One of the classic approaches to teaching is the four-step method: motivation, presentation, application and evaluation. Presentation is the step where the content or instructional material is presented to or shared with the learner. Application is the process of reinforcing that new content by adding context to a lecture, or sharing an example with the students. It also may be a mechanism whereby the instructor solicits a response from the learner or challenges the learner to apply the new concept verbally or in another form. The evaluation step is where we measure the effectiveness or the end result of the instructional process.

Most important, perhaps, is the first step: motivation. It also is one of the most overlooked steps in adult education.

Motivation is the process whereby the instructor generates an initial point of interest upon which the student can focus as he or she prepares to participate in the instructional session, and it determines whether students will thrive and learn or just take up space in the classroom or drill yard. At the most basic level, this can be done by opening a class with a series of statements outlining the answers to the questions: “Why should I listen to you, and how does the subject that you are presenting today affect me?”

However, this step also can be influenced by the environment in which the teaching occurs. Does the organization value learning? Is learning directly or indirectly rewarded? Does the organization take an “all stick and no carrot” approach? What tools and concepts can you use to improve organizational support for learning and increase the rewards for successful and active participation in your training program?

For all instructors, be they training officers, company officers or subject-matter experts selected to teach, the most important task is getting students to “turn off” distracting thought process and engage in learning. The motivation step should facilitate this.

There are two categories of motivation: internal and external. “Internally motivated” describes the student who is self-motivated to fully engage in the instructional session for personal gain or personal achievement of the activities that lead toward a worthwhile goal. For example, at the recruit level a student or trainee is required to perform all tasks and evolutions to the academy standard. At that level, the motivation is intrinsic. They want the job, the promotion or the new position. As a firefighter progresses through his or her career, though, what is that individual's motivation? Is it to progress and be promoted? If so, is it strictly a matter of achieving higher rank and more compensation, or are there other factors that can be leveraged? I remember being very motivated to be promoted from firefighter to fire inspector because it would shift me from a 56-hour workweek to a 40-hour workweek and reduce the amount of times I would be awakened at night for non-fire emergencies. These sorts of factors may be very powerful internal motivators.

The second category of motivation is external motivation that doesn't come from within students. Here the motivation becomes the task of the instructor. What factors or conditions will motivate your personnel to embrace and participate in training? How can we move our personnel from merely participating to becoming advocates of training and learning on the job?

This second category of motivation generates a lot of questions. How well does the organization know its people? What are the specific goals of your own personnel? How do the troops view educational or training opportunities? Is there a defined reward training has shown to grant that will encourage members to take the course? Are there promotional credits or rewards for degrees and certification? Are there special operations assignments based on training and education that members achieve? How do we tie them all together? Can someone get promotional credit for off-duty training? How well does the organization tie these together? Can a firefighter apply his or her part-time fire department experience and training toward a career firefighting job, or is only in-house training accepted?

All these questions — and their answers — can assist a training manager in developing a reward system that provides external motivation. Some of the other obvious motivators are compensation, promotional credit, special operations assignments and opportunities to become a trainer. Compensation, however, is best viewed using two measures: financial and promotional.

If there's a correlation in your department between successful training and a pay raise, bonus or promotion, it could be motivating. Or it might not. I was talking with an officer from a large county fire department recently who told me that his department had instituted a monthly special assignment bonus for the hazmat and technical-rescue personnel assigned to active staffed units. When the annual station assignment bid system requests were processed, the firefighters who had been managing and sustaining these vital operations at no compensation and at great personal sacrifice in years prior were being “out-bid” for the assignments by more senior members from other stations.

It seems the senior personnel had decided that they would now be willing to shoulder the extra duties and project management activities as long as they received bonus pay. Those members who carried these programs for years and who had been willing to do the extra work were now being transferred to other stations throughout the county and being taken off the special operations units. While the program was meant to motivate, it resulted in those young and talented members being removed from an area for which they had a passion. They feel abused by the system for the years they worked for free. Additionally, the level of skill on the special operations units actually deteriorated rather than improved.

If motivation can be compensation, assignment and promotional, are there other factors? Certainly — take competency. I was never the athletic type, nor was I ever great at the details. I could follow orders, stay in line and support the team. I frequently went in the wrong door, laddered the wrong corner, or pulled the wrong loop and made spaghetti at the rear of the engine company. My personal motivation for training was to gain personal competency. I really needed the extra training time. Simply put, I needed more repetition and continued exposure to the manipulative procedures than someone else might to make the details stick. So a desire for acquiring competency might be a motivator.

As an engine company officer, I also can recall my company looking pretty foolish one time too many when replacing the three-section 35-foot extension ladder on the side of the engine. We pulled it off fine, carried it expertly and paced it perfectly. But every time we tried to put that thing back on the engine, it was upside-down, fly-in instead of fly-out, or it didn't fit the brackets or the protective skull pad. We returned to the station and spent several hours taking it off and putting it on until it was second nature and very efficient.

If training is boring, poorly prepared or poorly delivered, there's no motivation for students to participate. They won't listen, mentally engage or prepare to participate. Renowned educator Frances Clark once said, “Teachers are not tellers. Tellers belong in a bank, behind bars.” Her point is well taken. Instructors need to teach, motivate and inspire, not regurgitate information from a book or manual.

I recall an agonizing experience a few years ago where a chief officer called a no-notice drill for several companies in the middle of the shift. It was a drive-by, “be-at-headquarters-at-13:00” kind of order. Upon his arrival, the chief officer proceeded to read out of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's Fireline Handbook for 45 minutes, explaining some mundane wildland paperwork process so he could sign off on our task books for a particular subject. There was no preparation, no visuals and, frankly, no learning occurring. I endured a single session and thereafter made myself really busy whenever another session was scheduled. I was told that a similar mode of “information transfer” went on for about a year throughout the organization. Morale and motivation for training plummeted.

When a similar approach to learning is condoned and encouraged by the training division — or even simply allowed — you're telling your members:

• You work for me. My time is valuable and yours is not.
• Don't plan your day because “the administration” will just screw up your plan.
• Training is just something to be endured.
• Any thrown-together presentation is acceptable training.

As professional training managers, we can do much better than this. Find out what motivates your personnel and develop campaigns, strategies, programs and systems that inspire and motivate personnel to take part in the training. Tailor every message to the specific audience you're addressing. Make sure every class or session involves the right subject, the right subject level, and the right method of delivery. Make sure it's scheduled at the right time and packaged with the right motivation.

Assess your own training program. Is training appreciated? Are more than 10% of your personnel taking advantage of optional/outside training and education on their own? Are your trainers respected? Are they experts or just members with rank? Are new materials and new methods acquired through training allowed to be integrated into the department's policies and practices?

Want to improve your morale, safety, compliance and efficiency throughout your organization? Focus on the motivation step in all your training deliveries and tune up your program to get these tangible results.

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John Linstrom is executive director of The Linco Group, an emergency services consultancy. He's an adjunct faculty member for Texas A&M University and the National Fire Academy. Linstrom currently serves as a battalion chief/paramedic in Apple Valley, Calif. He also serves as commander of the DHS/FEMA DMORT for Region IX and has been involved in the national USAR program since 1996.