Leading The Learning Environment

First impressions are of course key to any successful communication

. And a well delivered introduction to a training session will go along way to creating a positive atmosphere in the room.

The next question is: What sort of atmosphere do you want to create? Formal; informal; serious; light-hearted?

Clearly much will depend on the nature of what is being taught.

Communication and people skills may be best promoted in an open, friendly, sharing and light-hearted environment.

Health and safety or subject matter with significant legal implications may require a more serious or formal setting.

The trainer has 2 important 'tools' to create and influence the desired atmosphere: (i.) His or her own demeanor and attitude (ii.) The physical layout of the room.

Focusing primarily here on (i.), the trainer can greatly influence his learning environment by tone of voice, physical demeanor and also by dress.

As a participant, coming into a room where the trainer is wearing jeans and a T shirt, there is going be very different expectations to entering a room where a trainer is wearing a business suit.

So, basic as it sounds we need to make sure we are appropriately dressed. For male trainers, whether they choose to wear a tie will also have an effect. As a rule of thumb, if unsure how to dress, it will always be better to dress too formally rather than under-dress. Clearly, arriving at a training session with a suit and tie and finding everyone else informally dressed, requires no more than taking off the tie and jacket - and everything is fine. On the other hand, you may look a bit silly putting a tie on in front of everyone if you have arrived under-dressed! (I suppose it is better to give an impression of being over-prepared rather than under-prepared!)

In truth, as a 'teacher', your students would possibly expect you to be more formally dressed than they are. Another factor to consider in influencing your learning environment is your own natural personality style. Being a fairly soft-edged gentle soul, I found that however formal I was, I would never come across as too severe. In fact, in the early days, a more formal dress sense probably helped to give a level of authority that I may have otherwise lacked. On the other hand, I was aware of colleagues whose natural communication style was already fairly strong and authoritarian and so it helped them sometimes to dress down a little to remove some of their sharp edges.

So the key to pitching your training at the right level is to establish what sort of environment you need to establish to help your participants learn best. And then decide what you need to focus on, based on your own natural style and attributes, your appearance and attitude, to bring that environment into being.

by: Vince Stevenson

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