{"id":29692,"date":"2019-06-25T12:06:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T10:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/?p=29692"},"modified":"2019-12-09T10:51:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T09:51:21","slug":"the-secret-ld-manager-what-makes-training-effective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/de\/the-secret-ld-manager-what-makes-training-effective\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret L&D manager: What makes training effective?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month\u2019s secret training manager is Italian and has worked in a variety of fields including public research organizations and service companies. Here she talks with Scott Levey about the basic elements that make training and trainers effective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"eBook:

What makes training effective?<\/h4>\n

To me an effective training is a training that uses most of the senses. Meaning: seeing, hearing, touching. The learners need to experience things and be actively engaged. Of course, the training needs to cover the thinking side, but adult learners need to learn by doing things. A good training event also has to be designed to have different activities and moments. For example, it needs moments to listen and get input and ideas, moments to pause and ponder on the theory that was just presented to you, moments to experiment, and moments to recap. I want the trainer to also plan in multiple moments where they cover again the main and salient points of the training.\u00a0 For me this is essential.\u00a0 I would also say that effective training sessions need to have a certain pace and this pace changes depending on the moment.\u00a0 After lunch the trainer will increase the pace to get people moving again. Alternatively, the pace may slow down if the trainer sees that the participants aren\u2019t following what the trainer is trying to do or trying to say. \u00a0So that\u2019s what I think makes an effective training.<\/p>\n

What makes the trainer effective? I mean you yourself have worked with many trainers and you have also trained yourself, haven\u2019t you?<\/h4>\n

Well the most obvious answer would be that the trainer is the subject matter expert. She is an expert in her field and has real experience … but that isn\u2019t enough. I\u2019m going to give you a trivial example but I think everyone can relate to it. It\u2019s about my daughter. She\u2019s in high school right now and her math teacher is brilliant. He has a very brilliant mind \u2026 but he is not a pedagogue, so he is a teacher by definition but he is not a teacher through experience, and he is not patient with them. He knows his stuff, and is really smart, but he doesn\u2019t know how to convey the salient points to my daughter or his class. \u00a0When I think back to the many companies I have worked in, I have also seen similar experiences with internal training sessions ran in various topics. It could be IT related, quality management, HR or technical skills.\u00a0 Being a subject matter expert is the start but not the end.<\/p>\n

Being an expert is not enough; you also need to be an expert in pedagogy, you need to be patient and you need to be attentive to the participants and allow them to ask questions. You need also to be able to shut down any conversation that strays from the topic because it can become difficult and you can waste time and not reach your training goals. This is not good because as we know training has an agenda and you need to stay on track.<\/p>\n

Somehow a trainer also needs to be very confident and have some leadership behaviors, because she\u2019s the leader of the group for the time of the training. Finally, I think an effective trainer has to have those storytelling skills where you put theory and experience into a nice little story that illustrates the point. And is easy to understand and remember<\/p>\n

So, what I\u2019m saying is an effective trainer is somebody who<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Is a subject matter expert<\/li>\n
  2. Is a good communicator<\/li>\n
  3. Is people-oriented<\/li>\n
  4. Can lead a group<\/li>\n
  5. Has the skills needed to design training so there are the right moments at the right times<\/li>\n
  6. Has the skills to deliver the training in an engaging way and manage the pace<\/li>\n
  7. Is focused and reaches the objective set for the training<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Train-the-trainer courses can really help for both new and confident trainers \u2026 but it is my opinion that nothing really beats experience. So that\u2019s what I think makes a trainer a good trainer.<\/p>\n

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    Who is the secret L&D manager?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The \u201csecret L&D manager\u201d is actually a group of L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company \u2013 but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with their peers.<\/p>\n

    You can meet more of our secret L&D managers here \u2026<\/p>\n