HP TrainTheTrainer Course Manual

Train the Trainer 

Course Manual

Notices 

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Contents 

Notices .............................................................................................................................. 2 

Section 1: How Adults Learn .................................................................................................. 4 

Section 2: Change Curve ........................................................................................................ 5 

Section 3: Accelerated Learning ............................................................................................. 8 

Eight Ideas for Enhanced Learning ..................................................................................... 8 

Accelerated Learning ......................................................................................................... 8 

SAVI ................................................................................................................................... 8 

The Learning Zone ............................................................................................................. 9 

The Learning Cycle ........................................................................................................... 11 

Teaching by Webinar and Conference Call ....................................................................... 12 

Promote Discovery .......................................................................................................... 13 

Facilitation - Key Skills ...................................................................................................... 13 

Facilitation - Controlling the Room ................................................................................... 14 

Facilitation - Being the Weather-maker ........................................................................... 14 

Three Ways of Learning ................................................................................................... 15 

Section 4: Jargon Busting ..................................................................................................... 16 

Section 5: Key Training Tips ................................................................................................. 17 

Key Indicators .................................................................................................................. 17 

Key Solutions ................................................................................................................... 17 

Key Challenges ................................................................................................................. 17 

Section 6: The Importance of Feedback ............................................................................... 19 

Ways of Gathering Feedback ........................................................................................... 19 

Summary ......................................................................................................................... 20

Train the Trainer Course Manual 

Section 1: How Adults Learn 

Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (1913 – 1997) was an American educator well known for the use 

of the term Andragogy as synonymous to adult education. According to Malcolm 

Knowles, andragogy is the art and science of adult learning, thus andragogy refers to any 

form of adult learning. (Kearsley, 2010). 

The term andragogy can be supposedly equivalent to the term pedagogy. Andragogy in 

Greek means man-leading in comparison to pedagogy, which in Greek means child-leading. 

In 1980, Knowles made 4 assumptions about the characteristics of adult 

learners (andragogy) that are different from the assumptions about child learners 

(pedagogy). In 1984, Knowles completed his 6 assumption in 1984: 

Motivation – As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal. 

Context required - As a person matures our learning shifts from subject to problem solving, 

we no longer feel the need to study and understand an entire subject but only the parts that 

we need to solve the problem. 

Life experience - As a person matures he/she accumulates a growing reservoir of experience 

that becomes an increasing resource for learning. 

Self-Concept - As a person matures his/her self-concept moves from one of being a 

dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being. 

Need to know - Life is busy. Adults are busy. Adults are actively engaged in the process of 

life. We want to know what we need to know as rapidly as possible ensuring it is worth our 

effort to learn it. 

Readiness to learn - As a person matures his/her readiness to learn becomes oriented 

increasingly to the developmental tasks of his/her social roles. 

Knowles’ 4 Principles of 

Andragogy 

In 1984, Knowles suggested 4 principles that are applied to adult learning: 

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1. Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction. 

2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities. 

3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and 

impact to their job or personal life. 

4. Adult learning is problem-centred rather than content-oriented. (Kearsley, 2010) 

Application of Andragogy in Personal Computer Training 

Knowles (1984) provides an example of applying andragogy principles to the design of 

personal computer training: 

1. There is a need to explain the reasons specific things are being taught (e.g., certain 

commands, functions, operations, etc.) 

2. Instruction should be task-oriented instead of promoting memorization -- learning 

activities should be in the context of common tasks to be performed by the others. 

3. Instruction should consider the wide range of different backgrounds of learners; learning 

materials and activities should allow for different levels/types of previous experience 

with computers. 

4. Since adults are self-directed, instruction should allow learners to discover things and 

knowledge for themselves without depending on people. However, learners should be 

offered guidance and help when mistakes are made. 

How can you use this understanding to ensure you create an impactful learning 

environment? 

Section 2: Change Curve 

Stage 1 begins when a change is first introduced, where people's initial reaction may be 

shock or denial. This manifests by blaming others as they react to the challenge of the status 

quo. 

