5 Tips for Corporate Trainers to Maximize Your Training Impact

Impactful training does not always have to be centered on the personality of the trainer, but there are things every trainer can do to improve their training and produce long lasting results. If you implement these five principles, your training will be more impactful.

1. Make it Easy - Studies show that people who try to work on more than 3-5 goals at once fail more often. A few simple and clear objectives will increase the likelihood your trainees will be successful in applying the concepts.
   
   
2. Learn Quicker and Practice Longer - The number one mistake trainers make is talking too much and confusing the trainees with too much information. The more successful trainers teach the basic concepts then release the trainees to practice what they just learned. If expected problems arise, the trainer can quickly use the situation as a teachable moment. Remember, the key to training is not the teaching but the doing.
   
   
3. Don’t Waste Your Pre-work - Effectively written pre-work teaches the concepts to the trainees before they arrive to your training session. This will allow you to spend more time in the classroom applying the information and less time teaching. When you are focused more on application, the trainees not only learn the concepts better, but it increases the likelihood they will apply the training in real life.
   
   
4. The Person Talking is the Person Learning - Some trainers have been taught to teach by talking, but more effective trainers train by encouraging others to talk. Whether I am facilitating lively discussions, asking probing questions, organizing activities or listening to the trainee teach-back the material, I try to get the trainees involved in the material early and often. The more they talk about the material, the more they learn the material.
   
   
5. Don’t Waste Your Follow up - Many trainers think their job is finished when the training ends. Unfortunately, training will rarely be successful without follow-up. In the past, I have driven results by adding a certification and a regular recertification process and making these a part of their performance appraisal, assigning post-work, and adding a short training session to help reinforce these new concepts a few months later. Doing nothing after the training session is a guarantee that the training will not succeed.

Applying these five simple tips can make your training more impactful and long-lasting.