Who is the most important person in the learning process? Trainer or learner?
Trainer or learner? Teacher or pupil? Coach or coached? Mentor or mentored?
It’s probably true to say that you don’t have to have decades of educational experience to immediately know that the answer to that question may be obvious and for two very good reasons:
- There is almost always going to be more than just the teacher and learner involved in the learning process, and…
- …even if there were they are so interdependent on each other that the question of ‘importance’ is entirely secondary to the efficacy of the learning.
Given that the vast majority of our clients at Maguire Training are large companies or organisations we have spent many years working with all the stakeholders in the learning process. With all the experience we have when we deliver a solution we are confident that it has the best possible chance of success. Here are the key stakeholders that we consider when building a training programme for our clients:
The obvious stakeholders…
- The learner (aka delegate / student / pupil)
- The trainer (aka teacher / coach / mentor / facilitator)
- The training manager (aka L&D Manager / HR Manager)
The less obvious stakeholders…
- The learner’s line manager
- The learner’s peer group and any direct reports
- The training provider’s Account Manager
And some selected important influences…
- The organisations strategic business plan
- The training environment
- The training administration process / service
- The rest of the learners cohort
If only it were as easy as pairing a talented Maguire trainer with a willing learner – life would be so simple. The reality is that for those of us that are trying to identify training needs and then design and deliver effective solutions we must, at all times, consider a whole range of stakeholder requirements and other environmental influences if we are to succeed in creating a truly powerful learning experience.
At the very top of your list should be one simple question though: what is the objective of this training? If you can have absolute clarity on that question then it will be relatively easy to navigate around the seemingly more difficult issues of training design, training methodology, training evaluation and so on. As always…start with the end in mind.
For non-training/L&D/HR professionals looking at ways of identifying training needs for their teams or indeed training people to be good trainers the following two links to Maguire courses could be really useful:
http://www.maguiretraining.co.uk/e-learning/modules/identifying-development-training-for-your-team/
http://www.maguiretraining.co.uk/management-leadership/train-the-trainer/
