How Can I Address Professionalism Issues with Experienced Trainers Without Offending Them?

Dear All,

I am a Training Coordinator working with a Training Organization and coordinating with a team of 9 Soft Skill trainers. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit through their trainings. However, I was not satisfied and had numerous ideas on how the training should be conducted because I am very passionate and sensitive about this field, and I strive to achieve 100% perfection.

During the past 6 months at my job, I have observed numerous cases where my team is not behaving in a professional manner.

Challenge of Addressing Professionalism

My problem is that all the trainers are quite experienced and older than I am. However, I want to portray the point of being professional in their behavior and address their errors.

Seeking Advice on Effective Communication

What should be the best way to achieve this goal? I am considering a presentation on "Professionalism" to give, but I am a bit confused about the actual content so that they can understand and be satisfied.

Please help.

Awaiting responses.

Regards,
Sonia

Understanding Trainer Mentality and Behavior

Maybe I can accept your emotion, but as we are in the field of training, you can at least expect a certain behavior and mentality from the trainer. In the place where we provide advice to others, our mentality often varies. This has happened to me before. Initially, we tend to think differently from others, we observe a lot, and we strive to find professionalism in others. Of course, these are basic requirements for a trainer. However, our perspectives differ from person to person.

My advice here is to first try to understand the mentality of the people and their training background, specifically the key areas they come from. By doing this, you may find some solutions.

Regards,
G. Vinaykumar
Certified Master Trainer (HR) Soft Skills

Dear Sonia,

I am quite astonished by what you have written. Soft skills trainers teach others how participants should have an open mind and how we should be flexible, etc. However, when the shoe is on the other foot, they become rigid (assuming what you have written is correct).

The problems of this kind arise because probably these soft skill trainers have not worked outside the training function. If they have worked, then they might have done some mofussil jobs and not worked under a proper manager.

Solution for Training Program Execution

As a part of the solution, I can say that you need to have a common process for the execution of the training program. First, make a process, obtain agreement from everybody for this process, and then start measuring the variation. Make a record of this variation and present it to your management.

You have mentioned that trainers do not behave in a professional manner. What is not professional that you could have mentioned? However, you can include those points of being professional in the training execution process.

Questions for Consideration

By the way, what is your position in your company? Why is the owner mute to the "unprofessional" behavior of the trainers? It is his/her job to closely monitor the delivery of each and every trainer. Have the measures of performance been devised to monitor the delivery? If he/she cannot monitor, then at least he/she can arrange for someone else to do this. Why does the management not know what's happening right under their nose? Or does he/she need some training on leadership?

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar

Dear Sonia, Dinesh Divekar has raised some points and given you some pointers. In my usual Socratic way, I will raise more questions to get the scenario cleared:

1. What prior experience do you have?
2. How old are the trainers? Sometimes the more experienced we are, the more set we will be in our ways/styles.
3. What do you mean by unprofessional? I hope you are not using it as an alternative to unethical behavior.
4. If you are not sure what the content should be, at least tell us what you intend to include. That will help us understand the situation.
5. Why not pose the questions to the trainers about what they understand by "professionalism"? It's possible that not all have the same view, and you can take the good points from them. It will also make them feel involved and may lead to acceptance of the need for changes.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan
A retired academic in the UK

Dear Seniors, I deeply appreciate all your suggestions. I am working on the presentation and fortunately, I am researching the content along similar lines as suggested by all of you. Most of the trainers in my team come from a BPO background and thus have their own mindset and are reluctant to change. We already have certain processes in place that are rarely followed by them; hence, I do not want to introduce a new process.

I am interacting with them to understand what they project as "professionalism." I have mentioned certain instances that I believe are not professional enough, such as lack of adaptability (preferring to work on their suitability and convenience), interrupting during meetings and conversations, lack of empathy, etc.

I would like to request you to let me know whether these behaviors are unprofessional or unethical. Thank you once again. I hope to receive some more suggestions. I will keep you updated.

Regards, Sonia

I am sorry to note that you have not answered all my questions. If you do not want to answer them in public, kindly send me a private message.

I have read your second post. It appears that they have not been trained formally on how to be a trainer. If yes, then they are not implementing what they have learned in their "Train The Trainer" course.

Hereafter, start recording videos of their delivery. Later on, tell him/her to comment on the delivery. Where they are unable to point out their own mistakes, tell them their errors. Do this a couple of times, and hopefully, they should improve.

If they fail to improve, you can follow the recourse of discipline as you deem fit.

Regards,
Dinesh V Divekar

Dear Sir, I have mentioned the answers below:

Experience Overview

1. I have 6 months of experience as a Training Coordinator. I have been a Mentor for 3 months in the past.

Trainer Experience Details

2. The trainers have varying degrees of experience:
• 2 trainers: 1 year as Soft Skill Trainers. (They have prior 3-4 years of BPO experience)
• 2 Trainers: 6-8 months of Soft Skill Training.
• 1 Trainer - Has been a professor of Psychology before.
• 2 Trainers - Have soft skill training experience but not with reputed institutes, and the crowd they catered to was significantly different.

Clarification on Terminology

3. Yes, I do believe that I have used the term "Unprofessional" instead of "unethical."

Points for Inclusion

4. As of now, I have thought to include certain points:
• Being Adaptable & Flexible
• Do not just hear the conversations but listen to them.
• Stop having preconceived notions about people & things.
• If working in a team is not possible, do not try to pretend that you are working very well as a team, which is not the case. Be polite and mention that it would not be possible for you to work with the person you are not comfortable with.

Team Feedback

5. I have already started getting inputs from my team about what they think of Professionalism.

Now looking forward to receiving your reply.

Regards,
Sonia.

It appears that none of you have a lot of experience behind you, except the professor of psychology. Kindly take a look at http://www.betterbalance.co.uk/pdfs/...mpetencies.pdf and see if it helps you to formulate your own.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
Simhan