Role of training facilitator
3. What is a training facilitator?
Not a teacher. Not a trainer. Not an expert.
A training facilitator is a person who has good listening and communication skills and who can lead and guide people through a set of learning materials in order to ensure they get the most out of the content, benefit from each other’s knowledge and develop confidence in using new skills and knowledge in the workplace.
A training facilitator is always ready to learn and isn’t afraid to reply to questions with ‘I don’t know, what do you and the others think?” or “Let’s see if we can’t find out the answer together, here and now”. A training facilitator is an active listener, extremely open to the ideas, experience and knowledge of others and is able to summarise discussion, get consensus from a group and interpret meaning accurately.
A training facilitator is familiar with the course objectives, course plan, all the content, materials, activities, and the evaluation tools. The course materials for facilitator-led training are usually written specifically for flexible use to suit a variety of learning levels and learning styles. A course facilitator has tools and tricks to adapt these to the needs of the group.
A training facilitator comes prepared to introduce the course, explain the methodology and objectives and use the material creatively and thoughtfully to achieve a good learning environment so that participants engage fully and are able to integrate new knowledge and skills into their own repertoire of tools so that they can be used regularly and routinely.
A training facilitator is able to use the training material in terms of the current context, take into account the strengths and weaknesses of participants, their needs and interests and listen and react thoughtfully. By guiding discussion, asking good questions and drawing out ideas more fully, a good training facilitator can significantly enrich the outcome of a course.
A training facilitator is always ready to take and give feedback on the course materials to the course developers and suggest changes, improvements or just positive comments on how materials have been successfully used and received.