The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Trainers

If you are a corporate trainer or someone interested in becoming a corporate trainer, there are several essential habits that you will want to develop early on in your career in order to be successful. I've been in corporate Learning and Development for over 20 years and I've worked for a variety of companies both big and small including Walt Disney World, IBM, and United Healthcare. These habits that I'm going to share with you are some that I have developed over the years that have really contributed to my success, and I want them to do the same for you.

Habit 1: Prepare and Practice Your Training Presentation

I know that sounds obvious, but I also know that you, like me, have probably been in training classes where it was obvious that the trainer did not prepare. A lot of times as trainers, we think to ourselves, "Oh that's easy, I can wing it. I'll just show up, I'll be fine." I've been guilty of that, but I will tell you, when I do that, my presentations are just not very good. I always know at the end of the day I could have done way better.

So now, I always make it a habit to practice. That means I stand up, I get up in my office, in whatever room I'm in, and maybe I'll even go to the actual training room. This helps me in so many ways. First of all, it gets me familiar with the material. It gets me familiar with the presentation, and it also gets me familiar with the timing. That's another thing I've noticed with trainers who don't prepare; they tend to be the ones who are always behind in their presentation. So by getting up and actually talking it out loud, that is very key to being successful as a trainer. You've got to practice.

Habit 2: Prepare Your Stories

This goes hand in hand with habit number one, and it's part of that preparation. When I'm going through material and practicing it, I look for opportunities to tell a story. As you probably already know, storytelling is a very powerful way to connect with your audience. Even when I'm teaching something really boring, like safety or compliance training, I look for stories that I can put in.

For example, when I worked at Disney World, I had to teach a section on safety. That can be very dry, but I used an example from my work where I used to work at one of the rides there, The Great Movie Ride. I would tell a story of how I brought a family out of the ride to go watch the fireworks. I walked the family outside, and then all of a sudden we were surrounded by supervisors with walkie-talkies and security, pushing us to go to another area. I was confused. It turned out that I had inadvertently walked this family out into a fallout zone, a danger area where ashes from the fireworks could hit you. My intention was to be courteous and show the family the fireworks, thinking good service, but I did it at the expense of safety. When I tell that story, it gets a laugh, but it also makes the point about the importance of safety. By telling a story like that, even in a dry topic, it really helps.

Habit 3: Stay Up-to-Date with Your Topic

It doesn't matter what the topic is. A lot of times you might be teaching a class where you're kind of on autopilot because maybe it's a repetitive class. Even when it's something that you're teaching over and over again, you want to keep in touch with what's going on. For example, I used to teach new employee orientation every single week. You would think I was kind of on autopilot, but I also always paid attention to what was going on in the company and if there was anything new that I would want to share. Even though it was the same class every week, I was always still adjusting it. There are always updates: industry updates, company updates, software updates. You want to get into the habit of finding ways to keep yourself informed.

Habit 4: Put Yourself in the Learner's Shoes

One thing that I have realized throughout my career is how attached I get to some of my training programs. As the trainer or designer, you get attached. You understand why you have certain activities or require certain pre-work. So, a lot of times when our participants come into class and they haven't done the pre-work or read the email you sent, it can be very frustrating.

But I always remind myself to put myself in the learner's shoes. I remind myself, what is their situation? Where are they coming from? Most of the time, if someone comes to your class unprepared, it's not because they don't care or are trying to be a troublemaker. It almost always has to do with their other job responsibilities. We can sometimes take it personally, but we have to remind ourselves that our learners are not trainers. This is just one thing in their week. Put yourself in their shoes and get their feedback.

Habit 5: Be an Observer

Observe your learners while the training is going on. You need to pay attention to their body language, their facial expressions, and the way they are answering questions. When you start to observe things, it sends you signals of what you need to focus on. It tells me things like maybe I need to give them an extra break. With topics, by observing my audience, I realize I might not need to spend as much time on this topic as normal, or it might be the opposite. So being observant and then also having the ability to flex on the fly is a habit you want to develop.

Habit 6: Engage with Your Learners

For this habit, I mean get in the habit of engaging with them before class, on breaks, and at lunches. Not just the engagement stuff built into the training. For example, when I used to teach new employee orientation, I would greet people as they came in. I would walk around the room and have little individual conversations. When I would engage with people on a personal level, it really helped them to warm up to me and the class. I found that when I started making those little one-on-one personal connections, people were more on my side, so to speak, and they were much more willing to volunteer.

Habit 7: Develop Yourself

Most of us become trainers because we like to help people. But who else needs to be trained, educated, and motivated? We do. Trainers need to be trained. The last habit that is very, very important is to make it a habit to develop yourself. Look for opportunities for your own development. It could be a training class, getting more education, a certification, reading a book, or listening to audiobooks. My previous company had a tuition reimbursement program, and I took advantage of that. They paid for me to get a master's degree, and that was a really great development opportunity for me. Don't be afraid to go to your boss and ask to go to a class or a conference. Don't forget about your own personal development, because that's just as important.

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