Six Rules for Better Teaching and Training
Six Rules for Better Teaching and Training
Here is how you can improve your teaching and training style:
- Respect your audience.
- Start from where they are.
- Start small and slowly expand and elaborate.
- Present your evidence, not your opinions.
- Don't be ambiguous; be clear and specific.
- Illustrate every big idea with a human-scale example.
1. Respect your audience.
Assume your audience is at least as intelligent, and sensible as you. If your audience lacks knowledge, or if they hold opposite views to you, do NOT disrespect them by assuming them to be stupid. It is your duty to educate them and persuade them. It is up to you to inform them and to convince them of the validity and correctness of your views. But you cannot expect to persuade people you disrespect. You cannot change a person's mind by dismissing it.
2. Start from where they are.
Intellectually, don't throw them a line and try to drag them towards you. They will fight you.
Instead, go over and meet your audience where they stand, and walk them, step by step, to the place you want them to go.
If you are talking to an inexperienced or novice audience, don't bamboozle by using advanced vocabulary. Instead, start your presentation using everyday language and then add additional concepts and details, one small piece at a time. They will follow you.
3. Start small and slowly expand and elaborate.
Everything can be seen as a collection and elaboration of simpler forms. No matter how complicated the great masterpiece is, it started life as a simple sketch, and can always be reduced back to that sketch.
Don't intimidate your audience with too much complexity. Simplify your message by reducing the whole, into six or seven major constituent parts, then name them and explain their inter-relationship.
When you have explained the constitution and the structure of the whole, take one of the subsets, and resolve that into its own subset parts. Then repeat the process until you have elaborated each element, as far as you can in the time available, or until your audience has absorbed as much as they can, in a single sitting. Then stop talking.
4. Don't spout your opinions, instead present your case.
People are NOT really interested in your arbitrary opinions, but they ARE interested in what you know to be true, and they are even more interested in what you can prove.
So, don't be too quick to state your opinions. Instead present your case.
Opinions are ten-a-penny, but convincing arguments are much rarer and therefore more valued. If you want to persuade people, present your evidence, not your opinions.
5. Don't be ambiguous, instead be specific and clear.
Imagine that language is split into two camps: specific and vague.
- Specific language is precise, accurate, defined, numerical and verifiable.
- Vague language is imprecise, inaccurate, indefinite, sketchy and unverifiable.
Use specific language; then they will understand you, (even if they don't agree).
If you use vague language, they will misunderstand you.
Your first duty as a communicator is to be clearly understood.
6. Illustrate every big idea with a human-scale example.
Many ideas are abstract: religious, moral, political, scientific, philosophical and psychological ideas are abstract, and therefore difficult to pin down with a tight definition. For instance, it is difficult to give a simple definition for "justice" or "freedom".
To alleviate this problem, humanise your message with a metaphor or anecdote. Illustrate the abstract idea with a concrete example which brings the idea into the realm of the immediately understandable.
For example, you might try to illustrate the concept of "freedom" by talking about Spartacus, or Martin Luther king, or Rosa Parks.
People understand people better than anything else, because they have years of experience dealing with other people.
So, if you can relate what you are teaching to a human example, then you will gain their interest and understanding.
"Man is the measure of all things", Protagoras.
Horses are measured in "hands".
12 inches is called a "foot".
Definition: better teaching
professional training | approach | respects learners' intelligence and views | starts at learners' present knowledge | builds ideas in small clear steps | backs points with evidence and human examples
Show CG4D Definition
- respects learners' intelligence and views
- starts at learners' present knowledge
- builds ideas in small clear steps
- backs points with evidence and human examples
Article Summary
Respect every learner, meet them at their level, grow ideas in clear small steps, prove each claim, speak with exact words and anchor big thoughts in human stories; follow these six habits and any lesson turns from a talk into lasting learning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions that frequently get asked about this topic during our training sessions.
What is the first rule of better teaching?
How can I show respect to adult learners during a session?
Why must training start from where the audience is?
What does 'start small and slowly expand' mean in teaching?
How do I present evidence instead of opinions in class?
What makes language clear and specific for learners?
Why do human-scale stories help explain abstract ideas?
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Did You Know: Key Statistics
LinkedIn Learning’s 2024 report states that 81% of UK staff will stay longer at a firm that gives clear, high-quality training. A 2023 Journal of Applied Psychology study found that adding real-life stories to a lesson lifts memory of the points by 29% when compared with slide-only talks.About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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