Before every movie I watch on an international flight, there is an HSBC commercial. I absolutely love these commercials. They paint a picture of a future I would never imagine on my own. They show me what’s possible.
https://youtu.be/CCFIB2E-a5g
In their book Made to Stick, the Heath brothers declare that messages are more “sticky” and memorable when they’re simple, concrete, and tell a story. These short HSBC ads definitely fit this bill: a little girl buying lemons in India, then she calls a boy her own age in France (her distributor) as she gears up to grow her lemonade stand. “In the future a rapidly growing business will need a global supply chain.”
These ads capture my imagination. I wish I could say the same about many of the training presentations I’ve attended over the past 15 years.
The ultimate goal of training and professional development is to help someone do their job better. In order for this to happen, people need to remember what they learned in the training. It needs to be “sticky.” It also helps if attendees can see themselves using their newfound knowledge and skills. It helps if they can see the possibilities and the benefits they’ll reap if they should change their behavior and begin to do things differently or better.
It’s Friday, so I’ll keep this blog post short and I’ll leave you with this guiding question as you gear up to craft your next training session: how are you going to inspire your learners by painting a picture about what’s truly possible if they were to actually to go home and do everything you’ve trained them to do?
The Train Like A Champion Blog is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you think someone else might find this interesting, please pass it along. If you don’t want to miss a single, brilliant post, be sure to click “Follow”! And now you can find sporadic, 140-character messages from me on Twitter @flipchartguy.
