One of the most common course offerings in many companies and technical schools has been a train-the-trainer (TTT) course. That is, showing an experienced employee, often considered a subject-matter expert, how to be an effective classroom instructor, even though they may have had limited experience in this role. We know that being a productive employee in an area and training someone on that information in a group setting are quite different skill sets.
Because of this, tech schools often require their new instructors to enroll in such a course, learning the rudiments of course design and delivery, with presenting a micro-teaching lesson in front of peers as an outcome. Understanding adult learning principles is also considered essential. A number of years ago some university faculty colleagues developed such a course and were kept busy conducting it in both community college and company settings. They assumed the objectives and content were more or less the same, so customizing the course was not viewed as being necessary, which has been true for most packaged commercial TTT programs as well.
My own interest in developing experienced employees as trainers comes from my work with structured on-the-job training, a topic which seems especially important today with the increased emphasis on work-based learning, such as employee OJT, apprenticeships, internships, co-ops, and the like. Long ago, I noted that TTT programs focused mostly on trainer’s behavior in the classroom, not in the actual work setting. So there was limited information in those courses on working one-on-one with trainees, especially when trainers must give a demonstration or explanation. For that reason, most generic, off-the-shelf, TTT programs miss the mark today, and developing TTT programs expressly for work-based learning is something we have invested ample resources in providing to clients.
To be clear, being an Instructor differs from being a coach or mentor. In brief, instructors facilitate the learning of new information related to the work. Coaches help refine what the trainee has already learned. Mentors focus on broader topics, often beyond the immediate work itself. To be effective each role for an experienced employee requires some development.
In the annals of training, there’s been a relatively long history of asking experienced employees to serve as trainers in industrial settings, from the work of Walter Allen during World War One, through the more famous Training Within Industry (TWI) programs during World War Two. These efforts addressed the hands-on requirements of the work required for war production, such as making parts on a metal lathe, making precision lenses, or assembling electrical components. While such tasks are considered somewhat limited today, the efforts did recognize for the first time that being an instructor is a distinct skill. Today, we recognize that TTT programs for work-based learning must be sufficiently flexible to include managerial, awareness, as well as technical topics. And the technical topics have become all the more complex with the emergence of knowledge work.
Beyond these concerns is the need for relevance. Off-the-shelf programs have limited effectiveness these days for most clients as they want to see how the information fits in their particular context. Addressing the concern often requires producing brief video clips showing aspects of trainer behavior in the client’s actual setting, based on a critical incident study. Having concrete video examples does much to increase employee buy in when asked to serve in this role and forms a basis for future modeling during the TTT program as well.
Work-based learning programs have strategic importance for organizations and serve as important learning experiences for individuals, whether employees or students. A critical component of the programs is ensuring experienced employees are effective in their role as a trainer, which requires some careful planning. Nowadays the learning that occurs in classrooms seems of less importance than what happens in the workplace or school lab setting, which requires different instructional skills.
Here’s a resource for developing TTT programs for structured on-the-job training, which we’ve also used to guide TTT programs for apprenticeship and internship programs as well. Jacobs, R. L. (2003). Structured on-the-job training: Unleashing employee expertise in the workplace. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler: Here
