Rajeev
In fact you put 'words into my mouth'. this was a topic which was plaguing me for sometime. The quality of teaching or training. What we see in our education system is reflected in this area also.
People who don't find jobs, or waiting for other jobs or even those who want to make some pocket money ... are into teaching/training.
Training organisations are looking for the cheapest trainers around and end up hiring immature, inexperienced trainers.
Having a degree in HR or Training is not the criteria.
Training comes from maturity, life's experience and for the love of imparting and sharing knowledge.
So I think we should put our foot down and insist on certain basic qualities.
If not in 5yrs to a decade we will see the same mess we see in the education sector
lisa
From India, Madras
11In fact you put 'words into my mouth'. this was a topic which was plaguing me for sometime. The quality of teaching or training. What we see in our education system is reflected in this area also.
People who don't find jobs, or waiting for other jobs or even those who want to make some pocket money ... are into teaching/training.
Training organisations are looking for the cheapest trainers around and end up hiring immature, inexperienced trainers.
Having a degree in HR or Training is not the criteria.
Training comes from maturity, life's experience and for the love of imparting and sharing knowledge.
So I think we should put our foot down and insist on certain basic qualities.
If not in 5yrs to a decade we will see the same mess we see in the education sector
lisa
From India, Madras
Thanks for pointing this Lisa. We should really draw the line on who is a trainer.
This is one dark area that need to be addressed and the reason why it is important to professionalize this function. I have met trainers who even have doctoral or masteral degrees annotated in their names but I would say they are better off teaching or giving lectures in the universities than deal in training because a trainer should have at least a good knowledge in adult education or learning which some of them are not.
To be a good trainer, one must have the following:
A. Skills
- communication skills
- interpersonal skills
- leadership
- reading
- organization and planning
- platform skills
- decision making
- flexibility
- analytical
- problem solving
- listening
- negotiating
- coaching
- facilitating small group discussions
- awareness of learning styles
- testing and measurement
B. Knowledge
- good knowledge in a subject matter
- good knowledge of the company
- knowledge of the trainee population
- knowledge of adult learning or education
etc.
C. Characteristics
- energy
- enthusiasm
- commitment
- integrity
- self-presentation
- self-objectivity
etc.
In the past, trainers are expected to: assess training needs, design training, deliver training, and measure the impacts of training. But now, a good trainer should be able to perform the following:
- grill executives about strategic directions
- stay in touch with workers and work processes to be aware of skill needs
- broker training delivered by internal and external suppliers
- teach line managers how to train
- facilitate process improvement and/or teach line managers how to do it
- know learning cycles
- author interactive multimedia training
- push training upstream (front-end of a business initiative)
- go online to access electronic training opportunities, both internally or in the internet
- help managers think through performance problems and find solutions, whether the solution is training or something else
- make big picture observations of work processes for problems or potential improvements that people might not see
- facilitate problem-solving teams (TQM initiative)
- bring about change that will develop competencies and push up the bottome line.
- facilitating organizational change
You might not believe it but these are the demands of the modern times. In this era of globalization wherein changes are happening in the workplace brought about by the influx of new technologies, competition is cutthroat and the company's survival is at stake.
It is of this reason why big companies are looking to what we call empowered trainer. This kind of trainer should also possess the following attributes aside from what was listed above:
- genuine respect for the learner wherein he: acknowledges resistance and feelings of the participants; has patience and humility; learns from participants
- continuous hunger for learning (doesn't mind being a trainer or participant)
- loves training; likes what he's doing, fired up or a passion for it
- ability to innovate
- ability to negotiate with sponsors
- ability to work with others
- facilitation skills (i.e. presentation skills, training techniques, handling questions, managing discussions)
- awareness of personal impacts on others
- ability to confront and manage confrontation
- willingness to take risks
- having some positive core values
- ability to express oneself simply and clearly
- psychological maturity
For a trainer, reading is good but definitely not enough. Are we up to the challenge? After all, training is not "cheap."
From Saudi Arabia,
Hi all,
I have been watching this space for quite some time and its a revelation that so many training professionals are in sync with me on this. Unfortunately the management within organizations do not think on the similar lines and thats why i personally feel the training function is in such a sorry state of affairs here.
I had the opputunity to work for international organization and had the first hand experience in dealing with very senior individuals. I see a lot of difference in the way they perceive training. Its methododical, clear and goal oriented unlike the managers that i have been interacting with here.
Training is not seen as a value addition but a task that needs to be done on yearly basis and a good to have options. No understanding of available training processes and lack of clarity on training objectives seems to be big issues.
For the present organization that i work with, i see no visison coming out from the leadership team. My manger is busy in appeasing people and trying to have good rapo with all those who matter. Its very unfortunate and i am sure they would not even understand the points that has been raised in this forum for quite some time.
I hope that this discssuions leads us to a position where we can emphasis what this is all about and how organizations can gain from the T & D, provided it is aligned with the business objectives of the organziation.
Lets continue our discussions and see if we can change some of the issues that we are faced routinely in our daily works.
