We’ve all been there: 30 minutes into a training session, half the room is checking email, a few cameras have mysteriously gone dark, and you’re asking yourself, “Will anyone remember this by tomorrow?”
What makes it more frustrating is that the content is solid. The slides look good. The explanation makes sense. And yet—energy is flat, questions are sparse, and engagement feels forced.
Many trainers chalk this up to “learning styles.”
They must be visual learners.
They probably need something more hands-on.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: it’s not that people have the “wrong” learning style—it’s that they’re not participating in the learning. And without participation, what looks like understanding is often just polite absorption.
The Aha: It’s Not About Learning Styles—It’s About Learning Variation
Let’s clear something up.
Research shows there’s no added benefit to matching instruction to an individual’s preferred learning style (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.). People may like it more—but they don’t learn better because of the match.
But here’s what does work exceptionally well:
Varying how learners interact with content throughout the experience.
Why? Two reasons.
First, attention fades with sameness. After about 15–20 minutes of doing the same thing—listening, watching, nodding—learners mentally check out. Switching up how they’re learning resets attention and pulls them back in.
Second, variation creates productive friction. When learners have to see something, talk about it, manipulate it, and apply it, their brains have to work harder to make sense of the material. That effort is sticky. It’s what moves learning from surface-level understanding to something that actually transfers.
Engagement isn’t the goal.
Participation is the gateway.
Learning is the outcome.
The Tool: Design for Participation, Not Just Exposure
Here’s a simple, repeatable way to design sessions that engage multiple learning approaches without overcomplicating your content.
Step 1: Create the “I’m In” Moment
Before learners can participate, they have to opt in.
That opt-in moment often happens when:
- They see how the session will help them
- A real challenge they’re facing is acknowledged
- Psychological safety is established early
- Momentum is high enough that they don’t overthink participation
Once learners think, “This is for me,” everything else gets easier.
Step 2: Shift from Watching to Working (A Real Example)
In a 30–45 minute new hire orientation session, we used to walk learners through the customer onboarding experience by sharing our screen and narrating what customers see and do.
It was visually interesting—but passive.
Debriefs were quiet.
Questions were minimal.
So we redesigned the session.
Instead of watching, new hires:
- Logged into a sandbox version of the customer onboarding wizard
- Worked with a partner to sequence shuffled index cards representing each step in the process
That one change transformed the session.
Learners weren’t just engaged—they were participating.
Debriefs became richer.
Questions shifted from “That makes sense” to:
- “Why does this step come before that one?”
- “Where does my role impact the customer experience?”
- “What usually goes wrong here?”
And an important realization surfaced:
Everyone impacts the customer—not just Sales or Customer Service.
No questions doesn’t mean everything is clear.
You don’t know what you don’t know—until you interact with the work.
Step 3: Build in Variation Every 20 Minutes (or Less)
You don’t need wildly different activities. You need intentional variation:
- Observe → discuss
- Individual reflection → partner work
- Explain → apply
- Sequence → debrief
If learners don’t interact with the content, they can’t interrogate it.
And if they can’t interrogate it, they can’t transfer it.
Watching builds familiarity.
Working builds capability.
Wrap-Up: Design for Learning, Not Just Engagement
Engagement alone is easy to fake. Learning is not.
When trainers vary how learners interact with content—especially in short sessions—they move people from passive absorption to active participation. And participation is where real learning happens.
So the next time you’re designing a session, don’t ask:
“How do I appeal to different learning styles?”
Ask instead:
“Where will learners see it, talk about it, try it, and make sense of it themselves?”
Try one small shift in your next session and notice:
- The quality of questions
- The depth of discussion
- The clarity learners have about their role and impact
That’s how you know learning—not just engagement—actually happened.
Want to help your trainers design learning that drives participation, retention, and real behavior change?
Check out Letskillup’s Train the Trainer programs—built to help facilitators move beyond content delivery and into high-impact learning experiences that stick. 🚀
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