Week 32: Do not wait for the D-Day

As a trainer one has to be “Prescient”. Trainer should have foresight and reasonable knowledge of things or events before they exist or happen.

Imagine yourself in this situation:

Situation – One

You and your co-trainer have prepared to go to a remote place in some other State to conduct 40 hours’ training program in mediation. On your way, your co-trainer gets a message that there is a family emergency and he has to return immediately. Your co-trainer gets back to his hometown. On reaching your room you realize that in your anxiety, you have left one bag with all the training material, laptop etc. in the train itself, and that the train has moved on, and it is impossible for you to get the materials in another 3-4 days’ time. Now, all alone, you have to handle all the sessions and topics.

‘ Are you ready for this take?’

Let us assume ‘you are not’.

Situation -Two

Let us assume another trainer in your place, who gets down from the train just 45 minutes before the training. Gets ready and walks into the training program as fresh as a morning rose, as cool as a cucumber. No anxiety is reflected on his face. Tiredness due to an overnight’s tedious journey and disturbance due to loss of materials and laptop are not at all reflected on his face.

Said trainer takes the stage with full confidence. Takes session after session effortlessly. Every topic and subtopics are dealt with clarity. Sessions are broken down into several segments. Sessions are designed then and there. Different methods are adapted by the trainer to keep the attention of the trainees thoroughly focused. Theory and practical aspects are neatly merged so that the trainees do not feel that the same trainer is holding the session from morning till evening on all the five days. Role plays  are created then and there and participants are given complete clarity on what is expected from them. Trainer never uses a single piece of paper for reference. Everything comes from his heart. He gets connected to the participants very easily, commands their respect because of his knowledge and training techniques.      

‘Are you the one? ‘

Expectations from the trainer

Trainer has to be prepared to handle any topic, any session and any situation at any point of time. “I am not prepared, I can’t do it now, I need some more time, I am not comfortable with this topic. I can’t do it as I am expected to do. I can do only this and this but not that and that” are all not the statements to be made by a trainer.

Some tips

1. Spend quality time in “knowing what you do not know”.
2. Work on every topic and sub-topics to be covered, until you feel confident .
3. Trainer’s kit is a trainer’s “Treasure Island”. Keep everything ready in it.
4. Keep all the notes, on every topic, sub topics, prepared.
5. Keep all the role plays , simulation exercises, hand out materials in the kit.
6. Store all the materials in a pen drive, in addition to the same being loaded in your laptop.
7. Send the materials by mail to your own mail ID, so that you can have access to it any time from anywhere.
8. Send the required materials in advance to the training center for needful.
9. Make a group of 4 or 5 trainers. Give presentation to the team members on each topic. Do not refer to any notes, or slides etc. See how you can bring case history, exercises, role plays etc. on the training stage and weave these in to the learning process.  
10. Get feedback from the team members.  
11. Request other members of the team to take a session one after the other on the same subject.
12. Compare. Be receptive to healthy criticism and move towards mastery.

Major mistakes

1. Coming back from a training program, putting the training kit on a rack, picking it up on the day before the next training and walking into the training hall and conduct the session with a delusion that ‘I know it all and I can handle it.’
2. Not trying to get mastery over the subject, irrespective of whether your next training session is going to be during the next week, next year or after five years.
3. Procrastinating – Postponing preparation till the next assignment as a trainer is received by you.

“At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path”

George Leonard
(American Writer known for the ‘Human Potential Movement’)

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(All copy rights reserved by the author S.Susheela)