Keep it up guys. This is getting very informative and interesting.
thanks
karthik
From India, Bangalore
I have been watching this space for quite some time and its a revelation that so many training professionals are in sync with me on this. Unfortunately the management within organizations do not think on the similar lines and thats why i personally feel the training function is in such a sorry state of affairs here.
I had the opputunity to work for international organization and had the first hand experience in dealing with very senior individuals. I see a lot of difference in the way they perceive training. Its methododical, clear and goal oriented unlike the managers that i have been interacting with here.
Training is not seen as a value addition but a task that needs to be done on yearly basis and a good to have options. No understanding of available training processes and lack of clarity on training objectives seems to be big issues.
For the present organization that i work with, i see no visison coming out from the leadership team. My manger is busy in appeasing people and trying to have good rapo with all those who matter. Its very unfortunate and i am sure they would not even understand the points that has been raised in this forum for quite some time.
I hope that this discssuions leads us to a position where we can emphasis what this is all about and how organizations can gain from the T & D, provided it is aligned with the business objectives of the organziation.
Lets continue our discussions and see if we can change some of the issues that we are faced routinely in our daily works.
Keep it up guys. This is getting very informative and interesting.
thanks
karthik
From India, Bangalore
Dear all,
Lisa, Evanjerik and Karthik have made excellent posts.
Yes, lately I find that management, probably to save money (?) want to utilise the services of 'internal' trainers, a majority of whom are inadequate for the job. Due to this, the employees who are 'trained' by such persons gain nothing from the training, and in fact, begin to consider training per se to be a waste of time. This causes a lot of problems when professional trainers are then asked to train these employees.
Management's conception of proper training must be changed. How can we achieve this very laudable goal? I look forward to concrete suggestions as to how we can achieve this.
Jeroo
From India, Mumbai
Lisa, Evanjerik and Karthik have made excellent posts.
Yes, lately I find that management, probably to save money (?) want to utilise the services of 'internal' trainers, a majority of whom are inadequate for the job. Due to this, the employees who are 'trained' by such persons gain nothing from the training, and in fact, begin to consider training per se to be a waste of time. This causes a lot of problems when professional trainers are then asked to train these employees.
Management's conception of proper training must be changed. How can we achieve this very laudable goal? I look forward to concrete suggestions as to how we can achieve this.
Jeroo
From India, Mumbai
hi,
in my view all these points are relevant till the time we are able to bring changes and produce good trainers. The industry wants training but many good trainers are unaible to find ways in the corporate sector. i am happy to see the material you have put to read . good
mrs sapna agrawal, kota
From India, Jaipur
in my view all these points are relevant till the time we are able to bring changes and produce good trainers. The industry wants training but many good trainers are unaible to find ways in the corporate sector. i am happy to see the material you have put to read . good
mrs sapna agrawal, kota
From India, Jaipur
Hello everyone
Its a good feeling to have people like you who are as passionate towards training as I am.
We all know what qualities a good trainer should have, but can some of you give suggestions how should the trainers update their skills?
Especially if it a single person training division? I am talking about soft skills training. There are hundreds of PowerPoint presentations that one could download from the net, but that wouldn't result in the trainees learning new skills and behaviors. How should a trainer learn delivery of soft skills training?
Many of you probably deliver these trainings in your current positions, how did you get into it? What do you do to make these sessions not mere PowerPoints or discussions but a tool that does result in a change of behavior even much after the session.
I would be very grateful if you could share some insight and real life examples :?
From India, Delhi
Its a good feeling to have people like you who are as passionate towards training as I am.
We all know what qualities a good trainer should have, but can some of you give suggestions how should the trainers update their skills?
Especially if it a single person training division? I am talking about soft skills training. There are hundreds of PowerPoint presentations that one could download from the net, but that wouldn't result in the trainees learning new skills and behaviors. How should a trainer learn delivery of soft skills training?
Many of you probably deliver these trainings in your current positions, how did you get into it? What do you do to make these sessions not mere PowerPoints or discussions but a tool that does result in a change of behavior even much after the session.
I would be very grateful if you could share some insight and real life examples :?
From India, Delhi
I love what you have written and yes, reading is not enough....so can you please guide, what else one could do? Khushi
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
This has been a very interesting thread. I always used to wonder how a trainer is different from a coach. The United states has a rich tradition of life coaches, business coaches and what not. In my view, a coach would be a more hands- on guy than a trainer and in that context, in house trainers can be deemed coaches. Cricket and other sports has several examples of how a good player need not be a good coach and vice-versa. One gets mails from people like <link outdated-removed> and wonders about the credentials of such people or many other "Training institutions" in India. One gentleman had made a post on this forum of how to judge such people but no one replied and when you ask details, they just show a fancy client profile. One Training company even started offering franchise!. Just as the institute of chartered accountants is there to validate a CA's credibility, there should be some HR organization doing something similar for independent trainers.
From India, New Delhi
From India, New Delhi
Hiren
The idea of having a body judge the professional attributes and success in imparting training is excellent, but who would be the judges? How would the judges be judged?
