THIAGI GAMELETTER: April 2008

Rapid Training Design

How We Designed Call-Center Training in 3 Days

A US company that provides HR services to other corporations decided to outsource its call center operations to India. They hired a training vendor to teach the basics of US corporate benefits to the Indian employees. This group spent significant amount of time to design a comprehensive training package featuring hundreds of Powerpoint® slides that focused on the content. When they delivered the training, they discovered that that the participants were not learning. The Training Director at the HR Outsourcing company concluded that the lack of learning was due to mysterious cultural factors and hired me (since as an Indian I could figure out what went wrong) to revise the training package.

A Proposal

After a cursory examination of the hefty training package, I agreed with my client that Indians would have difficulty learning from it. I went farther and suggested that human beings would have difficulty learning from it since the package was obviously designed for some form of alien intelligence. Rather that revising the existing package, I suggested that it would be faster, cheaper, and better to design training from scratch.

First Steps

We worked out metrics for defining successful training: Participants would answer typical customer questions related to corporate benefits clearly and accurately so that the number of repeat calls and errors would be significantly reduced.

I then asked the subject-matter experts to prepare a short introductory booklet on the topic around which I could build the training session. I let the SMEs fight it out among themselves and waited until they provided me with a crisp booklet. I did some minimal revision to make the booklet more readable.

I asked my client to send copies of the booklet to a pilot group of typical participants in India (including two trainers) and request them to read the book and become familiar with the content. I also had the local managers to warn these participants that there will be a workshop related to the content of the booklet in a week's time. This workshop will not present the content all over again, but instead conduct a series of activities, quizzes, and performance tests that would require recall and application of the information.

Based on the content of booklet and the training objectives, I selected a set of potentially useful textra games (games that require and reward participants' interaction with text materials).

Open Book

The pilot was conducted with the help of the client's video conferencing center with its sophisticated technology. The session lasted for 4 hours with me in the US and the 17 participants in India. The entire session was automatically recorded on videotape.

I started with a textra activity called Open Book: I asked each participant to work individually, spend 10 minutes going through the booklet again, and write 10 recall questions. Each question was written on one side of the card and the answer on the back. This task provided a face-saving opportunity to those who had not taken their reading assignment seriously. I instructed the participants to distribute the 10 questions along different parts of the booklet.

After 10 minutes, I divided the group into four teams of four participants. I appointed the 17th participant who got left out as the Game Warden to help me facilitate the training session. I asked each team to pool all their questions, remove duplicates, and come up with a final set of 10 questions. The Game Warden collected the selected questions from the four teams, shuffled them, read one question, and selected a participant from one of the teams. If this person independently gave the correct answer, the team scored two points. If this participant consulted with the team and then gave the correct answer, the team received one point. If the answer was incorrect, the team lost a point. Using this simple approach, the Game Warden conducted a quiz contest distributing the questions equally among the teams. I observed the activity and made some on-the-spot changes to improve its instructional and motivational effectiveness.

Confused

During the Open Book game, I noticed that participants avoided asking questions from certain sections of the booklet. A quick inspection of the booklet revealed that these sections were difficult to understand. So I improvised a game called Confused. Once again, I asked each participant to independently write questions. But this time each participant wrote two questions, not for use in a quiz contest but for clarification from an SME. While the participants were busy, I rounded up the resident SME. After a suitable pause, I asked my GW to collect the questions and mix them up. She then read one question at a time, skipping duplicates. The SME responded to each question. I asked participants to listen carefully and to take notes because there would be a follow-up activity. After about 15 minutes of this question-and-answer session, I asked each participant to write on a card one important principle from the SME's answers that provided useful clarification. Participants exchanged the cards with each other several times (without reading what was on the card). I then asked the GW to randomly select a few participants and have them read what was on their cards.

(Fast forward: After the session, we transcribed the questions and the SME's responses. We edited them slightly and included them as an appendix to the next version of the booklet. However, we still continue to play Confused with subsequent groups because it seems to provide reinforcement and ownership to the participants.)

Best Answers

We continued conducting the training session, using various other textra activities that became increasingly job related. Throughout the session we permitted participants to refer to the booklet whenever they wanted to. After all, our goal was efficient retrieval of information rather than memorizing the content.

