Using The Learning Question In Training

As trainers or managers, our success is always measured by those who we train. What we teach to our trainees isn’t even necessarily the top priority when it comes to assessing what the team got out of a lesson. So, how do you understand whether your trainees are benefitting from your advice and training?

Service Excellence uses something called The Learning Question. By using this tactic to get feedback from your trainees, you may find yourself thinking about your own training practices differently. Never assume that every trainee is experiencing the same outcome and feeling from a set lesson – just ask them and find out!

What is The Learning Question?

The Learning Question is simply this:

“What did you find to be most useful for you?”

After setting your trainees to a task or teaching them a lesson, ask them each this question. This could pertain to the actual task they complete, or it could be in reference to how the lesson was taught. Either way, you need to listen to what they have to say. The answers can benefit both you and your trainees.

What do you gain from asking The Learning Question?

The primary purpose of using The Learning Question is to understand your trainees better and figure out how the task or lesson you have presented them with has helped them. If your training is not moving your team in the direction they are supposed to be going, you can adapt your techniques. 

In the same way you might be surprised at the positive ways your lessons help your trainees overcome things you hadn’t even thought of. This is the heart of The Learning Question: being open to the wide range of feedback your trainees found helpful during your task. All of this feedback serves to provide you, the trainer, with a more comprehensive view of the training you are leading.

What do trainees gain from answering The Learning Question?

The Learning Questions forces your trainees to stop the mindless completion of tasks and actually reflect upon how those tasks are helping them out. 

For example, a trainee might realize that the repetition of calling customers who haven’t pursued their services is not just something to take up their time. Practice may lead to more confidence, less self-consciousness and better customer service in the future. And that is just one person’s impact from the task!

This reflection of value will vary from trainee to trainee, providing each person with a better understanding of themselves and how they learn. It may even provide each member of the team insight to how their coworkers learn and absorb new things.

Service Excellence Asks The Hard Questions

They may not actually be hard questions, but they are certainly important! If you are interested in learning more helpful training techniques like The Learning Question, we can help! All of our online resources are available to you, and our team of friendly coaches are a phone call away. Start asking those questions and help your team IGNITE THE POWER WITHIN.