10 Tips on Being an Effective Trainer - By: Brian_Tracy

Ever since getting the National Achiever's Congress - Outstanding Achievement Award in 1997, I have been invited to speak and train throughout Asia. Over the years, I have trained thousands of people in numerous different platforms. While I usually receive many compliments and positive remarks, there are many occasions when I felt I could have performed better. I have since compiled many of these do's and don'ts in a template which I will share more thoroughly in this TTT program. The best thing about these techniques that I take pride in is the rate of success of the trainings that I have conducted. Over 98% of the trainings that I have conducted are successful with excellent or above average feedbacks from participants. In this article, I am going to open my thoughts about why I think that I have been able to maintain such a high rate of success for so many years. I will make a few suggestions and share a few guidelines that you may consider implementing.

1. Before any session, prepare yourself well to deliver the session - Think that the session is going to be the best on that subject in the world. Although you may get a chance to deliver a similar session elsewhere, the participants who are attending that session have only one chance to learn the lesson, and that is the session that you are going to deliver. Do not waste their only chance. They are the customers who have given you a contract, so it is your responsibility to provide the satisfaction and delight to the participants. At the end of the training, they should feel comfortable about the lesson that you trained them on.

2. Keep up with the latest trend in your chosen subject - Although it may seem unnecessary to be aware of more than what is required to deliver a session, I believe that maintaining a lead in the awareness about the latest developments happening in the subject that you are delivering, earns the respect of the participants. Spend sufficient time to be aware of allied technologies, competing technologies and their terminologies.

3. Know about the participants - Not all the participants and organizations are same. If you know about the participants that you are going to face in the session, then you can prepare yourself to address their issues and concerns. If you can take examples from their domain or past projects, it increases the enthusiasm amongst the participants. Be careful not to delve too deep as that could upset the schedule. If you do not get any idea of participants or the organization that they work for and their domain, then make 25% more preparation than you usually expect.

4. Prepare for every session - After you deliver a subject a few times, certain amount of complacency sets in. You tend to take things for granted and go to the session without preparation. This can be a fatal mistake since every session is a different session and you should prepare for the same subject with a different set of participant perspectives.

5. Set expectation about the session, right in the beginning. Every participant has some expectation from the training that they are going to attend. It is not always possible to meet those expectations. What is possible is to mould those expectations at the beginning of the session so that they are in line with what you have in scope. With these modified expectations, now the acceptance of your session will be much better.

6. Be passionate about the session delivery and visibly show that passion - Participants appreciate when they see that you are passionate about the lesson that is being trained and explained to them. You should not only be passionate about your chosen subject but also about explaining the nuances of that and also explicitly show that you are passionate. There is nothing wrong about a little stage acting and drama in the class, it makes the session lively and you get attention of most of the participants. At the same time be frank about ignorance about some topic if you have not prepared that topic. Most of the participants understand that you are also a human being and need not always know everything under the sun about a subject.

7. Involve the participants - Corporate training is not like school or tuition. It should be as participative as possible to make it interesting to the participants. Ask questions, tell stories and ask them to complete those, ask their opinion about a particular topic where they may seem to have some experience and if nothing else is possible, chat with them once in a while to keep them focused towards you. Pay attention to them. Most of the participants give non-verbal signals of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, boredom, excitement etc. Keep observing those signals and remain agile enough to modify your delivery based upon those observations.

8. Be predictable about what you speak most of the times - Maintain timeline of delivery. Explain some feature in part, give them time to think further about that feature by explaining some minor point and then tell participants what they expect. It is a human tendency that they accept words easily which they expect. If they can predict what you are about to say and then if you say those words they are satisfied with themselves and that reflects in their acceptance of you.

9. Be punctual about all activities - Whether it is arriving for session, giving a break, providing time for experiential activities etc. Do not delay anything that you 'can' do on time. If a participant starts a detailed discussion on a particular topic that may take a long time, then move the discussion off-line.

10. Undertake the assignment only when -

a. You are fully comfortable about the subject. Half cooked knowledge is not going to give satisfaction to participants.

b. You are fully fit. Do not jeopardize the entire assignment by taking it up when you are not fit enough to deliver the training. One of the reasons that you may not be fit is undertaking too many assignments in a short span. Avoid overexposing yourself to remain fit.

c. Know your environment well. If you are going to take hands-on labs but do not know the kind of hardware and software that is available in the labs, it is better to go early and familiarize yourself of that environment before the session starts.

d. You are mentally at peace with yourself, your family and the organization that you work for. If you find that difficult to achieve, learn to meditate.

I am sure that if you follow all or at the least some of these suggestions that I have made, you too will become an effective trainer.

About the Author

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement. For more information you can visit Brian Tracy's Certified Trainer or Brian Tracy International.

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