Here's how another textra game called Best Answers worked: I asked an open-ended question (similar to the type of questions a typical customer may ask). Each participant wrote an appropriate answer on a card. The answers from the each team was collected and given to the next team. (The answer from the last team was given to the first team.) Each team now reviewed the four different answers and selected the best one based on such factors as accuracy, relevance, clarity, and brevity. Teams read the selected answers and identified the authors of these answers. Finally, we polled the participants to select the best of the four best answers.

Follow Up

After the pilot, we quickly reviewed the videotape recording, made a few revisions, and assembled instructions for conducting various activities. We sent this facilitator's guide to the two trainers who participated in the pilot and discussed it on a conference call. These trainers facilitated subsequent training sessions. Evaluation data at different levels provided evidence of the effectiveness of the training package. The ultimate value of the package was demonstrated when we offered to design an intermediate level training session. Our counterparts in India said, “Don't bother. Just send us a booklet with the content and we will play the review games with suitable local modifications.”

4 hours to Chicago. Rough draft completed.

2 hours and 55 minutes to India. 65 minutes for the revision.

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Persuading Skeptics

How To Talk About Training Games: Don't!

Whenever someone asks me, “So tell me all about the training games you play”, I don't.

Instead of telling them, I play a game to demonstrate what it is all about.

Here's an example: Last week, I had lunch with two founders of a software company dedicated to the design and distribution of computer programs for women. Leslie and Martha wanted me to facilitate their company's first strategic planning meeting. In the course of the conversation, Leslie turned to me and said, “So tell me all about the games you play.”

I pulled out three index cards from my pocket (I never leave home without them) and gave one to Leslie, one to Martha, and kept the third one to myself. I said, “Let's play a quick game. If you win, I'll pick up your lunch tab.”

I kept the instructions very simple. “Write down five words that you associate with games. Do it fast. Don't let anyone else see what you are writing. I want to play too. So I'll write five words also.”

I finished writing before they did, and placed my card in front of me with the written side hidden. After they finished writing, I told them what to do next.

“We are going to play a mind-reading game. Each one of us will take turns guessing one of the words that each of the other two players wrote. We get one point for each correct guess.”

Martha wanted to go first. She guessed that that both Leslie and I would have written the word “fun”. Leslie had “fun”, but I did not. Both women thought that my behavior to be strange and began psychoanalyzing my deprived childhood. I reminded them that the play must go on. Martha wrote down the score she earned: 1. Leslie decided to take a slightly different approach. She guessed “serious” for me and “rules” for Martha. Martha did have “rules” in her list, but I did not have “serious”. I had “rules” also, but since Leslie did not guess that word, I did not volunteer. When it was my turn, I guessed “computers” for Leslie and “fun” for Martha. Martha protested that I should not use a guess that was used by someone else before, but I pointed out that I was in charge of making the rules.

We spent about 3 minutes playing the game and Martha won. Leslie and I were tied for the second place.

So What?

Instead of my telling them “all about training games” in the 3-minute demonstration, I let Martha and Leslie experience the following points:

• You can create a game within minutes by using the framegame approach.
• People get immediately hooked on to playing games.
• It's not true that women don't like playing games.
• Not all games require elaborate supplies.
• Players like to chat in the background while playing a game.
• You can play a game just with three people.
• You can play a game in a matter of minutes.
• You learn more about people in 3 minutes of game playing than in 30 minutes of interviewing.
• Most players want to modify the rules of the game.
• Players enjoy a game even if they don't win.
• You can play a game seriously and for fun.
• You can use the same framegame to explore different content.
• You can play a game with any number of people.
• You can shorten or lengthen a game.
• Effective games have simple rules.
• You should get into a game quickly.
• You can learn the rules of a game “just in time”.
• An effective game should have a purpose that is relevant to the players' work.
• The game should produce tangible results.

Do Ask

So did I spend the rest of the lunch meeting pointing out these important principles? No, I just asked questions and debriefed Leslie and Martha. I let them ponder on their experience and come up with applications to their workplace. Sometimes they immediately got the answer and sometimes they did not get it until I gently probed, pulled, and pushed. Sometimes they came up with a brilliant answer that I would have never thought of.

