Week 94: Successful Trainer

There cannot be a single answer to the question ‘ What makes one a successful trainer’?

It is the result of the sum total of many. It is the sum total of knowledge, wisdom, maturity, hard work, commitment, dedication, passion, reflection, precision, knowing the value of time, cause and effect and many more.

Many do not reach the benchmark due to some of the following reasons:-

Absence of strategy and hard work

Either there is only hard work without there being strategy. Or, there is only strategy without there being any hard work following the strategy. Many imagine doing many things in order to be very successful trainers, but fail to plan. At times they plan, but do not follow up with the plan.

One of the ways to get over this is to form a group. Have a plan designed together. Work on it. Meet each other and reflect on what is done and what is not done and why? 

Answerability and accountability are two factors which would make an individual stick on to the strategy and work hard on anything.

Raising the level of performance

After a set of training programs, by and large, many trainers start getting a feeling “this is all -that is about training, and nothing more.” The same routine statements, the old slides, very same examples, very same role plays.. standing, sitting, moving in the very same manner in every training …may not work in every training atmosphere. Unless the level of each of the training programs is raised by the conscious efforts of the trainer, neither the training becomes successful nor the trainer. In order to achieve this, the trainer has to constantly work on raising his/her level of performance. A Trainer might have been a resource person for a highly educated group of trainees, and might have been appreciated by many eminent personalities, yet he/she has to introspect and work on individual shortcomings. 

The level of performance can be constantly kept raising if and only if the trainer stops being carried away by the external appreciations and works hard based on the answers one gets to one’s own honest introspection. One has to take action on trimming every part of performance. A wholesome presentation being remarkable is something. But each bit of the entire presentation remaining remarkable is entirely different. Pondering as to why that ‘small bit’ in the entire presentation was not appealable should be the attitude of a trainer. It is value for money, time and energy for the trainees. Trainers are accountable for every minute of time, money and energy, trainees have invested. Trainees look forward to good returns on their precious investments. Trainers cannot shirk away from their responsibility.

Time Factor 

Working on oneself requires a lot of time. That “time” is not something available to any one in a single slot, or even if it is available, can be spent in one single slot. Successful trainers will not have the luxury of overspending their “me time” callously. In order to cut short on spending more time coupled with stress and tension on a given day in the future, it is desirable that, trainer makes use of small bits of time in working on each bit of the training regularly on a day to day basis. 

Example

Five minutes’ slot can be used to think about :-

Which story I can tell while speaking about integrative bargaining?

How do I give pre pre-briefing in the role play “Mr.X Vs W Company?”

When three minutes’ time is left, which funny and meaningful story do I share with the group?

Am I tolerating my flaws or improving them? 

James Clear
Author, Atomic Habits

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(All Copyrights reserved by the author S.Susheela)