Why do we train other people to train, and to deliver the work that we do?

One of the main reasons that I like to train other people to deliver great training is to extend my reach. If I’m running 80 days of training a year, I can only reach so many people in that time. However, if the material that I’m using can also be delivered by others, then even more people can benefit from what we teach.

A lot of my work is delivering personal development programmes like Springboard and Spring Forward. It’s really important work that we’re doing – helping people to become more assertive, and to have greater fulfilment in their lives and their work. I am really keen to make this work more widely available. When I train other people to deliver these programmes, together we can make an even bigger impact, in the lives of more people.

I also work with a client in Germany, delivering a wide range of material. Some of the participants on the courses return to us to become trainers in that material, as they want to share it with colleagues. What they’ve learnt has made a difference in their lives. They become evangelised by it and want to do what we do – help others to grow and develop. They’ve seen the differences that it’s made for them in their leadership, or how they approach developing their career or helping others to develop their careers. They’ve seen the impact that learning something new has had on them. They want to help other people to achieve the same success, increased confidence, or progression that they’ve achieved from engaging with the workshops.

For some people who want to train to become a trainer, it’s about giving back to the community in which they work. Many of the participants in my workshops and programmes are researchers. It’s a tough job, and the workshop might have really helped them to feel more confident or to be able to get more balance in their lives. Through the training they have received, they’re now able to lead people better in that complex and competitive environment. Now they would like to give back to that environment, to make it better for everybody.

Culture Change

The more people we can train to become better leaders, the bigger the change that can be achieved in changing the culture of an organisation. Whether a workshop participant is a research expert in a university, or a woman learning to speak up for what she believes in, the more we can work to resolve their issues through training programmes and workshops, the more we’re likely to change the culture in the environments in which they work.

Training trainers is about allowing people to go out there and make a difference for other people. For me, it’s about achieving something bigger than I can achieve by myself. I can only run so many courses a year, but when I’m training trainers, we’re building a legacy.

Adding Something Extra

What I see all the time, with the best trainers I train, is that they insert pieces of themselves into the programmes they go on to deliver. They tweak the materials to make them more relevant to those they work with. They have creative ideas and tailor the materials to their participants, bringing in their own passions and specialities.

For example, I have trained one new trainer who has a background in equality and diversity. She now works as a researcher, so she’s able to bring her specialism to her training when she’s training other researchers. She has a slightly different perception and a slightly different take on the material, which she can layer onto it.

Training trainers diversifies the content that is being delivered, keeping it fresh. Every time I train a new trainer, they bring something different. They might be working with the same materials as me, but they’ll deliver them in a slightly different way – in their way. They can deliver them for the culture in which they work, making programmes even more relevant to others in their organisation.

If you’re yearning to pass on the knowledge that you’ve gained through training, and share those benefits with more people in your organisation, is it time you thought about training to become a trainer?