« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
TRAINERS' PACK
SECTION 3 - TRAINING TECHNIQUES FOR FOISA
ROLE OF THE TRAINER
Subject Expertise
Before delivering training on the FOISA do ensure that you are familiar with the suite of training materials and have obtained up-to-date copies of all the essential resource materials, the Act, the Codes and relevant guidance. Do ensure that you are familiar with what your organisation or department is doing to implement the Act.
You should ensure that you have worked through the open learning workbook and the additional material in this pack. Freedom of information is a broad subject and you will probably not become familiar with it all but if you know where to look for additional material or to answer specific queries you should not feel uncomfortably exposed.
ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES FOR TRAINING
Effective training requires the allocation of adequate resources to train the trainer, to prepare the training to deliver and to consolidate and evaluate the training.
The commitment of senior managers is essential for the successful implementation of a major training programme and is part of best practice for a training initiative. If managers take the training seriously then more junior staff will do so. It may be useful to start by providing training to a group of senior managers before rolling the programme out through the organisation.
TRAINING ARRANGEMENTS
Trainers should consider whether it is more effective to train participants from their organisation alone or share material with other organisations to obtain maximum benefit. Shared training may be particularly useful at a strategic and practitioner level. Trainers should also bear in mind that the training requirement for FOISA will not be exhausted by an initial burst of training. It may be appropriate to provide refreshers to staff, to update on material and new staff will require induction.
LEARNING STYLES
People learn in different ways. Some people are active learners who obtain the most value from discussion and engagement in problem solving whereas others tend to be more reflective. You may also be dealing with groups of individuals who have different skills and outlooks. You will need to consider the appropriate mix of learners if you are planning to hold seminar sessions. Although everybody learns differently at his or her own pace and in his or her own way, generally experiences and activities should be interspersed with periods of thought and reflection. Activities tend to be particularly welcomed after the lunch break. It is helpful to use a variety of aids and strategies to achieve success. You may wish to develop or build on the material in this training suite, for example by adding illustrations or cartoons to slides or throwing in some humorous anecdotes, however, you should never feel pressurised to go outside your own "comfort" zone when teaching.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Training Skills
There is no single way of being a good trainer. Research generally indicates that good teachers are:
- warm and understanding rather than cold and aloof;
- organised and businesslike rather than unplanned and slipshod;
- stimulating and imaginative rather than dull and routine;
Subject expertise, good planning and clear lesson structure, the use of relevant examples, approachability and enthusiasm are all qualities of a good trainer.
The following is a list of things to think about before and during training and may affect the success of the training to a greater or lesser extent:
Preparation and introduction
- Preparation and organisation
- Do you have your own training materials and enough copies for delegates? Are you confident using the materials?
- Clear objectives
- Manner of delivery
- Can you start by checking existing levels of understanding and train accordingly?
- Visual aids
- Are these relevant, appropriate and not excessive?
- Use of materials
- Do you use case studies, questions and answers, group exercises? Are there support materials to take away?
Delivery of the training
- Pace and delivery
- Can you adapt according to the understanding levels of the group?
- Delivery style
- Are you clear and concise, expanding where necessary? Can you adapt to the requirements of delegates?
- Knowledge of subject
- Timing
- Handling questions
- Do you actively encourage questions and explain clearly?
- Constructive feedback and evaluation
- Use of jargon
- Ability to control group
- Do you manage the group? If the group is quiet, do you use open questions and encourage people by name? If the group, or members of it, are vocal, do you control them with closed questions, moving on etc? How do you deal with conflicts or disagreements?
- Rapport with group
- Do you listen to the experiences of delegates and encourage participation? Do you hold the interest of the group?
Personal attributes
- Enjoyment and enthusiasm
- Do you enjoy the training, are you enthusiastic, do you use humour where appropriate?
- Personal appearance
- Confidence
- Stance and body language
- Check what participants have learned
- Refresh learning in specific areas.
APPLYING THIS FOR FOISA
- Be open-minded. Not everyone will be instantly convinced of the benefits of the FOISA. People may worry about how it will affect difficult customers or what it may cost the organisation.
- Remain positive but do not ignore worries. It is important that the organisation has a positive framework and plan as to how it will implement FOISA. The training will be a part of that broader plan.
- Make sure you are aware of the way the organisation is implementing the Act so that you can explain to participants how their concerns are being met or relay their comments back to the appropriate project person.
