Once More For Those in the Back – Training is a Skill!
I was amused recently to see this article come across my various feeds:
In it, Jen Guisbert breaks down the timeless suggestion that anyone who knows how to do “x” can do training for it.
I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had about this over the years. Trust me, there have been a lot. I’ve watched some really brilliant people who do great work and are highly knowledgeable have terrible experiences trying to train others because they were not adept at the skills necessary to run a training class. A great many people have, through no fault of their own, not learned how to facilitate, the finer points of public speaking, or how to read students’ body language.
To be a great trainer you need to learn those things. you can get by without those things when you’re doing the work, in some cases, but for the trainer? They’d better have those skills. If your team is remote, online training is a similar, but different set of skills. If there isn’t anyone on your team with those skills, they can be learned. Start thinking about who the better speakers and presenters on your team are, and whether they could be developed into doing the training for your newer or more junior folks. Having them learn from the senior folks can be a huge benefit.
Just make sure those senior folks are capable of training them.
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