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| Image by Manfred Steger from Pixabay |
Recently, I was researching some academic papers on effective "Train-the-Trainer" models, and this statement from one of the papers stopped me in my tracks:
"Though individuals can be taught teaching techniques, not everyone is able to teach."
YES! 'Knowing' something isn’t the same as being able to 'teach' it and as Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J Keeps famously put it: “Telling Ain’t Training.”
The real work of training lies beyond knowing and telling.
Teaching and training involves way more than subject matter expertise. It demands empathy, patience, curiosity, inspiration and listening. While it may seem counterintuitive, I have found that most training is about listening rather than talking, and this also means listening for what's not always said!
Training is about recognizing who is in the room, including their prior learning, experiences, interests, motivations, biases, and assumptions.
I've been doing this for over 25 years but before I step into any 'training' room and while I am in it, I ask myself:
- How do I check my assumptions about “what good learning looks like”?
- How do I challenge my biases about language, culture, confidence, or professionalism?
- How do I simplify something without dumbing it down?
- How do I resist the urge to talk too much when silence might work better?
- How do I stay present and flexible instead of always sticking to my plan?
- How do I resist giving answers and hold spaces for others’ growth?
- How do I help people lean into their own voice?
- How do I make it less about the showcase of my content knowledge and more about the facilitation of their learning?
And while I will continue to design Train-the-Trainer programs and frameworks that are about structure, tools, and approaches, what I truly want to nurture is to:
Help trainers make the shift from knowledge holders to learning facilitators
It’s a nuanced shift and a hard one to capture in a conceptual framework.
So, let me ask you. What makes someone a good trainer? Is it something we can teach or something we need to nurture?
#Trainers #TrainTheTrainers #TellingAintTeaching #Training #Facilitating #EffectiveTraining
