Companies are increasingly appreciating the importance of training and development, and trainers obviously play a key role in these training and development efforts. Training can come from a dedicated training department, which many companies utilize.
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At the same time, some organizations feel that the best source of training is the experienced experts performing the actual work on a day-to-day basis. In other words, instead of a professional trainer training a new project manager, have an experienced project manager provide the training.
But training itself requires certain skills beyond simple proficiency in the subject of the training. The best project manager in a company might be a lousy teacher. So what does it take to be an effective teacher or trainer? Here, we discuss a few key characteristics.
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is particularly important for trainers to have. Training sessions can often seem monotonous and boring, so the energy and enthusiasm trainers bring to their jobs can get trainees excited and help maintain their interest and attention.
By contrast, a trainer who is clearly just going through the motions is likely to have minimal impact on trainees—and on the training itself.
Communication
Training is all about communication; it’s one or more people communicating knowledge, skills, and processes to others. Part of effective communication is recognizing when a message is being received effectively and when it isn’t.
Good trainers can perceive when they aren’t getting through to an audience and can adjust the training approach to communicate more effectively.
Flexibility
There are many different learning styles, so what works for some employees may not work for others. Additionally, the skills required of trainees may change frequently depending on market and industry changes and shifting company priorities. So, trainers need to be flexible in their approaches and their lesson plans.
Just because an employee is great at his or her job doesn’t mean he or she will be great at training others to do the same work. By the same token, an employee who is only average or even poor at his or her job might end up being effective at training others to perform that job. When looking for effective trainers, the key is to identify individuals who exhibit the skills discussed above.