Stage 2 they become critical of themselves. For as long as people resist the change and 

remain at Stages 1 and 2 of the Change Curve, the change will be unsuccessful, at least for 

the people who react in this way. This is a stressful and unpleasant stage. It should also be 

noted that people can waver between these two stages for quite some time. 

Stage 3 is where confusion and doubt set it, but it’s a good sign as people are beginning to 

move on. This manifests in various ways but people will show signs of doubt and confusion. 

Signs of acceptance will, however shine through, as they may ask questions such as: 

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• Will I ever be able to learn all this? 

• How will this affect my job? 

• How do I use this new system? 

Stage 4 of the Change Curve - Acceptance Rationalisation - people stop focusing on what 

they have lost. They start to let go and accept the changes. They begin testing and exploring 

what the changes mean, and so learn the reality of what's good and not so good, and how 

they must adapt. It is useful to be cautious at this stage of people sliding backwards into 

doubt, can be common. 

Stage 5, Solutions and Problem Solving, people not only accept the changes but also start to 

embrace them. They begin to rebuild their ways of working. 

Stage 6. The change is now starting to become ‘normal’ or the beginnings of routine and 

status quo. Learnings can now be captured through a review process and feed into the next 

cycle of change. 

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Section 3: Accelerated Learning 

Eight Ideas for Enhanced Learning 

Accelerated Learning 

Accelerated Learning (A.L.) is in many ways simply an engaging way of facilitating learning. 

It guides you in making the best choices in how to set-up the learning environment, in the 

design of training sessions to meet the needs of all learners, and in facilitating so that the 

learning process is both deepened and accelerated, allowing delegates to retain more and 

feel further empowered. They apply learning more effectively at work and in their personal 

lives. Their ability to think critically systemically and innovatively increases. They become 

more adapt and agile learners. 

The ideas are derived from the study of years of interdisciplinary research and constant 

charges as we learn more about learning and human development. The methodology 

integrates new and helpful ideas and approaches which are laid out below. 

SAVI 

We learn through a blend of different learning techniques when we deliver a course we must 

ensure we utilise all aspects to fully enhance the delegates learning; 

S stands for Somatic learning or learning by moving and doing. Somatic learning involves 

getting active from time to time, for example, while building a model of a process or 

procedure, doing active learning exercises (simulations, system challenges), or creating 

pictograms or maps. 

A is Auditory, which is learning by talking and hearing. Auditory learning is getting the 

learners to translate their experience into sound by talking about what they are learning. 

Auditory learning encourages learners to read out loud, talk while solving problems, and 

review learning experiences. 

V is for Visual and is learning by observing and picturing. Visual learning work best when 

they can see real-world examples, icons, pictures, and various kinds of images while they are 

learning. Sometimes encouraging learners to utilise maps and diagrams to learn key 

information like work flow or attributes and relations. 

I stands for Intellectual, it’s important to encourage learners to write notes in their own 

words. This will help retention of knowledge as well has helping them to check their own 

understanding of the topic. 

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Can 

you 

include all of these forms of learning into your classroom? Some ideas for Webinars: 

Somatic 

Can you simulate a journey through the software? A narrative or story can give this 

impression even sitting at a desk. 

Auditory 

Can delegates express an idea in one short sentence? Can webinar users compare 

sentences? Which are the most effective? 

Visual 

Do your graphics tell the story? Can you show a process in different pictorial ways? 

Intellectual 

Have you encouraged your delegates to write hand-written notes, or annotate printed 

ones? Numerous studies show that hand writing improves retention over typing. 

The Learning Zone 

If our learners are in discomfort either through being hungry or tired or even feeling 

overwhelmed or overly challenged it will become a distraction from learning. As trainer we 

need to create a positive environment for learning. One way we can achieve this is by 

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ensuring that our delegates needs are meet a simple model to highlight this is Maslow’s 

Hierarchy of Needs. 

5 

Now they are ready to learn 

4 

Have you effectively praised and encouraged the delegates? 

