Dear Colleagues,

It is possible to be more effective for a technical trainer if and only if one is ready to accept the truth that being a Subject Matter Expert (SME) does not make him a good trainer. In any training program, content is important but good content alone is not enough. One needs to know how to present the content in a manner that is acceptable to different types of audience.

That brings in a very important dimension of varying perceptions and judgments of a wide range of participants and the fact is that all are different. ‘One size fits all’ approach does not work in training and the ultimate truth that a technical trainer has no choice but to realize.

So it is absolutely essential that a technical trainer gains an insight into learning styles and learning behavior of one’s participants. One needs to train oneself in participant behavior observation and analysis and be so much more flexible in order to adapt to needs of the participants. Everyone needs to train in order to be more effective in their respective assignments and technical trainers are no exception.

Incidentally organizations lose heavily in terms of money and time by letting highly paid technical trainers do a shoddy job just because they fail to see the importance of training the trainers first before they are put on the centre stage. So the watch word in training and HR circles is that one needs to train the trainers adequately for them to be more effective on the job.

Train them to help them train others better !! What do you think ??

Regards

Anuj Jain

I have been working on a project to develop a program to “raise the bar” for SMEs and improve the overall experience of the learner. My SMEs tend to brain dump on the learner which overwhelms them in a hurry. This need to train SME trainers is driven by empirical evidence found in our program evaluation.

However, the problem I see is that of influencing Manager’s and Directors that this is important and worthy of investment. I have to pry the SME loose of billable hours which don’t always sit well with the Managers and Directors. Nor does it sit well with the potential student in that his billable hours are subject to bonuses.

How do I get my cheerleaders aligned with my objectives? How do I get the “powers that be” to invest in this far sighted goal and back this project? I see the ROI occurring after the knowledge of adult learning is transferred and implemented into the SME’s daily life and training schedule then passed on to the SME clients. Not so easy to measure, is it?

Jim

Thank you for sharing your concerns. To involve in a project to raise the bar of the SME - Subject Matter Experts is laudable indeed. I also fully appreciate your main challenge in getting the Managers / Directors to look at training the technical trainers or SME's as an investment to improve performance and productivity.

Most SME's are very strong in their IQ - Intelligence Quotient. But not all of them are strong in EQ - Emotional Quotient. Today in a world of emotional poverty, it is necessary for behavioural experts like us to play the key role in enhancing the emotional literacy.

An SME will be much more effective when he / she is able to understand the emotional dimensions that play a vital part in the learning process. For a holistic learning to take place it is key to able to balance both IQ and EQ aspects. Like Dr Howard Gardner has put forth his theory of Multiple Intelligence, in which it is clear that all of us have a dominant intelligence and when rightly tapped, we can learn virtually anything with ease. This is true since all intelligence is connected. So an SME needs to realise that it is not always possible to train in only one way. The SME has to learn and understand varying dimensions of learner's behaviour and accordingly adapt one's trainig methodology.

Trust this info throws light.

Regards

Sanjay Mewar