Title:Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Training
Authors: Kaye Thorne and David Mackey
Publisher: Kogan Page
Date: Second Edition, 2001
ISBN: 0 7494 3463 5
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
Price: £18.99 (TrainingZONE price £17.09)
It may be called 'everything you ever needed to know about training', but a more accurate title would be 'everything you ever needed to know about becoming a trainer'. It's a well laid out, easy to read paperback, but it's really aimed at those starting off as a trainer for the first time. There's very little here for those involved in training strategy in an organisation, or indeed, for the training administrator looking to acquire a bit of background knowledge about the processes involved in provision of workplace training - I struggled to find anything on Training Needs Analysis, for instance. What there is is indeed a step-by-step guide, as the cover says, to starting in a trainer role. The book starts off by discussing personal issues to entering training as a profession, before looking briefly at how people learn and designing a training programme. Although there's enough here on these second two topics to get someone started, many who've been working in training for a short time would want to know more, and to this end there's a short reading list at the end of the book with most of the usual suspects (including Handy, Kolb, Buzan, Belbin and Senge) included.
Moving on through the book (although it's perfectly possible to open it up at any chapter as they're all self-contained), methods of delivery deals with practical considerations such as dealing with nerves and setting up the training room before you start, as well as looking briefly at some of the potential disasters that can occur (training materials not turned up? apparently finding them 'is a bit like solving a murder mystery - how reassuring!). The helpful chapter on 'sources of information' looks at how you can assess your own qualities, brainstorm and network to come up with new concepts for designing programmes. The chapter on evaluation concentrates on the role of 'happy sheets' but acknowledges that there is 'continued concern' over this process.
The book the devotes a fair amount of space to considering the different roles a trainer can undertake, whether it's as coach, mentor, facilitator, or change agent. It also devotes a chapter to 'training to train' - even though this book isn't in chronological order, it seems a bit strange to leave this bit until chapter 8. Chapter 9 is all about training as a business and as such is invaluable for those looking to set up in business themselves - marketing, business planning and networking are all considered here, with some helpful hints.
Towards the end of the book, a postscript has been added in recognition of the prominence of e-learning, at least in the amount of writing being done about it at present, but there's not much here and it might have been better combined in a general chapter on methods of delivery. At the back, there are some handy specimen course programmes, evaluation forms and a form to use when analysing why business was lost. Last but not least, a section on useful web addresses - TrainingZONE was upset to discover it didn't even feature in the publications and journals section - we can only assume this was an oversight!
All in all, if you're thinking about becoming a trainer, this is a useful introductory book. For those with some experience, or working in administration or strategy, there's not a lot here to inform or build on knowledge.
Everything You Ever Needed To Know...was reviewed by Stephanie Phillips, TrainingZONE's Editor.
