The most valuable part of training is often the human connection, not the content

Design unstructured networking time into your training sessions to give employees the connection they crave.

As a facilitator, I constantly have conversations with leaders about their people's challenges. A theme that keeps popping up is incivility, employee disengagement, and a loss of workplace culture.

There are a myriad of factors that have led to this. That said, part of the solution is for facilitators and trainers to intentionally design into their programs the opportunity for learners to connect and interact with each other in an unstructured way outside of training-specific activities.

In fact, for many learners, this is the primary reason that they come to training (voluntarily or involuntarily) - for human connection, the material is secondary. Post-pandemic, and given the distributed work environment for many today, this is what they are yearning for.

To help facilitate this, the room setup structure matters. I have found that a POD-style setup where 2-3 tables are clustered together around the room is a good setup as it facilitates intimate, low-pressure small group conversation.

At your next training session or meeting, instead of jumping right into the topic, build in 5-10 minutes of unstructured social time to let the people connect and talk. This will strengthen the team's bonds and lead to more open dialogue. Do this by setting the calendar invite 10-15 minutes earlier than the officially planned start time. Mention it in the agenda as well.