In many organizations, specialists and experts lead internal training for employees, sharing their knowledge and skills. It’s a great idea to engage experienced individuals in teaching others. However, can a good specialist effectively conduct training?

Training is not practical, but workshops are – participants in trainer workshops tell me. When I ask, what is the difference between training and a workshop?

The answer is: training is like a presentation or lecture – generally boring and we don’t get anything out of it, but in workshops, we work on something, we are engaged – and that’s great.

• Can we really equate training with a presentation?
• In some situations, are we “taking shortcuts” by proposing a presentation to participants instead of a practical exercise teaching specific skills?
• Do those who teach choose presentations because they are the easiest to prepare and the quickest to deliver?

I have attended many internal trainer, specialist, and expert workshops, and what I emphasize at the outset is building awareness among participants that:

1. The first step in preparing for training is not preparing a presentation, but defining the training outcome they will lead.
2. And if so, the second step is to define specific learning objectives – what knowledge or skills should participants acquire to achieve the outcome. Only in the third step do we select methods to achieve the training objectives, and if we are teaching specific skills, practical exercises, instructions, or simulations are effective.
3. It is very important for trainers, specialists, or experts involved in employee training to know that even from a very interesting presentation about the system, the expected skills will not be obtained. And that’s why it’s important to prepare future internal trainers to be able to adapt appropriate training methods.

In summary, it’s essential to emphasize the importance of focusing on outcomes, defining specific learning objectives, and selecting appropriate training methods when preparing internal trainers.