Training the instructor?

Train the trainer? What do you mean?… Should I invest in training instructors? Yes.

Let me explain. Instructors are everywhere: turn over a stone and one appears. At some point, many people consider corporate training a “sideline” or something to do “in the meantime” because they are good at, or experts in, certain subjects. They take up this new profession as “freelance” work to generate additional income. I think that is wonderful: as the proverb says, “the sun shines for everyone.” But being an expert at a job does not always mean knowing how to build knowledge. These practices have greatly devalued the instructor's work, which ends up becoming “classes.” No: the methodology and approach differ from pedagogical processes.

Being an instructor, like everything in life, requires a process of learning and developing skills, competencies, and attitudes

The same applies if your organization has instructors: doing the job for 25 years does not mean someone can train their coworkers. Like everything in life, becoming an instructor requires learning and developing skills, competencies and attitudes acquired over time. But it must always begin with the methods and substance behind teaching and learning.

Your managers and supervisors can give training: Yes.

Effective? No, not without training.

Training instructors means putting them through a learning process that begins by recognizing their indirect share of responsibility when accidents, rejected or nonconforming products, customer complaints and other failures occur. If they teach the rest of the organization how to carry out processes, those failures—which are not necessarily training-related—may stem from errors in courses that were not noticed, assessed or followed up on.

Every trained instructor must know at least 5 specific things:

1. Learning theories and styles:

Training models that help you understand how an adult processes information, so that with these resources you can help people build knowledge from their experiences.

2. Training techniques:

Clearly, this involves techniques entirely different from those used in pedagogical processes, for the simple reason that the instructor works with adults.

3. Group / Individual Management Techniques:

It would be wonderful if every participant and group were easygoing, but that is not the case. Every course includes some difficult personalities, or the group itself may be challenging. Instructors must use these techniques to break through that shell throughout the learning process.

4. Materials:

Yes, friends, you cannot stand up and deliver a fully professional “course” without the 5 basic materials: a participant manual, knowledge assessment, session plan or course outline, satisfaction assessment and instructional guide. Without these, you are telling me you “improvise” your courses at some point. Training is NOT improvised.

5. Effective communication:

Every good instructor, or anyone claiming to be one, must above all excel at communicating effectively and efficiently. In my view, this is every instructor's most important competency.

With all this in mind, do your instructors meet these requirements? If not, contact us soon: your training team urgently needs instructor development. And not to boast, but we are the best at this. I guarantee it.