In the first installment of this series (https://trainingmag.com/evolution-corporate-trainer-part-1-4), I covered my progression from a newbie training coordinator to a deliverer of highly structured, vendor-provided programs that required certifications. I discussed how it was important to learn about the organization so I could modify the training to make it more effective and applicable to the audience.
I listed the three things I did that enabled me to make the modifications:
- First, I started talking to people from throughout the organization.
- Second, I started reading and learning about leadership and organizations.
- And finally, I gained mentors who helped me understand politics, influence, and power.
Design and Technology
What I failed to mention was that I had completed a graduate-level certification program in educational technology and media from a local university. My career goal was to teach at the community college level, and I thought the EdTech background would help me design my courses. It was helpful, even though I only taught at a junior college for one semester.
My first “real” training job was in city government. After a couple of years in the Organizational Development and Training Department, I was transferred to the City’s Police Department, where I was responsible for shooting and editing training videos. Photography was a hobby of mine, and I knew quite a bit about audio recording from my job in the Air Force. Both skills proved helpful when working with video. My boss was a police officer who ran the department’s video production unit. We were a two-person shop producing training videos for the Police Academy. My background in instructional design from the EdTech program and the knowledge of photography and audio recording proved very useful.
You see, in the late 1970s, when I was an entry-level trainer, the training profession wasn’t anywhere near as specialized as it is today. Trainers “back in the day” were generalists. We were expected to do it all, everything from needs analysis to design, creating content, developing media, becoming SMEs, scheduling and presenting content, analyzing results, and trying to demonstrate a program’s effectiveness.
Knowing how to do a needs analysis, design a course based on those findings, and then being able to incorporate various media into the course was instrumental in my getting a job in corporate America.
Technological Know-How
My first job in business was with a large financial institution. It prided itself on being a technology leader. The company had a mock branch office in its training facility. New tellers worked in the branch to learn their jobs. The teller trainers asked my team and me to create training programs using auto-advancing slide shows with dual audio tracks, one to advance the slides and the other with narration.
We worked with the teller trainers to learn what they wanted us to create and include in the programs. We laid out storyboards and scripts, getting their approvals. We shot pictures using 35mm slide film. We developed the slides ourselves, mounted them ourselves, recorded the narration, and dubbed in background music and occasional sound effects. Then we programmed the advancement of the slides using the then-state-of-the-art technology.
To be honest, we had no idea how effective the programs were. No one tracked that. We just knew they were popular. They were welcome diversions from lectures, and everyone loved them. Before we knew it, requests for our services from other departments came in bunches.
Remember, our company liked being the best at things. We moved from slides to video to make that happen. That’s when things got interesting. We started creating video training programs for our organization, and a friend asked if we would make a presentation at a national industry conference. He thought others would like to know how to produce internal videos and see samples of our work. We did and were approached by representatives from other financial institutions asking if they could purchase our programs. Our Instructional Design and Media Department became a profit center.
We felt there was a need to improve our productions and hire professional talent. Next thing you know, we were holding casting calls, and acting talent from Hollywood was auditioning for our productions. It was a lot of fun. The fact that we were making money in the process changed the perception of what training could become. I’ve long embraced state-of-the-art technology and keep current with the skills needed to engage people, whether in a meeting room, on a stage, or on the screen on a mobile phone.
Creativity and Diversity
One of the department’s biggest success stories was a “kind of” training program, but more informational and marketing oriented than anything else. Our company decided to roll out an incentive campaign to generate new business. My team was asked by the Marketing Department to put on a show for the entire company. They selected us because of our ability to engage participants through media.
We did the show in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. We had three different venues: a hotel, the Queen Mary ocean liner, and SeaWorld. Each show required different staging since it included dancers, fireworks, and a 32-projector slideshow with pictures of every employee in the company. I knew nothing about choreography or pyrotechnics, but I knew how to work collaboratively, merge diverse elements into an overarching presentation, and tell a story. As the producer of the show in each venue, I found myself more of a stage director than a trainer. The presentation succeeded because it was exciting and pictures of every employee were in it. My role was minor, but the huge success of the event and the increase in business generated by the incentive campaign helped establish the credibility of the training department.
The point of this story is that “training” can span a wide range of activities and events. Being versatile team players, working well with others, and having fiscal responsibility allowed us to be parts of many successes. The training department had become a corporate asset.
That’s Cool, So What?
As happy as everyone was with our team, one nagging question remained: “How effective were our programs?” Did they change behaviors? Did performance improve? No one seemed to care but me.
Deciding to look for answers to these questions was another major factor in my career progression. In the next installment, I’ll discuss the transition from trainer and technology to performance analyst and performance improvement.
Alan Landers is CEO of FirstStep Communications, LLC, and BPO with operations in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is an executive-level organizational development (OD) consultant with more than 35 years of experience. He also serves as president of FirstStep OD & Training.
