5 Discoveries I Made While Zooming

Just last month we launched our first ever train-the-trainer without physically being together. It's Summer 2020 and I don't know anyone who hasn't spent a lot of time in
a Zoom meeting these days. From elementary school kids to grandparents, we’re all doing it. But just because we “have to” meet online doesn't mean it has to be boring, right?

Years of experience facilitating meetings, recording videos, and teaching webinars prepared our team perfectly for this challenge. In fact, we were early adopters! Adobe was so impressed with how we used their Adobe Connect platform that they asked us to teach best practice webinars for their customers when they first rolled out the product. You’d think I was ready to go.

When it came to certifying trainers, in our three-day workshop, I was not a believer. In my head was:

“The certification is 3 days, that’s waaay too long for virtual!”

“How are we going to “recreate” the intimacy that our trainer certification programs are known for?”

TRP is not about a bunch of PowerPoint slides. It’s a training that requires the trainer in training to demonstrate proficiency in the TRP approach: the unshakable belief that life is about learning and growth, and the refusal to entertain a personal victim mentality. It’s about their willingness to live this philosophy. My team must evaluate the future trainers’ ability to be a practitioner of TRP: that is as important as teaching it.

After some weeks of deliberation and much encouragement from my team members to “go for it”, it was clear that the train had already left the station; virtual was not going away anytime soon. It was also clear that I was really getting in my own way. I had to get with the program. Recognizing this, I made up my mind and I declared out loud, “I commit to being enthusiastic about this!”

It turned out to be a near-flawless event. Better than I expected, and once I had committed to it, the creativity flowed in ways I had not experienced before. Our team worked together building on each other’s skills and ideas and shared in the delivery.

What did we learn, you ask? A bunch.

1. Begin it Now. Creativity is unleashed when we get behind a project. I was my own biggest stumbling block.
2. Imagine. I'm always amazed at watching my kids play. Their favorite toy is a couple of sticks from which they create a million games. I find that bringing a little child-like imagination to a virtual meeting helps me pretend we are all in the space together having a conversation. Let the flow of that conversation be spontaneous, natural, and fun.
3. Bonding. There is something unique and welcome about visiting with one another in the intimate spaces of our own homes. We open up our private workspace and get to see each other not just as we represent ourselves to the professional world at work, but that human side emerges and we bond in new and meaningful ways.
4. It’s not “less-than.” The level of engagement, introspection, sharing, and bonding that occurred was as good as what I have experienced in other retreat settings. Different? Yes. Still high quality? Absolutely.
5. Change. We are all capable of change. When we get to recreate something that we’ve become very good at, we learn just how capable of change we really are.

I suspect I’m not the only one who’s been hesitating, and I hope this encourages you. After all, I’m a believer now.

P.S. A good number of TRP trainers are now delivering TRP training virtually. If you’d like to discuss this further with us, let’s hop on a Zoom call and have a conversation.

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