- Try not to preach. FOISA will require a culture change in many organisations but it is better if those participating in the training come to see that for themselves rather than having been told it. If you walk into a room and say to a group of officials, "You need a culture change" you risk alienating participants who may see it as a reflection on their behaviour. Most public servants try hard to be helpful and sympathetic to the public and do not see themselves as stubborn or secretive. It is suggested it is better to go through the requirements of the Act and gradually draw out from participants their comments on how the new rules will affect them or how the organisation may have to change. In this way you can encourage participants to see for themselves the need for change in the organisation. This will enable you to lead on to a discussion of whether they agree a culture change is necessary and where specific needs will arise.
- Listen carefully to questions. Pause before delivering an answer as this does participants the courtesy of acknowledging that their question is worth thinking about.
- If you do not know an answer say so and offer to find out or refer it to an appropriate source. Do not "wing it". Misinformation can be worse than no information!
- Leave plenty of space for questions and encourage people to ask questions. Sometimes it may take a little time before people will participate and groups may be rather quiet particularly if senior officers are present. This can be a difficult balance as the presence of senior officers shows a high level commitment to the initiative which is an important element. It may be helpful to split training courses so that senior managers only come in for part of the time with more junior staff and junior staff are left for the rest of the session with the freedom to question or comment without feeling that they are being scrutinised by their seniors.
ACTIVITIES
The inclusion of activities can make a positive contribution to a training session. By the term activities we mean exercises in which the training group are asked to participate. Activities can:
- Break down barriers between participants in a group;
- Improve interaction by stimulating discussion;
- Simulate situations which may occur and allow participants to learn from experience;
- Help participants confront or examine their own immediate responses to a problem;
- Help participants understand the practical problems which they may face;
- Stimulate questioning discussion and an open attitude among participants;
- Help participants through role play to practice appropriate behaviour in situations which they may later face.
However the use of activities may not suit all groups or all trainers. Sometimes activities can take a long time to complete and are difficult to fit into a tight training schedule; sometimes they require a more generous allowance of space than the training arrangements permit. Some trainers do not feel comfortable with introducing activities and trainers who are not comfortable should not feel under any pressure to include them.
A trainer who is using activities has to be able to exercise control in a less formal manner than when giving a presentation and must be able to deal with sometimes unexpected responses. On the other hand participation in activities will often open issues for debate and help participants learn.
If activities are to be used by the trainer it is important to integrate them into the structure of the overall course.
Experienced trainers will no doubt be able to think of many varied activities which could be used to add depth and interest to this topic. Here just a few have been suggested which may be useful to employ with groups of learners.
1. Flip chart/board work
This is the easiest activity for a novice trainer to start with and perhaps it is not right to categorise it as an activity. Nevertheless it does involve engaging participants in active response and can be used in various ways. The board can be used to note down feedback on discussion points or on an exercise which has been given to the group to consider. Alternatively it can be used to build up a set of action points or decision points arising from a training session.
2. Quiz questions
The trainer can use the material in the workbook or may wish to make up his or her own quiz questions. A group can be divided into teams to give an added element of light-hearted competition or small prizes might be given for those who provide the best answers.
3. Role play
Any number of scenarios can be used for role play for example a "difficult" customer making a request to an individual on the front desk, a mock hearing before the Information Tribunal considering a particular case; a management board discussion about whether or not to disclose particularly embarrassing information. Participants should not be asked to take part in role play if they are not comfortable with it but usually a group will have one or two outgoing people who are happy to take the floor.
4. Twenty questions/what's my line games
These can be quite simple but are an effective way of demonstrating how difficult it can be to extract information or piece together a story when someone does not want to disclose it and is not under any compulsion to assist the questioner.
5. Story telling from different points of view
In this exercise the same material is provided to a number of people or groups of people and they are asked to produce a response to it from a different point of view. This is useful and illuminating how there can be different perceptions of the same thing.
6. Communication Exercises
In these exercises a group is given enough information to solve a particular problem but the information is divided unequally between the group and they have to work together to come up with a solution to the problem. It is a useful way of illustrating the importance of effective record keeping and information sharing.
Some suggestions of exercises based on all of these are included in the materials.
CONCLUSION
The important point is that participants should understand, think about and observe the learning material and be able to apply it to their work.
Most people find it helpful to participate and practice in order to learn. If their interest is engaged they are more likely to have a successful learning experience. You will find it useful to encourage participation by discussing some of the case studies, doing exercises on a group basis and taking feedback from them.
« Previous | Contents | Next »