3 

Do they feel part of a group have you spent time bring the 

room together? 

2 

Do they feel safe in their environment, is the room a 

comfortable place to be? 

1 

Are your delegates tired, hungry, thirsty etc? 

5 

4 

3 

1 

2 

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The Learning Cycle 

When we train in new materials we need to take them on a journey from first being 

introduced to the materiel to being able to use and excel in the newly acquired skill, we call 

this process the learning cycle; 

Preparation – We need to inspire the delegates and encourage them to want to learn. When 

presented with new information the first thoughts we have is ‘what’s in it for me’ (WIIFM 

factor) Before presenting any new information we need to first explain why they should 

learn it and how it will benefit their lives. 

Presentation – After the delegates are ready to learn we then need to present the new 

information to them. This step is key in setting the foundation of how they will potentially 

view this topic from then on. If we present this information with positivity then the learners 

will view it in a positive light, controversy if we are introduced to something negatively then 

this will affect their view of the topic 

Practise – Regardless of natural learning style, everyone learns by ‘doing’. Empower your 

learner by getting them to undertake actions with the mouse and keyboard. 

Performance – ‘Message sent’ does not necessarily mean ‘Message received’. Ask you 

learner to repeat back to you or demonstrate their understanding 

Preparation 

Presentation 

Performance 

Practise 

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Teaching by Webinar and Conference Call 

There has been very little study into the effectiveness of webinar teaching. Most of the 

evidence for what works and doesn’t work has been anecdotal, as in these examples: 

Tips and Techniques for Making Good Webinars: Engaging Your Audience 

1. Get them interacting. The more your participants participate in a webinar, the more 

engaged they'll be. ... 

2. Have interesting slides. ... 

3. Increase the number of slides. ... 

4. Break up the class into digestible sections. ... 

5. Call for questions often. 

or 

1. Keep it brief. Since you do not have the visual cues from your audience that you do in a 

traditional classroom, you have no way of knowing whether they are sitting in rapt attention or 

yawning and checking Facebook. Aim for your webinar to last 20 minutes, or the length of the 

average adult’s attention span. If you are also incorporating a Q&A portion, you can certainly up 

that timeframe by an additional 10 to 15 minutes. If you cannot fit all of your material into 20 

ticks on the clock, break it up into a series of webinars instead. 

2. Think visual. Remember the importance of visual aids. Once again, it comes down to your 

audience’s fickle attention span. Giving them more to look at will ensure you are holding their 

attention, so now is the time to take advantage of the many tools available to you. Add in photos 

to further describe your topic, experiment with split-screen video demos and select a lively host. 

This can be the difference between a ho-hum presentation and one that people will remember 

and really learn from. 

3. Get ready for your close-up. Whether you are hosting a webinar yourself or you have hired a 

host, you will want to follow some simple on-camera rules. If possible, opt for natural lighting, 

stand or sit in front of a solid background, and wear a solid colour that contrasts with your 

background (if your background is dark, for example, opt for a light-coloured shirt, and vice 

versa). Using a webcam? Place it right above your monitor so it looks like you are looking right at 

your audience even when you are sneaking a peek at your presentation. 

4. Engage your audience. The buzzword with media these days is “interactive.” Play the same 

game with your webinar. By keeping it less like a seminar and more like an interactive learning 

experience, you will keep your audience’s attention. Live polls, quizzes, chat and Q&A sessions 

help participants find each other and spark discussions that will go a long way toward webinar 

success. 

5. But don’t stop there. Remember that the experience isn’t over after “class is dismissed.” Keep 

your momentum going by following up and thanking your participants (provide links to the 

highlights and surveys to keep them engaged after the fact). Also, for those who weren’t able to 

make it, have your webinar archived so they can find you after the fact. 

The main point with webinars is that they are unusually tiring for trainers and delegates, and 

that if they can be broken into bite-sized chunks it would be most appropriate. 60 – 90 minutes 

seems to be about the longest that can be undertaken without some sort of break. 

