How to be a Great Trainer

I always found joy in helping people & after having had various jobs in many industries I finally wake up every morning to a job that I love. One thats allows me to help others.

I am a trainer and coach and I love every moment of it. When I started, 9 years ago, I had no idea how to do what I wanted to. I have been blessed to have had some wonderful trainers, teachers & mentors. And I turn to them for inspiration & guidance

even today. Along the way I met many more wonderful trainers- my esteemed colleagues and, I'm happy to say, my students who moved on to become my colleagues.

Search for what it takes to be a good trainer & you find many lists with the primary skills & qualities being -

• Communication Skills

• Organisational Skills

• Technical Knowledge

• Entertainment Skills

• A Strategic Approach

• Good Instructional Design

But in my 9 short years (I hope to have many more happy ones) as a trainer/coach I've learnt it takes much more. This is a list of my TOP 7 qualities to be a great trainer.

1. The Finest Trainer is without Ego

This one quality impacts all the other 6 I'm writing about. There is a difference between pride & ego. We will obviously have more subject knowledge than our participants - that is basic requirement of our job. We can be proud of our efforts & our work. We can have confidence, but ego is a different game altogether. Ego deviates us from our basic aim of enabling our participants to learn.

There may be times our learners may know something we didn't know. That should be absolutely OK by us too!

To be good teachers we must be good learners. And everyday you spend in that training session is an opportunity to learn. Don't be someone who stagnates because they believe they need to know only this much and nothing more.

2. The Best Trainers are Not Competitive

This is one profession where competition isn't healthy. As a trainer/teacher/coach/educator, you should know that success is never a zero sum game. In the words of Stephen Covey, "Think Win-Win" should be an educator's mantra.

Your competitive streak might prevent you from collaborating effectively. A good team can accomplish much more than you alone & at the end of the day the common objective must be for the good of the participants.

As a trainer who works with adults, you will see your former students grow, sometimes beyond you. Treat their growth as a testimonial to your work, not as a threat.

3. A Great Trainer is Patient

"How many times have I explained this?!"

"Why can't you understand a simple concept?"

An exasperated sigh, a look of frustration.. We saw these in the faces of the teachers we didn't like, growing up & we now emulate them unknowingly.

No matter the age of the learners, your impatience can be extremely demotivating. Not all learners will understand a concept in one go. You might have to repeat yourself. You may need to answer basic questions, you will refer back to an earlier point, you will coax & cajole.

An excellent trainer recognises different learning speeds & has the patience to make sure that no one feels left behind.

4. An Amazing Trainer Listens

Really Listens!!

The best trainers have amazing speaking skills. The incredible ones work on their listening skills too.

We are so used to talking that sometimes we are too quick to reply. Stephen Covey also said, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply" (I love this guy!! :) And this happens in classrooms too. When asked a question, many don't really understand the actual confusion in their rush to explain. The QnA becomes an exercise in futility simply because so many of us feel we've heard all the questions before.

Another aspect of listening is Empathy. It can help a trainer understand their content from the participant's point of view. We know our content inside and out, but what is obvious to us might not be obvious to others. When you are planning your delivery, step into your participant's shoes & listen to what you sound like - to them. Are you actually making things easier or more complicated? After all, as Albert Einstein said, "The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple."

5. An Ideal Trainer is Approachable

Many participants are afraid to speak up. Stop and think, could it be because of you?

Very often sarcastic humour can be hurtful. We need to be careful when we "try to lighten the mood"

.

Another thing that makes a trainer unapproachable is an attitude of condescension. It stems from ego. Many trainers while being kind, helpful or appreciative, betray a sense of superiority. This patronising attitude doesn't necessarily sit well, specially with adult learners & it means that participants may hesitate in asking for help.

6. An Effective Trainer gives Feedback

First, I want to talk about the importance of being non-judgemental, because feedback is not about passing judgement. To borrow from some counselling guidelines "To to be non-judgemental means that we need to step away from moral censure, and the imposition of our norms and values on others." Part of training adults is to learn that our “normal” is not universally applicable.

Criticism is evaluative & judgemental. It usually sends the message, "You are wrong".

Feedback, on the other hand, has the intention to help people get better going forward & it needs to be descriptive not evaluative. It comes from a place of care & concern.

Converesly, many people are afraid of giving negative feedback. Shying away from giving feedback is a disservice to your learners. So learning the art of delivering feedback makes a trainer better at what they do.

7. A Fabulous Trainer does it for the Right Reasons

You are not just the facilitator of learning, but also, an object of the training participant's study.

Remember, they are with you for up to five to six hours of the training day. They see you, they hear your voice, they observe you, they interpret your behaviour. Your demeanor, your intention & your attitude will make your sessions more powerful. If you aren't motivated to help people grow, you will not be an effective trainer.

Don't do this simply for the money. Don't use the training room as a platform to show off how much you know. Do it with an intention to serve.

After all, as Zig Ziglar said, "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."

#BeTheBestYou

P.S. This one is for all the teachers, educators & trainers who have inspired me and taught me about these 7 qualities. My Mamiji, my school teachers specially Mrs Raghavan, Mrs Prema Pandey, Mrs Godavari Singh, Mrs Komudi Sharma, Rakesh Agarwal, Suman Agarwal, Shyam Sir, Judith Rasband, Sabira Merchant, Cyra Irani, Shashikiran, Diya K. Thank you!

May I meet many more..

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