How I Broke the Training Mold and Got Learners to Actually Care
When the Eyes Glaze Over
Your Training Sucks. Here’s How to Fix It. That’s not an insult—it’s a wake-up call. If you’ve ever looked out at a sea of blank stares, bobbing heads, or trainees counting ceiling tiles, then you already know: your training sucks. Not because you’re lazy or unqualified—but because the system taught you to teach like a robot. Slide decks. Scripts. Quizzes that measure nothing but short-term memory. I’ve been there. I’ve delivered those sessions. And I’ve walked out wondering if anyone learned a damn thing.
Some days, I went home from the classroom convinced I’d failed. Not because of complaints—those never really came—but because I saw the blank stares. The nodding heads. The glances at the clock. The occasional forehead landing on a desktop. And every time, I asked myself the same question: Am I actually helping anyone learn?
Death by PowerPoint: My Compliance Wake-Up Call
I was stuck teaching material I didn’t create, using methods I didn’t believe in. Slide decks that read like a PowerPoint hostage letter. Quizzes that measured memory, not meaning. My job was to deliver safety training, but it often felt like a regulatory box-check with a pulse.
As someone trained in the fire service and military, I knew learning could be powerful—even life-saving. But the classroom didn’t feel like that. It felt flat. I wasn’t teaching; I was reading out loud.
Ditching Scripts, Drills, and Dull Slides
Things changed when I stopped waiting for permission. When I became the EHS Manager—and later launched my own company—I rewrote the playbook. Not the rules of compliance, but the way we got there.
I leaned into what actually worked from my fire instructor days and military officer training. We drilled, We discussed, We recreated the job in the room. And I ditched the condescending “Johnny Do/Jane Don’t” compliance fluff for adult conversations about real-world choices and consequences.
That’s when the shift happened. Students leaned forward. They asked questions. They pushed back. And at breaks, they came up to say: “This was the first course I’ve actually learned something from in years.” Not because I’m special—because I used methods that treat them like they are.
Why It Worked: The Models Backing the Method
Most of what I teach now falls somewhere between Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model and the U.S. Army’s Experiential Learning Model (ELM). I didn’t invent these. But I did prove they work outside the fireground or battlefield.
Kolb’s cycle—Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation—mirrors the best of fire training: do it, debrief it, reframe it, apply it.
The Army’s ELM builds on this with structure: Concrete Experience → Publish and Process → Generalize → Develop → Apply. It works in any room with real adults and real stakes.
Even Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience (not the fake retention pyramid) reminds us that the closer learning is to doing, the better it sticks. Scenario drills beat theory every time—if the scenario has teeth.
How Real Learning Actually Works (In Plain English):
First, you do something—like a drill, a hands-on task, or a real problem. Then, you talk about what happened—what went right, what went wrong, and how it felt. Next, you figure out the lesson—what it all means and how it connects to the bigger picture. After that, you plan a better way to do it and try again with what you learned.
That’s how firefighters train. That’s how the Army teaches. And it’s backed by real learning science—not some made-up chart about what people remember.
Want it to stick? Then stop just talking and start doing. A good scenario—with real risk, real choices, and real consequences—teaches more than a hundred slides ever could.
From Blank Stares to Buy-In
When I took back the method, everything changed. Engagement. Results. Retention. And most of all, respect—both ways.
Students no longer felt like hostages in a training session. They felt like contributors to a safety culture. Like they had a role. A say. A stake.
And me? I stopped going home wondering if I’d made a difference. I knew I had—because they told me.
Real Learning Isn’t a Buzzword
I’m not here to throw around “blended learning” or “flipped classrooms” like they’re miracle solutions. They’re tools—just like roleplay, staff rides, microlearning, scenario drills, and yes, even PowerPoint (when used like salt, not soup).
The real magic? It’s in how you treat learners. Adults want relevance, respect, and a chance to wrestle with reality. Malcolm Knowles called it ‘andragogy’: self-directed, experience-based, and practical.
Even the National Safety Council agrees—scenario-based, job-relevant training isn’t optional in high-hazard work. It’s life or death.
Let’s Trade Notes
What method has stuck with you? What’s one course you still remember years later—and why?
Drop it in the comments or message me. I’m always learning too.
1. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT)
David A. Kolb. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development.
2. U.S. Army Experiential Learning Model (ELM)
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) – Experiential Learning Model:
3. National Training Laboratories’ Learning Pyramid
Will Thalheimer. People Remember 10%, 20%…Oh Really?
4. Andragogy: Malcolm Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory
Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy.
5. National Safety Council (NSC) on Effective Training
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