The Right Training for Your Staff: 5 Additional Ways You Can Tell

“Things have been getting clearer and we have continued to rule out even more training providers. This, in a way, has been good for us, because, frankly, there are so many, and it can be confusing to identify the right training, if not for the tools you have been discussing with us. Really, thank you.” Deline, the CFO of the HOPE Care Clinic, articulated these words to Rodis, the consultant.

“You have been taking action and you sound enthusiastic. Let us discuss additional ways you can tell that a training is good for your staff. You will then be able to further narrow down your options for trainings and training providers,” responded Rodis.

In a previous article entitled, The Right Training for Your Staff: 5 Ways You Can Tell, I outlined five characteristics of a good training for your clinicians.  In this current article, I am going to discuss five additional ways to identify the right training, similar to the way Rodis is also facilitating the discussion with the leadership team at the HOPE Care Clinic.

1. Translational

©SWEET Institute2017- De-escalation Seminar

Related to clinical practice, consider that there is the body of knowledge, research methods and discoveries; and there is the clinical work and patient and client engagement and recovery. Between these two worlds, theoretical knowledge and clinical practice, lies training, with the goal or objective to help translate knowledge and theory into the clinical work we do, leading to the enhancement of our practice.

Unfortunately, many training seminars simply regurgitate or recite the body of knowledge, without making it usable or user friendly.  So, this also means that good training is translational, that it has a process to synthesize the body of knowledge to make it more usable and applicable to the daily clinical work.

2. Practical

Nothing can be more frustrating than dedicating time and other resources for training that your clinicians will barely use, because they don’t believe such training will address practical needs in their clinical work.  A training that is practical will help enhance patient and client engagement and translate into an increase in show rate, and hence productivity for your agency.  A practical training will also help our clinicians master the skills for risk assessment, giving them tools on new strategies for de-escalation, mental health assessment, substance use assessment, and for working with challenging patients and clients.  Lastly, a practical training will help empower your clinicians towards preventing or addressing burnout and promoting self-care.

3. Call for Action

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you,” said Thomas Jefferson, and, the right training will help you act!  During and at the end of the right training, your clinicians ought to be asked to say at least one way they are going to use at least one of the skills they have learned.  They should also be encouraged to share with their co-workers, supervisors, and other decision makers in their agency what they have just learned.  They should be asked to commit to this, and inevitably, they will be glad to do so.  This is a sign of a good training, one that calls for action after it has laid the groundwork for our clinicians to be able to act.

4. Inspiring

Yes, good training inspires.  Your clinicians ought to leave the training feeling inspired and ready for action, as I explained above.  A good training inspires by either setting a new vision, a new challenge, or by reminding clinicians of the vision, the mission, and the big picture of their call.  It also helps to both remind them of the principles they, as clinicians, should all live by and re-ignite the passion, the enthusiasm and the energy they had when they first entered this field.

Lastly, a good training builds our clinicians up, encourages them, helps restore that sense of purpose, and reminds them of their ability to do excellent work, all for the sake of their patients and clients. A good training inspires.

5. Experienced facilitator

In a previous article entitled, The Wrong Training for Your Staff: 5 Ways You Can Tell, I outlined that one of the ways to tell a training was wrong for your staff was the presence of a trainer removed from clinical practice. I explained, “The removed trainer either has not treated a patient or client in years, or is relying solely on written content easily available to anyone, or is depending on his or her own isolated, non-translatable, outdated, esoteric research.

If any of this is the case, you have a trainer who is removed, a trainer who, regardless of how much he or she knows or tries, is unable to identify with the audience, your clinicians, because, frankly, he or she just cannot identify.”

 I added, “Unless you are on the ground, your experience will be limited. I can personally attest to this, as I have lived in both worlds for several years now.” A good training will have an experienced facilitator. You will note that I am not saying an experienced “teacher,” rather an experienced “facilitator,” someone who has enough experience on the ground with patients and clients, with front-line staff, supervising them, as well as in academia, writing, teaching or in research, and in management or administration, understanding the bigger picture of an organization. An experienced facilitator can identify with and manage both worlds at the same time. Yes, this experienced facilitator may be difficult to find, but it is an essential element of a good training for our clinicians.

“Things have been getting clearer and clearer, and we have continued to rule out even more training providers. This, in a way, has been good for us, because, frankly, there are so many, and it can be confusing to identify the right training, if not for the tools you have been discussing with us. Really, thank you.” Deline, the CFO of the HOPE Care Clinic, articulated these words to Rodis, the consultant. “You have been taking action and you sound enthusiastic. Let us discuss some additional ways you can tell that a training is good for your staff.  You will then be able to further narrow down your options for trainings and training providers,” responded Rodis.

After a discussion on these five ways you can tell that a training is the right one for your staff:

1. Socratic Method

2. Desire Method

3. Collective Learning

4. Maximum interaction

5. Maximum time for questions

I discussed five additional ways for you to identify and choose the right training for your clinicians:

1. Translational

2. Practical

3. Call for Action

4. Inspiring

5. Experienced facilitator

I have given you a total of ten ways to identify the right training for your clinicians. Which of these ten ways of telling have been present in your different trainings for your staff; and which ones are you most interested in seeing in subsequent trainings for them?  Contact us and let us know how we can help. Thank you for reading and we look forward to the next time

References:

1. Shim SH. A philosophical investigation of the role of teacher: A synthesis of Plato, Confucius, blubber and freire. Teaching and Teacher Education. 2008; 24(3): 515–35.

2. Aghamolaei T, Shirazi M, Dadgaran I, Shahsavari H, Ghanbarnezhad A. Health students’ expectations of the ideal educational environment: a qualitative research. Journal of Advances in Medical Education and Professionalism. 2014; 2(4):151–7.

3. Faghihi SA, Khankeh HR, Hossini SJ, Arabshahi SKS, Faghihi Z, Parikh SV, et al. Improving continuing medical education by enhancing interactivity: lessons from Iran. Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism. 2016; 4(2): 54.

4. Momeni Danaei SH, Zarshenas L, Oshagh M, Omid Khoda M. Which method of teaching would be better; cooperative or lecture. Iranian Journal of Medical Education. 2010;11(1): 24–31. Persian.

5. Klug J, Bruder S, Kelava A, Spiel C, Schmitz B. Diagnostic competence of teachers: A process model that accounts for diagnosing learning behavior tested by means of a case scenario. Teaching and Teacher Education. 2013; 30: 38–46.

6. Simons, R. J., & Ruijters, M. (2001). Learning professionals: Towards an integrated model. Paper presented at the biannual conference of the European Association for Research on learning and instruction, Aug, 26 – Sept, Fribourg, Switzerland.

7. D. G. Contopoulos-Ioannidis, G. A. Alexiou, T. C. Gouvias, J. P. A. Ioannidis (2008). Life Cycle of Translational Research for Medical Interventions Science, 321 (5894), 1298-1299 DOI.