and once they see that Ican’t draw, no one is shy.” For a closer, she often has her classblow up balloons. “We put all our stress into the balloon, andwe throw them up in the air to get rid of the stress.”Choose a theme to enhance a training course. “Ifyou’regoing to be creative, you’ve got to come up with how you’re goingto make it fun and interesting. Themes are a way to do it.”For training courses dealing with adapting to change, Von Ohlenadvisestaking students on a trip to Oz. Whether participants are adjustingto a corporate merger or just a new department manager, Von Ohlenbelieves a walk down the yellow brick road can ease their experience.The Oz-inspired meeting room includes a floor mat printed with agoldenmasonry motif, tables covered in blue and white checked cloth, andred glitter boxes filled with candy scattered about. Even handoutsare adorned with a picture of Dorothy.Von Ohlen then lowers the lights and shows her students a part ofthe Wizard of Oz film. They watch Dorothy’s house detach from Kansasduring the cyclone and whirl away into the unknown.A discussion follows of how Dorothy felt during these changes andhow she managed to make it through. Von Ohlen extracts from the classthat Dorothy, surrogate for the seminar participants, got throughby relying on her friends. This teamwork approach will helpparticipantsnegotiate changes, too.For courses dealing with problems in communications, Von Ohlen usesa jungle theme. The training room is transformed. Animal masksdecoratethe walls. Green crepe paper vines flutter above. A tape of junglesounds plays in the background. Von Ohlen even dresses in a safarioutfit.She explains to participants their train has derailed. They need tolearn how to get out of the jungle and back to civilization.As a means for escape from the jungle, Von Ohlen has the class buildhelicopters, made from kits. This project requires teamwork,cooperationand good communication skills. After the whirly birds are assembledand the participants’ rescue assured, “then we debrief it,”she says.”People have a difficult time talking about what’s happening withthem. But they have a real easy time talking about what just happenedin this group as we were building a helicopter.”She leads the discussion to how communication can break down. “Itmakes it non-personal,”she says, “It makes it verynon-threatening.”Von Ohlen believes everyone can benefit from improving their trainingskills and remains steadfast to her goal of making even mundanesubjectsinteresting. “No matter what your job is you are always trainingother people,” she says “If people aren’t laughing and havingfun in a program, there’s a problem with that program.”— Caroline CalogeroNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
