Saturday, July 8, 2017

The XYZ of being a trainer

Most would agree upon the ABCs of being a trainer:
A. Keep your body language and mindset positive
B. Prepare for a session as if your life depended on it
C. Execute your plan while allowing room for extemporizing

The D to W of being a trainer has many facets such as humour, storytelling, emoting, involving the audience, grooming, use of training aids etc.
That brings us to what I call the XYZ of being a trainer. These are the biggest attitude shifts that a trainer can bring to a classroom.

X: "I'm going to say something in class today that will change somebody's life for the better."

While this may not always happen, a trainer who prepares with such an expectation of oneself goes beyond meagre benchmarks. This trainer is aspiring for a lot more than delivering the lesson effectively.
A classic case of aiming for the stars so as to land on a rarefied cloud.

Y: "Address the topic as if it is ONLY topic worth knowing about."

A trainer conducting a class on, say, Improving Peer Relationships, can emphasize how leadership, empathy and the ability to belong to high-performance teams can come about by SOLELY focusing on peer relationships. When the trainer underlines the significance of the topic, the class experiences greater enthusiasm, leading to a superior learning experience. The next day, the same trainer might address a different classroom and talk about Stress Management as the most important key to living happily.
In short, the trainer is saying, "Learn this ONE thing and watch how your life improves!"

Z: "Nobody else can replicate me."

The internet is replete with content, even full-fledged presentations, pertaining to every known topic. In the age of knowledge, do people really need to attend a class to understand the WHAT and HOW of a topic? No. Audiences need to know WHY. Why this topic is important and WHY they are unable to learn and practice its concepts. The greatest responsibility of a trainer is to remove obstacles of learning from the minds of participants. Instead of teaching them how wings work, help them to fall in love with the sky.
This is where the trainer's signature style comes in. Will the trainer come up with an approach/activity/interconnection that is his/her own? Will there be a uniqueness in the content and delivery style (could be in the WHAT and HOW areas too)? Offering this freshness and energy will make all the difference.

If you agree with the XYZs I've mentioned, do tell how you enhance the X, the Y and the Z factors.
And if you want to talk about some other huge attitude shifts provided by a trainer, I'm all ears.

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