75 Ways of Working with Groups to Develop their Training Skills

Citation

Morgan, S. (2003), "75 Ways of Working with Groups to Develop their Training Skills", Library Management, Vol. 24 No. 1/2, pp. 94-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120310454665

Working, as I do, in an organisation that has achieved Investors in People (IiP) status, I am fully aware of the importance of developing its most prized asset, its staff. Although cynicism abounds, particularly amongst some of our academic colleagues, the principles that underpin IiP are fairly uncontested. The name itself is however slightly misleading and has not helped the cause. An explicit commitment to the tenets of IiP – and hopefully this will continue after we come up for wholesale review in Summer 2003 – also carries with it a financial commitment. And depending on how it is delivered, staff development and training can still be a substantial investment for any organisation. The Learning Resources Centre (LRC) is a large support service within the University and recognises the importance of staff development for its 70 plus staff. Our approach to staff development is fairly well structured and embedded now. The aims and objectives of the University percolate down to the departments who then form their own plans, identifying staff development needs mainly through the University‐wide staff appraisal system. A whole range of staff development activities is organised in the LRC through a co‐ordinating group – including internal and external courses, job rotation/shadowing, coaching, directed reading, attending conferences etc. We also recently piloted the use of a training hour during which the library operates self‐service facilities only. As one of the people responsible for staff development in the LRC, I came to these two Gower manuals with a degree of self‐interest. Could we pick up any useful tips from the combined 102 (very practical) ways of “training the trainers” and incorporate them into our own programmes? Could they be used as in‐house training vehicles? Well, as with the answer to most questions in life, yes and no!

Each manual is aimed at a different audience. The shorter one would be appropriate for fairly new members of staff who need to be convinced of the value of training to the organisation’s success. The 75 Ways would be suitable for an experienced trainer who needs a vehicle to turn staff into competent trainers. The important word here is “experienced” to which I’ll return later. The 75 Ways manual is divided into nine parts:

1. 1.

   (1) openers;

2. 2.

   (2) analysing training needs;

3. 3.

   (3) the learning process;

4. 4.

   (4) effective communication;

5. 5.

   (5) preparing to train;

6. 6.

   (6) training techniques;

7. 7.

   (7) training delivery;

8. 8.

   (8) evaluating training;

9. 9.

   (9) endings.

Each part, in turn, has a consistent structure with an introduction, objectives, timing, materials, method, consolidation, variations and further (Gower) resources. Similarly, the 27 Ways manual is divided into five sections:

1. 1.

   (1) creating an identity;

2. 2.

   (2) getting close to your customers;

3. 3.

   (3) researching and developing products;

4. 4.

   (4) managing your resources;

5. 5.

   (5) making a difference.

This too has a consistent structure including, for each section, purpose, description, benefits, materials, implementation options, method and further actions. A final short section entitled, “Creating your business edge” attempts to draw the previous sections together.

Make no mistake – there is no shortage of practical and, in some cases, quite innovative and fun ideas in both of these manuals. Try the one on giving instructions on making a paper boat (to test different ways of learning, apparently) or some new icebreakers. In fact, if it’s ideas you’re looking for, you need look no further. The main challenge is to choose the most suitable activities and transfer them into a library and information context whilst retaining some semblance of coherence. In the hands of an experienced trainer this is unlikely to be a problem. I would suggest these manuals would be inappropriate for those new to delivering staff development and training programmes. In this case the series of 24 training packages produced by CILIP[1] would be more helpful, as they are more prescribed, e.g. the training events are constructed with timings and also they’re clearly tailored to the needs of the library and information profession. The downside is the price you pay for the tailoring. So, for the rookie trainer, very little preparation is needed other than familiarity with the material. Returning to the Gower manuals the thought that has gone into their contents, particularly the larger one, is very impressive. This, however, has not really been matched by the appearance of the content. This I found quite disappointing. I realise that manuals are notorious for being visually unexciting but they don’t have to be, other than for perhaps budgetary reasons. I therefore think it not unreasonable to expect some stimulating “visuals” to grab the attention of trainees and inspire them. Attention spans, as we all know, are becoming shorter by the day! The imaginative use of colour (most organisations have access to colour photocopying facilities these days), illustrations, images, different typefaces and fonts etc is surely not too much to ask. Everyone nowadays is used to the high standards of visual stimulation provided by television programmes and multimedia technology generally. Expectations that this be repeated across all media are quite naturally raised.

In answer to my original questions about the material, yes, there are plenty of useful tips that we can incorporate into our own training programmes and yes, these manuals can be used as in‐house training vehicles but only in the hands of an experienced trainer. The authors who are joint principals of the development consultancy SBG Associates should be commended for sharing their experience with others and making the material readily available. I hope that in the next manual they produce – as they surely will – the superb ideas are matched by the visual appearance.

Note

1 CILIP is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, formerly known as The Library Association.