Question Of The Day, Friday, July 12

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Good morning! :wave3: And Happy Friday! :yess:

I am starting to train my co-worker who will be reviewing plans once I retire at the end of the year. I have a difficult time explaining things. I know exactly what I'm doing, I know what I want to say. I'm just not very concise and I always worry that I'm confusing him more than anything. He says I'm doing OK and he asks a lot of good questions. But it's going to take a while. Plan reviews can be difficult, especially when there are multiple pages of stormwater stuff and post-construction stuff! Lighting information. Landscaping information and the formulas involved. Some days I just want to :frustrated: when it's just me, so trying to explain this to somebody else isn't easy.

So: Are you good at explaining things to people? Are you concise with your explanations? Would you do well with explaining your job to somebody and training them to do your job?
 

AbbysMom

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I think I am pretty good at it. I used to train people at work to do part of my job and when I left I had to train people to take over. I try to be fairly detailed and explain why they are doing something so they have a better understanding instead of "Do this."
 

jcat

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I believe I do a pretty good job - as a teacher for >30 years, I spent a lot of time explaining all sorts of things, and I've trained many a volunteer at the animal shelter over the past 5 years.
 

MoochNNoodles

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I trained my replacement when I was preparing to go on maternity leave. I'm not very concise but my duties there were so varied and I wanted to be thorough. She didn't feel ready when I got put on maternity leave early; but I ran into her several years later and found out she was still in the position so it all worked out.
 

susanm9006

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Yes, I am a good explainer/trainer. I had to explain benefits and pension plans to employees and train the people who worked for me on a variety of procedures. It helps to understand what works best for some people - some need visuals, some needs hands on and some people need repetition to learn. I always gave written handouts so they could focus on learning and listening without worrying about taking notes.
 

MonaLyssa33

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I'm definitely a better writer than speaker, so I would not do very well in training people on my job.
 

Jem

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I'm pretty good I think. I was told I should teach my profession by several people. I was told by many of my classmates (when I was in school) that I explain things well when they did not "get it" in class the first time. My clients seem to grasp what I say when I explain to them what's going on with their bodies. So yeah, I can explain well.
 

Graceful-Lily

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I find that the only time I am able to explain something to someone well is when I am passionate about it or have done extensive research beforehand. When I know what I'm talking about, I have more confidence and therefore can speech more fluently/clearly. If I'm unsure or if there is any hint of doubt, I struggle to find words and cannot adequately form an understandable sentence.

I also realized that when you appear as if you know what you are talking about, people are more engaged in the conversation and are more likely to listen to everything you are saying.
 

margecat

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I am. I used to write instruction manuals at work for my job, as, when I took over, I found that no one had ever done so. Once I learned to be concise (I tend to over-explain things), and plot every step out logically, it became easy to do so. When I cooked at the club I belonged to, I made up an instruction manual for people that helped in the kitchen, i.e., ow to assemble a hamburger platter. I copied online photos of burgers, taco salad, etc., and placed them in plastic sheet protectors in the notebook, so they could be removed and tacked up temporarily over the work stations.

People have told me that I give very good driving directions, especially if they are following me.
 

1 bruce 1

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I'm fine with it so long as the person I'm teaching actually wants to learn and wants to be there. If they don't, I'm not wasting my time or theirs ;)
I tell them what the job is, then I do the job to show them how, then invite them to try. Then give them tips. Seems to work pretty good.
 

Norachan

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Yes, I'm pretty good at explaining things in short, simple sentences. I teach English as a second language and a lot of my students are kids, so I have to keep it simple.
 

Mia6

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I taught reading to adults for a program called Project Learn. I did ok but it was difficult because I taught adults. It was volunteer work.
 

cassiopea

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I hope so! Because I am a ballet teacher :lol: Although I will be teaching more classes this upcoming season (More ballet, and now also Lyrical and Folk) so I must be doing something right to my dance boss!


For my other job, I think I do a decent job explaining when training a new employee. Nothing amazing or perfect. Helps to have experience from the other field, but I feel like I do better as a dance teacher in comparison.
 

micknsnicks2mom

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it depends. when i worked, i was very good at training people -- though, that wasn't something i enjoyed. i do find it ... challenging to try to condense complicated matters into shorter versions, though. :dunno:
 

aliceneko

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A lot of people seem to misunderstand my words or message in animated discussions, so it would seem that explaining is not really a knack that I have - however, other times, people say that I explain things clearly and I've helped them understand the situation/topic at hand better, so I guess it depends on who or what I'm explaining!
 
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