Knowledgeable Trainer Training Paper

Approximately 40% of the training that I received to perform disaster related resource linkage and crisis counseling to flood survivors applied on the job. Having knowledgeable trainers carry out the training proved to be one of the greatest enablers in the transfer of training. Their experience with previous disasters helped them to amass a wealth knowledge about the program, along with understanding survivor emotions and reactions. Specifically, their ability to guide and provide real world examples to trainees about the six phases of a disaster was most helpful. Those phases include: (1) pre-disaster phase; feelings of vulnerability, fear, and guilt are high (2) impact phase; confusion, shock, and disbelief settle in (3) during the heroic phase, rescue behavior and a sense of altruism take

over (4) the honeymoon phase leads the way for community bonding and optimism (5) exhaustion and possible substance abuse creeps in as survivors adjust to the new normal in the disillusionment phase and (6) rebuilding of lives continue to progress as the reconstruction phase lasts for many years after the disaster (CCP Application Toolkit, 2016). Being able to correctly identify and assess the survivor needs encountered at each phase was critical to the success of the program; exemplary service delivery in this area was due to the insight shared by the trainers
While the trainers played a major role in the transfer of training, more barriers existed that inhibited the process.

For starters, the timing of trainings did not occur when they would have been of the most benefit to trainees. Oftentimes, trainings were scheduled three or more months after the coinciding phase was already in progress; this made for inaccurate and poorly disseminated information from employees to survivors. Secondly, the delivery of training was not adequate in allowing skills learned to be appropriately transferred in the field. Most trainings were crammed into a day or a day and a half, which resulted in important concepts being skimpily covered or simply skipped altogether. Lastly, the work environment was not conducive to transferring of training. The administrative and supervisory staff were not supportive in encouraging or reinforcing skills and competencies taught in trainings. According to Nazli et al (2015, p. 56), social support is one of the strong relationships in the transfer of training and without encouragement from the supervisor, employees become less enthusiastic in performing their duties and lack to transfer training into the

workplace.
In an effort to improve the transfer of training, an open dialogue about trainee attitudes and expectations would take place as part of pre-training. Employee attitudes related to training are likely to affect the degree to which those employees learn (Nazli et al, 2015, p. 57). Beginning with open communication would aid in the facilitation of a better training experience and ultimately lead to increased transfer of training. The timeliness and length of trainings would also be adjusted to ensure the best possible outcome for trainees to master and properly apply training skills on the job. Trainings would be scheduled when they are most recent and relevant to trainees and enough time would be allotted to cover necessary topics. As a post-training measure, follow-up benchmark evaluations would be implemented to gauge motivation and willingness to perform training acquired duties. Support meetings and refresher trainings would be provided, as indicated by the evaluations, or through self-reporting by employees. These improvements would surely strengthen the retention of skills learned and the transfer of training.