The Top 10 Ways to Kill Dialogue in a Workshop

As practitioners of Dialogue Education, we know that adults learn best through dialogue. As such, we aim provide many opportunities to engage with the content and each other, and to make meaning of it through conversation and meaningful learning tasks.

Sadly, this is not always the case in many training situations.

But in the spririt of Depreciative Inquiry (TM), I firmly believe that there is a lot that we can learn from our mistakes and the Worst Practices that we've all experienced. So, in the spririt of David Letterman's Top Ten List, here are....

<drum roll, please>

The Top 10 Ways to Kill Dialogue in a Workshop....

1. Ask, “Are there any questions?” in a tone that suggests that they didn’t get it if they still have questions. Better yet, say, “Well, if there are no questions, then we can move on..”

2. Provide ambiguous directions for small group work so that people get really frustrated. Then, don't debrief their small group conversations together so that they realize that what they say in the groups really isn't important to you.

3. Promise to finish early if they don’t ask too many questions.

4. Ask closed and/or rhetorical questions, preferably obvious ones (e.g. What are the colours in a traffic light?), but failing that obscure impossible questions. "Can anyone tell me why organizations are like blue cheese....?". Keep fishing the right answer until someone provides it out of embarrassment or just to end the agony....

5. Assign 5 complex discussion questions to small groups of 5 people. Give them 10 minutes to discuss the questions and create an interpretive dance that highlights their key insights. (do the math…).

6. Tell the group that they have 20 minutes for a small group learning task and then cut it back to 10 minutes once you realize that you need to make up the time. Interrupt them if possible in mid-conversation by saying, "Folks, we REALLY need to move on to finish my agenda."

7. React judgementally, sarcastically and/or confrontationally to any wrong answers using verbal retorts and/or body language. Bonus points for rolled eyes, guffaws, or comments like, "I can see why you might think that, but you're wrong...."

8. Start off by saying, “I bet that you don’t know the answer to this question….”

9. Speak for a long time about something not relevant to the course (e.g. your vacation, the problem you had finding parking, the last group you worked with who were a pain in the butt...) and then make up the time by skipping the “optional” group exercises.

10. Stick fastidiously to your prepared PowerPoint slides and flash through them all to you can “cover the content” in the remaining time. End quickly with a brief mention of the questions in #1 while closing your laptop and turning off the projector. Grab you coat if they really don't get it.

The sad thing is that I've seen facilitators do all of these things. No wonder people are cynical about workshops.

Thankfully, there is a better way....

Your turn:

If you're not too depressed, please add your top tips for killing dialogue in the comments box below.

Is It Time to Renovate Your Training Design?

"Nice house,", my mother said, walking into our new house for the first time. "But the kitchen door's in the wrong place". 

She immediately took out a pencil and paper and started sketching out a better layout: "move the back deck door here in line with the front hallway, change the position of the stove, the sink goes here...."

She was right, of course -- my mom's always right. It is an older house built circa 1920, and it has its quirks. In this case, the back door was not aligned with the hallway, meaning that we've always had to walk through the eating and cooking area.

But in the end, it took us nearly seven years to save up the funds, find the time and hire the right people before we finally started this work recently. 

Even as I write this post, the carpenters are downstairs now, peeling back the old linoleum, putting in a new subfloor, stripping down the drywall to the studs and outside wall. There's dust and insulation everywhere, and the clatter of this keyboard is interrupted with the wrrrr....rreeeeenn...buzzzzz...crack! of men at work (and no, not the 80s Australian band). 

But once it's done, it will be great. Just like my mother said. 

* * *

I've been working recently with some colleagues to update their workshop design. It's a great course, with excellent content, clear Achievement-Based Objectives, and many engaging learning tasks.  

But having taught it many times, many of the faciltators feel like it needs some changes and updates.

So a few weeks ago, six of us formed a design team to undertake what one member called"some renovations". We don't need to tear it down and start over again, he explained. The design is structurally sound, but it would benefit from some remodelling here, an addition there, maybe punching out that learning task to lighten it up, maybe a lick of colour and new graphics there to freshen it up....

We've been working as a team in person and online for a few weeks and I'm glad to say that we're making great progress. But it is hard work. Once you take apart something as complex as a learning design, you find suprises and vestigial parts ("Why do the previous owner do this that way? What were they thinking when they chose that wallpaper!!"). Parts that worked well previously suddenly don't fit anymore, and you have to build an entire new task....

It has been a fun process and a chance to work with some great designers. I can't wait until the post-reno "reveal" episode! 

