Being good at your job does not guarantee that you will be good at training someone else how to do it. To be effective, trainers must perfect their competencies in the following areas:
First and foremost, training professionals must have a business orientation. They must concern themselves with improving performance and focus on business outcomes.
Training professionals must also be able to recognize and admit when training is not the appropriate solution for a problem.
To succeed in a diverse environment, trainers must fine-tune their interpersonal skills and be able to adapt to a variety of people, cultures, and situations.
Those responsible for training others in a workshop setting must develop and master training skills. True professionals spend their entire lives honing their craft and perfecting their skills, learning new skills, and they keep up-to-date on the latest trends, concepts, and application to the field.
Over the years, educational research has identified personal and professional characteristics or attributes that are associated with successful teachers. These same attributes can be ascribed to trainers as well. Review the checklist in Exhibit 3.1 to identify those characteristics you bring to your role as a trainer. Place a check mark next to those that describe you.
Training Style
Even if you have never done any formal training or teaching, you have already developed a training style, a combination of training philosophies, methods, and behaviors, as the result of the experiences you have had as a learner and as an unofficial trainer. The way in which you give directions to others (co-workers, friends, family members), present information, or explain how to do something reflects a preferred training style.
Style Flexibility
Just as you have a preferred style of learning, you have a preferred approach to presenting content and relating to participants. Although you may have a strong preference for one style over another, you can and should learn to use the entire range of styles to connect with participants and facilitate the learning process.
Much like management or leadership styles, inherent in training styles is the need to balance continually concern for task or content with concern for people. This is further complicated by the fact that different training styles impact different types of learners in different ways.
Identifying Your Training Style
To heighten your awareness of your own style preferences, complete the assessment instrument in Exhibit 3.2, using your most recent training assignment as a frame of reference. You are evaluating yourself as “the trainer” and thus ranking statements in terms of how you think you behave. To gain a more accurate and complete picture of your training style, ask others to evaluate you by completing the assessment, and then compare results.
Increasing Effectiveness
As mentioned in the description of styles in the interpretation section of the Instructional Styles Diagnosis Inventory, the “coach” is probably the most appropriate style for a true training situation. This style and its underlying philosophy are reflected throughout this book. The coaching style supports and reinforces the cooperative learning approach to training adults.
Keep in mind, however, that the coaching style is not going to be appropriate for every learner. The challenge is to increase style flexibility and learn to assess what style or approach is the most appropriate with a particular situation, group, or individual learner. Flexibility is the key to success, that is, changing and adapting throughout the training program as you are faced with new challenges from the participants. Trainers have trouble when they either cannot or will not adapt to the styles and needs of the participants.
Learner-Centered versus Information-Centered
To better understand the difference between learner-centered and information-centered learning, study Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Learner-Centered versus Information-Centered Training
Learner-Centered
Information-Centered
Stated Objective
To improve performance of participants
To cover the material; present content
Underlying Objectives
Meet participants' need to know and do
To establish trainer as expert
Role of Trainer
Facilitator; coach
Imparter of information; lecture
Methods
Trainer asks questions; does no more than 50 percent of the talking
Trainer lectures, explains, demonstrates; does most of the talking while participants listen and watch
Participant's Role
Active participant in learning process; learns by doing; passive learner
Passive learner; absorbs information
How Feedback Is Obtained
Opportunities to apply skills through role plays, case studies, simulations, and other structured experiences
Asking participants whether they have any questions; asking participants questions about what trainer has said
Purpose of Feedback
To see whether participants can apply what they learned; to see whether they need more practice or remedial instruction
To see whether participants understand the information; to test their retention
Notice that, with learner-centered training, the primary focus is on what the learner or participant is able to take away from the learning experience. The learner is actively involved in the process and, therefore, is much more likely to retain the information and be able to apply it on the job.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Both learner-centered training and information-centered training have advantages and disadvantages, as seen in Table 3.2. Although research supports learner-centered instruction over information-centered, the reality of life is that sometimes “the powers that be” apply pressure on trainers to put massive numbers of people through so-called training in a short period of time. Although we know this “cattle car” approach to training is not effective, it is often difficult to convince others. Regardless of whether you are an internal or an external practitioner, if your client—that is, the decision maker—insists on what amounts to the simple dissemination of information, you may want to suggest an alternative approach. Alternatives may include sending required reading material to employees, creating an audio or video recording of a presentation, or even communicating via the organization's intranet system. Be sure to stress that these other approaches should not be mistaken for training. They are one-way communication methods designed to present information.
Two-way communication; Participants directly involved in learning; opportunities to apply learning; Participants receive immediate feedback through application opportunities; Greater satisfaction with learning experience; Increased understanding and retention; Addresses different learning styles
Efficient in that more information is presented in short period of time; Effective in presenting “nice to know” rather than “need to know” information; Cost-effective in that one trainer can present to many people
Disadvantages
Takes longer because participants have opportunities to practice; Less content covered in a given time period; Can be expensive because of smaller class size
One-way communication; participants have no Opportunity to apply learning during the training session and receive feedback; Participants' questions often are not addressed; Information overload often results in poor results; Less satisfaction with learning experience; Limited effectiveness in appealing to differences in learning styles
To test your understanding of learner-centered versus information-centered behavior, complete the activity in Exhibit 3.3. You could also use this checklist as a reminder of what you need to do to become more learner-centered in your training sessions. Answers are provided in Appendix A.
Key Elements of a Trainer's Style
As you work through this text, you will be challenged to examine and perhaps even modify your own beliefs and practices. Should you decide to make some changes in your current thinking or behaviors, realize that change is not easy. In fact, it can be downright painful. When it seems that changing the way you train (or had planned to train) is just too much work, ask yourself the following questions: “Am I as effective a trainer as I would like to be?” and “Am I obtaining the results I want?” If the answer to either of these questions is no, then be open to learning and trying out new ways of structuring and conducting your training sessions.
Use the following list of behaviors as a reminder for creating participant-centered training:
Organize the program and behave in such a way that participants feel they have “ownership” of the program.
Create many opportunities for participants to discover things for themselves.
Establish both participant and trainer expectations at the very beginning of the program.
Create a supportive learning environment in which people feel free to take risks, to ask questions, and to try out new ideas and ways of doing things.
Be sensitive to the communication process, including your own body language as well as that of your participants.
Maintain a high energy level throughout the session. It becomes contagious.
Accept ideas you may not agree with, and accept the fact that some people will not agree with you.
Show respect to all participants, no matter how difficult they may be.
Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know; be willing to find out the information and pass it on to the participants later.
Use positive reinforcement throughout the session.
Look at every training experience as an opportunity to learn from your participants.
Make the learning experience enjoyable.
Seek feedback from the group about your own behavior so you can further grow and develop as a trainer.
You will learn specific strategies throughout the book that reflect participant-centered trainer behavior and will help you create a powerful learning experience for all.
Now that you have gained some important insight into the way in which you approach the training experience, it is important to understand the complexities of today's learning environment and the challenges of training an increasingly diverse workplace population.
