December 2008 Newsletter
Our December newsletter has useful information on building a culture of learning in your organisation. Learn how with:
Train the Trainer: learn how to build a cycle of excellence
You may have accrued a number of experienced and efficient employees over the years that consistently exude excellence. But is this excellence being transferred to other staff?
The long term success of most organisations is largely dependant on skilled employees passing on their knowledge. If you want the successful behaviour of seasoned colleagues effectively transferred to newer members you need to make sure that there is structured culture of training at work.
A good manager will progressively make themselves less important to those around them through the transfer of skills. This means that when they are promoted, or move on, there is no damaging skill vacuum to fill.
So how do you ensure this happens in your company? How do you train the trainer? The first step is to...
Remember that teacher
Remember that monotone dull teacher you had at school? What did they do for your level of motivation? Probably not much. Someone can have extensive knowledge of a subject but that doesn’t mean that they are suited to imparting that knowledge.
First impressions tend to stick. Nobody would want a new colleague’s levels of motivation, perceived value of their role and sense of prospects damaged from the offset by a dull mentor. Carefully selected staff members that have been trained to train can prevent this by prompting not only the learning process but positivity.
A skilled trainer can mould healthy views, communicate best practice, course correct and bridge the divide between expectations and actual behaviour. Now that you know the value of a good trainer what is the trick for…
Identifying a good trainer
Seniority will have little to do with whether someone is a good trainer or not. Although a sound understanding of subject matter is important there are other things to consider when selecting a trainer.
Communication skills are a paramount. Having expert knowledge and not being able to succinctly express it is like having a reservoir of water with no tap.
Other than being articulate a good trainer is intuitive and good at reading people. This is important because not everyone learns at the same pace or in the same way. Being able to identify strengths and developmental areas in learners is a critical part of tailoring the learning process.
Patience and being able to build rapport with a broad range of people are also significant ingredients in completing a successful recipe for training. So after you have made the selection and begun the training process you may be wondering…
How do I know it’s working?
Getting feedback from individuals and departments is the key to understanding the success of training in your company. Anonymous feedback is particularly valuable as there is less chance this will be tainted with a desire to please, or concerns regarding discrimination.
If you want to add an extra dimension to your understanding you can look at measurable results. If you sent colleagues on customer service training has there been an improvement in their customer satisfaction surveys? Are initiatives delivered on time after time management training?
Observation of opinions and measurable results will help you to tweak training initiatives for maximum return. Now that your training vehicle has momentum…
Wave goodbye to the pedestrian
A well trained trainer not only diffuses knowledge but also motivation and there’s nothing like igniting motivation to leave mediocrity in a cloud of dust. Calculated nurturing and learning means that you can create autonomous and reliable individuals who can then perpetuate the cycle of information and skill.
So how does this whole process begin? An example of a programme that will show you how to expertly develop your trainers can be found by clicking on Train your Trainers .
Herding Cats: influence the influential
Rather than simply tell you about our training we like to show you.
Our Herding Cats event will give you a 90 min taster of what we do every day. You'll meet some of the you:unlimited team, mingle with other training and HR practitioners and discuss any specific training needs you have.
Apart from giving you a taster of our training style, this workshop will also equip you with tried and tested techniques to help you improve communication with important and challenging individuals.
Our “Herding Cats” taster session will be running in central London from 9am – 11am on Wednesday 18th February 2009.
Spaces are limited, so if you are a Manager or HR & Training professional with responsibility for booking training contact linzi@you-unltd.co.uk or call on +44(0)20 7407 0044 and we’ll book spaces for you and / or a colleague.
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The continued success of this department is a direct result of the change in behaviours which we worked to imp...