Monday, March 7, 2011

Anthony Robbins - great training techniques




We all know Anthony Robbins as a great showman who fires up our enthusiasm for achieving outstanding standards and overcoming our fears through changing our belief system.
One of the reasons that I think Robbins is so successful in initiating these changes in people, is because he is an outstanding teacher and trainer.
He makes use of all the top training techniques and uses them in a highly effective way:
1. He knows that learning and being connected to a chair is not necessarily the best way of learning. He continuously asks the group to get up and move and thereby creates energy and we know that the more people move and talk and engage, the more they learn.
2. He constantly asks questions and checks in to see if people are understanding him. There is therefore a stream of interaction between trainer and participants and no-one is in lecture mode.
3. He tells lots of stories. He links the stories to the key messages and that is what makes the messages memorable.
4. He creates a full learning experience for the group - there are simulations, moments for self-reflection, time to write down notes, one on one discussions, role plays, visualisations, broad discussions and great powerpoints with key messages. All learning styles are catered for and a room of 3500 people is fully involved.
5. Watching him train the group to complete the firewalk is a lesson in best practice training. It is a fairly dangerous task that he needs to prepare the group to undertake safely and to achieve this:
He repeats the key steps over and over again
He provides the steps one by one, slowly and patiently revealing each step
He repeats the steps yet again
He asks the group to repeat the steps out loud
He asks the group to visualise themselves performing the steps
He demonstrates the steps over and over again
He displays the steps on slides
6. He makes great use of music to change the mood in the room - to revive the group and to reflect when needed.
7. He speaks with great passion. He believes in what he is saying and he goes for 10 hours with little break because he believes in what he is doing. He gives it his all, all of the time.
8. He constantly asks people to take down notes - "write that down" he says and we all know that by writing it ourselves, we embed the learning.
9. He uses his sense of humour well - and that lightens and brightens the session.

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