Welcome back to HR coffee time. It's wonderful to have you listening today. I'm your host, Faye Wallace, a career and leadership coach for HR and people, professionals. And I've made this podcast, especially for you to help you have a successful and fulfilling HR or people career. I know there are lots of times you might be asked to design or deliver training or a workshop when you work in HR and that you may never have been given any training yourself in how to do this. Instead, you end up just having to try to do your best and it may be that you're basing your approach on what you've seen other people do.
Fay Wallis:And I think that can definitely work well. I'm lucky to have seen some great trainers and facilitators in action. So I've been able to pick up tips and ideas from them when I'm running my own sessions.
Fay Wallis:But I also know how helpful it can be to hear about resources that you can turn to for ideas and guidance. If delivering training or facilitating workshops is something you want to learn, how to do really well. I'm recording this episode in December, 2024. And last week I ran the first ever in-person HR planning day in London. It was a whole day workshop where everyone who attended, got to map out their goals and plans for 2025 using a copy of the essential HR planner. It's something I had been thinking about doing for a long time. So it was a wonderful feeling to finally go ahead and do it. I spent ages designing the day, trying to make it as positive and impactful and useful an experience for everyone that. That it could possibly be. I couldn't have hoped for the day to have gone better.
Fay Wallis:It was amazing to see the energy in the room. I loved meeting all of the wonderful HR and people, professionals who attended. And I just can't wait to see them putting that goals and plans into action over the next year. I had a couple of people after the workshop, ask where I got my ideas for designing the day from.
Fay Wallis:So I thought it could be useful for me to share the main resources. That I've learned a lot about designing and delivering workshops and training from, and that these ones that I'm going to share with you, they specifically sparked a lot of my ideas for the day. I hope that by sharing these five resources with you, they will be able to help you spark your own ideas for creating fantastic workshops and training experiences within your own organizations. So there are five different resources I'm going to share with you. There's three books, one online masterclass and one Facebook group. I used ideas from all of them when designing the HR planning day.
Fay Wallis:And I'm going to talk you through what they are and what the idea is that I learnt from them, where that I put into action for the HR planning day.
Fay Wallis:The very first resource. I'd love to share with you is a virtual masterclass on workshop design. And this is available at the school of facilitation, which is run by Kirsty Lewis. Now you may remember Kirsty because she has been a guest on the show. She was my guest in episode, 110. Where we talked about why facilitation skills can help your HR career and how to develop them. I actually invited Kirsty to be a guest on the show.
Fay Wallis:After I had taken part in her online master class, it was. Absolutely fantastic. I loved it because it was really, really practical. She shared so much great advice, but also I was attending as a participant. So as well as using that virtual masterclass to teach everyone who was attending great ways of designing workshops. She ran it as a workshop.
Fay Wallis:So you got to see what the experience was like. She tested out lots of the different techniques and ideas on you while didn't test them out. She demonstrated them live. You got to take part in them. So you could really feel what it's actually like to be a participant in a workshop. That's delivered brilliantly.
Fay Wallis:And although the workshop was delivered online and in it, Kirsty does talk about some techniques that can help you to run brilliant online workshops. Actually, everything that she talks about very much applies to. In real life workshops as well. So I can't really recommend that workshop highly enough.
Fay Wallis:I really credited with having helped pull my skill level up. A lot higher. And Although she covered lots of different things. There were certain ones that really leapt out at me. And that I definitely used when I was designing and delivering the HR planning day. So the first one is that the greatest gift you can give everyone who's attending. Is time to think. And time to talk, to discuss their ideas and to discuss the topic that you're focusing on for that workshop or for that training session. And this is something that I've definitely got better at. As a result of having attended Kirsty's masterclass, I think there can be a real temptation for us to think, oh my goodness.
Fay Wallis:There's so much that I want to share. There's so much content to get through. There are so many useful ideas that I'd love to share with everyone that we're at risk of overloading them. And not really giving them enough time to process the information that you're sharing. I think that's how a lot of lectures and teaching used to be delivered.
Fay Wallis:So it's a way that we may have experienced training or workshops ourselves in the past where just a whole load of information is thrown at you. And the facilitator or the trainer talks at you for a really, really long time. But actually it's going to be so much more impactful if you strip stuff out. So yes, of course you need to share information.
