Interview with Carolina Kindelan

By Belinda Cea

What impact has the pandemic had on the training environment?

During the last few years, the world of corporate training has evolved enormously thanks to technology. I work training and developing skills mainly communication and negotiation. I spent my days with different companies, delivering programs, developing strategies with them, or in individual sessions. Before the pandemic 80% of my work was face-to-face, the rest was virtual. Now 90% of my work is virtual, via Zoom or Teams.

Change has been exponential during the past months. At the beginning of the pandemic most clients postponed, or even cancelled, their on-site training plans. However, when they saw that this was a long term reality, things changed.

For starters, there was the impact on mindsets. Until now, many of us thought, and I include myself, that if it was not a face-to-face program it would not capture the delegate´s attention in the same way that a virtual format does.

On the other hand, the impact on the format. It was very clear to me that the most important thing is to get the format right. This is something we have spent a lot of time on. Depending on the objective, the contents and the practical exercises we want to include, the format is one or another. Our programs are all practical. More than 50% of the time is focused on doing, i.e., getting delegates to be in action. To develop and improve a skill it is key to practice it, this is like sports. For this reason, we have tried to design our courses with a lot of ingenuity, precision (time in virtual format is very important) and creativity.

What have been the biggest challenges you have faced during these months?

For someone like me who likes to be in contact with people face-to-face, the main challenge has been to find a way to feel equally comfortable and generate the same closeness. In May 2020 I gave my first "international" session in virtual format. Originally these sessions were going to be face-to-face in Madrid (organized by Esade and Yale) with 32 managers from all over the world, from Australia, Colombia, Mexico, USA, Morocco, Iran, India or Europe, but it was decided by force majeure to change to the virtual format. In this format everything changes, because many things must be taken into account, for example the different time slots that the participants have.

Another challenge was to find a platform that would work with the highest possible quality and that would allow recording (recording is key in our programs for later analysis). In addition, that platform needed to be able to generate reports with the information required by companies to know how much time delegates have been hooked to the workshop and in many cases also to be able to include materials and forums for the delegates. All this without the platform being a hassle for the user who does not want to spend a lot of time having to register or learn how to use it.

The challenge in which I have invested more time and creativity has been in designing the contents. In other words: what do I tell them, how much I tell them in each session, how I make them constantly participate so that they can't fall into any distraction, how I generate pressure so that they feel they must be 100% and participate. Even what is the maximum number of sessions each program should have.

It has been an intense learning process and I have to say that I have enjoyed it. Getting out of your comfort zone is something that, although at the beginning generates stress, once you master the new environment, it gives a lot of satisfaction. I am sure that if the pandemic and its consequences on our daily lives had not arrived, I would not have had the pressure of adapting so much and so quickly to fast paced technological world.

What are your next projects in this "new reality"?

There are two distinct areas that we have focused on. The one where we have made the most progress is in the virtual programs that I lead. These programs are designed for small groups, which allows me to get to know each delegate, their style, strengths, development areas. These are the programs that I have been delivering since May 2020. It is interesting because two companies I work with have told me when giving me feedback about the virtual programmes, that if they had to choose between f2f (face to face) and virtual, they would probably keep the virtual format. This is mainly because two-hour sessions allows them to digest the material, do their homework and case studies and not be over saturated with information all in one day.

On the other hand, there is the online training format where delegates have an itinerary and learn at their own pace. Each programme has a number of modules with videos, readings, case studies, quizzes etc. The difference with the virtual format is that there are no live classes; delegates can organize their own timings and learn at their pace. This is the area in which we are working to launch a program aimed at anyone who wants to strengthen and consolidate their communication skills. We have recorded many hours of videos, or rather I have been recorded because a large part of those hours of video is me explaining many things, with examples, analysis, support videos all about effective communication.

Any advice you can give us?

Looking back over the last few months, I would say that you should not be afraid to try and innovate different formats and processes, take advantage of technology, and think creatively to generate the desired impact. Virtual formats have many positive aspects and we will see incredible developments over the next few years. Stay updated!