Who’s Training You?
Our Corporate Training article establishes that one of the challenges faced by the people responsible for delivering corporate training is that within an organization, every level of staff, from hourly clerks to salaried senior executives, is made up of individuals with very different training needs.
“The vast majority already have post secondary education from a wide variety of colleges, universities or technical training programs. Many have been working in their specialty field for a few years, or much longer. So their levels of training and shallowness or depth of on-the-job experience are all over the map.”
Our Video Training article addresses the array of learning styles that drive the trainees’ ability to take in and apply the information that is presented to them in a training session. (Our free learning style assessment will enable you to identify your learning style preferences.)
So now that we have looked at the various needs of the people receiving corporate training, let’s take a moment to examine the people who deliver it.
What makes a good corporate trainer? What sort of outlook, academic background and work experience equips an individual to excel as a trainer within an organization?
One of our clients decided to become a corporate trainer after going through our Personal Branding Program. Today she’s one of the best in the business. Here’s her story:
Sara was a teacher who came to MIBOSO wanting to shift her skills from classroom teaching to on-line distance education. In the process of developing her personal brand she realized that her passion for teaching was fueled by being at the front of a room full of living, breathing people. Personal branding led Sara to become a seminar leader and corporate trainer, a role which puts her in front of hundreds of people each and every week. This career choice was an ideal expression of her talent, passion and years of teaching experience.
If Sara had followed through with her plan to teach through a distance education program, she would have really missed the human contact that her corporate training role provides. So I think it’s also fair to say that in addition to having teaching and educational program development, or instructional design skills, it’s important for trainers to be people who really like being with and interacting with other people.
Is Sara the norm when it comes to corporate trainers? It might surprise you to learn that she’s far better equipped than most. So just who is delivering training within organizations? Let’s address that question by reviewing some baseline data.
1. Most companies do not keep full-time trainers on their payrolls.
A December, 2006 survey by the Novations Group reports that responants identified a very stong trend towards an increasing use of e-learning (57%) in their organizations. The survey also identified trends towards fewer classroom hours (30%) and an increased outsourcing of trainers (25%).
2. Trainers tend to be people who can present well and process paperwork quickly.
Many have no experience in either teaching or instructional design. Nor do they have formal training in developing or delivering corporate training.
3. Corporate Trainers are often people who have attended a specific training program and have the natural ability to duplicate the delivery of that training within their own organization.
Due to an increasing need by corporations to quantify the results of the training and development deliverd to their employees, (and by validating the return on their investment, justify furture expenditures ) the vast majority of corporate training needs are being fulfilled by outsourced trainers/training organizations. This has largely reduced the remaining in-house trainers’ roles to that of training brokers. And those who also develop a facility to work with measurement metrics and the alternate training options that are being increasingly embraced by corporations, (e-learning 57%, on-the-job training 41%, and personal coaching 35%), will be able to deliver sufficient value to keep their jobs—for now.
This leads us to the question of who decides which specific training programs need to be delivered within an organization? It turns out that the answer to that question warrants an article of its own.
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[...] all of these formats, the success of the training depends on the trainer. Who’s Training You? talks about the sorts of training that trainers do and don’t receive. Clearly, the trainer you [...]
You know RDJ, I wrote about this subject recently on my blog. Your article has really given me some food for thought and I feel you made many intriguing points. In fact, I just wish I’d seen it before I published my own article! - driving101