Confessions of a Corporate Trainer
Jonathan Halls Tells All
(Alexandria, VA), April 29, 2019—When it comes to corporate training, there's a perception that corporate trainers are keynote speakers who talk to small crowds. The reality is completely different. According to Jonathan Halls in his latest book, Confessions of a Corporate Trainer: An Insider Tells All (ATD Press, April 2019), trainers are more like physical therapists. “Much like physical therapists, trainers help their clients stretch and learn to stretch.”
Halls contends that the unwritten but seemingly universally accepted dos and don'ts the training industry follows pushes trainers closer to the keynote mold. “Many trainers spend more time worrying about the presentation than crafting experiences learners can use to build their skills.
“While presentation skills matter, success for the seasoned trainer is less about how well the trainer delivers content than how the trainer draws on competing dynamics to engage and direct people to the learning objective.” Halls focuses on learners and learning and advises organizations to be learner centered for best training results.
Drawing on his extensive career spanning 25 countries, including as a learning executive at the BBC, Halls shares his research through relatable stories about his own training challenges, successes, and failures and offers helpful tips and guidance to the new, accidental, or seasoned trainer on how to be the most effective.
Halls underscores that trainers must rely on a solid foundation of critical thinking and understand how learning occurs in the workplace. For the best chance of success, trainers must:
- satisfy the needs of both the hiring company and the employees being trained
- deal with multiple and competing priorities
- turn potential tensions between designers and trainers into rich relationships
- adjust and develop skills to stay competitive and “future-proof” in response to new fads and trends in the training industry and new demands by organizations.
Confessions of a Corporate Trainer: An Insider Tells All
ISBN: 978-1-947308-92-3
April 29, 2019
Paperback • 200 Pages
www.td.org/books/confessions-of-a-corporate-trainer
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