How to Build Learners’ Confidence in Their Own Competence- Part One

If learners lack confidence in their mastery of new learning when they leave a training program, they are much less likely to apply this new learning back at their worksite. As a result, the prime mission of every trainer should be to build the learners’ confidence in their own competence.

There are three closely related approaches that a trainer can take to accomplish this. Together, all three approaches will ensure that the learners have the preparation they need. We’ll consider the first approach in this Tip.

First, plan for the learners to demonstrate their learning in the learning program.

When designing the curriculum, the learning objectives should identify what the learners will do both to learn and to demonstrate their learning during the learning session.

For example, the learning objectives for a program on coaching might include that the participants will: explain how to prepare to conduct a coaching session, discuss how to script the coaching conversation, outline the steps involved in conducting the coaching conversation, and prepare, script and conduct a coaching session.

The learning objectives for a program on sexual harassment might include that the participants will: describe examples of sexual harassment and outline how to recognize and handle different situations that result in sexual harassment.

In Part Two, we’ll review the second approach, which is to ensure that the learners get immediate feedback regarding their demonstrated capability with the new learning.

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