July 25, 2008
What Do Trainers Do When They are Not Training?
In the new corporate environments where everyone wears more than one hat, trainers are commonly liable for a myriad of duties beyond neutral facilitating new training classes. Their job is often that of maintenance, it guru, subject matter expert, coach, instructional originator, and copy clerk. There is an incredible amount of effort that has to happen for a training event to happen. Let’s look a little closer at the process.
Training starts with a new tool/ unique behavior or a imaginative policy. The training team is brought in at the development stage to work as a subject matter whiz. They may be asked to do a needs analysis to identify what skills or behaviors will need to be experienced or changed. They may also be engaged in the instructional design, so they need to see the project from the turf up. Training is called upon to represent what they imagine the client responses or questions may be and help the developers prepare to answer those questions.