Please forgive me for bursting some bubbles here.
There are lots of folks who have given a presentation at some point in their career and at the end everyone told them what a great job they did…so they assume they’re now a “trainer”. Unfortunately, they don’t know the first thing about training. In actuality, they’re a person with good platform skills.
Don’t get me wrong. The world needs people with good platform skills. There’s nothing more painful that listening to a presentation with so many ‘ums’ and ‘okays’ that text betting starts on how many will be uttered by the end of the presentation. People with good platform skills help us listen better and encourage interaction necessary for learning to take place.
Training is about more than delivery. It’s a professional discipline.
Before someone can stand in front of a group of people, there needs to be some dedicated thought about the composition of the audience, the goals and objectives of the presentation, the learning content and the means to measure comprehension. I’ve seen people who don’t prepare for a session because they rely too heavily on their platform skills. Were their sessions successful? I guess that depends on what you call successful. If participants leave the room saying it was great … but can’t remember what it was about … then I’m not sure the presenter hit the mark.
There are organizations like ASTD, ISPI and the OD Network committed to training and the inter-related disciplines of human performance improvement (HPI) and organizational development (OD). There’s even a training-related certification called the CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning Performance) that demonstrates mastery of learning performance.
So, the next time someone tells you they are a trainer, make sure they have the stripes to back it up.
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RMSmithJr.SPHR says
As an Air Force Senior Master Sergeant, I had seven stripes when I went onto the platform at the Air Force Senior NCO Academy. They had a great qualification program for those who chose to get on the platform and present in front of several hundred of their peers. (aka overcoming the fear of the peer)
Great words that all presenters need to read and heed before they step forward and step up.
Scott Verrette says
I entirely agree with the points made regarding the difference between good platform skills and actual training expertise. The one thing I would add when conducting training within an organization is that there are many factors beyond the control of the trainer despite his/her best efforts at understanding the audience and clarifying the desired learning goals.
It’s critical that a trainer truly understand the culture of the client organization and whether the subject matter being presented and knowledge being acquired by the attendees will be valued, supported and reinforced back on the job. I’ve had a number of instances where the training I was asked to conduct really was a mismatch for the culture and values of the organization and consequently, although the attendees personally found value in the subject matter, the overall ratings for the training were good rather than great due to the inapplicability factor.
Obviously, the situation will be somewhat different when conducting a public training for an audience comprised of individuals from different organizations; nevertheless, it’s always important to make an effort to understand the culture of the various organizations represented. In fact, that can be an interesting conversation to kick off the training session and/or to wrap-up the training session.
Sharlyn Lauby says
@RMS – Nice comment. Thanks for sharing. BTW – love the Insider piece in HR Magazine!
@Scott – Totally agree. Sometimes it’s tough to convince a stakeholder that the assessment needs to be done when they have made up their mind what the problem is. I heard a super session at the ASTD International Conference last year dealing with that exact issue. Here’s a link to the article if you’re interested in checking it out.
http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2011/06/24/astd2011-how-sears-optical-reinvented-its-corporate-culture/