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The Ground Rules
Rules will help you as a trainer so that you can establish a learning environment.
The rules can be generated by your participants, which is especially helpful during
workshops that are about teambuilding or trust. In the interest of time, the rules
can also be simply stated by the trainer. Often, the rules that are suggested by
your participants will relate to respect for one another, and this is always worth
pointing out to the group. Try and keep the list of rules short so that people will
remember what they are.
The three key rules are:
Respect. Arriving on time, avoiding sidebar conversation, turning cell phones off, and not being
the center of attention, are all items that relate to respect.
Encouraging participation and fun. This includes enjoying the day, not picking on others, and
freedom to explore and try out new ideas without feeling judged or bullied.
What takes place in the workshop stays in the workshop. This is so that comments about the
workplace or a particular person, or how funny someone might have been in the workshop, are
not spread through the workplace as gossip following the session. This will help participants take
risks during the training. (This rule is often very helpful for the trainer, in terms of rapport,
participation, and respect. However, if the employer, who is paying for training expects the
trainer to report back to them what learning has taken place and so on, be sure that the trainees
are aware of this. Depending on the nature of the training, you may be able to still maintain a
“staying in the workshop” approach and report just the training outcomes to the employer.)
Rules can have a fun aspect to them if you word them with a little creativity. For example, rule number
three can be re-worded with the well-known phrase “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”