I am currently trying to justify the addition of a trainer to our organization. Does anyone know the current average days in the classroom per year for a trainer?

Bryce, as you consider your tactic for rationalizing a new trainer, consider also that trainers don't just spend their time in the classroom. In fact, much more time is spent practicing presentations, updating materials as they age, setting up and tearing down the classroom, preparing classroom materials such as flip charts and exercises, and seeking out the most recent information prior to teaching. They're a busy group. And while you seek an industry average, my suggestion would be to seek an average in your own organization. Why dilute the data with information that doesn't apply to you?

Regards,

Del Laughery
President, Instructional Dynamics

Hi Bryce,
I can give give you 2 personal examples:

1. Team of 12 trainers
- Established materials
- Mix of customer and internal training
- Classroom delivery exclusively
- Courses between 1 and 4 weeks long
- Mostly experienced trainers
- Technical subject
- Sales and Admin support

In this case we looked for, and got, 60% platform time

2. Team of 3 trainers
- 50% Established and 50% new materials
- Mix of customer and internal training
- Classroom delivery exclusively
- Courses between 2 days and 1 week
- 2 experienced trainer, 1 new trainer
- Technical subject
- No Sales and Admin support

In this case we hoped for 50% platform - but rarely got beyond 40%. Nostly down to small pool of instructors and constantly changing environment.

So, in my opinion - the argument u give depends on a number of factors/constraints e.g. do you simply want to crank out more of an established course or do you want to bring new knowledge into the team (or both!)

Hope this helps, Mike.

Hello Bryce,

Who are you trying to justify an additional trainer to - CFO? CEO? CLO?

Whoever it is, let me suggest you justify this extra resource in terms that are important to the key stakeholders, those you have to justify this to.

The CFO will need to see how the extra trainer will increase the bottom line and/or share price.

The main client base, e.g. line managers, will need to see how the extra trainer will help them achieve their respective objectives, and if they can see this, they'll be able to support the extra trainer by signing up for the extra training services available from having an extra trainer.

Best wishes,

Martin Schmalenbach

quote:

Does anyone know the current average days in the classroom per year for a trainer?

Bryce

As usual, Del, Mike, and Martin bring up some good points about the trainer's role, real-life deployment examples, and business justification considerations.

Nio doubt you've considered some of these points already, but some questions that came to mind for me were...

...What kind of trainer are we talking about? I've seen expectations range from 20-35 contact hours/week. Delivery days might range from 100-240 days per year. As Mike suggested, plans do not often survive reality intact. How often are your programs fully subscribed?

...As Del mentioned, what else does the organization expect of the trainer, apart from classroom delivery? Is it "just" a delivery role, or are there other expectations; e.g., marketing, program administration, analysis, design and development, evaluation, duplicating workbooks, sourcing vendors, drafting RFPs, making the tea...? That X hours/week in the pit on a fully subscribed program (or other value-adding activity) leaves Y hours/week for "everything else" might seem self-evident...until you encounter someone for whom all this is a revelation.

...Is the training operation a profit center?

...How will the trainer's contribution to the corporate objectives Martin mentioned be measured; i.e., what annual throughput (or other contribution) will justify their fully-loaded salary cost?

...How adaptive is your operation? How will this additional trainer complement the current team's strengths and weaknesses? How will the role evolve as a result?

Regards

Scott G. Welch