Transform the Trainers
My career involves designing training packages for trainers in corporations. Early in my career, my arrogant assumption was that I am the composer and the trainers are musicians doing what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do as specified in the Trainer’s Manual. After several years of experience and enlightenment, I now consider the trainers as my indispensable partners and co-creators.
An important part of this evolution has been to re-think trainers as a special type of facilitators. They practice facilitative training by supporting collective inquiry through activities that encourage the participants to interact with each other and with a variety of content resources.
Here’s how this shift in perception has changed my approach to trainers.
Train the Trainers
Traditional train-the-trainer sessions focus on helping the trainers learn the content and presentation skills. In my approach for training the facilitative trainers, I focus on training activities that help the participants to learn on their own. I train the facilitative trainers how to use the generic skills such as launching an activity, relating it to the workplace, overcoming resistance, modifying the activity to suit the context, debriefing the experience, and planning for application.
As the first step in my train-the-trainer session, I immerse the trainers in my workshops as regular participants. Later, I invite them to co-facilitate segments of the workshop with me. Finally, I let them conduct the entire workshop while I observe them from the back of the room. At the end of the session, I provide suitable feedback to help the trainers improve their facilitation skills.
The Facilitative Trainer as a Designer
Traditional trainers begin their sessions by distributing a standard set of precisely stated training objectives related to what they are about to learn. In contrast, I train the facilitative trainers to begin their sessions by presenting broad training goals related to the results to be achieved in the workplace. Throughout the training session, the facilitative trainers revisit the goals and relate them to the content and activities. Whenever the participants raise legitimate questions about the applicability of what they are learning in the workshop to what they are doing in the workplace, the facilitative trainer suitably adjusts the workshop content and activities.
Throughout the training session, the facilitative trainer treats the original design as a set of strong recommendations and not as harsh commandments. The facilitative trainer is permitted and encouraged to modify the content and activities to better suit the needs and preferences of the current group of participants. Immediately after the training session, the facilitative trainer inserts and integrates the design changes.
In the traditional situation, the trainer creates the illusion that there is a finite amount of valid content which when recalled faithfully will enable the participants to achieve the training objectives and workplace results. The facilitative trainer does not limit himself or herself to the prepared set of slides and handouts. Instead, he or she incorporates a variety of relevant content from such sources as the YouTube, TED Talks, journal articles, and participant anecdotes.
The facilitative trainer constantly tweaks the content and activities. The training package becomes a continuously improving dynamic design.