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FOR THE NEW TRAINER
The Train the Trainer approach has expanded its reach into many contexts, including
laboratories, schools, hospitals and the corporate world. Its breadth speaks to its intuitive
design and ease of adoption, as Train the Trainer simply involves "initially training a
person or people who, in turn, train other people at their home agency," according to a
report by the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. In other words, one
subject-matter expert shares his or her expertise with a group of trainers from your
organization. This group then uses this information to instruct others.
There are a huge number of benefits to this model of training instructors. Instead of relying
on one individual to go through a lengthy training process, you can build a team of
instructors and enablers so your training initiatives can be accomplished in a shorter
amount of time. At the same time, you're giving your enablers tools concerning not only
what to teach, but how to teach. Per an article posted to the Houston
Chronicle, "Instructors learn to lead discussions, listen effectively, make accurate
observations and help participants to link training to their jobs. They learn to maintain eye
contact, maintain a positive attitude, speak in a clear voice, gesture appropriately, and
maintain interest and dispel confusion."
Thus, the main tenets behind Train the Trainer are twofold: First, you can spread
knowledge more efficiently among your staff. Second, you can capitalize on the teaching
tactics that help people retain information quickly.
Even with its intuitive method, however, there are certain things to keep in mind when
using the Train the Trainer approach.
#1: Choose the right individuals to be trained
Train the Trainer allows you to address a larger number of employees while staying in
budget. More teachers can translate to less money spent on travel, since employees can
all learn from someone in their local network. Further, having multiple trainers enables
you to initiate multiple learning tracks or classes going on at the same time, accelerating
the completion of the objective overall.
In order for this to work, however, you need to choose your champions according to more
than just their location. As you're reading this, you're probably thinking of certain people
who carry some authority among your staff. If you have the time, consider your
employees' backgrounds, especially whether anyone has teaching experience or is
practiced at leading meetings. Think outside the box as well; even a skill such as
organizing events can be beneficial, especially when you're asking someone to develop
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