Your Knowledge

When you’re training others, you’re viewed as the subject matter expert (at least you should be), therefore; it’s important for you to have a complete understanding of the subject matter you’re teaching.

The level of knowledge that you’re required to have is dependent on the course subject, the knowledge level of participants, and how thorough the course materials are. Simple subjects may only require a bit of common sense, but if you’re diving into complex topics, you’ll need to possess considerable knowledge. If you find that the material you’re using is lacking information in certain areas, the delivery of the course will rely on your input to teach the topic.

Here are a few knowledge areas that you’ll need to possess prior to your training sessions:

• Of course, the training subject matter
• Adult learning principles
• Your Participants – learning styles and preferences
• Organization – company culture

The more you teach something, the more you’ll understand it. In fact, one of the best ways to learn is to teach. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t feel like an expert right away.

Some new trainers feel like they’re not qualified to teach because they’re not masters. If you know even just a little more about a topic then your trainees, and possess the skills to guide them through the learning and discovery process, you can be confident that they’ll leave your training session with more knowledge than when they arrived.

Training others is a skill that will improve over time.