Fay Wallis:You want that to be learning in the room, but really the beauty of attending a workshop as an attendee is having enough time to really think about and discuss and process. The content and ideas that are being shared. So I've taken this on board. I mean, I had heard the advice before it's advice you might have heard before, but somehow Kirsty managed to really help that land brilliantly with me
Fay Wallis:So I started off by designing the HR planning date by. Writing down. Everything I wanted to cover. And in what order, what activities I was thinking of asking everyone to do and behind all of this, I really kept in mind. What is the purpose of the day? So the purpose of the day for me was to give people space and time to think of goals that they really cared about putting into action and that we're going to have a great impact on their career. And that would have a brilliant impact on the organization they were working in and also give them some time to plan them out and plan out some of the other activities that they have to do as an HR professional
Fay Wallis:so I kept that in mind. And then thought about, okay, I know that's what I want everyone to get out of the day. What is the least amount? Of me talking. Can I do, that's going to help them to get there? I wanted to make sure that there was plenty of time for them to actually do the thinking. Discuss their ideas. Have activities that help them come up with ideas and then write them down and actually create their plans.
Fay Wallis:So I wrote everything down to begin with, and then I just went through and took out stuff that I didn't think was essential. So thank you Kirsty.
Fay Wallis:If you're listening to this for really helping drill that into me and for everyone listening, I hope that. It helps encourage you to think it's okay. You can let go of some of the content I promise. It's it's really weird. I think it's a bit counter-intuitive. We feel like we have to share everything we know. That actually it's about picking. What is the purpose of this session?
Fay Wallis:What are the most essential things you want people walking away with? And for them to really sunk in for them, rather than I've had loads of information thrown at them and they can't take all of it on board. So they end up remembering hardly anything at all.
Fay Wallis:The other key takeaway that I had from attending Kirsty's virtual masterclass on workshop design, was this concept of pair and share. So you may well have delivered a training session or a workshop before where you've said to the room. Who would like to let us know what you think about battle? What's one key takeaway for you, or who's heard of this concept before and you're met with complete silence.
Fay Wallis:Like no one speaks up in the room. And Kirsty just said, Whenever you're in that situation, when you've said something and people in the room. Aren't giving you anything back. There's just this silence. No one wants to speak up. She talked about the fact that pair and share is a great way of building some psychological safety and of getting people, talking to each other.
Fay Wallis:And then they're much more likely to be confident. At actually sharing with the wider group. If you've shared an idea with just one person, it's then less terrifying to share it with someone else. So I use pair and share a lot. I used to a lot throughout their HR planning day.
Fay Wallis:I would choose something from the essential HR planner for them to do. For example, in the HR planner, there's a look back to look forwards section where there are some questions to answer, which help you look back over the year that's happened.
Fay Wallis:So you can then think about right. What have I learned from the last year? What things have gone really well. Uh, what things could've come better? What can I learn from the last year that I can then take forwards and use to help inform my goals for next year? So I had everyone complete that activity.
Fay Wallis:And then when they'd finished, I asked them to turn to the person next to them and discuss what was helpful about the activity, what surprised them about doing it and what was the key insight? And I know that that's helpful, not just for building that psychological safety, because it's much scarier for someone to just answer that question without having discussed it with anyone else.
Fay Wallis:It also really helps deepen that reflection and the thinking. To help them with being creative and being informed for their goals for next year. So that's just one example of using pair and share, but I used it a lot throughout the day and it was really helpful. You could see everyone talking away in the room and enjoying doing it and getting a lot from it.
Fay Wallis:So that's an activity. I would always encourage you to think about, rather than just saying. Who wants to answer this question or who can answer this for me? Or what does someone think? Or someone just speak up, please. Instead, give everyone the opportunity to discuss it in pads first. And then when you say, who would like to share, you will have people put their hands up or be happy to call out to the rim.
Fay Wallis:And Dave having listened to me, talk about this.
Fay Wallis:You're thinking, oh gosh. Yes. I definitely want to do Kirsty's masterclass on workshop design. If you go to her website, which is school of facilitation, you'll see that it's on there. And there are normally booking dates on there. So you can choose when to book on.
