Training the Trainer and holidays – how does it link?  I am one lucky bunny as this Thursday I head to Croatia for 10 sunny days exploring Dubrovnik and tanning on the beach. I cannot wait, but there is a lot to prepare for before I go and I don’t just mean packing.

Leaving Cullen Scholefield for 10 days means that many of the jobs I do might not get done, so I need to make sure that my lovely colleagues are trained up to cover these roles so that it appears to the outside world that I never left.

The most important job that I don’t want to be neglected is this blog, so for the past few weeks I have trained Gina in my blog preparation so that she is ready to get it out to all of our readers whilst I am gone.  As I am typing I realise that when you will be reading this I will already be gone, so this blog has successfully been brought to you by Gina.

I started training Gina 3 weeks ago and she has learnt this new skill as a result of 3 training sessions. It is even better however, for your business and for your colleagues if you are able to train successfully.

You might think that this is up to the trainee whether they retain the information or not, but this is not necessarily true. There are methods of training which ensure efficiency and retention.

Cullen Scholefield has a long history of training trainers and our consultants are experts on the subject.
Recently the team here have been refreshing their skills on training in preparation for the summer.  We know that all of us will be out of the office for a time throughout the coming months and we’re avoiding the panic by getting our training skills up to scratch! Last night we had our practice session where I taught everyone to make proper coffee and Laurane, our French intern was taught how to polish men’s shoes. That is something she didn’t know she’d learn when she came here…

Tonight the rest of the team will be training in more work related topics so think of them and keep your fingers crossed that they can put in place the tips below:

•  Establish how much knowledge the trainee already has

It is important to be flexible with your approach. If you’re teaching someone how to upload a post in WordPress and they are already use Blogspot, then they will already be familiar with a lot of the processes and will be frustrated by very simple instructions. You need to be prepared to adapt your approach depending on the trainee’s experience and knowledge.

•  Hook them in! Why do they want to learn?

If you are teaching someone a tedious task that you find laborious and you make this obvious throughout the training session, then your trainee will be disengaged. Even if you find the task boring, you are doing it for a reason. Find a positive way to encourage your trainee that the task is worthwhile and that they will benefit from learning it.

•  Ask them questions throughout the training

Always ask questions. Why is this important? What do you think is the best way to tackle this step? How are you going to get from step A to step B?  By asking questions throughout the training, you are keeping you trainee engaged, you are making them think and you are keeping them awake! It will also help you see where they are struggling and help keep your training process flexible.

•  Always check that your trainee can do the task unaided

This goes back to the old military saying

• I will tell you what I am going to say
• Then I will tell you and
• Then I will tell you what I have told you!

It is a classic 3 part structure.  The check at the end being your way of validating your training – can your trainee do it totally unaided.

If you want to read more about this and the programmes we offer then visit our website.

One to one training skills

Group training skills 

Facilitation skills

Presentation skills 

To find out more visit the pages above and maybe book a session?  Your summer will become much more relaxed when you’re not worried about covering everyone’s work when the go on holiday!