Training and Development: Trainers and Trainees

Hopefully you were able to read Parts 1 and 2. If not they would be worth your while. Otherwise, this is Part 3, the last in this training hub.

13. Any worthwhile teacher will not forget to ask “How am I doing?” This is to make sure that real communication is occurring during teaching. A teacher should never assume that he is successful at what he does, for then he would be consumed by his own efficiency—and deceived because he would not see how he may stand in the way of progress. Trainees resent a teacher that slows down their goals. This teacher will get a big surprise at evaluation time! But he walked into a glass door.

14. A teacher should never assume the perfection of his craft, or that his teaching is self-sufficient. Teachers need teachers and mentors for accountability and to sharpen their craft. Otherwise, O Teacher, you have become comfortable and students can smell it. A teacher that doesn’t remain at the top of his craft devalues the trainee’s education and makes him less competitive. Colleges and universities understand this well.

15. Proper training takes time—and should. Avoid crash-course training. It is a waste of time and money.

16. A good training program helps the trainee to see his or her own progression. Simply because tests are given and passed by students is no reason for a training program to assume that its trainees are ready for a live environment—and neither should trainees accept that as the sole measure. Live environments are applied learning while the classroom is theory; the differential can be great. Being on the scene doing the work is a lot different from learning about it. What may be easy to comprehend might be tough as nails to perform. Trainees should demand new experiences with the work itself and new ways of being tested that put them as close to the work they will be doing. It would be a great failure for both parties to go through the training process only to have it all crash when the time comes to perform—and it would be both parties’ fault.

17. A teacher disservices trainees by not understanding his role with them. The teacher is there to lead the way into knowledge. It is true that people can learn on their own with time, but it is usually an inefficient process. Teachers have the advantage of not only knowing the information but having access to tools and resources that trainees could never gain until long down the road, if ever. Think on it: If no one tells a person in the blind “Here is a door”, that person will constantly bump around until someone does tell him so or he figures it out. But again, that’s inefficient and learning is difficult amidst confusion. A seed will not grow well among weeds.

18. The most important point: People will not invest too much energy in learning something. When the emotional toil makes learning no longer worth it, they will quit no matter how good the job. Teachers, therefore, must be thorough and precise with their information and able to help students acquire it.

Addendum: Here are some ways people are turned off to your company and training program.

• Give them ammo . Tell them as one of my trainers did our class—“Guys, I’m so sorry. This is my first time teaching this stuff. They shouldn’t have done y’all like this.” Let the trainees figure this out on their own.
• Insult their intelligence . For instance, stand and read the manual verbatim all day. Things begin to go downhill quickly.
• Move too fast . Make training a survival of the fittest.
• Be merciless . Show no concern for how trainees are fairing, no regard about their low grades. And when they ask for more help or protest the tests, get unnerved and tell them that they will get the grades they make, no if's, and's, or but's.
• Assume a newbie’s proficiency . “You don’t know this!?” “It’s just…!”
• Be critical and never reward the good they do .