Certification For Soft Skill / Comm Skills & PD Trainer

Dear All,
Post a corporate work experience of more than 20 years, I have recently entered the field of training and have been conducting class room / group trainings and personal coaching as well. The subjects are retail sector operations, Communication skills , Spoken English and business communication etc. I am getting inquiries to conduct soft skill, communication skill and Personality development workshops to a larger corporate audience.
My education has been an engineering degree and a post graduation i.e. MFM. At this stage, I am wondering if I should get a certification for these areas and if yes, which is that certification which is recognised all across, including government etsablishments.
I request the veterans of this field to guide me.
Regards
Sandeep

Dear Sandeep,

I am happy to know that you are expanding your horizons as a trainer.

Training is a vast field and you need to know both, the science and art of training.

When I say Science of Training, I mean knowledge of Competency based Training, Training needs identification, Analysis, Writing Instructional Objectives, Training Design, Training Development, Implementation and Evaluation.

This knowledge can be gained by either reading some books or undergoing a formal course. However, unless you get a platform to observe and practice the above dimensions, your knowledge will be mere theoretical. Certifications add to your knowledge, hone your skills and add to your profile too. If you can gain the required skills and knowledge otherwise then you may go ahead in the field of training. In fact market is full of such trainers. They might be doing good too. However, in case an organization wants a proper training intervention including identification of needs and evaluation, then that novice trainer would be confused.

You also need sound practical knowledge and working of the subjects you want to train participants upon.

The art of training includes Communication Skills, Presentation Skills and Facilitation Skills. You can again read books on these subjects and undergo courses to hone your skills. Some people are naturally good at these.

Indian Society for Training and Development ( http://istd.co.in <link updated to site home> ) offers a 1.5 years course in TnD. The advantage of this course is that it is the only course recognized by the ministry of HRD. The disadvantage is that the course only focuses on knowledge and has very less skills development method.

Training in Soft Skills and behavioral skills also needs grasping and practicing various modalities like TA, NLP, Gestalt and CBT. There are individual certifications for them.

In the market there are some reputed organizations offering TTT for example, Middle Earth HR, Oscar Murphy, Franklin Covey India and Door Training.

These names are just for reference and please do your own research to find an organization that suits you. The advantage is that you get to learn practical skills and knowledge. The charges vary from company to company.

I offer a Skype TTT Coaching for aspirants with effective communication skills. You may contact me in case you are looking for knowledge and skills development.

In case you just want guidance only or some very effective e-books on training, then also you may write to me or call me.

All the Best!