Who
would have guessed that seating arrangements would make much of a difference?
It’s
sort of like planning for a successful dinner party…where you seat each guest matters.
It turns out that the same is true when you arrange the seating for a training
program. The way you set up seating affects the way learners respond to and process
the training content.
Here is what experts in the transfer of training have learned from their research.
Seating arrangements can be persuasive. They activate basic needs in the
following way.
- Circular seating influences the need to belong. So certainly, if you are trying to build teams, put the class participants in a semi- or full-circle plan.
- Angular seating encourages the desire to be unique. If you are trying to encourage independent thinking and innovation, set up the seating with angles. Researchers say that angular seating encourages the desire to be unique.
