If you're frustrated with training that doesn't stick, trainees who can't perform, and learning that's not applied, we'll teach you proven, research-based methodologies for adding fluency development techniques to your training and coaching programs.

You'll reduce the time to train, increase the cost- effectiveness of your programs and have performers adding value to the company sooner than ever before.

You'll Turn Learning into Performance!

Binder Riha Associates offers a newly expanded and revised three-day FluencyBuilding Workshop for organizations that want to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of of training, coaching, and performance improvement programs. This workshop offers you a new paradigm for improving performance plus practical tools, in-class experience, and easy-to-apply designs.

Why Fluency is Critical

Decades of research have shown that the ability to perform fluently -- correctly and without hesitation -- is what ensures retention and maintenance of skills and knowledge, strengthens endurance and resistance to distraction, and improves application of learning in real world situations. Learning proceeds in three stages, from Initial Learning, through Practice to develop fluency, to Application. Without practice, new learners seldom perform confidently or well when required to jump into application.

In short, fluency bridges the gap between initial learning and confident performance. We all know this intuitively, but few training designs take it into account.

The FluencyBuilding methodology allows you to design and develop highly effective and efficient training. You'll multiply opportunities for learning and create fluent performance more rapidly and with better results than ever before. Applications in corporations and in educational settings have shown dramatic improvements when learning programs are enhanced with efficient, fun, FluencyBuilding practice activities.

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Who Should Attend

We have two FluencyBuilding workshops, each for a particular audience:

The FluencyBuilding™ Workshop is intended for:

• New and experienced Training Designers, Developers and Managers
• Performance Consultants and Human Performance Technologists
• Professionals designing performance coaching programs
• Anyone interested in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of training.

Our specialized FluencyBuilding for Sales Performance workshop is intended for:

• Sales Training professionals
• Product Marketing professionals responsible for training
• Sales Managers who coach and those developing tools for them
• Members of sales support teams
• Anyone helping sales people achieve optimal performance. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

What You'll Learn

Research and Results

• Research supporting the need for fluency
• How to discuss fluency in plain English with colleagues and trainees
• What benefits you, your audience, and your organization can expect from
  implementing fluency-based programs

Needs Analysis

• How to determine when fluency is needed in a training or performance program
• How to identify opportunities for improving existing programs and
  environments to support fluent performance

Program Design

• How to multiply opportunities for active learning by x10 or more
• How to replace Fluency Blockers with Fluency Builders

Program Development and Testing

• How to develop efficient practice materials and procedures
• How to test practice programs for effectiveness and ease-of-use
• How and why fluency development can be fun!

Evaluation and Revision

• How to set fluency criteria for learning and performance improvement
  programs
• How performers can monitor their own progress toward fluency
• How to collect and and use performance data to revise individual and group
  FluencyBuilding programs

Implementation Planning

• How to talk about fluency to build support among management and participants
• How to use experiential demonstrations to persuade and inform those who must support fluency programs
• How to implement fluency-based classroom learning, self-study, and coaching programs
• How to develop overall Implementation Plans for FluencyBuilding programs in your organization

....and much, much more! [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Benefits for Your Organization

• Improves individual performance and ramp-up: People who achieve truly fluent performance can immediately transfer what they learn on the job, thereby adding value more quickly.

• Establishes a meaningful standard of mastery: Learning and performance are hard to evaluate without a fluency standard. Percentage correct scores on written tests do not predict on-the-job performance, whereas fluent performance translates directly into on-the-job proficiency.

• Reduces time away from the job: Fluency-based programs reduce the amount of time learners spend away from the job. They can be implemented as a part of on-the-job coaching or as informal practice sessions integrated into the work day.

• Increases ROI for performance interventions: Fluency is the missing element in most performance improvement programs. Your organization will plug that gap thereby improving ROI for training and performance interventions. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

What Participants Say

Participants in fluency-based programs and in our FluencyBuilding workshops have provided enthusiastic feedback. Some of their comments include:

"FluencyBuilding allows you to link critical outcomes in performance with training approaches that produce measurable results. We have gotten rave reviews from learners and managers alike using these approaches, and continue to find new ways of improving the way people learn. (Training Manager, Insurance Company)

"As a result of this fluency-based program, the people I manage know more than I did after almost six years on the job." (Manager, Canadian Commercial Bank)

"I very much enjoyed the two days of fluency training you provided for us. I love the beautiful simplicity of the idea of fluency training and your way of presenting the information made it come alive for me." (Training Developer, National Retail Chain)

"We initially implemented FluencyBuilding for sales performance on a strategic new product launch. The program was so successful it has become the training standard for all of our products, both existing and new." (Sales Development Manager, Medical Devices Manufacturer)

"I just wanted to say thanks again for the terrific workshop. The group here says it's probably the best one they've ever attended." (Training Manager, Retail Customer Service organization) [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Workshop Description

Both the FluencyBuilding Workshop and FluencyBuilding for Sales Performance are three-day workshops, offered for groups of up to 20 people, at your location. They provide tools, reference materials, presentation of information, opportunities for discussion, experiential exercises, and ample time to begin applying the methodology to participants' own projects. The third day is flexible, devoted mostly to group or small team application of workshop concepts and tools to specific programs or performance objectives brought by participants from their own work.

