Train the Trainers program: a long-term asset for our organization

We all learn. Constantly. We seek learning with passion and we nurture it with perseverance. In our quest to become better versions of ourselves, it is the act of learning that creates the curves, the change of directions, the abrupt yet breathtaking mountains we come across in our learning journey.

Therefore, it is only natural that, from an organizational standpoint, we see investment in learning as a strategic means to create opportunities for our colleagues' continuous growth. But what happens when we also invest in learning to teach others?

19 certified trainers in Accesa, just this year

Since the beginning of 2019, 19 of our colleagues have successfully attended the Train the Trainers program, becoming certified trainers in accordance with the ANC (National Agency for Qualification) guidelines. This is not only a success and an evolution for our colleagues, but also an opportunity for our community, as we expand the variety of internal trainings we can all attend, learning from our peers via well-thought, professional training sessions.

Train the Trainers is a program delivered by one of our learning & development partners, Humanco, with which we’re happy to have such a long and rich collaboration. Among the skills our colleagues acquired during the TTT courses:

• how to elaborate the structure of a training

• how to shift from delivering information to creating learning experiences, based on audience analysis

• group dynamic management

• training content management based on participants’ needs and learning styles

...to name just a few.

Apply all these elements to our certified trainers’ field of expertise and we get a valuable chance to support a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing in an open-minded community.

The “why” behind becoming a trainer in Accesa

Cristina is a software developer in our Custom Web Solutions Competence Center and she’s also one of the TTT graduates. When asked why she decided to take on this learning opportunity and invest her time and energy into becoming a trainer, she genuinely answered:

“Well, I’ve always loved helping people by sharing my knowledge. The only thing missing was having the knowledge to share my knowledge, so Train the Trainers was exactly what I needed. The entire program exceeded my expectations, since I learned not only how to structure the content of a training, how to empathize with the audience, what is the importance of feedback, but I also learned how to trust myself.”

Diana is a SAP ABAP Developer in our SAP Consulting Competence Center and a TTT graduate. For her, the TTT experience was not only useful in terms of personal growth, but also in terms of… she had to immediately create a training course:

“I immediately applied everything I had learned with the TTT group in our summer internships and I received so much positive feedback from the students. I had done workshops before, but this time, with all the training knowledge I gained, I had much more confidence in myself and more clarity in how I wanted to help others learn about SAP.”

Valer is also a Software Developer in the Custom Web Solutions Competence Center and for him, the TTT program was:

“… not just a training, but a life-changing experience. During the sessions I managed to understand and practice things I thought I knew, but merely had an idea about; especially regarding the learning styles and the communication “lens”, which make us so different yet so beautiful. Also, I have to say about our trainer, Razvan, he was truly an inspiration, how he managed to work with us even though we were so different and coming with different backgrounds.”

Where do we go from here?

Learning to teach others is a special kind of learning experience, one which broadens perspectives and deepens our capacity to evaluate ourselves as subject matter experts and as trainers. During the TTT program, our colleagues have come to learn that being a trainer is not about yourself, but rather about those you train (the value you bring into their lives). And that is an important lesson in itself.