* * *

I also enjoy doing these kinds of design reviews and renovations for my clients.

I start by going back to the blueprints and mapping out all the design parameters on one page. Then I check for congruence between the steps.

• Which design parameters are a given? Which can we change? 
• What would happen if we cut this back to a 1-day workshop? 
• Or could we do this online instead? 
• Is this the right Content for these participants? 
• Are the ABOs aligned with the desired Transfer and Impact objectives? 
• Can this activity go beyond participation for its own sake to deepen the learning? 

Next, I like to analyze it to see how the design stands up to the priniciples and practices of good adult learning, as articulated in a dialogue education approach. How does this design demonstrate Respect for the learner's life experience, expertise, emotions and opinions? How might we retrofit this to provide more opportunities for Praxis? Are the learning tasks following a particular learning cycle? 

Then, it's time for the wrecking ball! Well, okay usually a crow bar and a hammer is sufficient to do the job. But it is often necessary to do a bit of tearing down to create space for the new design.

Much work ensues, much coffee is consumed, many post-its notes go up on the wall, restorative naps are taken, bikes are ridden, drafts are drafted.....

But when the dust settles.....voila! A brand-spanking-new interactive and rigorous, accountable and engaging design emerges. 

Can I Help You Renovate?

Could your own training design or webinar could use a bit of fixing up? Is it time to tear down that wood panelling and rip up that shag carpeting? Would you like a bit more meaningful interaction in your design? Are you unhappy with what the learners remember and apply afterwards? 

If so, drop me a line. I'd be happy to take a look at your design and provide a short example of what it could look like for free.

Then, if you like what I've done, I'll send you a quote for redesigning the rest.

But don't worry, unlike an electrician, I won't give you a shocking estimate! 

Cheers, dh

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And the Winner is....

The Results of the
Dialogue Education
Principles Review Game…

The wait is over, the results are in and now, all will be revealed. The winner of the inaugural, 2010  Back-to-School, Dialogue Education Principles Review Game is….

<Drum roll please…..>

Hmmm...wait a second, here it gets a bit complicated, as we had two contestants who successfully matched all 12 pictures with the related principles. But as per the Official Rules of the Contest, Chapter 2, Subsection 4, Paragraph 3:

"In the event of a situation with multiple correct answers, the winner will be chosen by drawing the names of those who matched all 12 pictures correctly from a hat, in an impartial manner, reflecting from the great cosmic mystery of the universe known as "chance", or if you don't believe in "chance", perhaps Providential Serendipity".

So without further ado....the moment we've all been waiting for...the Fickle Finger of Fate fumbles in the fedora and draws the name of...

<Drum roll please…..>

Well, then again, was there really a single RIGHT answer to this quiz? It wouldn't really be an Open Question then, would it? And thus, not a question befitting a contest on Dialogue Education....For shame!

Truth be told, one of the beautiful things about this learning task is that everyone interprets the photos a little bit differently.  In a recent workshop on facilitation skills, I posted these pictures on the wall and sent the participants around in pairs to match the descriptions in their handouts. Lots of laughter and discussion ensued as they argued which one was which. No pair got it "right" or rather the way I interpreted them, but it didn't matter: the exercise served its purpose of getting the new staff up to speed, but it also helped participants who were familiar with the principles to go deeper in their understanding. 

But I digress. 

Without further ado, delay, obfuscation, distraction, explanation or redundant and unnecessary repetition, the winner is...

Mr. Paul Nitz! Congratulations! Paul! Come'on down! 

<Applause>

Tell him what's he's won, Dan....

Paul, you have won a brand new copy of Dr. Jane Vella’s upcoming book, Designing for Effective Learning (Jossey Bass/ John Wiley & Sons) once it is published next year.* Send me your coordinates and we'll get that book to you by Postal Bus, matole or ferry on Lake Malawi. 

Thanks also to Mr. David Baine who also answered the questions correctly, but alas! his name was not drawn.

And thanks to all the contestants who played. Better luck next time! 

In the Meantime....

If you’re curious, click here to learn the answers to the game. 

Or if you still want to play the game, click here!

Happy learning! 

*By the way….the advanced reviews of Jane’s new book are glowing:

“Goosebumps! It gave me goosebumps!”
--- Eleanor Ray, Research Assistant, The New York Times Review of Books

“If you buy one book on Designing for Effective Learning this year, make sure it’s this one!” 
--- Dan D. Mann, Learning Guru Quarterly

“Thank you, Jane!....This is great contribution to the field. But If I may....”
-– Anonymous Dialogue Educator with funky shoes.