Fay Wallis:She runs it a few times a year, but I'll also pop a link in the show notes to it.
Fay Wallis:But let's move on now to the second resource that I'd like to share with you. So the second resource is a book and it's called the two hour workshop blueprint by Leon Hughes. Leon is a really experienced facilitator and she wrote this book to help people design workshops that take place over two hours. Now the HR planning day was a whole day workshop, but I still found the book really helpful. I discovered the book. I think almost as soon as she published it, actually.
Fay Wallis:And I was so impressed because it's incredibly practical. There are lots of books that I've read about. Delivering training or delivering workshops and designing them. That are quite theoretical and there isn't actually real concrete takeaways that you can take and use easily, or they could feel a bit of a slog to get through.
Fay Wallis:Well, that is not the case with this book at all. The book is so quick and easy to read. It's really well laid out. And Leanne has put together a framework for you to use, to be able to quickly. But effectively design a workshop. And you can literally follow it step by step. If you want to. Now there are two things in particular from the book that I utilized, when I designed and delivered the HR planning day. The first thing is contrast.
Fay Wallis:So Leanne talks about the importance of varying what is happening in the room. And I guess I hinted at this a bit when I was just talking earlier about making sure that. You as the facilitator or the trainer. Aren't doing. All the talking all the time. Well, it extends even further than that. So even if you're making sure that you're not talking in massive chunks for ages, and you're making sure you give people activities to do there's something in this about being able to vary what you're doing. So I try to introduce quite a lot of variety. Into the HR planning day. So that people couldn't get bored say that the energy could stay high so that people could still feel really excited and engaged. So I talked about doing pair and share.
Fay Wallis:We did that quite a few times. But there were also a couple of occasions where I encourage people to stand up and move around the room and find two other people and standing groups of three. To talk about things. So immediately that's helping shift the energy because people are going from sitting down to standing up and talking to people.
Fay Wallis:They might not have spoken to you before. And just even having them in a three it's a different dynamics being in a two. I also enlarged, I did a giant version of one of the activities from the essential HR planner. And I stuck it up on the wall. It is an activity called key HR areas of influence. It has a long list of all the areas that typically full within HR remit within an organization.
Fay Wallis:So that are things on that. Like, Redundancies. Recruitment. Organization design, strategic planning. All the different things that you could be responsible for. If you work within HR or the people function, so for that activity, normally, if you just have a copy of The Essential HR Planner yourself you would just write it in your essential HR planner, you would do the activity in there. But I thought, no, I really want to follow Leon's advice of using contrast. I don't want everyone to just be sitting down the whole time. So I stuck these giant versions. Of the activity on the wall.
Fay Wallis:And I had everyone go up and stick a little sticky note, a little sticky tab. Next to the key areas of HR that they wanted to focus on for their goals. In 2025,
Fay Wallis:and again, there was such a really positive energy shift when you could see everyone standing up. Standing around these big, giant versions of the activity. Really thinking about, right. Where do I want to stick my sticky tabs? So that was another way I had contrast. I also included some sensory activities.
Fay Wallis:What I'm going to talk about them in a bit, because there's a different resource that helped contribute to them. But again, hopefully this is just giving you ideas of thinking. Okay. Actually, if I'm designing and delivering training or a workshop. Let's see, how can I get people moving around?
Fay Wallis:How can I get them engaging with activities in a slightly different way? How can I get them thinking and talking without just sitting down the whole time?
Fay Wallis:And I really purposefully designed for this. So after writing down everything. I wanted to cover on the day, everything I really wanted the people attending to achieve what I wanted them to be able to walk away with. I then looked at what I'd written down. And I thought to myself, Okay. That's a writing activity.
Fay Wallis:There's a parent share. How can I do this differently? How can I keep making sure the energy is going to be great? How can I do this activity in a slightly different way? Just to help keep the energy up, keep people thinking. Keep them engaged. Keep them being really creative. So I purposefully went through and that is when I thought about doing the activities in slightly different ways.
