Who will conduct the training?

The decision has been made to provide training and the next step would be to decide who will lead the training. These are people who need to be part of the training planning sessions; therefore, it is important that the decision is made early as to who will be leading the sessions. Possible choices for training leaders would include using in-house staff or hiring a training consultant company. There are options within the in-house staffing choice: if you are part of a large organization, you may have a human resources department with a training staff who will help you design and produce your training sessions. Or if you are part of a consortium, it may be possible to recruit trainers from other members of the consortium. Hiring an outside company might appear to be costly, but could prove to be cost effective depending on the type of training, the time needed to plan the sessions and also the time involved with the training itself. The cost of staff hours devoted to the planning must also be taken into account if you are considering hiring outside consultants. Sometimes the cost of staff salaries is more than you would pay an outside company. Whatever the decision, it needs to be made as soon as possible after it has been determined to proceed with training so that the trainers can be part of the planning process.

Using in-house staff as noted above does come with a cost for time spent planning and executing the training sessions, as this is time not spent on other duties and tasks. While there is no set ratio, you must figure on spending approximately five hours in planning and executing for every hour of the training session. This number would be for each staff person involved with the training. For a two-hour session with a planning staff of three, the amount of staff time quickly adds up, and if you do have a budget for training, perhaps using a consultant may be cost effective.

If you are part of a large organization that has a training and development department within the human resources department, it is possible that they already have ‘stock’ programs that can be customized to your departmental needs and situations. Contact the department staff to inquire about the possibility of customizing training for your department. This is important, because these stock programs usually contain general case studies that may or may not pertain to the work of your participants. Providing your own case studies based on real-life occurrences in your department helps participants relate to the training content. Being able to make a connection to the training is important for the participants to integrate the training concepts into their work.

If you have decided to use in-house staff to plan and provide the training, deciding who these staff members will be is a task for supervisors and managers familiar with the training process, content, and the possible staff members. These staff should have prior experience in training and experience in the topic(s) involved with the training. If your training session is being offered to participants outside of your immediate organization, you may want to open up an invitation to staff from the other organizations to serve as trainers and/or planners. This could be done by open invitation via listserv to past participants of the program or done selectively. For a workshop that is longer than a full day, in addition to having multiple trainers, you may wish to have someone to serve as a coordinator. In addition, for this type of program, it is best to have a logistics staff. This process is discussed in the next chapter.

Sometimes these large programs are staffed with people who have volunteered to provide the training. Working with volunteers is very different from working with staff in your organization, or working with the staff of a consulting firm. Volunteers may have numerous commitments, at the very least; they may have commitments to their own organization with deadlines of their own to meet. While this type of situation may seem less than desirable, people who have volunteered to assist in training sessions are already showing a large commitment to the training. They are there of their own accord, on their own time, and therefore have a large stake in wanting to see the program and participants succeed. Problems may arise if the people coordinating the volunteers are not familiar with working with the staff, and oftentimes a volunteer staff in general. The key to working with volunteers is that they need to be treated in the same way as any paid staff member. They should be included in the planning team and be aware of the needs of the program, including training topics and deadlines. Their opinions should be sought and treated with the same respect as anyone else involved with the program. They can be given decision-making responsibilities, but, as with anyone, there must be clear guidelines of how far they may go with their decisions regarding the program.

There is then the question of whether or not volunteers can be ‘fired’. If one of the volunteers is at a point that you want to relieve them of their duties, there are a few things to consider: if this was a paid staff member in your organization, would they be fired? Most likely not, so you need to step back and look at the situation with a calmer frame of mind. The program and the relationship between the organizations providing the volunteers must be preserved, so the best course of action would be to determine what this volunteer did not complete and get it completed. The person does need to be spoken with, but this should be done with the same care and respect that you would reserve for any staff member under your supervision. Lastly, if needed, the person could be teamed with others so that work will be completed on time. Volunteers can make or break a program; with the proper guidance, it can be a wonderful and productive relationship.

When you have the luxury of a large training staff for a program, it is good to have understudies for each lead trainer. Putting out a call for staff to lead a training session may not always be as productive as you may hope. Asking for people to serve as understudies or assistants to the lead trainers can sometimes increase the amount of respondents to the call for trainers. Understudies do not need to have prior training experience, but it is helpful if they have some experience in the topic(s) of the sessions. Understudies will plan and practice alongside the lead trainer and only will need to step forward in the event of illness or other emergency. During the session they can serve as assistants, helping out wherever a need arises. In this manner they can gain some experience, and also some confidence, and possibly in the future will serve as lead trainers. Another benefit of a large program with a large number of volunteers is the ability to have co- or team trainers. This concept is discussed in Chapter 8.

For specialized or required training (for example by your insurance company or licensing agency), it is sometimes necessary, or at least in your best interest, to hire a training consultant to run the program. How best to find a company and a program would depend on your individual situation. The best recommendations often come from people you know, so that is the first place to start – by asking your associates. From there you could widen the search to listservs and professional publications. Other places to find recommendations are your local, state, and national professional organizations. Some of these organizations may even provide training at reduced or no cost. This can be very helpful for smaller organizations that do not have training and development departments.

There are two variations of hiring a company to provide in-house training. The first is to hire a company to provide a webinar, or to purchase access to archived webinars, on needed topics. This is usually a fraction of the cost of in-house training and the access can be used multiple times to cover all necessary staff. The other option is to purchase a pre-packaged program from a company or possibly from a professional organization. Here again there will be sizeable cost savings, and once purchased you will be able to use it multiple times. But with this type of training you will need to have staff available to lead the training, so this must be taken into account before purchasing a program or access to a program.

In each case, working with a company does not mean that control of the sessions is completely given over to the company. Don’t forget that you are a paying customer of the company and they should be able to accommodate your training needs and desires. Also, don’t be afraid to negotiate the terms of the contract if there are portions that are not to your liking or are unnecessary for your organization. In today’s economy, training dollars are extremely tight and competition for them is strong. You want to be able to get the most for your money – both in training sessions and the return on the investment dollars, so be sure the final deal is one that is satisfactory to all.

There are quite a few different possibilities to consider when deciding upon who will lead your training session. From working with people inside your own department or those employed by your organization’s training and development department, to companies completely separate from your own, each has its own merits and all should be carefully considered when making this decision. When the decision is made, the persons leading the training need to become part of the planning process immediately. Their input on content, methods, evaluation, and venue are valuable and you will not want to have to go back over areas already covered if they have concerns over portions of the program. So bring them on board as soon as possible, get them current with the process thus far and forge ahead from there.