Get The Most Out Of A Training Session

Hello Blog Reader!

Well, the holiday season is upon us, and first and foremost let me offer peace, love and best wishes to you and yours! Stay safe and have fun!

Let’s talk about training and instructional sessions. Have you ever sat in on a training session and then left the room saying to yourself, “Well, there’s 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back….What a waste of time!” Yes, we all have.

What makes for an interesting, informative and comprehensive training session? Here at RESolutionsTECH, we do a lot of training, both in-person, and on-line and our goal is always straightforward and simple: to provide customized, specific training sessions tailored to meet the needs of the individual client.

Unlike some Raiser’s Edge training offered by other organizations where the information presented is very general and generic sample data is utilized, here at RESolutionsTECH we use examples from the client’s actual live database, thus providing relevant and real time examples in the sessions.

Here are my top ten suggestions for a successful training experience for you and your staff:

1) Use data examples that the participants recognize and are relevant and meaningful to them.
To this end, whenever feasible, we remotely connect directly to the client’s Raiser’s Edge and present from there, thus showing them their actual data and the information in their specific drop down menus.

2) Encourage conversation, questions and feedback.
By working with just one specific client at a time, we are able to customize each training session to ensure the client’s specific priorities are being met. We also send out a survey before the training to gauge their needs and a second, follow-up survey once the training is completed to ensure the information presented was meaningful and relevant.

3) Ensure the participants can see how the information presented will make the tasks that they need to perform on a daily basis easier and more efficient.
The goal of the training is always to give the participants a deeper appreciation for the capabilities of Raiser’s Edge and to ease their apprehensions regarding the complexity of the database.

4) Divide diverse topics into separate sessions.
Whether the desire is to learn about Mailings, Queries, Security, Record management, or any of the optional Raiser’s Edge modules, we create individualized sessions that focus on the clients’ needs.

5) Keep the sessions manageable and not too lengthy.
Generally, the sessions we offer run no longer than 90 minutes, so the information is parsed in such a way that people have plenty of opportunity for discussions and questions without feeling overwhelmed with too much information.

6) Offer follow-up sessions and encourage open communication to counter any difficulties the client may face moving forward.
Here at RESolutionsTECH we are always accessible and available to directly answer one-on-one questions or concerns your staff may have following the training sessions.

7) Appreciate that different people have different learning needs and not everyone is a computer wizard.
Never assume the participants have an in-depth working knowledge of Windows or related software, such as Excel. Keep the training sessions simple and easy to follow and offer real-world examples whenever possible.

8) Know the participants’ role in their organization.
In this way, the sessions are prioritized and the participants are gaining access to information that is specifically relevant to their daily work needs.

9) Keep the sessions light and stress-free.
People can sometimes be a little nervous if they’re being asked to openly participate in the session and are sometimes afraid to admit what they don’t know. By encouraging active questions and asking for specific examples of where they’ve run into trouble or confusion, the participants feel more comfortable engaging with the presenter and the session will be more interactive.

10) Have fun!
Enthusiasm is contagious!

Thanks for reading my latest blog and have a great holiday season!