The Train the Trainer Model and How to Get Started
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The train the trainer model provides a framework for training employees to become subject-matter experts. It also provides them with the tools they need to teach new knowledge and skill sets to other members of your organization.
94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.* The vast majority of people in your organization want to learn. They are interested in acquiring new skills to help them do their job better or take on new responsibilities. As it turns out, the best person to teach them might be someone already inside your organization.
Using this model, a handful of key in-house personnel become a trusted team of trainers. They know the material, they know how to teach it, and they are dedicated to helping your entire organization succeed.
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How Does Train the Trainer Work?
In the train the trainer model, learners experience a short but intense training program. The program is designed to help them acquire the content, and it also shows them how to teach that content to others.
In other words, the learners become not just subject-matter experts, but also trainers themselves. Once they have finished the training program, they can turn around and use the same framework to instruct their colleagues. This disseminates vital information and skills faster and more efficiently throughout the organization.
Using this model, learners typically acquire skills faster. They also retain the information better. Often, they experience a great sense of satisfaction in learning how to teach others.
Train the Trainer Examples
The train the trainer model can be used to teach any kind of knowledge or skills. For example:
- Technical skills such as coding, data analysis, or market research.
- Interpersonal skills such as conflict management, leadership, or negotiation.
- Conceptual skills such as strategic planning or decision-making.
It’s no exaggeration to say this model can teach any knowledge or skills necessary to do any job in your organization. In fact, there are several reasons the train the trainer model is often preferred.
Why Train the Trainer? Top 10 Reasons
The main purpose of the train the trainer model is to teach your team members how to train others on a particular subject. But it also offers far-reaching and long-lasting benefits. These can have a significant positive impact across your entire organization.
1. More Customized to Your Organization's Needs
Your internal training team will be made up of existing team members. They are already deeply familiar with your organization. They know your products and services, procedures, customers, and culture. They have first-hand experience with the situations and pitfalls everyone on your team will encounter. This means they can possess useful insights. Third-party trainers often lack the benefits of that inside knowledge.
2. More Accepted by Team Members
Internal trainers in your organization may be more readily accepted than outside trainers. This is because people within your organization already know them and trust them. Plus, it’s easier for learners to seek more advice and information if they need it. This helps learners retain and build on their newfound knowledge and skills.
3. More Consistent Training
Your in-house trainers will teach others using the same materials they used. Everyone receives the same information and the same kind of training on the same skills. This ensures consistency in the curriculum throughout your organization. This is often ideal for large or complex organizations.
4. More Effective Training
Having a standardized training format makes it possible to establish benchmarks. It’s useful to measure the effectiveness of your internal trainers and the programs they teach. It gives you the ability to compare metrics across individuals and groups. Plus, it helps pinpoint areas that may need improvement. Combined, these factors can make your training efforts much more effective overall.
5. Faster Adoption
With the train the trainer model, you rapidly develop a group of internal trainers. They can then deliver the same training course across your entire organization simultaneously. It makes efficient use of your existing internal resources to scale up the training process. Often, it’s the fastest way to spread new training to everyone who needs it.
6. Stronger Skills for Trainers
Teaching skills to someone else is one the most effective and efficient ways to deepen your own knowledge and improve your skills. Every time one of your internal trainers teaches the material to other team members, they get better at it themselves. Trainers expand their own knowledge base every time they answer questions and hear new perspectives from others. It’s a proven path to mastering the subject matter.
7. Greater In-House Training Resources
In-house trainers learn more than just the subject matter itself. They also develop the teaching skills they need to train colleagues and coworkers. This creates qualified in-house instructors ready to teach new skills and subjects as needed. Other training opportunities will inevitably arise in the future. When they do, your organization will already have a group of proficient trainers in place.
8. Better Ongoing Support for Learners
Learners get more out of their training when they have the opportunity to come back later and ask follow-up questions. Revisiting the material and getting clarification is a crucial part of the ongoing learning process. Because your internal trainers are already members of your team, it’s easy for learners to reach out to them. Trainers can make sure everyone has the information they need to do the job successfully.
9. Attracts More Top Talent to Your Organization
Providing team members with greater opportunities for professional development has additional benefits. It makes your workplace more attractive to potential employees. It appeals to individuals who are focused on growth and self-improvement. Those people tend to be high-performing workers who will add value to your organization. They are more likely to join (and stay) when they know they will be supported with positive professional development opportunities.
10. Higher Return on Investment
Hiring a large firm to deliver all the lessons needed to train everyone in an organization sometimes comes with a prohibitive price tag. The train the trainer model is much more cost-effective. A single trainer can transform a core group of your own employees into subject-matter experts who will then continue to train other employees. This means less upfront investment and more long-term impact.
How to Train the Trainer
Building a train the trainer program within your organization starts with answering four crucial questions.
What goals do you want your employees to achieve? In what areas do your employees need the greatest amount of assistance? It’s necessary to define the scope of the program.
You will need to establish benchmarks to assess how well your train the trainer program is working. How will you evaluate its effectiveness on employee performance? What metrics will you use?
The best team members to act as internal trainers are individuals who already have a certain degree of expertise in the subject matter. They should also be well respected, natural leaders, open to feedback, flexible, and have the heart of a teacher.
An effective training program needs to teach both the subject matter and the skills to train others. Following the basic principles of instructional design, you can develop a training program that delivers measurable results.
As the world’s largest train-the-trainer company, Langevin has provided thousands of trainers with the skills, knowledge, and materials they need to succeed.
Find out how Langevin can help your organization build an effective train the trainer program.
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