6 Mistakes to Avoid as a Training Organization Manager
As a training manager, getting lost in creating the training program and forgetting the small yet crucial things is easy. Such mistakes often affect the expected outcome from the training delivered.
Nevertheless, these mistakes can be easily rectified or avoided. Some of the most common mistakes are:
- Lecturing and Other Boring Techniques
By now, most educators and trainers have realized that lecturing a large group of people is ineffective. This is because the attention span of this generation is significantly less, and frankly, monotonous talking for a long duration is boring.
Therefore, as a trainer, you must make the content and training interactive.
This can be done by creating interactive slides and making the training a conversation rather than just the trainer talking. The more creative you are with your delivery, the better will be the result of your training.
- Ignoring the Importance of Feedback
Training can be tiring, but it is crucial for you as the trainer to give and receive feedback. This caters to the needs of the trainees. By helping them understand and engage with your content more, they get the true value.
Giving feedback lets people know the importance of what they are learning. When you receive feedback, you also learn more about teaching and what works and doesn’t.
The best way to work with feedback is in person and during the training. However, feedback surveys and forms work similarly.
- Failing to Make Inclusive or Personalized Plans
Standard training methods and modules can be tempting when multiple training programs are lined up. However, these are not beneficial at all. This is because people have different ways of understanding, processing information and learning.
When you make training syllabuses per the needs of your hirers or the company and its employees, you maximize your and their productivity.
Your training should cater to a diverse set of people from different cultural backgrounds and all types of visual or auditory learners. By researching more on the requirements of your audience you can ensure your success as a trainer and deliver better.
- Not Updating Your Resources
This is a follow-up to the previous point. There has to be a point when you stop using the old tricks in your bag and whip out some new ones.
In a digital age, it is paramount that your training resources are not outdated. Exploit the newest technology, software and techniques to share with your trainees. This helps them stay engaged and fuels their curiosity about modern ways.
This doesn’t mean throwing away your old content. Improve your training materials by correlating them to the new age. Training resource solutions can help you simplify your content and keep it relevant with the changing times.
The ultimate goal is to build in-house capacity and collaboration amongst new and old workers.
- Not Focusing on the Practical Aspects
Most trainers deliver the theory but forget to explain its application. This is common when the skills being taught are more lifestyle based, such as time management, planning, leadership, organization, etc.
Using creative activities and approaches, you must demonstrate how the training can be applied in real-life scenarios.
- Skipping Pre and Post-Training Checks
Pre-training and post-training checks are crucial parts of practical training that are often neglected.
Pre-training preparation includes checking your delivery, syllabus and all other requirements. For example, it shouldn’t be that you have to train teenage volunteers and your vernacular or method is too complex.
Similarly, it is vital to open the floor for clarifications and questions after giving the training. Such discussions can also be from your side to ensure your audience understands you.
Yet, the most critical post-training check is checking the result of what you taught bi-annually or so. By studying the outcome of your training, you can understand what is missing or working about your program and build on your work as a trainer.
Conclusion
A trainer is no different from an educator, yet there’s one differentiating point: trainers enforce practical learning and educators more theory.
Therefore, avoiding the common mistakes discussed above can ensure you don’t fail in delivering the aimed learning.
Naturally, you will not always be able to avoid errors, but keeping up with guides such as these will ensure you make them less often.
