Training as a Profession

Training gives a great sense of satisfaction when the trainers make a difference in people's lives. The trainers learn a lot from the training programs they deliver. Training opens the doors to other opportunities.

Training is a profession that Subject Matter Experts use for earning. Training is financially lucrative and Training paves way for consulting often. Hence the focus is more on training that may open other professional doors.

I enjoy training and loved any opportunity I would get as part of my job!

However, to obtain the opinion of the professionals, I conducted a dipstick survey. Responders were from varied fraternities and a handful of there were General Managers, Project Managers, Human Resources Managers, Business Development Managers, etc. The survey result is given below:

Most of the trainers come to the training profession

• because of their passion - 54%

• failing in the functional area - 18%

• as post-retirement activities - 24%

• Anything else - 3%

Along with this, I received many individual comments. Some of them are mentioned below:

One of the comments was extremely interesting. The person was extremely hesitant to call training a profession. His comment was – “I fail to understand how 'training' can be a profession. What type of generalized training can be given by a professional? Only a lecture to clarify the process and its advantages can be delivered by a professional”.

Challenges for Professional Training:

Professional training is full of challenges. ‘Personal Branding’ of the trainer is one of them. Training as a profession, calls for ‘Personal Branding’ and also the marketing of that ‘Brand’. Many times the lead generation of the trainers is so low that they face a dry pipeline most of the time. ‘Personal Branding’ plays an essential role in widening the mouth of the sales funnel.

Professional trainers need to depend on many others persons for their program promotions. Hence, the competency & efforts of the sales & marketing team play an important role.

‘Relationships building’ is another factor. Like any other profession, trainers too need to be effective in Relationship Management.

Another challenge is acceptability. Training though lucrative as a profession, many companies are not given the due priority that it should get. This is because training, teaching, and coaching are often getting mixed up in a marketplace. Many managers feel all Subject Matter Experts are expert trainers. But, in reality, it is not.

Here too, I conducted a survey, mostly with the trainers. The biggest challenges for the professional trainers as it is narrowed down are -

• Acceptability as a trainer : 51%

• Relationships building : 23%

• program promotions : 17%

• Anything else : 9%

In many organizations, it is seen that people do not go for training with the willingness to learn. If someone is not ready to learn, it can't be injected. Hence, the charisma of the trainer is very important. He/she needs to be highly creative in designing and delivering the training content to make the program more attractive. Even a functional trainer needs to spend a lot on self-improvement training, communication skills, presentation skills, and other soft skills. This is just only to become a professional trainer.

Along with Creativity and Innovation, it is important to integrate training as an integral part of the Continuous Improvement Plan. Every organization that has implemented a process improvement methodology or methodologies is faced with the dilemma of how to train new employees in such a way that they fully understand the organization and its approach to Continuous Process Improvement (CPI). If the manager is seeking to provide an overview of the Continuous Process Improvement program of the organization and how it ties to the strategic business plan, the role of training automatically peeps in. Yet, very little focus is given to training.