[Neurons] 2017 Neurons #54 How we Train Trainers
Michael Hall
meta at acsol.net
Sat Dec 9 14:39:27 EST 2017
From: L. Michael Hall
2017 Neurons #54
December 9, 2017
HOW WE TRAIN TRAINERS
IN NEURO-SEMANTICS
You know that doctors have to go through both general training and then
specialized training in order to become a medical doctor. So do lawyers,
consultants, therapists, accountants, mediators, professors, and many, many
others. It's one of the distinguishing experiences that anyone who wants to
enter into a profession has to go through. In the field of Coaching this
process is now developing as Universities and various Coach Trainer programs
are working out what knowledge and core competencies are required to be a
professional coach. In Neuro-Semantics, we have more than 15 years of
experience in coach training and a full curriculum of the content for being
a Licensed Meta-Coach.
Similarly, during the almost twenty years that we have been training
trainers we have similarly developed the required content knowledge and core
competencies. In fact, we still have the only NLP training program that's
based on specific behavioral presentation benchmarks by which we can
determine a person's skill level as a presenter and trainer.
Recently several have asked me about how specifically do we go about
training a person to become a skilled trainer. As I explained the process
and more questions arose, I realized that I had not written that information
out as I have with the coaching process. So here goes.
Core Communication Skills
The most obvious competency of a trainer is that of being able to
communicate clearly and precisely. That means two things. First, the
trainer needs to know the content of his subject matter. She needs to know
her stuff! And given that we're first and foremost training NLP Trainers,
that means knowing the essential and foundational NLP Communication Model.
While there's lots of people who still don't know what NLP is (an amazing
admission of confusion if there ever was one!), it isn't rocket science to
know that at its essence it is a communication model.
Further, while there are lots of books on NLP, Bob and I took time in the
mid-1990s to put the content of NLP practitioner training and Master
Practitioner training down in written form. You can find those in User's
Manual of the Brain, Vol, I & II. And there's more. There is Sourcebook of
Magic, Vol. I, The Spirit of NLP, NLP Going Meta (modeling), Sub-Modalities
Going Meta, Mind-Lines (reframing), Figuring Out People (Meta-Programs),
Adventures in Time (Time-Lines), MovieMind (representation systems), etc.
To test one's knowledge of NLP, we have a 22-page exam that we send to every
applicant and ask them to fill it out before they arrive.
After content, there is the ability to communicate it. And again, using the
NLP model itself, this means engaging an audience, creating rapport with
them, setting frames about the message, framing the message in terms of why,
what, how, and what if (the 4-mat template), inducing state in the audience,
and effectively using one's voice and semantic space when on stage. These
essential presentation skills which govern effective public speaking are the
very skills that we have benchmarked.
Experiential Presentation Skills
There are many different kinds of presentations. There is the speech or
lecture wherein a person prepares and delivers a presentation. That's what
the short 18-minute TED talks are- talks. A keynote presentation is
essentially a talk. The speaker does all of the speaking with maybe some
icebreakers to engage the audience. While a lecture presentation is
generally direct and serious, the keynote is partially entertainment.
Then there is the seminar-typically a speech that focuses on understanding a
focused subject (e.g., selling, self-esteem, parenting, etc.). It may last
from one hour to three days. In the seminar the speaker does all of the
speaking with little bits of limited interaction with the audience. The
seminar speaker will often use various energizers, ice-breakers, or focused
questions with the audience which gets the audience involved to some extent.
The training presentation differs from the speech (keynote) and the seminar
in that it intimately involves the audience. In fact, in a training we do
not think of the people as "an audience," but as participants-that's because
in a training those attending are expected to be active learners as they
participate in the process.
In terms of size, a speech, keynote or even a seminar may involve hundreds,
even thousands of people. Trainings seldom involve hundreds. Because a
training is designed to enable people to get hands-on-experience and
supervision in learning a new skill, trainings tend to involve a dozen to 50
or 60 people. Above a dozen people, the trainer will need others to help
him or her with the hands-on learning- hence an assist team. Generally
speaking, a trainer can handle 30 or so people, but above that number really
needs a co-trainer and a team that can intimately engage the participants.
Core Engagement Skills
Training is also unique in that a trainer has to truly love and care about
people. Those who love making speeches, doing keynote presentations, and
holding a seminar can (and often do) love the limelight. They love being on
stage and being "the man" or "the woman." This can lead to the dark side
of the "guru" phenomenon when the person thinks that it's about him or her
rather than the people and the value that people get from the experience.
