Motivation and Trainers

TeamOJT Tip of the Month for November, 2004

It's important to keep trainers motivated, especially when things are slow. Slow periods might be good times to send trainers for more training in how to train or in a technical area of interest to them or to a training conference. One company takes advantage of the slower periods by conducting a lot of cross-training and by training managers on the tasks. Some companies offer full-time on-the-job trainers lead-level pay to compensate them for the responsibility. (A lead generally is the most experienced or capable member of the work group and receives higher pay than do others in the group.) A few firms offer pay increases for time spent on training (if they are not full-time trainers), but most do not.

Companies vary in the way they tie trainer certification to the individual development plans of their trainers, but it should be done. Sometimes certification helps open doors to other jobs. A manager of a department store reports, "Many or our trainers have taken other roles in the department and have enjoyed the spotlight that will lead them into supervisory roles."

On-the-job trainers are proud of their accomplishments and need recognition and encouragement as much as anyone else does. Certification provides some recognition, but there are other ways to give special acknowledgment to trainers: mugs, tee-shirts, special badges, dinners, and so forth. The more responsibility and recognition you give trainers, the more successful will be the OJT program and the trainer's dedication to training.

One factor often overlooked by managers of trainers and by trainers themselves is that trainees can have a very discouraging effect on trainers, managers, and anyone else they come in contact with. Practicing self-encouragement techniques will help trainers deal with discouraging trainees. If trainers get discouraged, there is no way they will be able to encourage learners.

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