Do You Know What You Are Doing?

This article was 1 I wrote quite some time ago (It's been updated here). It is specifically for trainers or educators who present to others in a training or classroom style setting. I'll post a number of blogs specifically for trainers. If you're a coach reading this then all you need to do is change the wording from "trainer" to "coach" and you'll find it's very relevant to you also. This is another blog that will nicely link to those I have written on mastery. (Personally I believe that coaches can definitely use some training/presentation skills to grow their coaching business)

Those of you who wish to be masterful as a trainer, then read this and also the other blogs I have written on Mastery which you will find in the archive section.

It Starts With Awareness
You’re about to read my first description of what I consider is the place to start for you to move towards training mastery. I'm calling it (mastery) as your ability to understand and practice this statement “knowing what you do and doing what you know and know what you do does to the learner”. That's my description of training mastery.

If you are doing that then you are indeed moving towards mastery as a trainer. There are some exceptional trainers out in the world – only a few will be able to consciously tell you what they do and know how they do what they do. Therefore the place to start is for you to know that training is about being aware, being purposeful and deliberate, in all that you do.

Consider seriously the following questions:

• Do you know what you do when presenting?


• Are you able to monitor multiple things in succession while training? i.e. audience acceptance; resistance; room temperature; the time remaining; the next topic and supporting music…?
  
  Are you purposeful in all you do or do you do whatever comes to mind? (adlib)
  
• Can you present the topic when you’re slideshow fails or your manuals don’t arrive?
  





• Do you wonder where you are going next in your training?
  
• Are you able to asses what you are saying as you are saying it?
  
• 
  
  Do you get lost at times and ask the group – “now where were we?”
  
  
• Do you find your own trainings boring and blame the content?
  
  Do you know how to start the training?


• Do you know how you will finish the training?


• Do you go "blank" when asked a question fromthe audience?


• Do you get flustered when things aren't going the way you expected them to go?


• Do you believe that mastery is all about “winging it!” and being able to ad-lib?
  
  Do you know the reaction that the listener is having, to what you are saying?
• Do you wonder at times how things turned out so well?


• Do you wonder what went wrong and how did it get that way?


• Do you know how you will break them into groups and call them back?
  
  Do you know how to deal with resistance in the group?
• Do you know what your hands are doing as you talk?
  
• Are you aware of whether you sway from side to side or scratch your crotch as you click through your power point slides?
  
  So your first task, to enable you to be masterful as a trainer, is for you to become increasingly aware of what you do. No, not as you’re doing it, but prior to you doing it! Thinking and doing at the same time is not the best approach when training. And certainly is not a hall-mark of a master trainer. First think and then do. (that's a good start for now)

Plan out what you will do in your presentation. Mentally rehearse how you will present your material and how you will address some or all of the bulleted points I’ve listed above. Add your own points of need for you to have greater awareness and therefore continous improvement in how you deliver your content.

Become aware, before your delivery, of what you will be doing and how you will be doing it and (Wake up and pay attention now!) … what affect you have and how that is effecting the learner's ability to learn.

Many trainers (read this description carefully) know what they do and do what they know - yet do not know what they do, does to the learner!!! Read my description of mastery again and again. Make plans for you to become more aware of what you do and the impact that your behaviour has on those you are presenting to. This is a must have component to be masterful as a trainer or in any other context. Practice being mindful of what you are doing.

Summary:
My final description (in case you didn't get it this late in the article) of training mastery is:

”Knowing what you do and doing what you know, while knowing what you do, is doing to the learner”.

Did you get that? That means training is about applying to self 1st. It’s about consciously being aware. It’s about being purposeful and it’s about knowing knowing cause & effect in the training room. A masterful trainer would never be happy with just the delivery of the content alone (many are though!). No, they want to know that what they did, got through to the learner (for some this is bloody revolutionary, to think they should actually take an interest whether the learner got it!!!).

Apply this principle to what you’re currently doing in your training rooms or presentations and make the appropriate adjustments if necessary. By doing so,the positive results you gain in your trainings will increase.

All of the exceptional trainers I have met, have a burning desire to make a difference with those they present to. They fulfil this by being aware of what they are doing and use exceptional techniques when the present, which I will share with you in this series on Mastery. (check out the blog archive section for more on Mastery)

Initial 1st Steps
So... this is where I want you to begin – to become increasingly more aware and therefore mindful of what you do as a trainer. (Or coach, teacher, adult educator, presenter)

Pictures: Are of actual trainings I and Lena have delivered in order of appearance are:

Auckland - 14 day Neuro Semantic Trainers Training

Sweden - 3 day Self-leadership

Civil Aviation Trainers in the South Island of NZ - http://www.ignition.org.nz/