Fay Wallis:So I didn't just. Wake up one day and think, oh, I know what I'm going to do. I'll put a giant version of that activity on the wall or I'll have threes. Instead out, it was really about looking at what was it I was trying to achieve. How could I make sure I was putting in contrast really regularly? Everything in Leon's book. The two hour workshop blueprint is really helpful and brilliant, and I've used. All sorts of aspects of it when designing a whole range of workshops. But that contrast piece that I just talked about, that's just one tiny bit of the book.
Fay Wallis:So if you are going to be designing and delivering workshops or training, I'd really encourage you to read the whole book. It's a nice, easy read. And I promise you'll get through it quickly. There's one other thing in particular that. Helped me with designing the HR planning day that I thought I would tell you about. And I'm just going to read a little extract from the book and then you'll see where I got the idea from. So if you have a copy of the book, if you're listening back to this, this is on page a hundred. And Leanne talks about an experience she had of going to someone else's workshop. And so she said, I've never missed a flight.
Fay Wallis:If I had to create corporate values for myself, the number one value would be punctuality. So you can imagine my delighted surprise when I, as a participant. Arrived at a workshop 20 minutes early only to find that things were already in full swing. This happened during Dr. Katherine Lloyd and Andrew Ricksons book launch slash seminar of the story cookbook in Brisbane. When I walked in, there were flip charts with thought provoking questions on the wall.
Fay Wallis:Like, what does community building mean to you? Like music playing and a lot of chatter among participants. It was much better than arriving in silence, taking a seat and browsing my phone. We were already warmed up and eager to participate. When the session officially started starting the session with activities, discussions, and energy already creates a more engaging and dynamic workshop experience. When I first read Leanne's book that really stood out at me.
Fay Wallis:I really liked this idea of having an activity when everyone first arrives. So that's what I did.
Fay Wallis:One of the things you get to do when you have a copy of the essential HR planet. It's create your own one page professional development plan for the year ahead. And there are just a series of really simple exercises to work through that.
Fay Wallis:Then make up that one page plan. The very first exercise is called. Identify what you're aiming for. And I ask you to think about what it is that you're actually aiming for, for your career for next year. So do you want to grow and roll? Do you want to step up into a more senior role? Do you want to move sideways or do you want to step out and do something completely different?
Fay Wallis:So for the activity, when everyone first arrived. What I had them do. Is choose a sticker so they could choose a step-up sticker, a step out sticker, a move sideways sticker, or a grow enroll sticker. And the designs on the stickers all matched the activity. That's in the essential HR planner. And I asked them to go and stick it on a flip chart. And then go and find someone in the room so that introduced themselves.
Fay Wallis:So I'd say, hi, I'm Fay. The sticker that I chose was, and you tell them which sticker you chose. And the reason I chose that is because what that means to me is, so for example, I might have chosen grow and roll. So I would have said, hi, I'm Faye. The sticker I chose is grow and roll. And what that means for me is that over the next year, I want to make sure that I'm not stagnating in my role, that I'm developing my expertise in key areas.
Fay Wallis:And I'm building my confidence at certain things. And then I would turn to the person next to me and say, which sticker did you choose? It gave everybody a way of thinking about the content of the day, straight away. So thinking about what is it they actually want for their career, but also it gave them a talking point.
Fay Wallis:So no one had to worry when they arrived about that awkward standing around, trying to figure out what to say to people. And I shared a video explaining the activity in advance so that everyone knew what to expect when they arrived. So I need to say. A big, thank you to Leanne for her book, because it's not something I used to do. But it's something I've learned can make a massive difference. So, if you are listening to this and thinking about designing training or a workshop, I know it could be easy to think, oh, everyone in my organization already knows each other.
Fay Wallis:They don't need this warmup activity. I'd really encourage you to think again, because it's amazing how it gets people to be in the right frame of mind for the workshop or the training. To really start engaging with it straight away and to start engaging with each other in a way that's going to support each other with their learning.
Fay Wallis:The third resource that I utilized for when I was designing the HR planning day. Is a Facebook group and this is actually also Leanne's. So Leanne has got the book, the two hour workshop blueprint, and then she has a Facebook group, which is called the flip charts. And the flip charts is a Facebook group where facilitators or people who do facilitation can share ideas and ask for advice.