Not so with training. Training requires high intensity personal
interaction. Now there is, in trainings, a speech part as you introduce
your subject, engage the minds of those present with the value of it and the
reason why they should learn a particular skill. There is also a bit of
being "on stage" when you demonstrate what you can do to show the skill so
people can see it live and up-close. Yet mostly in training there is a lot
of back-and-forth communication. This shows up in the question and answer
times and in the practice time when participants get to try their own hand
at the skill to see how well they can pull it off.
For these activities, answering questions and setting up exercises for a
hands-on experience (a live human laboratory), the trainer has to authentic,
personal, available, and open to participants. Here the arrogance of
thinking you are a Somebody because you are in the role of "trainer," will
trip you up. It's not so much a show that the people want as it is an
experience. They want an experience that will enable them to learn a new
skill or enhance a competency.
In training, much more than in lectures and seminars, it is entirely about
the participant- and specifically the participants' learning and developing.
Those who are not ready to "get their hands dirty," that is, get involved
and do what's required to learn, are really not the best persons for a
training. First let them be inspired by a lecture or seminar. Then when
they are ready to learn- to take an active and responsible role in their
learning- then let them come to the training.
Training for Training
Here's what we do at NSTT. We divide the entire group into groups of 6
participants. This gives them a "home base" with a trainer as their team
leader. Then each person in the group picks one of ten patterns that occur
in the APG training. That becomes their pattern for the next 15 days. Over
that time that will develop it, design it, and then present it over and over
and over. Twelve times they will be on their feet in front of their team
presenting sections of their pattern in 7 minute segments. After the first
presentation, they will receive 7 minutes of feedback to the core
competencies, and then they will do Take Two. They will present it again
integrating the feedback about their framing, voice, semantic space, group
rapport, framing, state induction, and content.
At first they will present the opening of their presentation. Next they
will present the first minutes when they present the 'what' and the 'why.'
After that they will present the 'how' and after that they will present a
demonstration, next they will do a question and answer presentation, and
finally they will present the closing. All of these repeated presentation
is designed to do several things. First, enable the presenter to become
thoroughly acquainted with one pattern. Second, learn how to keep him or
herself fresh. For some this is a real challenge. They tend to get bored.
"I've said that before."
Ah, yes! Now we're about to see how skilled you truly are as a trainer- can
you keep yourself as fresh the 50th time or the 100th time as the first
time? A good trainer can. And for a great trainer, his or her own
curiosity, passion, and commitment to people make the challenge of staying
fresh no problem at all.
Next, are the drills. From the first day, we have all of the trainers up on
their feet presenting- mostly presenting whatever they just heard (which
makes for a good way to review and test what people are hearing and
learning). Yet that's not the focus. The focus is on drilling some aspect
of training- perhaps controlling nervous movement of their hands or their
feet. Perhaps it is to use their voice in very strange and weird ways.
Perhaps it is to present under very, very distracting conditions. Anyway,
we have 4 or 5 drills every day, drills that are designed to expand one's
repertoire and to create great flexibility. This flexibility is then
designed so that the presenters can maintain "presence of mind" under
pressure.
Pushing the Training of Trainers Even Further
Not satisfied with this, we also have designed several other exercises and
laboratory experiences for our trainers. Knowing that they will be going
into Board Rooms to present, sell, and negotiate their training services, we
have a presentation designed to train those skills. Knowing that trainers
will sometimes need to "speak from the heart," we have experiences to
facilitate that. We have an evening in which we focus on "Your Worst
Nightmare as a Trainer" preparing trainers to be able to handle situations
that otherwise might distress them. We have an evening introducing how to
prepare and deliver a keynote presentation.
Training is not just making a speech. It is so much more and as with any
profession, for the highly skilled trainer, there are a multitude of skills
to learn and practice. For example, there are the business skills. For
that we do some one-hour Interviews with experienced trainers and do that
for several days.
Now you know a lot about how we go about training trainers in
Neuro-Semantics. And if you are interested, contact us.
2018 NSTT will be in Grand Junction Colorado
July 1- 15, 2018 at Travelodge, 715 Horizon Drive,
GJ. (970) 243-5080.
For more information, contact: Dr. Michael Hall -
<mailto:drmichael at acsol.net> drmichael at acsol.net
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Neuro-Semantics Executive Director
Neuro-Semantics International
P.O. Box 8
Clifton, CO. 81520 USA
1 970-523-7877
Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net
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