Product Training for the Technical Expert

12Shut Up Effective Listening and Engagement

You can be a great instructor. You don’t have to be an accomplished public speaker to be an excellent facilitator. In fact, of the many challenges instructors face when speaking, one of the hardest things for new facilitators to do is to stop talking. However, because proficiency training is about developing skills and because those skills are developed by individuals, lecturing should be minimized, and listening (by the instructor) must be maximized. Listening, in a facilitation environment, involves more than just ears; it also involves eyes. Listening to and observing your students is a critical part of helping them become proficient with your product. But to do that, sometimes you must shut up. You must let them talk and let them perform and you must become an auditor of their learning progress.

Obviously, you must talk to your students. But your goal is not to become a great speaker. Even though practicing verbal skills is important, your ultimate goal is to get out of the way. You need to perfect speaking, not so that you can have a great delivery, but so that you can avoid being a distraction from the learning. Like the sound technician that does the job so flawlessly that not one microphone squeaked, not one level setting was too high or too low, and most concert‐goers were unaware of his presence—it is going to take work. You don’t need to impress your students with your great speaking skills, but you can be successful if your ...