What are some of the skills or competencies that you need to be an effective employee trainer?

A few of my personal favorites that I apply to this day: ? Active Listening. The feedback shared during a training session is incredibly valuable, as you can see first-hand information on your content. We often find that certain methods of delivery and approaches we think would work for a training session do not. If you actively listen to your audience, you will have the chance to further improve and polish your training. At the end of the day, you build your training for your audience, not yourself. ? Visual Communication. This might be a straightforward one, but use visuals to highlight a point and tell a story effectively. The is audience more likely to retain the concepts and remember them for longer.

"Clear is kind." At the end of it all, it's as simple as that. People cannot learn effectively if you're not clear with how you communicate your learning objectives and content.

I believe the key to effective communication in training (and overall), starts with knowing your audience, where they are now with their knowledge, and what they need to gain to enhance their performance. That starts with effective communication BEFORE the training happens. In my experience, companies often identify training as a solution to issues that are not necessarily resolvable with the training they insist is needed. For example, is production down because team members don't understand a new product, or for another reason, such as how they are expected to implement it? Since effective training communication requires meeting the audience where they are to move them forward, understanding their actual training needs must come first.

Understanding your audience and adapting your delivery to appeal to their needs is crucial. An effective trainer (or facilitator) understands that their conversation with their audience must provide depth and simplicity at the same time. Active Listening (looking for verbal and non-verbal responses) is essential to know if your audience is engaged. Thoughtful and strategic questions open up the conversation to see how your audience is tracking and exploring how they are thinking critically about what they are learning and how they can apply it to their day-to-day.

This overlooked skill is the true differentiator with the training field. So many people think they are great trainers because they are proficient facilitators or presenters. Solid instructional design with the learner in mind is the key to the best training effectiveness. IDs have been educated in the fine art of adult learning. It is a true profession, not a side hustle. The tried but true ADDIE model (analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate) continues to be the standard for effective training. Each one of those areas is a class itself. Instructional designers deserve much more gratitude and recognition than they ever get. I have worked with the finest and my hats off to this profession!

While I agree with this description, there is one element missing. Often, Facilitation and Presentation skills are used interchangeably, although there is a difference. Someone can be a great trainer (presenter) and accomplish the things in the description, however, facilitation is different. I believe Facilitation is about sharing a topic (information, guidance, or framework), and driving an interactive discussion with the audience. Taking the conversation where it needs to go, while at the same time delivering on the goal of the session and desired outcome for the audience. Skills for Exceptional Facilitation: Active Listening, Strong Emotional Intelligence, polished verbal & non-verbal presentation skills, and critical thinking.

In today's hybrid world, to be an effective facilitator your need to be engaging both in-person and online. To do this, I think a facilitator needs to have incredible self-awareness and emotional intelligence to be able to understand what their audience needs and resonates with. When interacting with audiences that may contain varied participant levels, tenures, and ages, examine how you normally approach a topic and evaluate how you think each group might react and tailor accordingly. Also, Todd's comment is absolutely spot on.

This is one area where facilitating adult learning and young adult (high school-college) learning are similar. The facilitator needs high-level questioning skills to spark discussion and help direct learner conversations toward the training goals.

When it comes to subject matter expertise, an important skill or value not always mentioned is the ability to remain humble and admit that being an SME doesn't necessarily mean you know everything and have all the answers on demand in the moment. If you are uncertain about an answer to a question, admit that you do not want to give an incorrect answer and will double-check or research before giving a definitive response. I like to call it the "parking lot." Your credibility as the SME will be enhanced by your willingness to admit you don't know absolutely everything. Your audience will have increased trust in what you are teaching and appreciate your integrity when you follow through with giving them the correct response.

It's important to be credible and be able to confidently deliver your content, but I am always learning even if I think I know my topic like the back of my hand. Don't let your "expertise" get in the way of a learning experience you might have during your own facilitation. I find that being able to speak to my content while staying humble makes me more engaging than if I act like an expert. The caveat is you absolutely must continue to advance your knowledge in your field so that you are able to answer questions that come your way during your sessions. And, of course, there are topics that require a level of certification or expertise to even be able to facilitate. It's fair to find the middle ground.

As a certified facilitator for decades, I have found nothing quite compares to making that human connection. The moment you can see the "light bulbs" going off during your session or presentation, you know that you have impacted someone. Interpersonal skills are a must as a facilitator. If this is the work you have been called to do, then your audience will be able to see and feel it and this impact will be there throughout your session. It is truly challenging to engage with multiple generations in the training sessions today. Yet, it only takes a little pre-work to get you prepared to be your best. If you do not have exceptional interpersonal skills, your sessions/presentations will lack.

One thing I've found helpful is reminding myself that "growth and comfort do not co-exist." I read that quote from Ginni Rometty and it reminds me the things that challenge us the most are often the most rewarding and impactful for our long-term growth. Building Learning agility is about applying the discipline of seeking out opportunities to learn something new daily, routine practice to make it part of your day-to-day, and active reflection to carry lessons learned forward.

One thing I’ve found helpful is understanding your audience as much as possible. The more you understand your audience, the better your examples and activities have the potential to be. In that, meeting your audience where they are is necessary for successful adult learning. Content and activities will miss the mark if seen as remedial, farfetched, or inapplicable.

Two things that sometimes get overlooked are the ability to tell stories and use humour. Telling stories helps the participants remember the key points. Relevant stories they can relate to help hook the learning into memory. Humour makes people interested and engaged. People that feel happy are in a better mindset to learn.

Once training has been completed, ensuring access to related materials, or methods and procedures is also important, should someone need to reference the information they’ve been trained on. If not, their training may be a mute cause, as individuals may either revert back to past practices, or improperly execute a responsibility or task.