Finally, get your employees excited about training!

Workplace trainers are not an uncommon lot. Over the years, I have met many, sometimes as a trainee and others as one of them. I have also interacted with hundreds of people participating in training, either facilitated or force-fed by their workplaces.

In an ideal world, we have good trainers who can:

• Understand where your professional and organizational goals converge.
• Think about how we transform them into learning objectives.
• Use the learning objectives to create SMART plans.
• Improve their processes over time based on feedback and experiences.

Yet, many employees are frustrated with the training their workplaces offer. Half the trouble lies in the content and its lack of alignment with needs. The other half might be in the trainer.

And there are many ways to do it wrong.

• The organization sometimes sets up the trainer for failure. It happens when the employees being trained are not informed of the training, or they may lack the time and bandwidth needed to absorb it meaningfully. It also happens when the project leaders do not align training with employees' needs.
• The managerial class is also another challenge. Even the best training can do nothing if the manager reinforces older ideas. It is probably the biggest reason leadership training does not stick until and unless the C-suite buys in and creates a trickle-down effect. The trainer's job is bound to feel incomplete.
• Ultimately, you can have a bad trainer. For instance, several organizations ask their managers to double up as trainers and coaches for their teams. But do they invest in developing coaching skills or consider adult learning theories when this training is going on? Not really.

Bad trainers are often badly prepared rather than just plain evil for no reason. The key is to remember that learning and development are too vital to just wing it this way and let things be.

So what's the way out? How do we get good trainers at work?

• First, understand that training requires certain specific skills. Communication, assertiveness, and giving feedback are just the tip of the iceberg. They build on top of the functional skills. Trainers also need to be empathetic to the learners. They need to know how people learn and where their plans fit in with the journeys of those individuals sitting in front of them. So first thing: train the trainers.
• Second, trainers are human, too. One manager on your team who's been there for a decade can have the best attitude and mind, but still, they would be insufficient to handle the issues and needs of all your people. Trainers have limited cognitive capacity and bandwidth. Burdening them with too much sets them up for failure. So, keep your expectations realistic.
• Third, ask yourself if this trainer is right for the job. You need to think of this even when you are hiring someone externally. Do they have relevant experience and expertise? Are they someone who aligns with your company's values and can help further develop them? Do they use methods that match the training needs of your team? Choose trainers wisely and focus on training needs.

Does that sound like a big puzzle to solve? To be honest, it can look like that. Training people in specific skills, or even hiring specialists for that matter, are expensive ordeals that start with pitch decks and budget proposals and end up with low employee satisfaction scores.

Interestingly, AI can cut out some of your worries here. Several companies are exploring AI-led solutions in learning and development. Some focus on basic functions - turning study material into quizzes or translating video content into another language. But there's more available regarding the personas you can build with AI, such as Merlin. Merlin is an AI coach for people managers. And Merlin follows through on all the characteristics of a good trainer!

How does Merlin provide good training to managers?

It starts by asking about your goals, challenges, and context. Thus, your training needs are the starting point. No assumptions and biases decide what training someone needs. To make this decision fail-proof, we conduct skill assessments and then create a bespoke learning journey.

Since Merlin is an AI trained specifically to coach people managers to do their jobs better, it has solid coaching skills in-built. It takes an empathetic approach. Lastly, AI coaches do not need to sleep or charge by the hour, so your worries about rising costs and absurd schedules are taken care of.

That's just one instance where AI elevates the training experience of many employees in one go. With an increased focus on applying AI to L&D, there will be many more to come. Many learning and development challenges, including bad trainers, boil down to lack of preparation and bandwidth. AI can absolutely solve these.