You have just been assigned to the training department. Until now, the closest you've ever been to a training program has been as an occasional participant in one of your company's training courses, or, possibly as an instructor. You've enjoyed these limited experiences, and, perhaps, even thought working in the training department might be interesting. Now you're there, but you have no formal preparation or experience for this new assignment. You're asking yourself: What is this all about? What am I getting myself into? What is expected of me? Where do I begin? What do I need to do?

The purpose of this article is to help you get oriented to your new training position and focused on those activities that will get you up to speed quickly. Understand, there is no magic, no formula to do this. Each situation is unique is terms of:

• The culture of the organization and the role training plays. Training may be highly valued, or merely tolerated as something every progressive company does.
• The history of training in the organization. Training may have a long history and be well established, or it may be new, not fully understood, and significantly under funded.
• The life cycle of the company. A growing, up and coming organization has a different mix of training needs than a more established, mature organization.
• The personalities of the individuals responsible for and involved in training. Their training background and experience will color their attitudes, positively or negatively, toward the training function.
• Your own training background and experience.

Regardless of the uniqueness of your situation, there are a number of issues everyone must address in one way or another as they orient themselves to their new training position. These issues can be grouped into the following four categories:

1. Position
2. Program
3. Administration
4. Professional

Keep in mind that all of these items are relevant to you regardless of the position you hold. While your position (i.e., instructor, designer, director, etc.) may influence the level of detail which you need to know about a given matter, you'll need to know something about it.

Position

The first category has to do with the position and what is expected of you. While all the points discussed below may have been covered by your manager, one or more are frequently overlooked or unclear in announcing position changes. Be sure you have answers to the following questions:

• Are you heading up a training effort or bolstering the resources of an existing program?

Managing a program or assisting on a project are two entirely different matters in terms of responsibility and supervisory or management skills. They are also very different in terms of the nature and level of detail of information needed to get yourself familiarized.

• Is the assignment temporary or permanent?

Knowing whether or not the assignment is permanent helps you to prioritize the development of any new skills you will need, and otherwise plan your orientation. For example, if you have a temporary assignment as an instructional designer, you may be able to suffice with some on-the-job instruction about design. If it is a permanent assignment, you might wish to take an evening course in design at a local college.

• Why you?

Obviously, you have been selected for a reason: your background and experience, motivation, dedication, technical skills, or any combination of the foregoing. Whatever the reason, knowing why you were selected gives you an idea of what others consider important to your performance in subsequent evaluations. For example, if your background and experience were important, you may be evaluated on your leadership ability.

• To whom do you report?

It is important to get to know your supervisor or manager and establish a working relationship with him/her as soon as possible. In addition to helping you identify what s/he is expecting of you, your supervisor or manager is the one person who may be most helpful in helping you learn your new position.

back to top

Program

Know and understand the nature and scope of the specific program or project to which you have been assigned, as you can identify and focus on the most substantive aspects of the projects first.

• What is your immediate project assignment?

• Find out exactly what project you will be working on, your role in it, and who can brief you on the status of the project. Will there be:

- A needs assessment?
- Design and development?
- Evaluation?
- Conduct administration?

• What is the project's timeline?

• What is the purpose of the project?

• What are the goals and objectives of the project?

Understanding the nature and scope of your responsibilities enables you to identify critical aspects of the job that are new to you (e.g., supervision, project management, etc.) This knowledge enables you to acquire new skills and brush up on old ones.

• What resources will you need to do the job?

All the resources (i.e., people, materials, and equipment) you'll need may be readily available. If they are, great! If not, you need to obtain them as soon a possible. This may take some time if you are not familiar with the procedures involved in obtaining various resources or to whom to go for assistance.

• What is the relationship of your project to existing training programs/operations?

Your project will not exist in isolation. Therefore, it is important for you to find out how your project fits into the existing training program and contributes to the overall organizational mission. For example, if your project interfaces with other training programs, whether exiting or under development, you need to coordinate your efforts with the individuals responsible for those programs in order to avoid duplication, to coordinate resources, etc.

• What assumptions are at work and need articulation?

There may be assumptions (yours and/or other people's) at work that have not been articulated and clarified. For example, do you know all the deadlines? Is your office ready to move into? Is the training team aware of your transfer? Or, are you making assumptions about these matters? While you cannot read other people's minds, be aware of any assumptions you are making and check them out. This could avoid needless mistakes and, conceivably, embarrassment.

back to top

---

Administration

With an understanding of the program, you are now in a position to begin making assessments about the following administrative matters:

• Secretarial/word-processing support

If such support is available, will it be dedicated or shared? This makes a big difference when you get into crunch periods and time is of the essence. If the support is shared, you should ask the following questions:

- Who is it?
- With what department/division are you sharing support?
- What is the department’s/division’s attitude toward training?
- How will priorities be established between the sharing departments?

