Train the Trainer is Outdated

Train the Trainer is a process by which a small group of employees are trained in the hopes that those employees will go on to train other employees. Train the Trainer does not work.

Perhaps more accurately, Train the Trainer does not work on its own.

Think back to elementary or middle school. Remember playing a little playground game called Telephone? It goes like this:

1. In a group of people, one person is selected to initiate the “call”. For the purposes of this example, let’s pretend the group of people is sitting in a circle.
2. He or she thinks of a phrase that they want to pass down the group of people. The more complex the phrase, the better.
3. He or she turns to the person (Person 2) on their left and quietly tells them the phrase.
4. Person 2 turns to their left and quietly tells Person 3 their phrase. This happens until the very last person hears the phrase. For this example, let’s say there were 15 people.
5. Once person 15 hears the phrase, they say the phrase out loud to the group.

If you’ve had any experience playing Telephone, you’ll know that by the time the original phrase is said out loud to the group by the last person in the circle, the phrase has been misunderstood and warped. What started as, “Milkshakes come from shaken cows” can end up being, “Silk snakes have achin’ hearts.” And when you’re in elementary or middle school, the stark difference between the original phrase and the phrase once it’s gone through the whole circle is funny.

When you’re in a corporation and the ROI or user adoption depends on people spreading the word and the training, the outcome is significantly less entertaining.

The top three problems with a Train the Trainer program are:

1. People quickly forget what they have learned.
2. Trainers (who are great in the system or who are the problem solvers) may not be equipped to train others.
3. Train the Trainer alone means employees don’t have the same learning experience as the trainers who learned from instructor-led training sessions.

For help with training on any Oracle Cloud application, ask to see our Maverick offering. ENGAGE by Maverick is Maverick Solutions’ subscription-based training offering. We can customize the training resources to match your unique configuration of Oracle Cloud applications. And it’s available 24/7/365 for your employees. Speak with one of our training experts today!

Problem #1: People quickly forget what they have learned.

Within 24 hours, people forget about 50% of what they have learned. Within one month, people forget about 90% of what they have learned.

If those statistics are true for the average person, then a Train the Trainer program spells low user adoption, low employee satisfaction, and low ROI on your software investment.

Let’s think through an example.

Billy goes to an instructor-led training class on March 1. During the instructor-led training sessions, Billy has access to an expert in the software. He also has access to interactive training material from the instructor. Because Billy was in a training session all day on March 1, he has to take the rest of the week to make sure he is all caught up on work.

Billy schedules a training session with his team on March 12. By this point, Billy has forgotten over 50% of the information he had learned on March 1. Billy can give his team less than 50% of the knowledge the instructor gave him.

Without other training resources that augment Train the Trainer programs, Train the Trainer is ineffective and causes more problems.

Problem #2: Trainers (who are great in the system or who are the problem solvers) may not be equipped to train others.

Train the Trainer programs have limited capacity. There can only be so many learners in an instructor-led training session. These learners may have been chosen because they are the best in the software or because they are the best problem solvers. In short, the learners may have been chosen because they are the best learners.

However, those learners have to turn around and train others—not everyone is equipped to train other people. If a trainer is not equipped to train, they will often make themself a resource for their team to go to if they have any problems. Instead of instructing, they solve.

Let’s take a look at an example.

Daphne attended an instructor-led training session. She has promoted in the company because she has always been great with technology. Daphne is known as a great troubleshooter.

Daphne schedules a training session with her team. She gives them the training documents, reads through the documents with her team, and then makes herself available to her team if they have any issues.

As issues arise, Daphne solves them for her team. When Bob couldn’t file an expense report, Daphne went to his desk and pointed out the fields Bob needed to complete. A few weeks later, Bob asks Daphne for help filing another expense report. Now imagine this happening to Daphne multiple times from multiple team members. People like Daphne become swamped with so many questions, and this often leads to burnout.

While Daphne is a great employee, she’s not a great trainer.

For help with training on any Oracle Cloud application, ask to see our Maverick offering. ENGAGE by Maverick is Maverick Solutions’ subscription-based training offering. We can customize the training resources to match your unique configuration of Oracle Cloud applications. And it’s available 24/7/365 for your employees. Speak with one of our training experts today!

Problem #3: Train the Trainer alone means employees don’t have the same learning experience as the trainers who learned from instructor-led training sessions.

Instructor-led training sessions can have resources that the attendees (the trainers who will train other employees) do not have. Instructors can have training software that they bring to the training session, and then take with them afterwards. Additionally, instructors hired for instructor-led training sessions are familiar and equipped for adult learning.

Here’s an example.

Frank is the instructor who is leading the instructor-led training session. He is an expert at adult learning, and he makes sure that there are interactive portions of his session. Frank has training technology that allows his students to practice in a safe training environment outside of the live software. They get to practice business processes as he tells them best practices.

Frank keeps the session engaging, but more importantly, he gives everyone the chance to practice complex business processes while he is available for questions.

Train the Trainer Supplements

As we said earlier, Train the Trainer does not work on its own.

Without additional training resources that complement a Train the Trainer program, your employees will attend ineffective training sessions and forget all of the information they need to succeed in the software. This means low user adoption and low ROI on the software.

To better protect your software investment, your team needs a strong training plan. Think of your training program like an insurance policy for your software investment.

Your employees need training content that is available at the time of need. If your employees are taught how to complete a quarter close and a year close in February, they will have forgotten how to complete a year close by the end of the year. They’ll have to dig up their training documents and carefully follow the directions.

Additionally, your employees need training options that allow them to practice complex business processes in a safe training environment. Sandboxes and test servers are not enough.

Your IT team has to configure both the sandbox and test server. At the end of each day, your IT team has to reset the sandbox and test server. Additionally, if someone practices a process that can only be run once, that employee (or other employees) cannot practice the same process until your IT team has reset it.

A safe training environment is completely separate from your servers. It resets automatically so that your employees can practice over and over again.

Maverick Solutions’ training offering gives you the full training package.

• ENGAGE Learn has step-by-step walkthroughs of all Oracle Cloud applications. Our walkthroughs guide you and your team through complex business processes such as filing expense reports, submitting timecards, and managing talent, skills, and accomplishments.
• ENGAGE Learn has over 20,000 training documents across all of the Oracle Cloud applications.
• ENGAGE Learn is a subscription-based training offering that is always updated to match Oracle Cloud updates.
• ENGAGE Learn is fully customizable, comprehensive, and available 24/7/365.
• ENGAGE Live is a digital adoption solution. We build step-by-step instructions live in the application so your users are guided through business processes.
• ENGAGE Live can also act as a messaging system live in the application so your team can put important messages in front of your employees at the time of relevance.
• We also offer training experts who can lead instructor-led training sessions in person or virtually!
• We have training consultants who will work with your team to build custom learning paths for the various roles in your organization.

If you want to learn how Maverick Solutions can fit into your organization’s current or future Oracle projects, speak with one of our training experts today!