On behalf of the authors Lori Reed and Paul Signorelli, thank you for picking up this copy of Workplace Learning and Leadership. So, why should you add this book to your professional or personal collection?
Well, I have been fortunate to know both of the authors professionally and personally and I am very excited about this book you have in your hand. I am and you will be similarly impressed with the variety and knowledge they were able to extract from a broad array of library learning leaders. Thanks in no small part to Lori and Paul’s interviewing skills, these leaders readily shared valuable and practical skills and techniques that have worked and not worked for them in their organizations’ training environment.
This book is written from the perspective of the training professional working primarily in public libraries within the United States; however, the knowledge that fills these pages will help anyone who is involved in training, coaching, mentoring, or encouraging staff and the public in any type of organization in any locale. The insights and skills discussed in the book are also readily applicable in any particular employment or training situation.
Are you a new or aspiring trainer and want to know some secrets of successful trainers? Well, you are in luck since many successful trainers were interviewed for this book and provide practical skills and insights from their personal training experience to help someone new to the world of training and learning opportunity development.
Are you the person who directly or indirectly supervises a trainer and would like to know how to support your trainer’s work within the framework of a successful organization? You can see how other trainers use post learning opportunity evaluation and continual organizational backing to support the learning objectives during the formal training session, reinforce the skills after the session, and have their training/learning staff heavily involved in organizational decision making processes.
Are you a working trainer in need of some assistance with evaluation? Do you need assistance with learner support? Do you want some pointers on how to make organizational learning a key player at your organization’s planning table? Each of these issues is covered in a concise, clearly written chapter brimming with “how we did what we did” tips, suggestions, and a cautionary tale or two.
Like all good trainers, Lori and Paul have written this book so that it is adaptable to your use and needs. This book would be equally effective used as individual chapters for personal or professional exploration or as an entire book devoured in one or two readings covering the entire subject of Workplace Learning and Leadership.
The first chapter, “In the Beginning,” will be of interest to both new and not so new trainers and administrators. It is filled with descriptions of how the professionals interviewed in the book fell into training, highlighting that there is no one path to becoming a trainer. Since it is rare for a school to offer a “trainer” track of coursework, trainers come from innumerable fields and accidentally discover their natural gift to convey valuable information effectively and efficiently.
Chapter 2, “Collaboration: Creating a Community of Learning,” builds on Chapter 1 and focuses on two issues relevant to any trainer. The chapter’s first focus is all about creating your own personal learning space in order to collaborate with fellow trainers as a proven method for improving your skill set. The second focus is on developing your organization’s community of learning to support your learning opportunities.
Chapter 3, “Trainers as Internal Consultants and Facilitators of Change,” discusses the trainer’s role in organizational development and problem solving. Trainers have too often overlooked skills to offer their organization. First is the skill to quickly identify effective training for both individuals and organizational groups. The second skill, equally as critical to organizational success and health, is to quickly diagnose whether a personnel problem is a training issue or an issue better resolved via mentoring, formal discipline, or other human resources management methods.
Chapter 4, “Preparing to Deliver: From Initial Idea to Moment of Delivery,” discusses the full gamut of learning opportunity session planning. This cycle starts with the initial development of learning objectives, to the session planning and promotion, Adult Learning Theory, and session delivery. It concludes with post learning opportunity evaluation. This chapter would be most beneficial to the new trainer looking for specific best practices of successful trainers for developing effective and appropriate learning opportunities.
Chapter 5, “In the Middle: Trainers as Leaders in the Classroom,” builds and refines Chapter 4’s themes by focusing on techniques that work for successful learning opportunity delivery that both supports your initial learning objectives and resonates with your trainees. Methods include the use of intense preparation, humor, and flexibility to ensure you have delivered a successful and memorable (for the right reasons) learning opportunity.
Chapter 6, “When Learning Happens: Supporting Learners after Class,” discusses the application of the lessons learned during the learning opportunity and how successful trainers and their organizations support the critical application and retention of material covered in the session. Organizationally unsupported learning opportunities waste the time and talents of everyone involved in developing, delivering, and participating in any learning opportunity.
Chapter 7, “Learning from Success and Failure: The Importance of Effective Evaluations,” discusses evaluation both in the learning opportunity setting and post learning opportunity when learners have had a chance to return to their everyday reality and incorporate the lessons into their individual, team, and organizational workflows and processes. This chapter emphasizes the need for evaluating both the short- and long-term effectiveness of the presenters, objectives, and learning materials; it also explores how doing so can make for increased effectiveness of your delivered learning opportunities.
Chapter 8, “Master Trainers, Master Learners: Training the Trainers,” focuses on the qualities of a successful future trainer and the power of formal and informal train-the-trainer programs from across the country.
The final chapter, “The End is the Beginning: Leadership and Learning in an Onsite-Online World,” reflects on the lessons learned by the trainers interviewed during the course of writing the book and peers into the future world of virtual and blended learning opportunities. Following this last chapter is a list of selected resources which I hope find a home on your bookshelf next to Workplace Learning and Leadership.
I have full confidence that Paul and Lori will show you the need for trainers to become the best “trainer-teacher-leaders” they can be. To support their statements and conclusions, they describe and demonstrate tested, proven skills, ideas, and resources that you can use to help you and your organization reach your ultimate potential.
I truly hope that you learn as much as I did from reading this book. Prepare for a great learning journey!
Maurice Coleman
Host/Producer, T Is for Training
Library Training Podcast