Citation
Sayers, P. (2009), "Trainers Workshop Series Bundle", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 285-288. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850910974839
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
This set of workbooks has a common format and is designed for training and development practitioners who want the plans and materials for training activities in one or more of the previously mentioned topics. They contain more or less everything you need. One of the titles even gives you a suggested layout for the training room and where to put the refreshments.
Each book comes with a CD on which all the powerpoint slides, handouts, worksheets, etc. are also available, so you can produce your own copies for your own course.
One of the nice touches too, is to recognise that the time you have for any particular training course is as much a question of organisational politics (i.e. how much time the organisation is prepared to give to any particular training event) as much as it is a question of how much time the good trainer feels is necessary. The Leadership Training book, for example, comes with programmes and materials for an hour's preview, a half‐day course, a one‐day course and a two‐day course.
The common format for each of these packages (book + CD) includes:
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an introduction, the length of which varies depending on the extent to which the trainer would need to be forearmed with a detailed rationale to persuade senior management of the benefits of training in this area;
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how to identify needs (individual and organisational);
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how to evaluate the training, once delivered (it is useful, of course, to be thinking of this before getting into the detail of programmes and materials);
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how adults learn – and hence how best to facilitate the training;
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the minute‐by‐minute plan for a course – most of the books have detailed schedules for a one‐day and two‐day version of the training;
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the powerpoint slides, and other materials, etc. – these are described as “handouts, assessments, training instruments and tools”. I am not familiar with the difference between an instrument and a tool in this context. A “tool” appears to be a handout with information or a case study or it, whereas an “instrument” appears to be a worksheet or proforma which the participant fills in during the course of the training. At this point I should probably add that, although these books have been edited to cater for a UK, most, if not all, are written by American authors, and at times this shows; and
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There is also a section on “how to use the CD”. You will be relieved to hear that the CDs do not include a file telling you how to read the book. There is a danger that too much attention to detail starts to trigger an “I'm being patronised” response in the more experienced trainer, though, in fairness, that is not who these books are primarily designed for.
The detailed programmes include not only timings (some of which require an 8 a.m. start) but also icons in the margin telling you when to use the powerpoint slides, when there is a handout or tool to be used, and when there is an interactive learning activity. The icon for a “key point” is a magnifying glass and the icon for a learning activity is a group of four young people standing in a line waving their outstretched arms to the left. It certainly catches your attention when reading the programme, but whether it communicates the appropriate image for the planned activity is another matter. There is also an icon for “what to do next” i.e. what you might suggest to the participants they do after the course to continue their learning and reflection on the content.
If what you want is a detailed course plan where nearly all the thinking and preparation is done for you, and all the materials are there, ready designed, and in the form of easily printed Microsoft office or Adobe pdf files, then these packages are going to be a godsend. For those who are primarily active learners, whose slogan is “If all else fails, read the instructions” then these books offer something to turn to if your first attempt has scope for improvement, or if you would like a quick overview of an existing package before (re)designing your own.
Looking at the individual titles in this series, it is more likely that the experienced trainer already has some idea of how to do induction training, but really would welcome some ideas on how to help others lead change.
New employee orientation training
The advantage of this book + CD is that it is induction training that many inexperienced trainers are asked to take charge of early in the careers. A detailed exposition on how to do it, what to include together with powerpoints and handouts will be incredibly reassuring. The problem, of course, is that organisations are so different from one another, that a generic package may not fit your organisation. This book will help you think through what is best, and what is acceptable for your organisation, and may well give you most of what you need in terms of slides and materials. There are chapters on induction to the whole organisation, and also on departmental induction. Particularly useful, is the section on delivering distance orientation – what to advise the supervisor at a distant site to cover to ensure that a new employee is properly inducted there.