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Promote Discovery 

We can’t spoon feed our delegates, and if we want the learning to stick, if we want them to 

leave the training room feeling prepared. What we need to do is motivate and develop 

excitement, so they want to learn and inspired to take their new learning and develop it. In 

2009 Dan Pink realised a book called ‘Drive’ focusing on motivation. This was born out of a 

study carried out by three leading economists from MIT. The book focuses on how we are all 

intrinsically motivated. The results drawn from this can be utilised to understand how we 

can motivate a desire to for self-discovery within our delegates. 

Autonomy - People want the desire to be in control of their own learning. It’s not about 

compliance, this will only give take you so far and what we should be seeking to do is use the 

training session as an opportunity to give people the basics. The tools and the motivation so 

they can leave encouraged and inspired to go ahead and take autonomy over their own 

development, knowing where they can go for help and ideas beyond the classroom. 

Mastery – We all have a desire to get better, why do people learn a complex musical 

instrument or write Wikipedia pages? People are driven to challenge and then mastery. So, 

in the training room let’s harness that desire and challenge our learners to develop their 

knowledge and give them support to master it. 

Purpose – Many delegates become disengaged and demotivated because they don't 

understand, or can't invest in, the "bigger picture." However, those who believe that they 

are working toward something larger and more important than themselves are often the 

most hard-working, productive and engaged. It vital that we help our learners see their 

purpose for learning something new. 

Facilitation - Key Skills 

Often within the training room the answers are present within your delegates, as trainers it 

is our responsibility to utilise our delegates individual knowledge and experiences. This will 

empower our leaners as they come to realise that they can reconcile this new skill and in 

turn master. We do this through continually asking the delegates to present their 

knowledge, asking questions and by setting up and guiding discussions/challenges. 

Prepare - Being prepared is probably one of the most important yet often overlooked aspect 

of facilitation. Preparation includes understanding the profile of people you are meeting, 

assessing the dynamics of the room, determining the focus areas and, setting the desired 

outcome that you want to achieve at the end of the session. Being prepared also provides 

you with more credibility and helps everyone make the best out of the limited time to 

accomplish the key learning objectives. (Can you see how this relates to Maslow’s 

Hierarchy?) 

Frame the setting - It is common for people to enter a training session with different 

agendas. This means, without a common thread to frame their mind, discussions will simply 

deviate everywhere and that can easily lead to a discussion with no conclusion. What you 

can do is to set the stage right from the start and ensure that everyone is on the same page. 

Lay the ground rules, manage the expectations and get everyone to agree that this is how 

we are going to approach the subject. With that, it is easy for you to bring back the team 

from distractions if someone deviates from the topic along the way. That said, the prerequisite 

to this is preparation and a good understanding of what the end goal is. 

Take control - As a facilitator, you are the most powerful figure in the room. You hold the 

authority to move discussions and get people involved. Do not be afraid to speak up and 

intervene is someone is trying to dominate the conversation. Ask yourself, is the purpose to 

solve a pre-set challenge or observe a monologue? To fulfil the objective of promoting 

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purposeful discussions to get a resolution where everyone is aligned, a good facilitator needs 

to take control and get everyone involved as much as possible. Participants will only be fully 

committed on the journey to learn if their voices are heard. 

Uncover insights, not provide them - As a facilitator, your role is not to provide the meeting 

with answers. What you should focus on is to bring out the answers out of the participants, 

draw deeper insights by asking questions and in turn, help piece things together to present a 

clearer picture for everyone. To do so, avoid making assumptions. When in doubt, clarify. 

Spend time to get participants thinking and sharing their views because that’s what is key to 

uncovering meaningful insights. After going through many sessions, you will realize that the 

answers are often already present. It’s just a matter of piecing the bite-sized information 

together and helping them dig deeper to understand what it really means. 

