Becoming a training is a great career path for anyone with a specialist skill or particular knowledge that can be shared. However, having an area of expertise is not enough to be able to train others in it. You also need the coaching, leadership and people management abilities that are vital to a successful training session.
A Training of Trainers course is designed to transform someone from a person with a specialism into a person who is a trainer in that specialism, as well as to update the skills of existing trainers.
Read the responsibilities involved with being a trainer that you will learn how to do by the end of your Training of Trainers programme.
Turning knowledge into a course content
For most trainers, the starting point in running sessions is having expertise in a particular area that could potentially be taught to others. This knowledge must be folded within an engaging and skills-building training session that the trainer can confidently and effectively bring before trainees.
Prioritising your responsibilities as a trainer
As a trainer, you will have a wide range of duties. As well as leading the training sessions themselves, you must plan them and constantly keep up with your industry in order to know what to include in sessions in the future. In addition, you must market yourself, network with businesses you can provide training to, manage expenses and keep on top of correspondence.
Of course, to do these tasks effectively and to ensure the success of your training career overall, you must know how to prioritise.
Making training session plans
A huge part of any training, teaching or coaching role is planning lessons. Trainers must know what they will teach, who their trainees are, the knowledge their trainees will leave with and the exact activities that will be conducted.
Integrating different teaching methods so as to help trainees with different learning styles
Some people learn through visual stimuli, some people learn through listening to information and some people through doing things. For training to be most successful, a session must cater to each participant’s learning style and therefore have a balance of engaging activities.
Using educational technology tools
Digital learning tools can be greatly useful to boost trainees’ understanding in a training session, especially if it is taking place virtually. Trainers can benefit from knowing which educational technology tools to use and how to use them to elevate their sessions.
Dealing with trainees with different behaviours and personalities
No two training groups are the same, and over the course of your career you will come across trainees with all different personalities and responses to your sessions. The best trainees have the most appropriate, effective ways of dealing with difficult participants to hand and can prevent sessions from being derailed.
Creating a safe and secure training environment
When leading someone or a group of people through a new skill or topic, you want them to feel comfortable and that they are free to ask any questions that will aid their understanding.
Understanding the different roles of a trainer and when to use each
A trainer’s role switches from being a leader, a lecturer, a demonstrator, an assessor, an expert and a supervisor, and they must know how and when to adopt each one.
Assessing and evaluating trainees
Training sessions may involve a method of gauging how much trainees have understood by the end or it might even have formal assessment that will see them gain a certificate. Trainers must feel confident in evaluating trainees’ new skills, planning assessments and providing feedback.
Evaluating your own training performance in order to improve on your future sessions
Evaluation does not stop at testing how much your trainees have learned. Trainers must also self-assess by reflecting on the success of their sessions, what went well in them, what went wrong in them and how they can be improved upon in the future.
Gain the competencies and understanding required to be a successful trainer by completing a Training of Trainers programme at Notting Hill College.