Benefits of Pair Practice During Training
- Shlomit Amichi
- Dec 1, 2006
- 2 min read
Unlike a lecture, which aims to transfer knowledge through the frontal presentation, the training seeks to instill knowledge or teach a specific skill.
One tool for achieving training objectives is generating active participation from the learner, including intellectual stimulation, emotional stimulation, or experiential stimulation. These help internalize messages and generate meaningful learning that participants remember and can apply.
Practice is such a stimulus. It is an experiential stimulus that allows participants to actively engage with the subject matter and feel it "through their feet." Thus, information received through hearing or sight becomes etched in memory thanks to experience.
As knowledge management consultants, we conduct numerous trainings and workshops: role perception workshops, content expert training, content organization and writing training, focus groups, and more. We use practice extensively, and from our experience, we've learned that even greater benefits can be derived through pair practice.
This method has several advantages:
In his book "The Knowledge-Creating Company," Methodological Advantage, Nonaka establishes that the socialization process is essential in knowledge development. Pair practice enriches thinking and, therefore, results. Each partner contributes their understanding and experience to perform the exercise, building shared knowledge and strengthening personal capabilities.
Personal-social advantage: Each of us has different absorption abilities. Some find it difficult to concentrate during lectures, everyone is guilty of "daydreaming," and sometimes the materials are difficult to understand. Pair practice can help at this point because it reduces participants' embarrassment when facing exercise requirements - if one of the two doesn't understand the requirement, the other explains it, and they complement each other.
Cultural advantage: Through pair practice, we create an atmosphere that encourages cooperation and the exchange of opinions. This atmosphere helps develop a culture of knowledge sharing, which is important for an organization aspiring to turn knowledge into value.
Operational advantage: This advantage refers to us, the trainers and facilitators. After practice, we make sure to hold a discussion presenting its outcomes. In training with many participants, it's difficult for us to reach everyone - due to time constraints and because an extended response round may cause the rest of the group to lose patience. Pair practice reduces the number of reporters, allowing us to hear from everyone and discuss the exercise outcomes.
In conclusion,
As mentioned, pair practice has numerous advantages. However, it also has disadvantages that we should not underestimate: pair practice may divert participants to small talk or cause struggling participants to hide behind more dominant ones. Nevertheless, the added value of mutual enrichment and knowledge enhancement is essentially 1+1=3; therefore, we find this method most effective. Productive learning!
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