Designing Training That Connects: 4MAT for Success

A Neuro-Semantic training is a study in transforming lives. Sometimes, we fall short of that promise by not effectively bridging our content to our learners. While the learners get the bits and of the course, they are left wondering what the course as a whole offers. One anecdote to that problem is sound design. I was recently given the opportunity to co-facilitate an Self-Leadership APG. I don’t do a lot of training any more, and feedback and experience were filled with lessons and opportunities for improvement. In my preparation, I focused on the patterns. The result that many participants told us that they didn’t really understand the flow of the course and how it fit together came as no surprise.

In an effort to improve for my next training, I went back to the 4-MAT method to get some insight into how to make an Self-leadership APG more learner-friendly. This article is a brief look at the first three steps in the 4MAT model lesson plan from the book “Hold On, You Lost Me” by 4MAT creator Bernice McCarthy and Jeanine O’Neill-Blackwell.