Here are the types of questions that I inserted into our conversation:

• I have discovered some interesting personality differences between the two of you. So what interesting things did you learn about me?
• We played the game on the topic of games since Leslie brought up the subject. Could we have played this game on the topic of your corporate strategy? What should we have asked the players to secretly write on their cards?
• This game lasted for 3 minutes. How could we have played it within a minute? How could we have stretched the game for two hours?
• You got into the game with great excitement. But some of my friends tell me that women don't like playing games. What should we do to make this activity more appealing to women?
• Was this really a game? How is it different from the other games you know? How is it similar to the other games?
• You have a great web site. Can you whip out a Java program to play this game on the web? How would you do it?
• Can you use this game in your new employee training session? How would you use it?
• If you play this game with your friends tomorrow, how would you change it?
• Can you play this game with a group of 200 people? How would you do that? And how would you play this game with just two people?
• How important was it to keep score and find out who won and who lost? Can you play this game without keeping score?

No, I did not rattle off these questions and conduct a third degree. I just had a normal conversation and let them talk. (And they did talk.) From time to time, I inserted an appropriate question and let them play with it. Sometimes they asked me questions and I turned them back to Leslie and Martha.

Later in the conversation, Martha glared at me and said, “I know what you are doing. You are brainwashing us about games.” I told her, “No, you are brainwashing yourselves.”

The Moral of the Story

Telling is not selling. When you want to sell anything—whether it is training games or participatory democracy—resist the temptation to preach. Get to a demonstration quickly. Keep the demonstration brief. Give away the control of your demonstration. After the demonstration, ask questions. Listen with an open mind. Let them get to the point.

How would you use this approach tomorrow?

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Jolt

Top Three

Here's a rapid learning activity that explores the relationship between competition and cooperation.

Key Idea

Participants pair up and play an apparently competitive game. Later, the facilitator reveals a cooperative strategy that would have enabled a pair to win the championship among all participants.

Purpose

To come up with a winning strategy by analyzing the total system.

Participants

Any number divided into groups of three.

Time

5 to 10 minutes

Supplies

Several pennies and nickels (or any two different coins in your local currency).

Flow

1. Divide participants into three-person groups. Ask one participant to be the non-playing scorekeeper. Give a penny and a nickel to each of the other two participants.
2. Explain how each round is played. Each player hides one of the two coins in her fist and extends her hand. (The other coin is hidden in the other hand.) When both players are ready, they open their hands to show the selected coins.
3. Explain how each round is scored:
   • If both players show pennies, they each score 1 point.
   • If one player shows a nickel and the other shows a penny, then the player with the nickel scores 5 points and the player with the penny scores 1 point.
   • If both players show nickels, then both players score zero.
4. Explain the championship rule. Announce that after 2 minutes of repeated play, the three highest scoring players (among all the players in the room) will become champions. (If you can afford it, announce a prize for each champion.)
5. Begin the play. Explain that players rapidly play as many rounds as possible during the next 2 minutes. Ask participants to begin playing and the scorekeeper to keep adding up each participant's score at the end of each round.
6. Conclude the play. Stop the activity after 2 minutes.
7. Identify the champions. Ask the scorekeepers to announce the scores of the two players. Identify the top three players in the room. Declare them to be champions.
8. Debrief by asking the best strategy for the game. After listening to different ideas, point out that the two players are not only competing against each other but also competing against all other players to become champions. Suggest that the best strategy will be for the two players to cooperate by taking turns to play the nickel (while the other player plays the penny) and running up high scores. This will ensure that the two players will be the top two scorers.
9. Discuss the importance of broadening one's thinking to identify an effective strategy.
10. Discuss questions like these:
    • How can we ensure that the two players end up with the same score? Is it important to achieve this state of equality?
    • Now that everyone knows the strategy, what could be the winning strategy if we play the game again?

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Structured Sharing

What Do You Do?

How do I respond when someone seated next in an airplane or a stranger at a party asks me, “What do you do?” I have tried

• I am a professor.
• I am cognitive scientist currently doing research on the impact of self-adaptive social systems on the cognitive schema of adults.
• I am a certified human performance technologist.
• I am a training consultant.
• I am an interactivity designer who improves human performance effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably.
• If I tell you, I'll have to kill you.

