Save by growing your own trainers: when companies can build a cadre of internal experts, they can reduce their dependency on outside consultants and, ultimately, lower their training costs

Workforce, Sept, 2002 by Michael Welber

The Federal Aviation Administration faced a serious, potentially disastrous problem. The agency discovered in the late 1990s that unscrupulous suppliers of aviation parts were selling unapproved and sometimes faulty components that didn't meet government standards for aircraft manufacturers. Incredibly, some offshore suppliers were even repackaging parts taken from crash sites and reselling them as new.

The crisis reached national proportions when CBS television's 60 Minutes news magazine broad-cast a story on the issue. Clearly, the FAA needed to quickly train its personnel to spot suspected unapproved parts. The department had traditionally relied on outside vendors to create and deliver training. But this time it had insufficient funds. To further complicate matters, the organization didn't have internal trainers to deliver material that an outside vendor might create.

The FAA'S situation is one that often occurs during difficult economic times: How do companies continue to train their employees when they can no longer afford the services of professional training organizations? During economic downturns, training resources are usually among the first casualties, leaving internal groups scrambling to provide training in critical areas.

FAA officials knew that using contract vendors gave them more flexibility. Now, without the budget to hire outside trainers exclusively, the group needed another solution.

Certifying internal trainers

The agency chose to do what many government and corporate training organizations have done for years: combine the training and instructional design expertise of an outside organization with internal experts prepped to teach the material.

Brattle Systems, a company based in Arlington, Massachusetts, that creates custom training programs for both the classroom and the Web, consulted with internal experts to design a course that could be delivered all over the country, something they'd done many times for the agency. What was different in this case was that Brattle personnel showed FAA employees how to train, gave them an opportunity to practice their skills, and then certified them. To ensure success, Brattle staff members went on the road with novice FAA trainers for the first 17 weeks of the course, observed them in the classroom, and provided coaching.

While train-the-trainer programs are certainly not new, some organizations ignore one serious challenge that they present. Designing a curriculum constitutes an essential element in any education initiative, but it's equally important to ensure that those delivering the material can do so competently. Some managers, reluctant to part with their most valued employees, respond to a call for internal trainers by deploying either a very inexperienced person, such as a new hire, or a problem employee, choices that can damage the program's credibility.

"You get some people in the group who just shouldn't be teaching," says Jim Hassett, Brattle president. "They don't know how to communicate and in some cases don't care to learn. One thing that separates projects that work well and those that haven't is the client's willingness to fail some people. In some organizations, with all the politics involved, they won't do that."

He has learned from experience that any certification process must be rigorous. "It is important to develop a really good certification process so that you don't just give people a train-the-trainer session," Hassett says. "You force them to pass something before you let them out into the real world. In that way, these new teachers prove that they know the content and that they can teach it effectively."

Brant Slade, a consultant with Oliver Wight Americas, a New London, New Hampshire-based company, would go even further. His company provides high-level consulting and training services to major manufacturing companies to help them radically improve their processes. Recently, the company developed a license and certification program that offers customers significant cost-savings along with the ability to develop internal expertise.

"Some companies take people who are simply available," Slade says. "But you need someone with leadership skills, good communication ability, who's fairly aggressive and who can work well with various levels of management. They need to be willing to invest the time to study, practice, and take feedback. I always tell senior people, 'Pick your stars for these programs.'"

Creating internal expertise

While cost is usually the top reason that companies shift to train-the-trainer options, developing internal expertise is a close second. In fact, when companies can build a cadre of internal experts, they can reduce their dependency on outside consultants and, ultimately, lower costs.

Solutia, a specialty chemicals company in St. Louis with $3 billion in annual sales and more than 10,000 employees, engaged Oliver Wight consultants to help the company lower its inventories, improve customer service, increase productivity, and gain better overall control of its operations. The consultants typically use a combination of training and on-site coaching to help companies achieve these goals.