In this article, we’ll explore the qualities of an effective trainer. Individuals may possess certain personal or professional traits that are beneficial when it comes to teaching others.
Many of us can reminisce about our school days and remember that one incredible teacher who really made you feel passionate about a topic in such a way that you always looked forward to their class. You would leave school brimming with ideas and excited to learn more.
So, ask yourself: what was it about that one schoolteacher who made you feel that way? The chances are they had one (or more) of the professional traits or personal qualities we’ll be discussing in this article.
First, what exactly do we mean by “qualities” and how are they different from the skills required to be an effective trainer?
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Skills vs. Qualities: What’s the difference?
You’re probably wondering what the difference between skills and qualities is in this context. Skills and qualities are connected but are two distinctively different things. A skill can be learned and practiced, either by self-learning, discovery, or formal teaching. A quality on the other hand is more of a character trait.
Whilst some character traits are developed naturally, it’s possible to adopt new qualities throughout your life and develop the traits that benefit your role as a trainer. This is distinctly different to skill development, as developing your personal qualities is more of a behaviour change activity.
For example, it’s possible for someone to learn to become calmer or more patient. Calmness and patience can’t really be considered as skills, but they can still be learned, practiced and developed in a way to improve your career as a trainer.
Simply put, skills define what you can do, whereas qualities describe who you are as a professional. There is also a lot of cross-over between personal qualities and professional qualities; someone with a specific quality may be well suited to a career that involves a particular skill.
A methodical person would be well suited to a job role that involves a lot of problem-solving, for example.
8 personal and professional qualities that can make you a more effective trainer
1. Active listener
Many professionals claim to be a good listener, but how many of us are truly active listeners?
Active listening means just that – listening actively. A lot of the time, during normal conversations, we’re not actually listening, we’re thinking about what to say next rather than digesting what is being said.
We may consider public speaking to be more important, but from the perspective of professional traits, being an active listener contributes to being an effective trainer who can engage with learners.
Active listening is a valuable quality to have to help us better serve our learners and give them a better experience by actively listening to questions and feedback, then acting upon it.
We all know how frustrating it is when a journalist asks a politician a question, but the politician decides to talk about something along their own agenda whilst completely ignoring the question. This is a classic example of non-active listening. Now imagine how frustrating it must be as a learner in the same situation.
2. Creativity
Creativity is a necessary part of teaching; it allows us to think outside the box and progress ideas toward innovation and success.
As a trainer, this means having the creativity to explain a complex topic in a fun and engaging way, or designing session plans and activities that will involve learners in practical activities.
Do not confuse creative qualities for creative skills, remember that skills can be learned by creativity within this context can be improved and developed.
3. Flexibility
No – we don’t mean being able to do the box splits (unless you’re a dance or gymnastics trainer, that is…) As a trainer, you need to be flexible in your approach to training preparation and delivery.
Depending on the nature of the topic you’re training, this may mean working unsociable hours, travelling long distances or even working through entire weekends.
Training needs to have a learner-centred approach, the aim of training is, after all, for people to learn new skills in an engaging way. As the trainer, that means that you have to be flexible enough to meet the needs of the learners in attendance.
You need to make things as easy as possible for the learners to have a positive experience, which means attending a venue of their choice, using an online platform of their choice at a time of their choice.
An effective trainer will be flexible and able to meet the demands of the learner with ease.
4. Approachable
Learners and training participants may have a better learning experience if you are accessible and approachable. Think of your learner like a customer, you need to provide excellent customer service and the content of your course will be more memorable as a result.
Training can be a challenging and exhausting day for learners as well as us trainers. Many learners will naturally want to get the most from a training session, being able to ask questions and have discussions is a welcome opportunity for enthusiastic learners.
As a trainer, you need to be approachable and friendly. This doesn’t mean forcing a fake smile, but using open body language and direct eye contact can go a long way to encourage learners to become active participants.
5. Adaptable
In a practical sense, this means being able to _think on your feet_ so to speak. During a live training session, there are a lot of things that can go wrong; technology can fail, training venues have issues with their environment, too hot, too cold, too noisy, there may be disruptions to your session and there are a whole host of different issues you’ll face as a professional trainer.
Remember that all effective training is learner-centric, so you, as the trainer, should be adapting your training delivery style according to how the learners are responding.
You also need to be able to quickly pivot your approach during live training sessions, but also from a business point of view. The ongoing pandemic changed training delivery and made online training sessions the default method to deliver training sessions from schools to universities and training academies.
Trainers were caught out if they couldn’t adapt their sessions for an online environment, meaning that learners keen to learn valuable skills were missing out because the trainer wasn’t prepared or equipped.
6. Collaborative
When you work with groups of people, you learn more from the quality of work than your own abilities. Effective teaching requires you to think on your feet and adapt to changing situations as they arise. It requires hearing others’ points of view and understanding how they might differ from your own.
When you’re teaching in an office or at a classroom, one of the most important things is listening. Most of us spend too much time listening to our own opinions and feelings instead of learning.
At Panda Education, we are dedicated to having a collaborative approach to professional development. So, we’ve started our Professional Learning Workshops where educators can learn new skills and share knowledge with one another to improve their own practice.
7. Patience
Patience is an extremely valuable quality for trainers. It’s often assumed that people are born patient or impatient, but it’s possible to improve your patience with self-development work and behaviour change.
All trainers need to be patient with others, it would give someone an extremely bad learning experience if their trainer was getting frustrated with them.
People also learn at different speeds, so learners are prone to becoming frustrated if they don’t fully understand a concept or technique that you’re trying to show them. Their levels of frustration will increase if you show signs of frustration, so it’s important that you can remain calm and be patient with others.
8. Continuous Learner
When someone becomes an expert at something, over time they forget how much they began with less knowledge. An effective teacher is one who continuously learns from their students, both how to teach better and how to get results themselves.
It’s not possible to know absolutely everything about a subject, so dedicated trainers should always strive to learn more and further develop their skills within their area of expertise.
Information also changes with time, as new technologies, legislation, inventions, and innovations change the way people work. As an industry professional training other people, it’s your job to keep yourself up to date with new developments so that you can effectively impart knowledge to others.
Being a continuous learner is a desirable quality within any career, but as a trainer, you need to be fully committed to continuously learning, improving, and developing your own skills, both in training delivery and within your areas of expertise.
We offer a range of Professional Learning opportunities for trainers and educators to improve their teaching, training and assessment skills. Whether it’s taking your training online, reflecting or learning from your own practice or developing your training skills.
Alternatively, try our online course on How to Plan a Training Session. This course includes a 15 minute tutorial with our experienced and supportive trainer. To get 50% off this course, sign up for our newsletter 👇