Being able to explain what you do may result in a career spurt—or at least help you avoid some embarrassment.

Purpose

Explain what you do in an accurate, brief, and memorable fashion.

Basic Structure

During the first round, two participants explain what they do to a third participant who acts as a judge and decides who did a better job. During the second round, two of the judges compete against each other while four other participants choose the winning statement.

Time

20-40 minutes

Participants

Minimum: 6
Maximum: Any number
Best: 12 to 30

Flow

Form groups. Divide participants into three equal-sized subgroups. Label the groups A, B, and C.

Brief participants. Talk about the importance of being able to explain what you do. Ask participants to suggest desirable features of an effective explanation of their job to a stranger.

Ask groups to prepare. Ask each group to go to a corner and brainstorm various ways they can individually explain what they do. Give 5 minutes for this activity. Warn all participants to be ready to make their individual presentations.

Conduct one-on-one contests. Explain that members of Group A will act as judges. For each Group A member, assign one Group B member and one Group C member. Group A member asks Group C member to cover her ears while Group B member explains what she does in her job. This is followed by a 1-minute explanation from the Group C member. Judging from the point of view of a typical stranger (and not as a member of the same profession), Group A member quickly decides whose presentation was superior and explains why.

Judge the judges. Now ask two of the Group A members to get together along with their four contestants from the previous round. Ask one of the Group A members to cover her ears while the other Group A person explains her job. Follow this with the other Group A member explaining her job. After both have made their presentations, ask the four listeners (two each from Groups B and C) to vote for the best explanation.

Debrief. Lead a discussion of the common themes among the responses to the “what-do-you-do” question.

Invite personal action. Encourage participants to jot down the key ideas from this activity so they can provide a better explanation of their job in the future.

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Improv Games

Customer Service Categories
by Tracy Tagliati

Basic Structure

Players take turns to supply items that belong to a specific category related to customer service. Any player who hesitates too long, repeats a previous item, or supplies an inappropriate item is eliminated. The last player left standing wins the game.

Index Tags

Improv game. Structured sharing. Customer service. Thinking on your feet.

Purpose

To increase fluency with various concepts, procedures, and issues related to customer service.

Participants

Minimum: Two
Maximum: Any number
Best: 5 to 30

Time

5 minutes to an hour, depending on the number of categories

Supplies

Slips of paper (or index cards), each with a category related to customer service. (See a list of suitable categories after the description of this game.)

Flow

Organize participants into play groups. If you have more than seven players, divide the total group into smaller groups of four to seven players each. Explain that each of these groups will play the game among its own members. Ask members of the groups to stand up.

Select a category. Ask a player to pick a piece of paper (or card) and read the category aloud.

Supply items that belong to the category. Ask each player to take a turn to say an item that belongs to the category.

Eliminate players. Ask all players to listen to the items supplied by the other players. Ask them to eliminate any player who commits one of these errors:

1. Hesitates too long before saying an item
2. Repeats an item that was already said
3. Says an item that does not belong to the category

Examples:

Continue the game. Eliminated players sit down and do not participate in subsequent rounds. The activity continues with the remaining players.

Conclude the game. When all players except one are eliminated, the surviving player wins the game.

Adjustments

What should I do with the eliminated players? Just to keep them actively involved in the game, make them the judges who spot other players who make mistakes. Alternatively, ask them to become coaches, stand near any of the remaining players, and whisper suitable items in their ears.

