Five Principles

Setsights was founded based on the idea that there are five principles (or cures to the deadly diseases of training) which must always be followed:

Principle 1: Training and coaching are not about teaching skills, they are about facilitating learning

Cure to the disease of distrustfulness

Most of us are driven to be successful in our careers, and learning and developing are intrinsic to that success. Plus it’s a basic human need to achieve and self-actualise.

Treating any participant in training or coaching like a child who has to be lectured to is never going to work. It doesn’t help anyone remember things, unlike a participatory learning experience. That’s why the statement that training is not teaching is so important – a good facilitator working with a well-designed course acts as a guide, not a sergeant.

Principle 2: Training is like cooking: if you use the wrong ingredients, it doesn’t work

Cure to the disease of cookie-cutter-itis

Imagine you work in an investment bank (unless you work in the finance industry, in which case imagine you work in media). Do you think they learn exactly the same way as you?

Think back to the last time you revised for exams. You may have read the textbook. You may have written notes. You may have recorded them and listened back to them. You might have tried to re-teach what you’d learnt to someone else.

Whatever you did, it was probably the best method of learning for you.

The best training courses are suitable for all learning styles. They throw in different types of learning, different levels of activity, fun and seriousness, challenge and reward. Setsights delivers the Michelin stars of training design

Principle 3: We all want to learn and just need the right conditions to do so

Cure to the disease of forgettableness

You’ve probably heard the well-known saying “give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he’ll eat everyday”.

That really should end with “if he remembers how to fish”, because we’re not very good at remembering what we’re taught – that’s why Setsights believes in learner-centric training and coaching, as it leads to much better retention and a more individual service.

Principle 4: We learn better when we enjoy the process of learning

Cure to the disease of fun-o-phobia

My first memory of a corporate training course has left me with a memory of crosswords (to test my knowledge), PowerPoint (to display long paragraphs of waffle) and a room with no windows (assumedly to stop us jumping out and escaping).

PowerPoint has its place, but only as an extra tool – in most cases a flipchart is easier and better – and everyone can write on it.

And why do a crossword, when you can split the room in two and play blockbusters? Or throw balls around? Or quiz the trainer instead or the other way round? Or a treasure hunt? Or even write an essay on the subject… in the style of a pirate?

Neither can you underestimate how much a bad training room can take all the fun out of things.

Personally, I’d rather have fun, and fortunately all the evidence stacks up – if you’re enjoying the learning you are more likely to associate the learning with the enjoyment, leading to better recall and a better feeling about the usefulness and importance of the learning.

Principle 5: Psychology is at the heart of all good development programmes

Cure to the disease of witchdoctorism (a.k.a Mumbo Jumbo)

Very little explanation is needed for this rule: quite simply, a lot of coaching (and some training) is based on what might be hokum, such as NLP. Either they’ve been discredited in experimental trials

Whenever possible, Setsights courses are based on peer reviewed experiments, and when there isn’t sufficient evidence either we attempt verification, or we find an alternative.

Quite simply – if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t get put into the programme design.