Design and develop: Choose, manage and coach your trainer

When a learning activity is designed and delivered we might choose to involve internal staff,consultants or experts. They may belong to our own organization/company or be external. They may be involved from the analysis phase of the project or be called in exclusively for the delivery of a learning activity.

However, the moment they meet the learners and start the training, they will represent the organization providing the learning experience. Thus, the trainer(s) and organization’s understanding of learning must be aligned if we want to guarantee a high-quality learning experience.

Selecting the trainer can at times pose a challenge. The points below outline some tips for managing collaboration:

• If your trainer is an internal staff member, make sure that he/she/they has a full understanding of the approach to learning the organizations has and he/she/they has tangible experience in the subject field;
• If you rely on an external consultant or expert, make sure that the professional selected is prepared not only on the subject but also on training methods;
• Open and clear communication from the outset about objectives, participants and processes;
• Provide a clear learning needs assessment and consequential learning goal;
• Agree on learning objectives and assessment indicators;
• Provide methodological guidance and make sure your trainer is up-to-date both on the content and on training methodologies.

In the case you involve an external facilitator or expert to deliver the learning activity, you need to plan on how you will ensure he/she/they has a clear understanding of the approach to learning your organizations has, of the learning objectives of the activity and the methodological approach to the delivery.

To do so you might:

• Write down guidelines over the established educational approach and share them with the external trainer or expert. Meet and discuss them together to ensure they have fully understood them.
• Require external trainers and experts to read this manual and re-adapt their session based on the guidelines provided here.
• Provide a compulsory ½ day seminar on training methodologies for experts and external trainers.
• Provide a compulsory online course for experts and external trainers on training methodologies.
• Have an internal staff with the appropriate competencies supervise and support the external expert or trainer in the course design and delivery.
• Contact an internal or external expert on training methodologies to cooperate and cofacilitate the learning activity with the expert on content.

When external experts are involved in the learning activity, make sure their role and responsibilities are clear. An expert on training methodologies should supervise the design and delivery of the learning activity if the expert on the content who has been contracted has no experience in training delivery. At the end of the day, the contracted organization is in charge of ensuring a meaningful and impactful learning activity. It is their responsibility to ensure clear methodological guidelines are provided together with capacity development opportunities for its collaborators. Remember: each person entering the training room (physically or virtually) will represent the face of the organization. Make sure your trainers can embody the quality learning your organization is proud to provide.