• Space

How much space has been assigned to you, and where is it located? Is it adequate? Again, is it dedicated or shared space? If shared, ask the same type of questions you did about shared secretarial support.

If your new assignment is permanent and you have managerial responsibilities, you should begin to assess whether or not existing space will be adequate in the future given any long-range training plans that may exist.

• Equipment

Training equipment, particularly high-tech equipment, is costly, and must be kept in working order. Ask the following questions when considering equipment:

- What is the training budget for equipment?
- Who are the major vendors of training equipment in your area?
- Does your organization have maintenance contracts for any pieces of equipment it owns? (Typically, this applies only to computers and related multimedia equipment.)
- Has the equipment been marked and inventoried?
- Do you have a secured area for storing equipment?
- If so, where is it, and who is responsible for it?

• Materials

Training materials come in all types, shapes and sizes. Some are expendable (e.g., pads and pencils, notebooks, etc.) while
others are non-expendable (e.g., videotapes, wall charts, etc.). Some materials will be developed and reproduced in-house,
while others will be obtained from outside vendors. When considering materials, ask the following questions:

- Is there an existing inventory of materials?
- Where is it and who is responsible for it?
- Is it secured?
- What materials are produced internally? By whom?
- What materials are procured from vendors? Which vendors?

• Policies and procedures

The nature and scope of existing policies and procedures reflect the sophistication of evolution of your training program. In other words, new programs tend to have fewer policies and procedures, while older programs tend to be more bureaucratic. When considering policies and procedures ask the following questions:

- What policies/procedures exist?
- Are they effective (do they work)?
- Have they been documented? If so, where?
- What policies/procedures need to be developed?
- Who needs to approve any new policies/procedures?
- Have they been disseminated to everyone who needs to know?

Depending upon your situation, new policies and procedures may need to be written, or existing ones revised.

• Professional/organizational requirements

Professional requirements are the primary drivers of many policies and procedures. Professional requirements typically
pertain to the record keeping of such matters as:

- Professional certification
- Attendance
- Evaluations

Organizational requirements typically have to do with scheduling (frequency and time) and location of courses as well as identifying individuals you should contact regarding course announcements, evaluations results, no shows, certifications results, and the like.

back to top

---

Professional

The fourth category with which you need to be concerned deals with professional competence. This is particularly helpful if you do not have a background or experience in training. There are a number of valuable resources available to get you acquainted with some basic training concepts as well as keep you abreast of the latest research and advances in the field.

• Professional Organizations

If you are not a member of a professional training organization, consider joining one, such as the International Society for Performance and Instruction (ISPI) or the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Many times specific industries also have an association of trainers and educators, e.g., Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators (SITE).

Keep in mind, if your company has an existing training department, it many already have an institutional membership in a professional organization. If it does, you may be able to add your name to the membership list without paying for an individual membership.

• Periodicals

Trade journals, including Training and Development and Performance and Instruction, are another resource. Such publications are typically products of the professional organizations mentioned above. An additional publication to consider is Training.

• Conferences, workshops, etc.

Conferences and workshops are another resource. Again, professional organizations typically conduct an annual conference or convention which offers numerous training sessions on various topics for novices as well as for seasoned veterans.

In addition, there are numerous training programs offered by vendors and universities on training topics such as train-the-trainer, evaluation, needs assessments, and the like. Sessions typically range from one day to one week, and are given throughout the country. Once you get on vendor or school mailing lists, you'll be made aware of all current offerings.

• Other resources

A more costly resource than those mentioned above involves hiring consultants that specialize in every facet of the training process. Some focus on more general training topics (e.g., needs assessment, design and development, etc.) while others specialize in current topics (e.g., empowered teams, quality training, etc.).

Producers of off-the-shelf training materials and programs (vendors) are another resource. If you have money in your budget and you use outside resources judiciously, vendors and consultants can be a very valuable resource.

• Networking

The last, but probably most valuable, resource is your network of fellow trainers, both inside and outside your company. Developing and maintaining your network should be your number one priority.

This has been an attempt to suggest to those of you new to training an approach to orienting yourself to your new position. While it is impossible to formulate specific guidelines for your unique situation, you should find that most of your concerns fall into one of the following four categories:

1. Position
2. Program
3. Administration
4. Professional

Although there is no particular sequence in which issues should be addressed, some are logically addressed only after prior concerns are resolved. The above order of categories suggests a logical sequence with which to approach your orientation.

In addition to specific questions, you now have a perspective from which to start thinking about all your concerns as you go about familiarizing yourself with your new training position.