Fay Wallis:And I actually got the idea. For making the customized stickers from another facilitator who was in that group. They had done a post where they shared a photo of some stickers that had made. And talked about how they use the stickers in their workshops.
Fay Wallis:And I thought. What a brilliant idea. It had just never occurred to me that I could actually have customized stickers. You might be familiar with Canva. It's an online free graphic. Design software. Anyone can use it. You don't need to have any design skills at all. I use it all the time, but I'd never tried printing from it. So I just took the images that were from the essential HR planner, put them onto sticker templates and then hit order as a print and they arrived and they were perfect. So that's, another little tip is to check out that Facebook group, the flip chart, because it's amazing how small things that you see pop up from time to time can really inspire you.
Fay Wallis:The fourth resource to share with you as a book, it's called neuroscience for learning and development, and it's written by stellar Collins.
Fay Wallis:I'm as excited about reading this book, because she really delves into what is learning, how do we learn so that instead of just designing workshops and training sessions in a way that. We hope people are going to learn from. You can be far more intentional. And your design and make sure that you're weaving in that you're bedding in ways. That are going to guarantee. People. Take something away from the day that they are learning. And there are lots of different things that she talks about in the book. But there was one chapter in particular. That really leapt out at me and it's informed. Other things that I've designed as well. And that is, she explains in detail about the fact that activating our senses.
Fay Wallis:So utilizing everyone in the workshop that different senses. I can help everyone with remembering information and also actually some things can help with enhancing our mood. So I had two activities that I waive into the day. One was an activity that revolved around scent. And I'm not going to tell you what it is. In case you want to come next year.
Fay Wallis:And in case I do the same one again, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but everyone really enjoyed it. Oh my gosh. The volume in the room went so high when I told everyone what the activity was. But I will share with you what the other one was. So thinking about sensors, I was thinking of, okay, everyone.
Fay Wallis:That's going to get to do. Lots of talking lots of reading. Lots of thinking. I know that writing in their planner, that's a tactile activity, but what could I do? That's. Perhaps even more tactile or tactile in a different way. So I bought, I cleared the shelves at my local Waitrose. Because it's near Christmas time, they have this. Lovely potted hyacinth set that they do every year.
Fay Wallis:So it's a really. Beautiful Christmasy looking pot and inside the pot is soil and a hyacinth bulb planted. So it hasn't started growing at all yet. Although you'll have loads of ideas from using the essential HR planner or coming to the planning day. In fact, you're far more likely to be successful if you just choose. The most important ones to focus on. So the goals that are going to have the biggest impact. So, what I did was I bought they're high scent poets for everybody.
Fay Wallis:So everyone had their own one and I wrapped them all up in wrapping paper. And at the end of the day, I gave everybody. They're present. And I said, okay, everyone, you can unwrap it now. So they're getting that tactile experience and that anticipation of unwrapping a surprise. And then they saw what it was they had in front of them. I gave everyone a gold or a silver paint pen.
Fay Wallis:And I said, okay, I want you to write the one goal that you really want to keep in mind for the beginning of the year. Write it on the pot. And then put the pot somewhere that you're going to see it. At home.
Fay Wallis:And what you're going to notice is that the hyacinth should have flowered by March. And hopefully it will be a great reminder for you to stay on track with your goal. And your goal will be starting to come to fruition by the same time.
Fay Wallis:There are loads of different ways that you can incorporate people, activating their sensors to help them. Remember and retain. The things that you want them to, or the things you want them to take action on. So that's just one example of how I did it, but other ways you can do it are with things like coloring in or using modeling clay or using Lego.
Fay Wallis:I know some people are brilliant at incorporating Lego activities. Into that sessions. The different possibilities are endless, really. And that's part of the exciting thing of getting to design workshops and training. It means you get to come up with some of these ideas and just really make them your own. But now let's move on to the fifth and final resource that I'd like to share with you.
Fay Wallis:And the results is another book. It's called the 10 minute trainer, 150 ways to teach it quick and make it stick by Sharon L. Bowman. And I would say that this book is particularly good.
