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29.01.2007
It is not about `teaching' but `enabling', and the remuneration is good, says
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INSPIRATIONAL : A trainer must bring out the best in her wards
When I meet people I have seen that their fists are closed. I don't know if it is closed to encounter an attack or is it because they have too little to give. The other day someone asked me what does it takes to become a corporate trainer? I told him that I would have liked it if he rephrased the question to what does it take to `give', to become a corporate trainer?
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For, corporate training is not about taking, it is about giving. One essential value that one needs to come up with uncompromisingly in a very absolute sense is being a `giver'. To take this route one has to have one's arms open not only to receive but also to give. It is a giver's profession. A trainer or a facilitator should be a person who has an interest in and the ability to inspire and influence others; the ability to conceptualise learning of one's own from experience and be able to present that in an easy, comprehensible, intelligible manner. And most importantly, an ability to built a rapport with those on the other side. In today's context, the discipline of training has evolved commercially, economically as well as professionally into a very distinct profession as compared to clinical physiology or psychiatry. And there is every reason to see training as a life-time profession.
And it is any day as lucrative a profession as any of the traditional ones. People have given up lucrative jobs in various industries including hospitality, real estate, travel and tourism to become trainers.
Let us first have a common understanding on what is required to become a corporate trainer.
It has nothing to do with teaching technical skills or mechanical or engineering or software development. But it has got everything to do with soft skills or behavioural competence.
It is not about teaching, it is not about telling, definitely not about yelling, it is about enabling
Yes, it is about getting into a corporate and dealing with its corrective workforce. So that is a risk, a doubled-edged sword; if you can do it, they will pay you a ransom. If you can't then you don't get the next training.
Finally, it is about being the Shepherd to those searching for light, looking for answers to their questions and in whatever way, either by showing them the way or by showing them the possible answers or giving them a few answers and helping them to choose or teaching them to go through their experience and seek their answers.
Training is not about qualities, it is about a certain sense of purpose. Does it feel right to help a person who has gone astray or about to go astray, to get a sense of direction? Does it feel right to make a difference in life of a person who is struggling to find what reality is? Does it feel right to go that extra mile to be harsh with your friend to show him what he doesn't want to see or has been shying away from, hoping that he will get to see that and move forward and not get stuck in a designed life style? If all that feels right then one is ready to be a trainer.
At this point I will make a distinction between learning and training. Training is something which goes on from a trainer to a trainer. Learning is something which happens to a trainee because of a trainer's presence.
Whether you call it training or learning facilitation, at the end of the day the most important thing is to learn to learn. Because learning happens to life, it doesn't happen in a training session or a classroom. The trainer helps increase the level of learning ability of the individual by awakening the awareness of that person to the environment.
Now it is very important to know what learning is all about. How does one learn? The different styles of learning, the different impediments to learning and about certain maturity models also which one needs to know.
The first milestone is about surrendering oneself to become a disciple to the principles and the process of the universe. Many a times they could be teachers, parents, individuals, situations, events, elders who are channels to communicate the rules of the universe. The second milestone is the sprit of enquiry. How, when, why, what, where, who... this is where a person needs a mentor or an individual to stand in as a guru or an enabling force.
The third milestone is self learning where the person applies all these principles and finds answers to his questions in his own level.
The fourth milestone is when he shares it with others with the hope that others will get benefited by his understanding of how things happens.
The fifth milestone is engagement facilitation, that is when one becomes a true trainer or a facilitator.
It is not necessary to forsake one's profession to take up training, provided a sense of purpose of making a difference unto another exists. Training is about passion. If you are serious about taking training as a profession, get associated with a training organisation. Then go through a three/four day intensive workshop on what it takes to be a successful learning facilitator or trainer. Accompany trainers for three to six months to get an idea of what it takes to become one among them. And depending on his or her learning ability, one can become a very inspiring trainer in a period of six to 12 months.
It will pay you a lucrative salary comparable to a call centre job, without the nightshift hassles.
An acknowledged trainer will get a minimum of Rs. 10,000 and it can go up to Rs. 25,000 or Rs. 30,000. There are employment opportunities in corporate offices, but you will be spending more time coordinating rather than training.
(The writer is Founder & CEO, iProdigy indraneel@iprodigy.net)
 By
Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, MARCH 1. While human resource (HR) managers in corporate
talk about "soft skills" and "interpersonal relationships," most of
them in the information technology (IT) sector work to predetermined
templates where the human factor counts for little. This could even
be the main reason for the much talked about "attrition factor"
which worries HR managers.
"I am telling corporate heads to re-humanise
their approach to their staff and start by treating them as human
beings first,'' says Indraneel Mukerjee, an HR consultant who works
beyond labels and set rules of management, which he has found do not
always work.
Productivity
He has found that most IT firms demand work out
of their staff to get projects completed and delivered on schedule
to their clients. "At least half the team leaders do not consider
the human aspect as important, and are driven by technology and the
skills required to drive technology,'' he says. One can see the
result of it all around us: burnt-out cases and employees whose lack
of work satisfaction is reflected in lower productivity.
"When new project plans are discussed formally,
most employees nod in agreement. During coffee breaks, they talk
about how fast their CV (curriculum vitae) is growing and not about
the project they have to work on,'' Mr. Mukerjee says.
Sensing change
In the age of companies having to constantly
reinvent themselves, especially those in the technology sector,
sensing approaching change helps. "We live in an uncertain
environment; few could have predicted the slump in the IT sector in
2001-02 and those flexible and human enough to respond could
survive,'' he recalls. "What can make the difference is the ability
to sense, respond and adapt to changes even as these approach.
Team leaders who spend too much trying to use
analytical skills may not respond adequately and in time,'' he has
found. Here, what can be called situational leadership comes in
handy.
Sense of involvement
It also makes sound business sense to relate to
the staff as human beings because they then develop a sense of
involvement in their work and in the organisation, he keeps telling
corporate heads. Without a sense of involvement and pride in their
work, morale and productivity drop.
It is also necessary that employees enjoy their
work. Since no two members of a team, small or big, may be exactly
alike, responding to them as individuals matters in the long-term
interest of an organisation. "This often comes as an intuition born
out of experience, and cannot really be taught in any B-school,'' he
adds.
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