In today’s fast-paced world, employees must navigate a dynamic and ever-changing business landscape. To empower the workforce and maintain productivity, leaders need to ensure that employees have the right skills and training to be productive and adaptable.

However, sometimes, training initiatives fall short when it comes to translating knowledge into real-world application and long-lasting behavioral changes.

Facilitation is an essential tool to help people navigate change successfully. It helps employees understand the change at hand, encourages conversations about the business’s vision for the future, and supports new thoughts, attitudes and behaviors.

So, how can learning leaders ensure that training and change efforts are successful? Here are five practical tips designed specifically for learning leaders and other training professionals to improve employee training outcomes through facilitation.

1. Solve the right problem.

Before jumping to conclusions, it’s important to take a step back and analyze the situation thoroughly.  Shift your mindset from treating symptoms to addressing the root cause of the problem. By taking the time to understand the situation and involving employees in the process, you can define what you want to achieve and why.

Questions to consider include:

• How will learning objectives and outcomes of your training support adoption?
• What expectations are in place for your learners and stakeholders?
• What metrics are in place to measure change readiness and impact?
• Do the people receiving training agree that there’s a problem that training can fix?

Take time to consider priorities to identify the right people to engage. Understanding the “why” can help you focus on the right problem with the right people at the right time.

2. Sell the vision: Communicate custom messages based on the journey.

When communicating your vision, avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Ask in advance about success metrics and where there may be challenges for adoption.

For executive leaders, keep communication high-level with a focus on outcomes and metrics. For managers, create key messages to provide an overview of the upcoming changes, training offered, people impacted and what will be expected of them during the process. Consider how to activate support across the organization, such as messaging to impacted teams or activities to gather feedback to gain buy-in.

For larger initiatives that have change management support, consider conducting “ask me anything” sessions, pre- and post-surveys in town halls, or even change roadshows to gather feedback and gain buy-in.

Connect with leaders to clarify requirements and set expectations around training. Questions to consider include:

• Which training approaches work well for you and your team?
• Where are there gaps in current skills that require further support?
• How can we improve long-term adoption and new behaviors?
• What steps can we take to facilitate an integrated approach of delivery and scheduling?

By taking a customized approach to your communication strategy, you can sell your vision in a way that resonates with stakeholders at every level.

3. Be ready for resistance and head it off.

Resistance is a natural reaction to new ways of working and thinking. Be prepared for resistance when introducing new processes and ideas that challenge established beliefs. Instead of merely reacting to resistance, have a plan in place to proactively address it. Look at different methods of connection based on stakeholder needs and share what you can in advance to proactively address it.

As a facilitator of change, it’s important to be neutral to make sure everyone feels comfortable participating to promote a common agenda. In these conversations, get comfortable with being uncomfortable, to show vulnerability and openness.

Questions to consider include:

• How are people feeling about the change?
• What is changing? What will stay the same?
• Do people know the “why” of the change, and the process to get there?

Empathy and flexibility can demonstrate first-hand how to use difficult situations to create a positive and productive work environment, making your role as a trainer easier.

4. Balance motivations and workloads and ensure space (and mental capacity) for new skills.

Once you have tackled resistance, focus on helping teams adapt to new requirements. Meeting people where they are is essential to creating the environment for growth.

Evaluate and adjust workloads to accommodate new tasks and processes. Take time to define how you will integrate measures of success, and share expectations on how behaviors and performance will be different.

Questions to consider include:

• How can work be prioritized based on the team capacity?
• What steps can you take to enhance training effectiveness?
• Are there opportunities to involve learners in design, delivery or evaluation of your training?

This kind of collaboration can help improve skills and boost trust across your network. Look at skills and ways to facilitate and delegate work based on needs and requirements.

5. Build healthy team habits: Use training to support a larger team strategy.

Cultivating healthy team habits is crucial for productivity, growth and success. It’s important to ensure that these efforts align with building psychological safety, open communication, inclusivity and a supportive team environment.

Questions to consider include:

• How can people be proactively asked for ideas about the change and the support they need?
• What feedback and concerns are you hearing through your training sessions?
• Can you share ways to help them adapt to the change through questions and feedback?

Without trust and a safe space for sharing thoughts and ideas, team efficiency will suffer. Slow down, plan strategically, gather the team for a concerted effort instead of scattershot priorities and you’ll have a significantly better chance of being ready for the next big thing.

In the end, change and training are essential for business success. Take time to explain the importance of the change to gain buy-in. By following these five tips, you increase the likelihood of long-term change and adoption within your company.