Great Facilitator Guides are Full of Chunks

1. Visual Cue or Icon

2. Headline

3. Complete & Concise Facilitator Instructions

4. Facilitator or Producer Specific Instruction or Note (Not always applicable)

This bundle of information is called the…

The Content Block

1. Visual Cue or Icon

By using consistent icons for specific actions, your facilitators will be able to quickly glance at the facilitator guide and know whether they are showing a slide, making a keying point, or running an activity. Think of it like the red octagonal sign you see when driving. That specific visual cue directs the driver to stop. Apply the same concept to your guidebooks to drive specific actions with specific icons “at-a-glance.”

2. Headline

The headline section of the content block lets us quickly fine-tune the facilitator's instructions. With a quick glance, the facilitator sees the following instructions

Does he have to read this to the class?

Can she summarize it and put it into her own words?

It ends up being ambiguous, which leads to inconsistent training. One facilitator may do it one way while another does it differently. As we all know, inconsistent training leads to inconsistent results, and we don’t want that. By adding a Headline, at-a-glance, the facilitator knows not only that they are saying a specific thing, but they also know the manner in which they need to do so.

3. Facilitator Instructions

The third part of the content block is the actual facilitator instructions for the specific “chunk.” It could be talking points, an activity that is being run, or links to the video that needs to be played.  Regardless of the type of instruction that is being led, the material needs to be complete and concise.

Complete Instructions

If we leave ambiguity in our instructions, we will get inconsistent results in the long run. The training that happens in Boston will be different than the one that occurs in Florida. Or there will be differences between the class run last week and the one run a month ago.  Take this example: if we ask a question but don’t provide acceptable responses, portions of the training may be missed. 

But by providing complete information, we can ensure all details are covered.

Concise Instructions

Remember that we want facilitator guides to be “at-a-glance.” To ensure it is possible, we want to make the information we provide as instructions as concise as possible.  If we give the facilitators a lot of text, they will read the information to the class. They will be eyes in the book and not looking at the class or the camera. This is not a great experience for either the participants or the facilitators.

 ⭐One star – Would not recommend. 

However, if we make the instructions as concise as possible, we can ensure the facilitator gets all the information required for that specific chunk in the easiest way to discern it.

4. Facilitator / Producer Specific Instruction

When there are items that a facilitator or producer needs to do or pay attention to and they don’t need to bring it to the class’s attention, make use of the facilitator/producer specific notes.  It can be simple instructions, such as asking the class to raise their hands.

To instructions on to ensure the timing of the training stays on track.

Remember, one of the main goals of a facilitator guide is to drive consistency in your instructor-led or virtual ILT program. Give the instructions to make sure that it can happen.

Summary

Take advantage of chunking your training material into specific actions or content blocks. We want to create an experience that a facilitator can quickly consult the guide for to know what they are doing, how they are doing it, and have all the materials laid out in a concise manner.