The Troubled Trainer – Revisited

I want to go back and revisit what can (if there is anything) be done about the "Troubled Trainer" - you know, the one who doesn't know ANYTHING about the product and shouldn't be there in the first place, much less in front of a roomful of students.

I heard several interesting stories about these troubled trainers - as an example of why there must be some method of encouraging them to seek their careers elsewhere.  As a contract trainer, this shouldn't take that long - enough clients complain about the instructor and they simply won't get work.  This would hold true in most cases except for the fact that there are bottom feeders out there - trainers who charge such a ridiculously low daily rate (which hurts the industry as a whole) that a CPLS or other entity simply wants someone with a pulse in front of the class and "hope" that things might work out (remembering of course that you get what you pay for in these cases). I relayed the story about the UFO guy and 3 years later this instructor is still teaching - a testament to what I am saying here.  So the system should balance out with contract trainers - supposedly - think UFO guy.  The poor trainers simply should not get contracts.

This is much harder with training companies - whether CPLS or otherwise.  Their trainers are most likely employees.  One would hope that there would have been some culling of trainers that were hired - to avoid problems later.  It is one thing to be an uber-geek on a product, but if you can't explain it to the students, then it is useless for them and I have known a few of these trainers.  Very knowledge and much smarter than I, but simply cannot relate to people who don't instantly grasp the material - again good people, just not someone who can work with "normal" people.  On the other hand - I have known some very personable trainers who readily substitute knowledge with "fluff".  These are the ones who don't know the material at all or very little, but become the BFF of the students and as a result, don't evaluate the instructor properly.   So when it comes to a CPLS, if the instructors are poor, eventually the reputation of the CPLS will deteriorate so far that they will end up closing shop for want of customers.  The trouble is that it takes awhile for the CPLS to crumble.  At the very least, the CPLS should be looking at mentoring their instructors.  Don't lower the standard to meet the instructor, raise the instructor to the standard. If they can't or won't meet the standard - let them seek a new profession.

In the end, their must be some means to cull bad instructors - for the contract trainers, eventually their reputation should ensure they won't get work.  The CPLS, on the other hand, might survive longer, but it to should succumb to market forces.  Poor training is poor training - we are here to ensure the customer is satisfied with our work and our work is quality training.

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