Customer Service Categories

1. Advice you would give to a new customer service representative
2. Benefits of customer service
3. Benefits of the team approach to customer service
4. Characteristics of a customer service champion
5. Characteristics of an ideal customer
6. Dangers of trying too hard to please a customer
7. Discovering customer's real needs
8. Empathy statements to an upset customer
9. First-rate customer service telephone skills
10. How to apologize to a customer
11. How to be assertive with an abusive customer
12. How to close your interaction with the customer
13. How to follow up a customer interaction
14. How to get feedback from customers
15. How to handle customer complaints
16. How to interact with a customer who has a language barrier
17. How to keep a positive attitude while serving customers
18. How to make a positive first impression on the customer
19. How to make a positive lasting impression on the customer
20. How to reflect and learn after a customer service transaction
21. How to refuse an unreasonable demand from the customer
22. How to say “Good-bye” to a customer
23. How to say “Thank you” to a customer
24. How to win customer's trust
25. Negative self talk that you should avoid while serving a customer
26. Nonverbal behaviors that customers dislike
27. Nonverbal behaviors that customers like
28. Obstacles to providing exceptional customer service
29. Points of contact with the customer
30. Positive self-talk about customer service
31. Roles we play as customer service representatives
32. Steps for getting ready to serve the customer
33. Things you can do when you've messed up while interacting with a customer
34. Tips for establishing rapport with a customer
35. Tips for working collaboratively with the customer
36. Tools and supplies needed to satisfy the customer
37. Ways to be a good listener
38. What customers expect
39. What e-customers expect
40. What motivates a customer-service team?
41. What motivates us to provide exceptional customer service
42. What telephone customers expect
43. What to do when the customer lies
44. What to do when you are a customer
45. What to do when you don't have an answer
46. Why customers leave us and go to the competition
47. Words and phrases customers like to hear
48. Words and phrases that calm down an upset customer
49. Words and phrases that might upset a customer
50. Your hot buttons: Customer behaviors that upset you

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NASAGA 2008

Pit Stop for GAS (Games, Activities, Simulations)

Join us at the NASAGA 2008 Conference to celebrate and participate in 40 years of interactive learning.

Network with fellow professionals who share the same passion as you do for games, activities, and simulations.

This year, the fun takes place in the crossroads of USA: Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown.

Change a tire, get new windshield wipers, add some oil, or just get gas! Choose—

• Premium: take a certificate course or make a presentation
• Regular: participate in a pre-conference workshop
• Unleaded: attend and participate in the sessions, game night and banquet

Energize in a relaxing and rejuvenating conference. Choose from a wide variety of effective and enjoyable conference sessions.

Two certificate programs:

• How to DESIGN learning games, activities, and simulations
• How to FACILITATE learning games, activities, and simulations

Three different full-day pre-conference workshops

Thirty concurrent sessions

Games night sessions every evening

Send a proposal!

Check out the call for proposals and send your proposal for facilitating a conference session. Remember: NASAGA participants abhor lengthy lectures and passive Powerpoint® shows.

Here are the important links:

About NASAGA
Conference information
Call for Proposals
Certificate Programs
Indianapolis, Indiana
Conference Hotel

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Upcoming Workshops

Three Workshops in Switzerland

The Thiagi Group is happy to announce three workshops in Switzerland during the summer of 2008. You can now register online for these workshops.

Workshop 1: Three days, June 30 - July 2, 2008
Interactive Training Strategies : How To Design and Use Games, Activities, and Simulations for Training Adults

Workshop Description
Register online

Workshop 2: One day, July 3, 2008
Thiagi's Training Clinic (with Matthew Richter and Samuel van den Bergh)

Workshop Description
Register online

Workshop 3: One day, July 4, 2008
Motivating Your Employees (presented by Matthew Richter with assistance from Thiagi)

Workshop Description
Register online

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Learning Activities

Learning Activities Revisited - 2

In the March 2008 issue of TGL, I presented summary information about learning activities called textra games (which build upon printed content) and replay activities (which build upon audio recordings). In this issue, let us explore three other types of learning activities.

3. Double Exposure Activity

(Content Source: Video recordings)

This activity enhances the instructional value of video recordings. In a typical double exposure activity, participants watch to a video and play one or more games that help review and apply the new concepts and skills.

Sample Double Exposure Activity: Diversity Soap

The training objective for this double exposure activity is to gain empathy for alternative perceptions of people from other cultures.

1. Select a short video segment (example: a soap opera) from some other country or culture.
2. Before showing the video, assign different key characters to each participant. Ask participants to pay particular attention to the behaviors of this character in the video.
3. After the video, assemble participants into same-character teams and have them rewrite the story from that character's point of view.
4. Ask teams to present the different versions.
5. Debrief by focusing on individual and cultural differences.

