Corporate Training. A Trainer's Perspective

Trainers become trainers for several reasons. Sometimes they have a passion for it. At other times they simply enjoy the limelight. Sometimes they see it as the shortest path to mammon. Passion alone may not always be enough. Usually it is a combination of passion, skill, experience and that x factor is what really makes a trainer worth her weight in gold.

Training to my mind is just another way of influencing attitudes and behavior. Some times it is about knowledge & skills. The training room often provides space for change. We can support it by building platforms & forums for our trainees. Some times the creation of self help groups leads to change. Each individual is joyfully invited to ring in the changes that improve personal and professional lives to the point of delight. To develop skills & assimilate knowledge that furthers careers.

Often the seemingly inane & insignificant changes each trainee makes regularly ends up affecting lives profoundly. Those within their circle of influence too are impacted by the changes.

It starts off an upward spiral of positive change reinforced by positive change. Encouraging and nurturing that upward spiral leads to permanent changes in attitude and behavior, & enhancement of skill and knowledge.

As trainers one of the first assumptions we make are that all trainees are not alike. Not all will be impacted by our inputs uniformly. Some people will be deeply influenced, others less so and some none at all.

If their impacts are plotted it will give us the classical bell curve. A few Outliers and the many in between.

An effective way of reinforcing the lessons of training is post training follow up.
Post the training each trainee is invited to choose from amongst the several areas of training. She is guided towards those area which have impacted her the most. A process that monitors, supports and mentors these changes can easily be put in place.

Regularly plotted exercises and episodes properly mapped and monitored yield extraordinary results.

Best results are encountered once some management “buy in” happens into this process.

Healthy skepticism about the success of any such module should be encouraged by the trainer. After all we trainers need to wait for 3 months or more before we can say QED on demonstrable and lasting change. Corporate Houses often want tangible results tomorrow and like most of us are unwilling to wait for objective feedback.

Most training feedback is elicited during the “Honeymoon Period” the first few days after the training. Then the impact of the training is the most and the wizardry of the trainer has many trainees in thrall. While initial feedback is euphoric long lasting change is seldom evident.

Marshall Goldsmith , author of “What got you here wont get you there” and 30 other books and trainer to the best of the best across the world has a model where he is able to put his money where his mouth is.

Once his training exercise is completed (it takes several days of episodic training) Mr Goldsmith is then able to showcase the changes he has been able to bring sometimes using an open forum.

Trainees make presentations to a group on the topic of their choice. The open and transparent interaction is often an amazing indicator of the candidate’s progress or lack of it. Money changes hands only if previously agreed to expectations are met.

As trainers we are harbingers of change in others and ourselves.

So my learning has been that each training exercise, each bouquet, each brickbat is feedback for the next assignment. The lifeblood that sustains passion, sharpens our skills, influences our attitude, adds to our knowledge and keeps us on our toes.

To my mind that is a recipe for successful & seasoned trainers