b'THE CENTER FOR SALES STRATEGYStephanie StollDirector of Learning and Development The Center for Sales StrategyAccelerate Your Development Programs by Embracing ChangeT hepandemichasbroughtaboutnumerousin smaller doses, their ability to retain information changesinthewayweworkandinteractincreases and the chance for overload decreases. within our organizations, and it has also af- In 2021, we introduced our Remote Training Work-fected the way we develop, deliver, and assess em- outs, weekly webinars for both salespeople and ployee training. There has long been a push to in- sales leaders. Each episode focuses on a singular corporate more technology into training programsconcept and the direct application in real-world and the last two years have acted as the acceler- scenarios. Lasting no more than 30 minutes, these ant needed to push learning and development todigestible pieces of content offer a quick lesson new levels. Coupled with the new technologies is afor immediate and relevant application. As peo-shift away from more formal learning delivery andple return to the office or selling in the field, the methods. While many of these ideas were alreadyworkouts (and their recordings) offer just-in-time in play, they have emerged as best practices in thetidbits of learning. The series continues bi-weekly virtual and work-from-home environment.in 2022. Breaking Down the TrainingAnother way to break down training is to use a variety of instructional and interactive methods. The concept of chunked learning isnt new, in factAttention spans are even shorter in a virtual set-the research in which it is based dates to a 1956ting and should be heavily considered when de-study out of Harvard University about human cog- signing and delivering virtual, instructor-led train-nition. On average, the brain is only able to manip- ing. Alternate between slides and spotlighting the ulate seven pieces of information at a time; there- speaker to keep attention and allow participants fore, chunking the new information presented totovisuallynoticeatransitionfromlectureto learners into smaller pieces enables them to bet- interactive segments. Polls and quizzing applica-ter understand, synthesize, and apply their learn- tions can help make the meeting more interactive ing. Several years ago, we revamped many of ourand give the facilitator a feel for how well the par-online,self-pacedcoursesintosmaller,bite-sizeticipants are learning, not to mention they give a pieces. By allowing people to learn new conceptsfun lift throughout the training. 106 Accelerate Your Development Programs by Embracing Change'