We prefer to offer our FluencyBuilding Workshops at your site, for your organization rather than with open public registration, so that we can tailor the content, flow, and examples to your specific situation. Because your people work in the same environment, and probably as teams, participating in the workshop together will enable them to gain more that is specifically relevant to their applications, get a head start on working together to apply the material, and generally derive more value from what they learn.

Our workshops incorporate presentations of information with lively discussions and fluency practice exercises to ensure that participants leave with both knowledge and skills to apply what they learn. The program also incorporates job aids for use in analysis, design, development, and implementation, as well as a range of templates for developing specific types of commonly used exercises and fluency tests. Tailored as much as possible to your particular needs, our on-site workshops more resemble group consultations and working sessions than seminars. We practice what we preach!

The outline for the two workshops is the same (with the content of FluencyBuilding for Sales Performance focused on sales training and coaching designs and examples):

Pre-Work (customized for your organization)

• Respond to questions provided electronically to identify possible
  targets for FluencyBuilding
• Discuss findings as a team and summarize conclusions prior to workshop

Day 1 Morning

• Overview of the Workshop
• What is behavioral fluency?
• Fluency research background (retention, endurance, and application)
• Stages of learning and performance design
• Overview of the FluencyBuilding process
• Analysis: Deciding when fluency should be the objective (builds on pre-work)

Day 1 Afternoon

• Identifying Fluency Blockers and Fluency Builders
• Identifying key skill and knowledge components
• Using Learning Channels to specify objectives
• Matching Learning Channels to program requirements
• Setting fluency standards (criteria)
• Typical FluencyBuilding activities for corporate programs

Homework (optional, customized for your organization)

• Review typical FluencyBuilding activities presented on Day 1
• Identify possible options for your own learning or coaching programs

Day 2 Morning

• Review of previous day - Q&A
• Using exercises for fact-level learning
• How to use Rapid Recall exercises
• Developing Q &A exercises and materials
• Applying brief presentation exercises
• Using fluency aids for practice, coaching, and assessment
• Designing situation-specific exercises and materials
• How to use Fluency Testing and certification

Day 2 Afternoon

• Measuring and monitoring fluency development
• Planning implementation of fluency-based interventions
• Applying the tools and principles to your own projects
• Feedback and Wrap-up. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Day 3: Application to participants' specific programs and objectives

What's Included

Along with the workshop itself, you'll receive:

• The FluencyBuilding Guide: a manual that covers the entire process of analysis, design, development, implementation planning, and evaluation for fluency-based performance interventions
• Exercises for learning and practice
• Additional job aids and worksheets for use in analysis, design, and implementation planning
• A fluency timer
• A series of published articles covering both research and applications of fluency-based interventions
• Tools and forms for monitoring fluency development, and a set of widely applicable practice exercise designs that you can use immediately in your organization. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Options for Customizing the Program

We also provide opportunities for more formal customization and tailoring to your organization, depending on your interests, budget, and commitment. They include:

• Pre-work analysis questions tailored to your environment
• Examples and exercises selected for your organization
• Consulting support and follow-up (mentoring, coaching, problem-solving)
  after the workshop
• Expanding the scope of the workshop to include more advanced topics and
  techniques

Using our Six Boxes™ Model for performance analysis and management, we can carefully analyze and define your organization's specific performance needs. This allows for a clear definition of desired outcomes from our services from which we can then design and implement the appropriate intervention. We will be sure to discuss your organization's specific needs and situation when we speak about customization and delivery of the workshop at your site. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Workshop Leader

Dr. Carl Binder is the main workshop leader for the FluencyBuilding™ Workshop. Known jokingly to his friends and colleagues as "Doctor Fluency," Carl has been conducting research, development, and implementation of fluency-based interventions for over 25 years. As one of the pioneering contributors to fluency research and application, and the first to bring fluency-based instruction to corporate training, he is also a dynamic speaker who was an ISPI Encore Presenter three years in a row. He has worked with educational agencies at every level and consulted to dozens of Fortune 500 companies about performance strategy and FluencyBuilding applications. His publications include a range of articles and chapters on fluency, as well as others about various aspects of human performance technology, research, educational policy, sales and marketing, and knowledge management. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Workshop Duration

The standard duration for our FluencyBuilding™ Workshops is three full business days, generally from 8 AM to 5 PM with an hour for lunch. Customized versions that include more intensive design consultation, or greater depth in special topics, may require an additional 1-2 days of either workshop or consulting, to be determined after initial discussions with you. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

Workshop Costs, Enrollment, and Discounts

The list price for our three-day FluencyBuilding™ Workshop delivered at your site is $995 per participant, with a minimum of 12 participants. We offer discounts for clients who include the workshop as part of a larger consulting project. [ TOP OF PAGE ]

How to Request a Workshop or Obtain More Information

To obtain more information about our workshops, or to speak with a representative about your particular needs and interests, please call our customer information line at 1-800-FLUENCY or contact us by email.