The Ins And Outs Of Effective Training

The Ins And Outs Of Effective Training

How do you best do training either as your primary job or as part of your function as a manager or supervisor? Here are some proven tips to conduct effective training:
 
The trainer must have actual experience and communication skills. Some tend to downplay the significance of experience and emphasize the teaching skills of the trainer, while others believe that it is sufficient that the trainer has expertise for the training to be effective. Both types of skills are, in fact, necessary. A trainer who has no actual experience lacks credibility and is likely to impart deficient information. On the other hand, there are experts who cannot communicate adequately and their message is unclear and may bore the audience to the point of disinterest.
 
Do training needs analysis. It is necessary to first know both what the participants already know and the items that they should learn during the training. It is only after this that you can start designing a relevant training module that will fit their particular needs.
 
Make clear what the participants are expected to learn from the training. Inform your trainees the objectives of the session. Knowing this, they can then focus on learning about the objectives. This will lessen the risk of their missing the point or digressing.
 
Make the training interactive and lively. Have plenty of activities and try to get the participants to ask questions and perhaps even share their experiences. Avoid too many lectures. Oftentimes the trainer learns new things from the participants.
 
Do not read from your PowerPoint presentation. There are some trainers whose power point slides number in the hundreds and each slide is packed full of text that can hardly be read. Usually, the reason for this is that the trainer wants to make sure that he does not forget anything. But reading from the slides is the best way to put your audience to sleep. The trainees would be better off if you just print the slides and let them read it outside the training room.
 
Measure the skills learned and get feedback. At the end of the training, make sure you check if every participant was able to achieve the objectives. Besides this, you should also incorporate feedback on how well you have conducted the training as well as suggestions on how it can be improved.
 
To know more about this topic, BusinessCoach, Inc., a leading business seminar provider, conducts an excellent seminar entitled “Training the Trainers.” Contact (2) 727-5628/8860, (915) 205-0133 or visit www.businesscoachphil.com for details.
 
Click here to view details of the seminar: Training the Trainers»

 
*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-4, Sunday, October 14, 2012. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.