Finding the best possible trainers

The Gulf region as a whole seems to place a lot of importance on training as being a key driver of improving capability and skills.
 
To my mind any training intervention ultimately has to increase performance otherwise why bother.

Whatever type of skill development or information that you want to learn and how much you benefit from the training will greatly depend on the organisation and the individual professional that you choose to train you.

I've seen many great courses that have been developed for the Western world and their cultures only to find that they "don't travel" that well and that the organisation over here then finds that the supposed benefits have not been realised due to some fundamental design issues.

Off-the-shelf generic courses are fine but only if they meet your needs and take into account your cultural sensitivities and requirements.

In conjunction with that word of caution there are some key questions that you should explore with any vendor or training provider before you commit to any training programme.

Firstly what are the vendor's credentials? Examining the worth of online training is especially difficult, as many online vendors appear to expect you to accept their accreditation just because they say so. You may encounter exactly the same attitude in business schools as well.

Before you commit to any form of external business training, find out about the organisation and their trainers. If the information is not readily available to you, you don't want to be dealing with that organisation.

Next, consider the capability of the trainers. Don't be taken in by the smooth-talking sales person who lets you know that "all our trainers" are qualified or accredited.

Don't be blasé about this as there are a whole lot of initials that can follow people's names that mean nothing. Before you hire any one to train ask about their credentials and find out what their credentials mean.

Next, find out what experience the trainers have in the subject that they are teaching. Anyone with good presentation skills can walk through a slide show and facilitate lessons underpinned by a well-designed workbook — that doesn't mean that they are trainers.

Don't use trainers who haven't been involved with the subject matter in the real world — experience is as important as having the right training skills and is certainly more important than a whole array of academic qualifications.

References

Before committing to using an organisation or trainer ensure that you obtain references. No worthwhile, experienced professional organisation will mind giving you references and/or providing testimonials from previous clients.

Lastly, if possible, meet with the trainer and personally evaluate him or her. Include the following points in your evaluation: How organised are they? How do they deal with you and respond to your questioning? Have they course outlines or materials to share with you or are they able to suggest a course design or session goals for your specific needs that seem reasonable? What learning plan are they suggesting? What about different learning styles? How will they evaluate the training? How interesting do you think the trainer is in terms of being able to quickly build a rapport with people and make people interested in them and what they have to say?

Dave Millner is consulting director of Kenexa EMEA and director of Kenexa HR Institute.