Hi everyone,

I am currently creating an On The Job Training program for a manufacturing company. The goal is to have the Subject Matter Experts (current employees) train other employees. I want to have a train the trainers session to make sure they understand how to work with employees in that compacity. So my first question is what characteristics / skills should these SME soon to be trainers demonstrate. My second question is are there any books or advice that can assist in creating an approriate module / session for this type of training.

Hi Train... we've had lots of discussions on this board about SMEs as trainers. I would start there. Here's just one link to some of the related threads... (use the Find feature to find more)...

http://community.astd.org/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=SME

Thank you so very much Laura. I didn't realize I could sort that information.

Again thank you!

I teach a TTT course for OJT trainers in the aviation industry. Some of the things I cover include components of structured OJT, adult learning styles, and the proper steps to teach OJT. There are also several books in the ASTD library that cover OJT training.

My suggestion is to closely guard against allowing these SMEs into a classroom until absolutely prepared to handle the environment. It's one thing to know your subject, it's an entirely different thing to know how to relate that information to others in a meaningful fashion. There are many opinions on this subject, but if you're looking for some ideas on what skills your trainers need to have, click here for a course syllabus on exactly that subject.

My caution comes from countless oportunities to observe SMEs teach and completely inhibit the learning process as a result of a lack of understanding of learning strategies, learning theory, and classroom skills.

Let me know if I can help further.

Good luck,

Del Laughery
President, Instructional Dynamics