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Training forms a crucial part of every job, especially here at the CATLab. With students cycling in and out every few months, it’s important for training to be effective and efficient. Efficiency doesn’t mean, however, that training has to be dull. On the contrary, training provides a great opportunity to lay the groundwork for the rest of the project—and the better the training, the better the project as a whole. Here are a few ideas for making training more engaging.

1. Know the telos

One of the first things training should establish is the project’s end goal, or telos. Training should help interns zoom out before they zoom in: being aware of the big picture allows interns to put their training into perspective. Even once the training period is over, interns can return to the telos to see how each little task fits into the context of the whole. Since this end goal is so central, it’s important to convey how the project deals with a real issue.

“If I was giving advice to someone who wanted to start a CATLab, I would say you first of all have to have a real problem to solve at your university or college or whatever it is. It has to be a real thing that will significantly improve your business.” - Zak Landrum

A good way to maintain this focus throughout training is to balance principle with practice—don’t be afraid to let interns dive into the project itself even as they’re learning the basics. Here at the CATLab, we set up Salesforce admin accounts on the first day. Each intern got a sandbox where he or she could begin exploring. Even the term “sandbox” conveys what training is meant to be—a safe place to make mistakes, but a place where you can start to get your hands dirty. To gain specific technical knowledge, such as the basics of navigation and syntax, we used Salesforce’s online training program, Trailhead (not to be confused with �Ļ�ӰԺ’s summer program for high schoolers). Together, Trailhead modules and short tasks in Salesforce sandboxes allowed us to keep the end goal in focus as we gained knowledge.

2. Meet the people

On Wednesday of the first week, the admissions team came to �Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown to introduce themselves and their work. Not only were we then able to put names and faces to the idea of the Admissions Office, but we also began to realize the real implications of the things we were building. Suddenly it made sense why we would care so much about streamlining a process from taking five minutes to 30 seconds—when such processes are what people are working with day in and day out, those few minutes add up incredibly quickly. One of the themes we heard over and over during the team’s visit was the idea that, given more efficient systems, “We could be doing so much more.”

Our work at the CATLab will improve not only the way the members of the admissions team do their jobs, but also the prospective students’ experience of the admissions process. As a group, we reflected on a quote from Bruce Sterling’s book, Shaping Things: “Designers must design not just for objects or people but for the techno-social interactions that unite people and objects.” In other words, we can’t think of our projects in isolation; we must think of them in terms of the way people will end up using or benefiting from them.

3. Make space for exploration and individuality

Don’t force students to stick to a set agenda. Some tasks may take more time or less time than originally expected. Some students might blaze through one area but get stuck in another, so it’s good to have a lot of optional tasks. At CATLab, we also have two half-hour periods set aside each day in which we can explore something we’re interested in that we might not necessarily have time for otherwise. When the training program respects the uniqueness of individuals, it creates space for people to discover what they’re passionate about and perhaps even begin to specialize in some areas.

4. Encourage the sharing of knowledge

Specialization and diversity also helps the team as a whole, especially if interns have the space to share their knowledge with each other. Giving the interns the opportunity to teach each other empowers the teachers and inspires the learners. During the first two weeks of the program, senior developers often turned individual problems and questions into learning opportunities for the whole group. For example, if James had a question about some Apex limitations, Sam might ask the whole room to pause what they were doing because “this is something that would be good for everyone to know.”

Similarly, it’s important for people within a group to be open with one another and not embarrassed to seek help when they encounter problems. Even just expressing frustration and being authentic about a problem can help you take it less seriously. It’s also possible that someone else might be dealing with the same issue, and you can work it out together. In any case, sharing both successes and failures allows the members of a group to grow closer. It’s also okay to look for solutions and resources online. Kristen noted that she turned to Trailhead to supplement the regular training, seeking extra trails and modules when she was grappling with a particularly complex idea.

5. Chart and celebrate progress

Training can be hard work, even if it’s managed well. To prevent training from feeling repetitive or interminable, make sure you keep track of progress. Trailhead does a great job of celebrating progress—offering badges for completing certain sets of trails and even filling the screen with confetti to mark achievements. At the CATLab, we also end the week with a “Lab Chat” to share with each other what we’ve accomplished. When you begin to feel mired in your work, remember to take a step back and recall how far you’ve come.