What You Should Look for in Train the Trainer Courses

What is an ideal training? How best can you train others? If you want to use a train the trainer course, what are the critical qualities of this course that can prepare you or your staff to train others?

This article explores what trainers go through and what the characteristics of an ideal train the trainer course are. There are many suppliers who provide these courses or you may intend to setup your own course using train the trainer training materials. In any case, knowing what works and what doesn’t can make it easier for you to make better decisions.

When delivering a training course, a trainer must go through the following training cycle:

• Identify training and analyse learning needs. The first step is to understand what delegates want to learn or need to learn. Remember, it is likely that people who are unfamiliar with a domain don’t even know what they need to learn. So you must take steps to identify critical areas and shape these with their specific needs. This is collectively known as TNA, Training Needs Analysis. If you miss this step, you may end up with a lot of wasted effort as delegates may not learn critical skills that they require in their roles and may consider your training delivery as useless.
• Set targets and objectives. Use SMART objectives to clearly formulate what your training intends to achieve. SMART objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
• Based on these needs and targets, select the best training methodologies and techniques. Here, you must identify the type of training. You can use interactive training, e-learning, on-the-job training, one-to-one training, classroom-style training and so on. In any case, a blended approach which is a combination of these methods is the most ideal way forward.
• Develop a training solution and deliver it. In this part, the training module is put together based on all the requirements identified above. Traditionally, as this point trainers start to develop the content. Naturally this may take substantial amount of time. Thanks to recent technology developments and e-commerce solutions, trainers can now take advantage of training materials to accelerate their development. Editable training materials (examples provided at the end of the article) are in particular attractive as they can be easily shaped based on the requirements and allow training houses to meet market demand as quickly as possible. Similarly train the trainer training materials can also be used to setup courses to prepare trainers that would then go on to deliver specific training courses.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of training and reflect on the outcome. Finally, a critical step at the end of this cycle is to monitor the results and reflect back on the training materials and the delivery to improve their quality for future use. In this part you need to consider:
  • Learners’ reaction to content
  • Trainer’s reaction to content
  • Stakeholders’ reaction to training in line with expected productivity results

The cycle explained here must be followed every time and no step should be missed. For example, some might skip objectives and go straight to training delivery, only to realise later that the training has been a waste of time and resources since it was not what the client was looking for.

An Ideal Trainer the Trainer Course

A trainer the trainer course, whether you develop it yourself, or use train the trainer training materials, must have certain qualities to be effective and useful. Generally, these qualities depend on your specific needs and priorities. However, the following suggest a good starting point:

• Delivery skills
• Body language
• Presentation skills
• Facilitation skills
• Interactive training versus lecturing
• How to give feedback
• How to praise
• Training room configuration
• Learning aids
• Understanding objectives and outcomes
• Session layouts
• Pacing
• Understating the psychology of learning