Training with Focus
I have been fortunate in my IT career to try many different roles. One of the consistent ones, despite it never being in any official job description, is trainer. It is something I do often and I get a lot of joy out of helping others and sharing my acquired knowledge.
Normally the training process for me is straightforward as I am working with other adults in the IT field. However, as my youngest daughter just got her learners permit I have had to fall back in to the role of driving instructor.
The two challenges I find (and I need to remember to apply to any training situation) are:
- How to explain, or even notice, essential habits that have become second nature to you over the last 30 years. And
- How to explain the importance of said habits to someone who doesn't have the proper frame of reference or appreciation for what can be lost when you drop your focus or concentration for even a moment.
It teaches me to re-factor what I would have considered to be something routine, to see things from another's perspective, with empathy, in order to deliver information to them critical to their success. And in this instance, not just passing a test, but safeguarding a precious life. Every training session isn't about skills that if not properly applied can end in the loss of life, but the concepts for empathy and delivery with the proper mindset carries across all of those events.