How to Write Effective Learning Scenarios
Scenarios are a perfect tool to provide relevant and engaging training content.
Over the last decade, I've written countless training scenarios for sales, customer service, and IT employees. I'm always amazed by how effective these solutions can be, so they've earned a permanent spot in my design toolbox.
Here are the top five tips for writing learning scenarios.
Know the Business Need
First, we should be clear about this undertaking.
Scenario-based learning is a powerful tool, and it takes significant time to design one correctly.
For this reason alone, it's critical to identify if the target outcome is even appropriate for scenario-based learning.
In your analysis, be on the lookout for issues stemming from environmental factors. Problems that can be solved by fixing a broken process, communicating a policy, or providing a step-by-step job aid are not good candidates. What we want are skills that need practice.
Make it Realistic and Relevant
People take this step for granted and then immediately wonder why their training doesn't feel quite right.
No matter what training you're building, go talk to the employees already performing the behaviors at an exceptional level. You'll find out where their challenges are and the exact situations they're expected to perform.
Let's take "sales cold calling" for example. Can you get in touch with your business development reps and listen to some call recordings?
Every call provides real dialogue to pull into your training. This makes writing realistic dialogue so much easier.
You also get a chance to see what situations challenge your learners the most. Note any patterns and exceptional situations - they'll make great scenario variations!
This is the key for getting engaging scenarios that actually solve problems. Without it, we end up with another "Cold Calling 101" training course.
Tell a Story
Everyone loves a good story. Not only do they catch our attention, they evoke emotion. If you create a cohesive narrative with each of your decision points, you can avoid creating glorified "word problems."
My preferred structure uses parts of the Hero's Journey archetype of storytelling:
The Ordinary World - The story begins in a familiar setting. The underlying problem/danger might still be hidden.
Call to Adventure - The first challenge of the story. Allow learners to experience this without having all the answers.
Meet the Mentor - A helper or mentor character appears. Give learners a bit of guidance.
Tests, Allies, Enemies - The hero faces several trials. If you have a complex behavior, this is an opportunity to include variation on the initial challenge.
The Ordeal - The hero faces their most significant challenge yet. With additional guidance, your learners should come away from this event with a new perspective.
The Return - The hero returns to the Ordinary World with a new perspective and a way to improve it. Allow your learners to revisit previous scenarios. Give them a call to action involves teammates or leaders outside of the training environment.
Do you need to complete every single aspect of this structure? Of course not.
But I love how this structure doesn't give all the answers up front and easily lets me adjust the support I provide throughout the training.
Create a Prototype
This point is so important, it needs its own article.
Scenarios take a long time to build, so there's nothing more gut wrenching than finding out they didn't work after launch.
Save yourself the trouble and get an early prototype in front of your learners.
Prototypes don't need to be fancy, nor do they need to be the whole experience.
In fact, every prototype I provide is entirely text-based covering only the decision points. At this point, I only want the feedback to verify the challenges/answers are appropriate and the design is working as intended.
The insight your learners provide will save you a mess of work later in the process.
Let Learners Fail
For a scenario to be realistic, learners must be allowed to fail the same way they could in real life.
For a story to be engaging, learners must believe there are consequences for their choices.
Let your learners choose any option they like, and then show them what it looks like to walk that path. Show them how future choices get easier/harder.
The advantage of scenario-based learning is to provide the space for trial and error.
If learners can't fail and see the results of their choices, the learning scenario becomes a glorified multiple choice test.
Wrapping Up
Make no mistake, writing an effective learning scenario takes a lot of effort. But if you know the business need and get learner input along the way, you'll discover a smooth process.
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