Introduction
In this article by PowerLabs discover 6 elements to include in a training to make it more likely for participants to engage in what we’re asking them to do during and after the training. The example shared is of training people to canvass for an election, but the same approach works for multi-day leadership training and other topics.
Parts
Part 1: Training for Compliance
Imagine you recently decided to volunteer for a cause or candidate for the first time and sign up to talk to voters in your community.
How might you feel when you show up to a canvass?
Maybe you are nervous about not knowing what to say when talking to a voter, doing it wrong, or embarrassing yourself.
Or you have doubts that your efforts will make a difference.
Or concerns that you’ll be the only new person and others will judge you for your inexperience.
When it’s time for the training, you are told how to read a walk list and track data, and then you are handed the script and told, “This is the GOTV script. You must follow it word-for-word. Don’t deviate from the script.”
- How would you feel at that moment?
- How well would you do if that was your only preparation?
- How likely would you be to come back?
There are several problems with a training like this, including creating pressure to use the script without communicating its purpose and utility.
External pressure can cause people to feel controlled, and we naturally resist being controlled. Some of us will abandon the script and do our own thing to reclaim our autonomy.¹
This is important because what we say to voters matters. If an inexperienced canvasser uses a common sense approach — simply reminding people of the election date and encouraging them to vote — they are unlikely to have any impact.
Feeling controlled or coerced has a broader impact, too. The most obvious is that people don’t return for a second shift. It’s also associated with weaker commitment to the organization and poorer performance and well-being.
Part 2: Training for Performance
A few minor adjustments to a typical canvassing training will make it more likely for people to follow the plan, succeed on the doors, and join another shift.
Let’s start over with a better approach. This example has more details so you can adapt and use.²
Welcome! Whether it’s your first or your hundredth time talking to voters, you are welcome and needed here today.
We have five days till election day; honestly, it could go either way. A few thousand votes will determine whether we [achieve the desired future state] or [bad things continue or occur].
That’s why it’s critically important that each of us is here together. Talking with people on their doorstep is one of the most effective ways to mobilize someone to vote.
Our goal is to talk to X people in the next five days to win on Tuesday. Our goal for today is Y conversations. It’s a stretch goal and will require some hustle, but I believe in us and think it’s doable.
We will practice the script in a minute, and then get into the logistics.
Before we look at the script, there is one important thing to remember.
It’s essential that voters share their plan of how, when and where they will vote so we can make the biggest impact and win [the campaign’s goal and desired future state].
Voters’ sharing this information is important because research has found that merely reminding and encouraging them to vote doesn’t work.
If we want someone to vote, research shows that we need the voter to think of and say aloud when and where they will vote and how they will get there.
Asking about the voter’s plan might feel awkward or intrusive; that’s totally normal. I feel that way too. I do it, though, because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.
The important thing is that voters discuss their plans; you have some flexibility about how to get them there. The script’s purpose is to guide you, but be human. Have a real conversation, be yourself and use what we know is effective.
Let’s take 20 minutes to practice the script in pairs.
~ Training continues ~
- How would you feel after this training?
- How would this training impact your performance, and would you return?
One improvement to this script is that it communicates the “why”—why we’ve gathered, why our efforts matter, and why the script is important.
When we understand the purpose behind things, we tend to internalize that rationale.
Instead of feeling external controlling pressure to use the script, we do so willingly because we understand its value. This version also connects us to the group’s collective purpose (what we can gain or lose) and our power (canvassing is effective).
A belief in what we are doing and understanding the value of our actions is associated with greater commitment, performance and well-being.
Part 3: Six Elements of an Effective Training
Empirical evidence from research on motivation, performance, and well-being suggests that people who receive the second version of the training are more likely to be effective canvassers, enjoy their experience, and return for another shift.
Let’s break down the script to see how it works and draw out the principles so you can apply them in your context.
These principles apply whether it’s a brief training before a volunteer shift or a training that takes place over days or weeks.
1. Connect the activity to its impact on other people or the world.
We have five days till election day; honestly, it could go either way. A few thousand votes could determine whether [we achieve the desired future state] or [bad things continue or occur].
That’s why it’s critically important that each of us is here today. Talking with people at their doorstep is one of the most effective ways to mobilize someone to vote.
2. Present goals and timelines as valuable information that is necessary for achieving a shared goal.
Our goal is to talk to X people in the next five days to win on Tuesday. The goal for today is Y conversations. It’s a stretch goal and will require some hustle, but I believe in us and think it’s doable.
3. Be clear about any requirements, guidelines, or boundaries.
It’s essential that voters share their plan of how, when and where they will vote so we can make the biggest impact and win [the campaign’s goal and desired future state].
4. Provide a meaningful rationale for requests and requirements.
Voters’ sharing this information is important because research has found that merely reminding and encouraging them to vote doesn’t work.
If we want someone to vote, research shows that we need the voter to think of and say aloud when and where they will vote and how they will get there.
5. Acknowledge and accept negative feelings and affect.
Asking about the voter’s plan might feel awkward or intrusive; that’s totally normal. I feel that way too. I do it, though, because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.
6. Provide appropriate scaffolding (training, shadowing, role-plays, etc.)
Let’s take 20 minutes to practice the script in pairs.
Adding these six elements into any type of training creates the conditions for high-quality autonomous motivation associated with more sustained engagement, greater commitment to goals, better performance, and greater satisfaction and well-being.
One tip: Before you design a training, create an empathy map to put yourself in the shoes of a training participant. Empathy maps help us to design for participants instead of ourselves. Get instructions here.
Footnotes
The same is true for issues that are seen as an individual problem such as poor work quality, absenteeism and burnout.See this paper for a meta-analysis examining different types of motivation and the relationship to counterproductive work behaviors. Popular works with recommendations on what to do instead of command and control management and leadership include Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work…and What Does: More Breakthroughs for Leading, Energizing, and Engaging and The ABC of Work Motivation: How to Energize Any Organization.
² This isn’t intended to be the entire script for a get-out-the-vote canvass training. Training should also include information about other script components (especially any social pressure or self-rationalization tactics), canvass logistics and other topics. The Analyst Institute and We Make the Future have recommendations and sample scripts to use while talking to voters.
³ Acknowledging and validating another person’s emotions can have a powerful effect on their participation.
See Legitimizing Nervousness Motivates People to Take Risky Political Actions (2018) by Adam Seth Levine, et al. for the results of several field experiments that measured this effect.
One experiment found that adding two sentences that acknowledge people may feel nervous and others feel the same increased the percentage of people who committed to participating in lobbying from 58.2% to 72.7%(!).
