What to look for in a Trainer

I.  Character and the type of leader they are.

A.   Are their values the ones that you want in your organization?
Who trains your employees should be one of the most serious decisions you make.  Their leadership is important to what the total “product” is.  Are they proactive?  Are they customer oriented?  Are they good listeners?  The “product” of training is usually thought to be the outcomes, the skills and capacity, of the learners.  As consultants that is what we sell.  But those outcomes are on a carrier.  A radio signal is a carrier and a message.  The training message is on a carrier made up of the trainer’s values.  We have heard the expression:  “Who you are speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you are saying.”

What the trainer is, at their core level, will influence what your employees are becoming.  A trainer may use inductive methods and listen more than talk but the carrier is always there in every response.  The trainer reproduces their skills and in the process conveys some of their values.  A trainer is always a role model that in some way says, “Do this.  It is the right/best way.”  The very choice of material involves values.  Even when subject matter experts are teaching precision skills, their character “carriers” the skill.

B.  Professionalism
When you interview a trainer, be attentive in how they handle their business.  Are they the type of professional that you want your employees to be?  Are they proactive?  Do they listen?  Do they follow up?

C.  Humility
Humility is needed as well as group skills (which I’ll talk about in another article).  A trainer has to have their self worth firm and not placed in what others think of them.  As a trainer I like the accolades that come with the job.  But they have to be earned.  When I start off a session there is always someone that will check out what kind of stuff I’m made of.  Humility and going with the person for a time shows respect and that I’m a learner too.  They have got to know that I care more about them than the subject or myself.  Even if you are the expert, you should learn from everyone you work with and should thank them for that gift.

When interviewing, ask about a time a time they had a participant challenge them.  Probe around on this and find out as much as you can.  Can they handle disagreement in the class and people that don’t want to be there?  Can they draw them in without reacting to their negativity?

D.  Maturity
I was in a Diversity training course when it became obvious that the instructor had experiences that they had not dealt with in a mature way.  They had not understood the character issues of forgiveness and self acceptance.  Their self worth was still tied up in someone else’s opinion.  They could do little to bind the wounds of others.  My thoughts were – “physician heal thyself.”  There is a place for illustrations and personal stories but we as a group were not being sought for help or understanding; we were being dumped on.  I have a heart of compassion but this was an abuse of power.

I’d don’t know how you would be able to spot this in the interview process but when talking about course materials and they present their outline, do they seem to have an agenda that is different than the outcomes you desire?

E.    Passionate
A good presentation usually has the excitement that comes from the passion of the speaker.  They care and want you to care as well.  We have all met people who lacked “presentation” skills and even knowledge; but they, from their core of being, overwhelmed us with the desire to learn what they were passionate about.  What they were passionate about became our values.  We learned beyond what their skills and knowledge were capable of giving us.  We can learn from dispassionate trainers but it seems so much easier to get it from the passionate facilitator.  There is a fine line from a passionate person to a zealot.  Zealots have lost the ability to hear and learn.  It is a matter of balance.

II.    An Understanding of Adult Learners

Training begins with an understanding of adult learners.  Adults are not children.  That’s simple enough.  But what does that mean?  It means that they have a wealth of learning and experience.  They have wounds, hurts, biases and egos that help or hinder them from hearing the message.  They need to be treated with respect and a trainer in many subtle ways asks for the right engage them.

A.    Permission Training

The trainer has to get (earn) permission to train adults.  An adult can block out a trainer whose arrogance and lack of respect shows.  I have coined the term “permission training” from the concept of “permission selling” on the Internet.  A process when people opt in to ezines and newsletters that includes advertising.  One of the strongest ways of permission training is taking the time to get to know the learners before jumping in with an agenda.  What do they know about the subject?  What are their concerns?  Opened ended questions lead to understanding how to target needs.  Adult learning always begins with the learner.

B.    Diagnose before prescribe

There are many adults that are threatened by a class environment.  They didn’t do well in school.  They can’t read well.  They have difficulty articulating their feelings.  For many there needs to be a clear “yes, you need to go to the ‘doctor.’”  The question of “why do we need this” has to be clearly answered.  There needs to be an agreement on what the issues are.  Why is training necessary?  There is a great deal of care in how it is said though.  We can never come across as “You’re dumb, you messed up and I’m the guy here to straighten YOU out.”  A trainer often has to help in overcoming fear of embarrassment and wrong perceptions about the learner’s ability to learn.  Adults who are open to new learning do so primarily because they have seen a use for the knowledge or skill.

C.    Understand Cultural the Setting

Adults are part of a cultural setting and need cultural support systems.  A trainer can have good content and good methods but fail to understand the culture the adult learners are in.  The learners will agree that it was good training but be beat down by the other processes that do not support the new behavior.  All effective training has to take into consideration that dramatic behavioral change (which is what training is) needs a support system.  Training should take in the scope of what will work to reinforce the new behavior and what will hinder.  To warn learners and help them brainstorm solutions should be part of the learning process.  A trainer with a good handle on Change Management and System Thinking is an added value.

D.    Resources

For a host of excellent articles on adult learning go to http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/ (Honolulu Community College) then go to their search page and type in “Adult Learners.”  Ron and Susan Zemke’s article “30 Things we know for sure about adult learners” is particularly good. http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-3.htm