Loving being a trainer!

Till now I have trained 1800 plus individuals, but none of the workshop has changed me, challenged me or braved me to the extent, this workshop did!

Research phase

When I got to realise that I am out of the business etiquette mould (my last workshop), I was pretty comforted.

But having said that, there was a gargantuan task in front of me. I was supposed to take the scientific theory part of personality development workshop. I say it gargantuan task because it was like diving in ocean and then searching for pearls in the ocean. And it is easier said than done.

The only way out for this was an all-out research! And I did that. I had gone through 4 management books of various universities (the likes of Symbiosis and Amity) .On the other hand I was exploring the web meticulously.

My research continued for around 2 weeks and after a lot of tough grind I was supremely confident of the theory part.

When I think of seven habits part of my presentation it was equally fulfilling. When I came to know that I will be taking this part, I straightaway went to Landmark to purchase the bestseller. And yes, going through the book helped me a great deal. It was a great responsibility on my shoulders to carry off the Stephen Covey’s best seller’s content in a customised fashion.

Design phase

It was decided that the theory part power point has to be developed by me.
As far as power point study on personality development is concerned, I had gone through a pool of it, but it was not of much help as I always believe in delivering customised content. While designing the power point, I always kept in mind that the content has to ensemble the climate and culture of our Sahara Pariwar. After preparing a tailor made power point presentation and getting an OK from my HOD, it was down to rehearsal point.

Deploy phase

I remember very well that during the dry run I was pretty apprehensive. This was because I knew I will have to face plentiful questions about those fiddly theories. There was a rationale behind it. The part of scientific theory I was covering in 13 slides, was just the tip of the iceberg. And if you have to answer the questions well, you need to be ready with the rest of the iceberg. So my hardcore research was handy and enabled me to answer those expected questions. The upshot was extremely satisfying as I was able to handle the queries pretty confidently.

Workshop Goes Live

In my workshops I always believe that trainer is merely a facilitator for learning. If learning has to take place, it becomes very necessary to tease the intellect of the participants in such a way that interaction becomes an integral part of the workshop. The best way of initiating this, I have found, is to call people by their names. This helps in many ways. Primarily, it removes the mental inertia to a great extent, which further helps in unlearning, which is a matter of concern across the globe while conducting interactive workshops. When a participant is addressed by names it comes a pleasant surprise to them, which again helps in removing the dread of a classroom session. Remember, this dread, is a huge deterrent for a congenial learning atmosphere.

At the outset, it was a captivating NLP exercise (brain child of our HOD) carried out by me. Then it was down to the instructor led lead learning. The things began with personality theories. And as the contents progressed; I started loving to explain those theories, with élan.

I still remember that in my MBA days I found it pretty tough to comprehend the Carl Jung theory of personality. In fact at that point of time, I just managed to understand a tad of it. But several years down the line, my trainees comprehending it with ease, it was extremely heart-warming.

As far as 7 habits are concerned, the “buy in” factor did the trick for me. That is why the book is one of the all-time best sellers across the globe. Everybody wants to create a fine balance between ones personal and professional life. And Mr Covey has answered the pertinent question quite pragmatically. Since I had assimilated the essence of the book, the explaining task seemed easy. Real challenge was to incorporate live examples, for which I had done enough homework. End result? Super satisfaction! The warmth and respect I have received after this workshop, has elated me to a great high. I know to outperform this show of mine it will again challenge me!

That is the magnitude of splendour of my profession! Sorry MacDonald and MRTPC, But I am Loving It!

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Nishant is Assistant Manager-Training and Development at Sahara Prime City Ltd, Lucknow. He has trained and mentored 1800 plus people till now. He wants to explore his proficiency further in the mentoring domain. Contact him at nishumoni1610@rediffmail.com.