Role of a Participant in Trainings and Seminars

Training and development sessions are extremely relevant and most useful for employees across all organizations.

Each and every training session or program plays the critical role of a Catalyst or Facilitator in helping the employee towards developing himself or herself in terms of his Technical, Functional and more importantly Behavioral Development and towards enhancing higher Productivity.

Having said this there are umpteen situations where participants have returned from their respective training programs and seminars and when asked about all that they have learnt they seem almost completely at a loss of words.

I surely would not generalize about this as there are many who are extremely clear and aware about the things that they have picked up from their respective trainings.

But then there are also those people who seem to be more happy describing the sessions with either colorful or colorless adjectives only.

The feedback for any training session but more importantly for Behavioral and Attitude based sessions are not about how generally good or bad the session was or also about how effective or not so effective the Trainer was, but every training must be evaluated by the respective participants on three important parameters which I have specifically stated below:

1. What have I learnt from the sessions?

2. Are these inputs and learning practical, useful and implementable in my professional and also my personal life?

3. Which of those learnings will help me develop myself and my skills in the short term; medium term and even my long term professional life?

4. Can there be certain improvements or additions suggested to the trainer and for the training towards developing more Impact, Interest and involvement of the participants within the scope of the Training session?

5. Are there certain Constructive Observations about the Trainer and his Style or Methodology in the context of the Training delivery?

Among the five parameters or aspects stated above the first, second and even the third are most important and the fourth and fifth can be put into the category of less important compared to the first three.

Many a times it is seen that the participant shares his observations mostly related to the fourth and the fifth parameters and this must change. The priority must be on whether the training session or program was helpful and useful to him or her.

There are those instances where the participant finds the training extremely or mildly boring especially due to albeit the way it is being conducted.

There are instances where participants have come out of a training describing how boring the trainer himself was.

In one instance many of the participants actually walked out of the session during lunch and their only reason was about the lack of interest and passion they saw in that particular trainer. With this as the reason these participants actually left the training.

When they explained this to their HR department even the department people agreed and assured that they will not call the same trainer again.

Well, I have a very different way of looking at it or I would say a different perspective to such type of situations that may arise.

I firmly believe that our role as a participant must be more about how much we ourselves are able to EXTRACT out of the trainer and out of the training as whole.

Yes, it is always an advantage to be part of a training which is highly interactive and if it is being conducted in an enthusiastic manner.

But having said this what we, as participants must remember is that the way a training session is delivered is not in our control but what is in our control is the manner in which we extract from the training albeit however boring and un-involving it may be.

Remember we always must that the activity of Teaching may not be in your hands so to say but the art of Learning surely is; and that is the difference between those participants who make effective use of every training program or seminar that they attend and those who decide on participating in trainings only based upon how the trainer and his methodology is.

Please understand that this does not take away the fact that trainers of the present era obviously must also learn to change and adapt themselves in terms of bringing more Interaction, Involvement, Improvisation, Inspiration and Innovation in the manner in which they conduct their trainings.

But then the lack of these things must never be used by participants as an excuse to lose their interest in the training.

How a trainer conducts a training will never be in your control, but how you conduct yourself as a trainee or participant will always be in your control and that is most important for all of us to understand and believe with the strongest conviction

Let us develop ourselves as participants in such a way that we become the most inspired, involved and interactive participants irrespective of who and how the trainer is.

Yes it is a tough task but then the benefits of it will be amazing. We would achieve a lot out of every training that we would attend and eventually see ourselves enhancing our efficiency and productivity.