Close with impact - A proper closing will help keep everyone on the same page once again 

and committed to the common goal. It is important for the facilitator to round things up by 

recapping the salient points and get consensus on the next steps moving forward. With that, 

expectations will be clear, and everyone will be on the journey to achieve the goals set out 

together. This may not mean that everyone in the room knows everything, but that they 

know where to go to get the information. 

Facilitation - Controlling the Room 

Within a training room you can find multiple different personalities, some will be bold and 

willing to vocalise their point as well as dominate any group challenges or the training room. 

Others will be softer spoken and unable or too nervous to speak up. How can we can ensure 

that we utilise those who are vocal to aid in encouraging the room to be forth coming with 

their answers, but still allow the quieter members of the room the opportunity to speak? 

A simple method is to thank the more vocal members for their contribution and then ask if 

anybody has a thought on the subject at hand. However, it is very important that we 

establish a set of ground rules at the start of the training session. Encouraging the delegates 

to listen to each other and enforcing the belief that there are no silly question or answers, 

thus encouraging everybody to speak up without fear of reprisal. Getting to know the 

delegates and their names is extremely useful here in picking out those who may not 

volunteer answers but can be used to steer the conversation. 

If you need to be critical, try to do it in a warm and generous way. 

Can you think of any other methods we can utilise in this situation? 

Facilitation - Being the Weather-maker 

A fun, safe and engaging training room where answers and options are encouraged, and the 

learning is engaging, will promote positive long-lasting learning. However, if it dull and 

lifeless the delegates will quickly become disengaged with the learning process. A simple 

way to ensure a positive learning environment is to think about the weather you create in 

the training room, through your demeanour. 

Our delegates are looking to us to lead them through the day and will quickly emulate our 

projected emotions, if we are being the bright sunshine then this will lift the mood and help 

make both the room and the delegates feel bright and sunny. Obviously, this needs to be a 

believable and credible. 

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Layering 

People seldom learn from doing something just once, but from the utilisation of repeated 

examples, that add levels of complexity as they grow. 

Use the simplest scenarios first until the learner fully grasps the concept, creates a solid 

understanding and ground work; only then can you slowly build on more complex elements 

of the process you are following. Remember a training room is a simple a grounding point, 

allowing our learners to develop key principles and knowledge that will empowered them to 

self-discovery beyond the training room. 

Think about learning to drive – it is a complex layered process that we all take for granted. 

Three Ways of Learning 

Not all learning in real life happens through ‘just reading it through’. Instead we often just 

plunge in and learn in the process. Our own responses to situations also provide us with 

learning opportunities if we stop to think about them. 

We can replicate this in the training room by presenting information, creating experiences 

and helping people learn from their own reactions. 

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Section 4: Jargon Busting 

Try not to use terms and abbreviations that maybe outside the knowledge of the learner. 

Remember Business World has its own vocabulary that the learner will be unfamiliar with. 

When explaining a new term there are two methods first one is to explain it ensuring we are 

mirroring real life. 

Alternatively encourage the delegates to discover the answer for themselves, by setting it as 

a challenge and inviting them to utilise their manuals and help icon on screen. This will 

encourage them to do so when they return to work. 

Above all remember to always explain the meaning of Business world terms and acronyms. 

These are particularly difficult when using a standard word in a non-standard context (e.g. 

“relations” in Business World are directional transactions). 

Examples: 

Browser Drill-down Funds checking Resno. 

Workflow Three-way match GRN Wildcard 

Attributes Alerts BACS Relation 

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Section 5: Key Training Tips 

Key Indicators 

Reading the room - Before you start your training session take time to watch the room, 

work out who are talkative, who are dominant and who are quiet - this information can be 

extremely useful when you are training. 

Body Posture - A person’s posture tells you a lot about their status, if somebody is sat with 

the arms folded, or they are leaning back in the chairs this can be a clear indication of 

disengagement. 

Non-Responsive – If you are asking questions attempting to generate conversations but are 

receiving little to no response in return then it may be time to mix things up an re-energize 

the room. 