Also, technical training can be judged on course content and method of delivery, because there is very little difference in technical course content, though the approach to imparting the training differs. sometimes markedly.
But soft skills training is so different - both the course content and the methodology vary so much, how can you judge effectively? For instance, two trainers may have the same course content, but one merely lectures, reading from a set of notes, while the other constantly interacts with the participants, has case studies and role plays, and a completely interactive methodology. A judge who believes in lecturing, will grade the first trainer as A, and the second as C while a judge who is into interactive training, will judge the second trainer as A and the first as C. What is the solution?
Kushi
I agree with you - there are a number of courses on 'Train the Trainer' but mostly they are superficial and only for beginners. We need to have some sort of institute/body which can impart training to more senior trainers to keep them up to date with the latest trends in effective training. For instance, we have Evanjerik's excellent posting on how trainers should evolve. But we do not have such facilities here. Could Evanjerik perhaps assist us with working out how we can have such facilities?
All
Also, what do we do with inexperienced 'trainers' who are being inducted into large training institutes and foisted on unsuspecting ompanies who feel that a group of trainers may be more experienced and efficient than a single trainer who is a much better trainer?
Again, how do we 'educate' management to make the right choice when choosing external trainers and not relying on inadequate internal trainers?
This is not to say that an internal training unit is always unsatisfactory, but most are made up of less experienced trainers, and this does not help the employees who are made to undergo such training. Such employees become blase and indifferent to training and have to be retrained to be active and effective participants.
Looking forward to your views.
Jeroo
From India, Mumbai
The idea of having a body judge the professional attributes and success in imparting training is excellent, but who would be the judges? How would the judges be judged?
Also, technical training can be judged on course content and method of delivery, because there is very little difference in technical course content, though the approach to imparting the training differs. sometimes markedly.
But soft skills training is so different - both the course content and the methodology vary so much, how can you judge effectively? For instance, two trainers may have the same course content, but one merely lectures, reading from a set of notes, while the other constantly interacts with the participants, has case studies and role plays, and a completely interactive methodology. A judge who believes in lecturing, will grade the first trainer as A, and the second as C while a judge who is into interactive training, will judge the second trainer as A and the first as C. What is the solution?
Kushi
I agree with you - there are a number of courses on 'Train the Trainer' but mostly they are superficial and only for beginners. We need to have some sort of institute/body which can impart training to more senior trainers to keep them up to date with the latest trends in effective training. For instance, we have Evanjerik's excellent posting on how trainers should evolve. But we do not have such facilities here. Could Evanjerik perhaps assist us with working out how we can have such facilities?
All
Also, what do we do with inexperienced 'trainers' who are being inducted into large training institutes and foisted on unsuspecting ompanies who feel that a group of trainers may be more experienced and efficient than a single trainer who is a much better trainer?
Again, how do we 'educate' management to make the right choice when choosing external trainers and not relying on inadequate internal trainers?
This is not to say that an internal training unit is always unsatisfactory, but most are made up of less experienced trainers, and this does not help the employees who are made to undergo such training. Such employees become blase and indifferent to training and have to be retrained to be active and effective participants.
Looking forward to your views.
Jeroo
From India, Mumbai
Dear Evanjerik
Wow your reply was full of wisdom[not joking]. I think you should take the initiative and start a 'train the trainer' program. This is very essential. many people do conduct these programs then some of them are way beyond the means of others[in pricing]. But I sincerely feel a forum should start on this.
Kushi I think u asked about how one feels one has done justice to training[ evaluate the trainer] well personally I feel when you are one with your group you can get the vibes whether your reaching out or not.In fact AV aids are just things which assist you, you cannot build on these for your effectiveness.
Someone else [Karthik ?]suggested a body for giving recognition/ certification I feel this will not work in our context. I have written about ISTD. Very few of our certifications are worth the paper its printed on.[I am sure I dont have to elaborate]
Training has become the in thing now....for everybody is a trainer...the sanctity of the trainer has been lost.
But then if a few people like evan can intitate we can make the spark come alive
ciao
Lisa
From India, Madras
Wow your reply was full of wisdom[not joking]. I think you should take the initiative and start a 'train the trainer' program. This is very essential. many people do conduct these programs then some of them are way beyond the means of others[in pricing]. But I sincerely feel a forum should start on this.
Kushi I think u asked about how one feels one has done justice to training[ evaluate the trainer] well personally I feel when you are one with your group you can get the vibes whether your reaching out or not.In fact AV aids are just things which assist you, you cannot build on these for your effectiveness.
Someone else [Karthik ?]suggested a body for giving recognition/ certification I feel this will not work in our context. I have written about ISTD. Very few of our certifications are worth the paper its printed on.[I am sure I dont have to elaborate]
Training has become the in thing now....for everybody is a trainer...the sanctity of the trainer has been lost.
But then if a few people like evan can intitate we can make the spark come alive
ciao
Lisa
From India, Madras
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