What Should Trainers Focus On: Transactional Tasks or Transformational Impact?

Understanding the Role of a Trainer

Are Trainers supposed to engage more in transactional activities or transformational ones? What value addition can we provide as Trainers besides training new hires and conducting behavioral training that does not lead to transformation?

Who is a Trainer and What is Their Role in a Company?

Regards.

You raise an interesting query. I believe that the word "Trainer" is (unknowingly) used as an umbrella for Trainer and Facilitator. The two are very different but almost achieve the same end result. Even the roots of the two words interplay:

To train is to Educate; the root is "educe" which literally means "to bring out"; which is what Trainers do best, but so do facilitators! The root of Facilitate is "facile" which means to make a process "easy." The best trainers also make learning easy!

Differences Between a Facilitator and a Trainer

There are four major differences between a Facilitator and Trainer:

1. A Facilitator is NOT necessarily a content expert. A Trainer IS a content expert.

2. A Facilitator IS an expert in many forms of group process such as inter-group conflict resolution, strategic planning, team building, etc. A Trainer is NOT necessarily an expert in many forms of group process. Instead, they continuously develop new methods to help individuals achieve specific learning outcomes.

3. A Facilitator helps the group to define and verbalize its outcomes and helps the group to develop, implement, and take ownership of its actions to achieve the outcome. A Trainer does NOT help groups to establish their own learning outcomes. Instead, the Trainer is involved in implementing and analyzing the results of training needs assessments.

4. A Facilitator sees facilitation as a process to help achieve specific "bits" of broad organizational roles. A Trainer focuses on training's impact on actual job performance or tasks. The Trainer might evaluate the training's effectiveness long after the training event takes place.

However, there are elements that both roles share. They both help the group achieve specific outcomes, regularly evaluate the process in real-time, are familiar with the organizational culture, and stimulate dialogue and interaction.

The above is gleaned from workshops by Guila Muir, to whom all credit is acknowledged. I trust the above helps in some way to understand your query. No doubt other members can expand further.

Regards,
Harsh

Thank you for your reply. It's an interesting discussion. However, I am unable to figure out the transformational training. The training seems to be more informational rather than transformational. Should the trainer target transformational or informational aspects?

Thank you.

In my view, a trainer has to achieve all three goals/objectives, namely transactional, transformational, as well as informational, depending on the nature and professional standing of the target group and the objectives of the specific program. The expressions "Trainer, Coach, and Facilitator" are a play on words and may differ in spelling but not in their roles, goals, and objectives, which are to provide information to bring about transformation for effective task execution.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
Mumbai