Key Solutions 

Change the stance - this can either by getting the delegates active and moving (for example 

asking them to move one space to the left or right) or yourself by changing tone, inflection 

of voice, even as simple as sitting down or standing up can recharge the room. 

Power of the 5-minute Break - Learners are only at the maximum peak of attention for a 

relatively short period of time. Watch for signs of their attention wandering and take a short 

break. This also presents you with an opportunity to tailor your attention to members of the 

room who are a bit behind or provide extra materials for people who are ahead of the game. 

Don’t ignore it - If somebody is talking through the session, challenging your authority or the 

room is switching off don’t ignore it. Deal with it swiftly before the problems develops and 

becomes unmanageable, below are just a few solutions on how to respond to a few 

common problems; 

Talking while you are/challenging your authority – A simple challenge is just to stop 

talking yourself and observe the individual talking they will quickly become aware 

and cease. Never call them out over it or try and talk over them this will create 

barriers between you and the delegates. If this problem stems from a delegate utilise 

a break to quickly speak with them, remember our theory of Andragogy and gage 

their enthusiasm for the course or the learning. 

Switching off – A simple method is just to change the stance (see above) 

Key Challenges 

Tortoise and the hare - Adults learn best by doing and by given the opportunity to try for 

themselves. However, some delegates will complete a challenge set to them in very quick 

order (Hares) where as others may need slightly longer to achieve their goal (tortoise) the 

challenge as trainer is how you keep the hares interested, while supporting the tortoise and 

ensuring they are given the opportunity they need. A simple solution is to always have a 

secondary challenge ready to set, when your hares complete their challenge set them 

another. This cannot be around additional learning as the tortoise may feel they are slipping 

behind and become disengaged. 

Difficult Questions – If you are asked a question you don’t know the answer to do not try 

and bluff your way through. Make a note and tell the learner you will get back to them. 

Make sure you do! One simple method is a question car park: 

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Disengagement – If the 

delegates are complete 

closed to any learning or 

the course in general, don’t 

been drawn into the 

argument about the merits 

of the course or try to 

carry on and ignore the 

problem. Instead 

generate a discussion 

about why they need to 

learn this and how it will 

benefit them. Designment typically transpires due to a lack of understanding of why the 

need to learn it. 

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Section 6: The Importance of Feedback 

Ensure you are always obtaining feedback from your learners following the training session. 

Also take time to reflect on how you can further improve your coaching style and content. 

Keep notes for next time to allow you to develop further and ensure learning as taken place 

in three key areas: 

Retention - Has learning taken place? 

Continued engagement – It allows you to offer further support to your delegates. Alongside 

highlight those who struggled that day and speak to their line manager to arrange further 

support. 

Improve – Feedback can help you improve course delivery as well as your own personal 

development. 

Ways of Gathering Feedback 

1. A simple form given to your delegates at the end of the session 

2. Email response/ online feedback form 

3. Using a quiz at the end (this can work particularly effective if you use the same quiz 

at the start of your training session) 

4. You can gather the vast majority of the data with one simple question – What could I 

have done today to make the day work better? 

5. Remember that delegates may be positive on the day but write negative feedback. 

This can be mitigated by ensuring that they know you have taken on board the 

answers to this question. Allowing everyone to leave early may be superficially 

popular but result in negative feedback. 

Can you think of any other methods of feedback? 

Remember your coaching session doesn’t end when you walk away. Make a point of 

following up with the learning to see how they are getting on and if there is anything they 

need further help with. Make sure they can get in touch with you, and potentially with each 

other for peer support. 

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Summary 

The best kind of training is supportive. Delegates need to feel safe to reveal their own 

ignorance and make mistakes in order to progress, even if this would not be acceptable 

outside of a training session. 

The effective training room acts as a safe zone where people can make mistakes, bond over 

their joint ignorance and help each other to learn. In a competitive corporate culture this 

may mean that the training session benefits from being clearly marked out as a separate 

space to their regular workspace. It’s a space with training wheels and a helmet. This will 

encourage everyone to pedal as hard and as fast as they can without worrying about falling 

off. 

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