As a sector the gap between training need and halfway decent trainers to deliver it has never been greater . This has serious implications for any expansion of services or enhanced delivery . The days when there were so many trainers out there that they had their own supplement in DDN are long gone .
a backdrop of strike chaos , it ’ s neither easy nor straightforward . Economic downturns and COVID meant that a fair few freelancers couldn ’ t adapt their offering and dropped out .
I ’ ve been relatively lucky . There ’ s a cohort of purchasers with whom I have worked for a number of years , whose support during lockdown was invaluable . It was mutually beneficial – we kept each other going through lockdown and we ’ re still there for each other on the other side . Now however , there are lots of people getting in touch , desperate for training with unspent budgets to spend and desperately looking for trainers with capacity .
TRAINING MATTERS Training matters so much to organisations – now probably more than ever . It ’ s a shame that for too many organisations it ’ s been relegated to a video , an online pack or being directed to some TED talks . The people you recruited deserve better and the people that you provide services to need more .
Sooner rather than later
Earlier purchasing of training is more likely achieve successful outcomes and a more organised process
1 . Ask around about trainers . They ’ re not all the same and availability does not equal quality . It ’ s a false economy to run bad training – it takes staff away from their roles and you need to repeat the training later on . Buy good training first time .
2 . Ensure your staff know you are valuing them by getting good training . And invest in the event . A cluttered messy room , knackered projector , no biscuits and a lack of flipchart says you don ’ t care about the training – so why should participants ?
3 . It ’ s not face-to-face or online It ’ s a mix of both , and hybrid courses where required . Some courses run best face-to-face ( such as safer injecting courses ) and others can happily run online ( like our drugs and the law course ).
4 . Plan for the next two years NOW Yes , I know you need your staff trained next month but we should have started this conversation last year . Develop a training programme across the team , discuss it with your trainer ( s ) and schedule it now for this year and next year . Then you know you have the dates you will need .
5 Use a balance of in-house and external training For all your internal processes and inductionrelated training , in-house courses are the best . But be careful of using in-house courses for everything . External trainers are the butterflies of the sector . We flit from service to service , learning about what ’ s going on and crosspollinating ideas . And that external perspective can add huge value – we can see the gaps you ’ ve stopped seeing .
6 . You shouldn ’ t just be getting the training It ’ s the discussion before , the engagement with participants during and after the course , the resources and all the other elements that give the session life beyond the six hours of the actual session .
7 . Whenever you can , get training to take place off-site . When training takes place in the project group workroom , staff inevitably get drawn back to their desks at lunchtime or pulled away to take calls or see clients . This detracts from their ability to immerse themselves in training .
8 . There are some good trainers and some mediocre ones There are also a few that shouldn ’ t be allowed near a flipchart . Find the good ones . Build a relationship . Don ’ t treat them just as hired help . They will get to know your organisation , your staff and your issues . They can help you with these issues more than you realise . And the good trainers can choose who they work with .
9 . Invest in your future trainers now ! Few posts have a training component built in . It ’ s a useful tool in its own right . Training is communication and it helps workers in group work , in presenting to colleagues and partner organisations , and in their career development . Take the workers with a passion for their jobs . Enhance their training skills . And they will become the next generation of amazing trainers to maintain skills in the sector for the next 20 years .
Kevin Flemen runs the drugs training service KFx ( www . kfx . org . uk ). He ’ s booked up a fair way into the future but you can email him at kevin @ kfx . org . uk . He occasionally tweets @ kfx news .
WWW . DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS . COM MARCH 2023 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • 17