4. 4-D Approach

(Content Source: Online information)

This e-learning activity uses four metaphorical doors: library, playground, café, and assessment center. This approach combines the effective organization of online content (in the library) with the motivational impact of web-based games (in the playground), the power of collaborative learning (in the café), and authentic performance tests (in the assessment center).

Sample 4-D Approach Activity: Business Proposal

The training objective for this e-learning activity is to prepare a business proposal for a client.

1. Ask participants to visit the online library and read articles about business proposals, review different sample proposals, and learn to use proposal templates.
2. Ask participants to visit the playground and play Flash-based games that test and improve their mastery of the principles and procedures that they learned in the library.
3. Ask participants to visit the café and discuss open-ended questions related to the content of the library materials.
4. Encourage participants to visit these three different locations (library, playground, and café) any number of times and in any sequence.
5. Ask participants to visit the assessment center and take a performance test to demonstrate their ability to write a business proposal for a real-world client.

5. Object Lesson

Content Source: Real objects)

Object lessons incorporate physical objects and equipment as the main source of training content. Working individually or in teams, participants explore the components and functions of the object. As a result, they master different skills and knowledge associated with effective use of the object.

Sample Object Lesson: Make A Call

The training objective for this object lesson is for all team members to effectively use the new iPhone supplied to them.

1. Organize the participants into teams of three to five members.
2. Distribute an iPhone to each team.
3. Distribute a printed assignment sheet to each participant. This assignment requires team members to browse the Internet, find the latest population figure for a specific city, call a telephone number, and present this information.
4. In each team, ask the tallest person to take the iPhone and try to figure out how to accomplish the task through trial and error. Prohibit other team members from touching the device but encourage them to offer suggestions to the person with the iPhone.
5. At the end of 3 minutes, ask the team member to hand over the iPhone to the next team member who continues to figure out how to accomplish the tasks. Repeat this procedure once every 3 minutes.
6. The phone number listed in the assignment sheet is your cell phone number. When a team succeeds in calling you, check the information they had retrieved from the Internet and congratulate them.
7. At the end of the activity, distribute copies of a job aid on how to use the iPhone. Encourage participants to continue mastering the various uses of the device at their own pace.

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Brian's Words

Motion Sickness
by Brian Remer

Motion Sickness

During my parents' first visit to Vermont, they drove along Route 100 for a scenic tour of fall foliage through the Green Mountains. When asked how they liked it, Dad waxed poetic about the bright colors and picturesque New England villages. He loved the challenge of navigating the curved, rolling highways.

But Mom, accustomed to the flat, straight roads of South Dakota, could only remember the green tinge to her own complexion as she tried to calm her rolling stomach!

It's no fun to be along for the ride if you're just a passenger with no control.

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99 Words Tip

Printed and Spoken Words

You can easily scan and re-read printed words. You can process spoken words while your eyes are otherwise occupied.

Why not blend them? We are not suggesting that you should read aloud handouts and slides. That will drive your participants crazy. Instead, we suggest that you provide plenty of printed materials for use before, during, and after training: books, handouts, summary cards, and posters. Do the same for spoken content: presentation, audio recordings, and podcasts.

Don't limit participants to spoken responses to your questions. From time to time, ask them to write down the answers.

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Check It Out

How To… ( http://www.ehow.com/ and http://www.wikihow.com/ )

Would you like to learn how write a love letter? Check out
http://www.ehow.com/how_3333_write-love-letter.html

Would you like to create a disaster plan for your family? Check out
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Disaster-Plan-for-Your-Family

I love acquiring new skills. I am aware that the Internet has thousands of how-to websites, but these are my two favorite collections:

• http://www.ehow.com/
• http://www.wikihow.com/

Check out these websites. Learn new skills. And contribute your own how-to articles.

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Single Item Survey

Recommended Websites

Do you enjoy reading our “Check It Out” column? Do you check out the websites and find them useful?

What's your favorite website that is related to training games and facilitation skills? You may have several favorites. Among them, please select the one that would be useful and interesting to the readers of this newsletter.

To contribute your suggestion, visit this survey page (opens in a new window).

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