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Are You a Super-Trainer?

Assess Your­self and See!

What attrib­utes do all super train­ers share, no mat­ter how dif­fer­ent their styles? Rate your­self from 1 (I’m not so great at this) to 3 (I do this every time!) on the guide­lines below. Then read the strate­gies, which will trans­form YOU into a Super Trainer.

Three Essen­tial Attrib­utes of Super Train­ers

1.  Con­tent Knowl­edge
Of course, this comes first. If you don’t know your sub­ject, you shouldn’t be train­ing it. How­ever, you DON’T have to know every last detail before you’re ready to train.

My self-rating on Con­tent Knowl­edge

1                                                            2                                                            3

low                                                                                                                        high

2.  Will­ing­ness To Have Fun
This one’s a poten­tial dan­ger zone. Some train­ers have so much fun them­selves that they remain obliv­i­ous to the par­tic­i­pants’ needs, insights, and poten­tial contributions.

Hav­ing fun doesn’t mean you are able to toss out jokes. Will­ing­ness to have fun means relax­ing WHILE you exude dynamism and energy. It means con­nect­ing with the par­tic­i­pants WHILE you focus on con­tent and time man­age­ment. It means enjoy­ing the par­tic­i­pants WHILE retain­ing your unique role as trainer.

My self-rating on Will­ing­ness to Have Fun

1                                                            2                                                            3

low                                                                                                                        high

3.  Use of a Well-Structured Train­ing Design
Have you ever won­dered about the source of the fol­low­ing issues?

–Bad marks on your train­ing eval­u­a­tions (exclud­ing com­ments about cold cof­fee or overly warm train­ing rooms)
–Par­tic­i­pant hos­til­ity, side con­ver­sa­tions or passive-aggressiveness
–Lack of par­tic­i­pa­tion
–Peo­ple sleeping

The invis­i­ble cul­prit is often how the ses­sion is designed, not the pre­sen­ta­tion skills of the trainer. Design affects every­thing related to the training.

Train­ing design is train­ing archi­tec­ture. A badly–designed course will sag, frac­ture, and even crush the best trainer.

My self-rating on Use of a Well-Structured Train­ing Design

1                                                            2                                                            3

low                                                                                                                        high

Strate­gies to Pump Up Your Train­ing Skills

Even if you rated your­self high on the pre­ced­ing attrib­utes, these strate­gies will enhance your training:

1.  Con­tent Knowledge

Ensure that you have included only the absolute “MUST-KNOW” mate­r­ial into your train­ing ses­sion. When you develop the ses­sion, test each part of the train­ing by ask­ing, “is this a ‘must-know’ piece of infor­ma­tion, or is it merely ‘nice to know?’ Toss the ‘nice to know’ pieces. Remember-less is more.

If a par­tic­i­pant asks you some­thing you can­not answer, remem­ber that it is OK to say “I don’t know. Let me find out and get back to you,” but only if you really will fol­low up. Mean­while, acknowl­edge that a par­tic­i­pant in your group may well have the infor­ma­tion you lack. Don’t be afraid to ask. Doing so helps you build com­mu­nity with your participants.

2. Will­ing­ness To Have Fun
The more pre­pared you feel with your con­tent and train­ing struc­ture, (attrib­utes #1 and #3,) the more fun you’ll have.

But you must also exam­ine your beliefs about peo­ple. Do you feel they are mainly a drag, or do you find them inter­est­ing and quirky? Do you like your­self? Are you accept­ing or judg­men­tal? Your under­ly­ing beliefs about your­self and oth­ers either boost or impede your level of relax­ation and abil­ity to have fun in the train­ing role.

It’s worth your time to exam­ine your phi­los­o­phy of teach­ing. Do you buy into a “boot camp” men­tal­ity? Alter­na­tively, do you feel over­sen­si­tive to stu­dents’ needs? Heighten your aware­ness of your phi­los­o­phy and actions, and then make changes if needed. Fun will follow!

3. Use of a Well-Structured Train­ing Design
Here are three guide­lines to ensure your train­ing archi­tec­ture is sound:

–Never orga­nize your train­ing ses­sion using Pow­er­Point.
–Care­fully and thought­fully develop learn­ing out­comes. Orga­nize all your con­tent to achieve them.
–No mat­ter how expe­ri­enced a trainer you are, take a basic class in course design. It may chal­lenge they way you think about training!

It’s always good to re-visit the essen­tials; all Super Train­ers do. Inte­grate these Top Three into your train­ing, and you’ll find your­self among the greats!

Boost your Train­ing Skills. See free newslet­ters full of tips and tech­niques for improved train­ing: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs071/1101469784148/archive/1101880413533.html

Guila Muir is the pre­miere trainer of train­ers, facil­i­ta­tors, and pre­sen­ters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thou­sands of pro­fes­sion­als improve their train­ing, facil­i­ta­tion, and pre­sen­ta­tion skills. Find out how she can help trans­form you from a bor­ing expert to a great pre­sen­ter: www.guilamuir.com

Related posts:

1. What Makes a Super Trainer?
2. When You Are the Bored Trainer