Fay Wallis:If it is training that you're trying to deliver. So you're really trying to help people learn a new skill. And the reason it's so great
Fay Wallis:it's because it really does have 150 different activities in it for you to use.
Fay Wallis:Some of them are just described in a couple of sentences, but I got the book and I just went through it and found myself highlighting all of the ideas that I really liked. In fact, pair and share is in this book as well, but there are. So many other things in here. And one idea that I used for the HR planning day. Was the idea of having people doing an activity. As soon as they arrive in your room. So, of course I had the welcome activity where everyone came in and chose a sticker and put it on a flip chart. That all happened in one room when people first arrived and we had teas and coffees and things in that, but when people had finished chatting, they could then move into the main room, which is where the main part of the workshop was running and go and sit at a table. And I'm really pleased that I incorporated. This idea I'm about to share with you from the 10 minute trainer, because I hadn't actually fully expected that some people would move into that room way more quickly than others. I thought, oh, everyone will be talking together the whole time.
Fay Wallis:And then when it gets to 10 o'clock, I'll move them all into the other room. But that's not actually what happened. A few people did start moving into the other room a little bit earlier to get themselves set up and settled in there. And then people kind of came in and dribs and drabs. So what I had taken from the 10 minute trainer was she recommends. Having up. On your screen, an activity for everyone to do while they're waiting. So what had happened was of course everyone had chosen what they were aiming for in their career with that sticker. During the welcome activity. So when everyone moved into the main room up on the screen on a slide I had written while you're waiting for the workshop to start.
Fay Wallis:Turn to page 20 and your copy of the essential HR planner, because when everyone came in, they were given a copy of the essential HR planner. And fill in the books that says what you're aiming for. So, of course that decided what they were aiming for when they were in the other room. This was their opportunity to fill in the very first section of that one page professional development plan. And I'm so pleased.
Fay Wallis:I did that because it gave everyone something to do while they were waiting. But it also saved me time. My biggest thing I was worried about for the day was. It was how I was going to get through everything because there was so much I wanted to get done. But I didn't want people to feel overloaded and I didn't want them to feel rushed. So this was a nice way of actually having done an entire activity from the essential HR planner before we'd even officially started the session. So it meant that when I then said welcome to the day, everybody and started the whole thing off. Everyone already had an activity done. So if you are delivering a workshop or training, and you've got lots to get through. I'd really encourage you to think about that tip from that book and think about what could I actually have everyone just working on while we're waiting for everybody to arrive in the room?
Fay Wallis:That brings us to the end of this episode. I really hope that you've enjoyed hearing about those five different resources. And the ideas within them that are used for the HR planning day. I would love to hear if it sparks any ideas for you. If you would like to go ahead and give any of those resources or try, or if you're going to try incorporating any of the ideas and elements that I've talked about today in your own training sessions and the workshops that you deliver.
Fay Wallis:As a quick reminder, the five wrestler says that he talked about work. And online masterclass on workshop design.
Fay Wallis:That you can book on T3, the school of facilitation website that is run by Kirsty Lewis. The second thing was the book. The two hour workshop blueprint by Leon Hughes. The third thing was Leon's free Facebook group, which is called the flip chart. The full thing was the book neuroscience for learning and development by stellar Collins.
Fay Wallis:And the fifth resource was the 10 minute trainer, 150 ways to teach it quick and make it stick by Sharon L. Bowman.
Fay Wallis:If you haven't already left a rating and review for HR coffee time in the podcast app that you're listening to this, then I would be so grateful if you could.
Fay Wallis:It makes such a difference in encouraging other people to give the show a try.
Fay Wallis:And if you do go ahead and rate or review it, then please do let me know. So I can say thank you. It's always so nice to know who it says, who has done that rating or done that review. And I always appreciate them. So it's really nice to be able to say. Thank you to you. I'll make sure that there are links in the show notes to everything that I have talked about today.
Fay Wallis:If you're having any trouble finding the show notes in the app, that you're listening to this, and then you can also find them on my website, bright sky career coaching. Just go to the HR coffee times section, find the episode, click on it. And you'll see that all of the details about the episode are there, including all the links to everything we discussed. That's it for me for today, but I'm looking forward to being back again, seen with the next episode for you.