New supervisor training
This book recognises that flexibility of format is the key requirement. Supervisors may need training as individuals, especially in smaller organisations, and the organisation may prefer anything from an intensive course of several days duration to a series of one or two‐hour sessions spread over several weeks. The materials here are arranged as separate themes: competencies for new supervisors, an action plan for self‐improvement, fundamentals of delegation, motivation, coaching skills, and leadership. The book starts with the top ten mistakes made by new supervisors and then takes the trainer through the best way to overcome these. It recognises that a training course is not going to be the only or complete answer, and that ongoing individual coaching and support will also be required. There is a section on principles of adult learning and their implications for training design, particularly important in this area of work, as new supervisors often believe they need the information, whereas they learn most from team exercises and other activities that develop interpersonal and communication skills.
Customer service training
This is probably the most obviously American of the five books in the series reviewed here. The book has two target groups – customer service training for front line staff and customer service training for executives and supervisors. The first will introduce you to the “fantastic service equation” and the choice of a one‐day, half‐day and even a one‐hour programme, depending on how much time the organisation is prepared to give to this topic. Each has its own set of slides designed to fit the available time. Readers are introduced to the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation – this being one of the most important training topics to demonstrate organisational impact. The second half offers a rationale and further training activities for executives and supervisors which you can draw on to add the topic of customer service to other training programmes. It does not offer a specific programme for leaders on customer service. Much of the content is designed to give trainers the necessary arguments to convince leaders that they need to be part of a customer service training initiative. There is an additional set of activities on dealing with customer feedback.
Leadership training
On the cover of this book is a picture of a number of men tightrope walking between tall buildings. I am not sure whether the inference is that these are leaders undergoing training or whether they represent the trainers trying to deliver leadership programmes. The challenge of this book are the assumptions it is bound to make about leadership development as the bulk of space is taken up with programme plans and materials. “This workbook focuses on leadership for everyone”, the introduction proudly declares, followed by a list of ten leadership competencies. Self‐awareness, resilience, interpersonal and relationship skills, communication skills, employee development (coaching and motivating), customer orientation, strategic business acumen, project leadership, creating and actualising vision, and managing change. Each of these probably warrants a course of its own, so the choice of programmes presented here (one‐hour, half‐day, one‐day or two‐day) are only going to be introductions to the topic of leadership. The section in this book on How People Learn goes a bit further than in previous titles, introducing readers to the Learner First approach which you remember by the mnemonic ALOESME=accelerated learning offers everyone something magically exciting. In all a good starting point for the trainer wishing to develop leadership in their organisation, but I suspect that there is a lot more to leadership development than can be covered in the programmes presented here.
Leading change training
Of the books reviewed here, this is in many ways the most satisfying for the experienced trainer. The topic is one of the most challenging for the training and development profession, and this topic is also the right size for a package (book + CD) of this type. The programmes presented – a two hour executive briefing on change, followed by a one‐day or half‐day “Leading change workshop” for managers and supervisors, with a subsequent half day follow‐up workshop – seems to deal well and thoroughly with the topic. There is also a programme and materials for a follow‐up workshop for employees. One of the powerpoint slides has the slogan “Change is inevitable, growth is optional” in very large letters. This follow‐up workshop addresses the thorny issue of resistance to change, how to understand it, and how to respond to it. The chapter on evaluation adds a section on ”Return on Investment” to the familiar Kirkpatrick model. That might also have been welcome in the book on customer service training. The authors recognise that change management is essentially emotional, and hence that leading change is about helping staff with their emotional responses to whatever change is being proposed and/or implemented.
The “Tips for trainers” in this book capture the essence of what this Pergamon Trainer's Workshop Series is all about:
Designing and delivering top‐notch training programmes involve blending these suggested workshop agendas, handouts, training instruments, tools and PowerPoint slides with your own insights, experience and knowledge. Read and reread Chapter 2 (how organisational change affects us) for a broad overview of the change model and process presented in this workbook. The content of this chapter is the very heart of every training programme.
In all, an interesting and thought provoking set of materials, something for both the new trainer starting their career, with topics more likely to be given to the less experienced among us, but also something for the more experienced trainer, with topics that present all of us with a challenge when it comes to designing programmes and materials.