Over the years, we have observed that technical experts who assume training responsibilities have a number of characteristics in common which adversely impact their effectiveness and guarantee their frustration:

First, they are unconsciously competent. This means that they know the information and procedures so well, they perform them intuitively. As a result, they forget to teach important steps in a process because they do them without thinking. In effect, the very expertise that makes them the most appropriate persons to conduct the training also handicaps them.

Second, their preferred method for conducting training is often lecture. Unfortunately, lecture has been proven to be the least effective technique for ensuring learner comprehension, application, or retention.

Third, they get impatient when people have trouble learning what they consider to be basic information and procedures. They may only know how to teach one or two ways: either the way they like to learn, or the way they were originally taught. If neither is effective, they can get frustrated because they have exhausted their repertoire.

Fourth, they frequently attribute the lack of learning to be the result of the learner's incompetence or inattentiveness. They believe that, if they were able to learn it in that fashion, then anyone can. So, logically, assuming that everything remains equal, if the training fails, it is due to flaws in the learner, not a problem with the training itself.

Fifth, technical experts are often introverts who are more comfortable doing the work than extraverts who enjoy interacting with people. Although they are penultimate technical problem-solvers when dealing with objective facts, figures, and processes, they may feel somewhat out of their league when it comes to analyzing and addressing the more subjective complexities of human needs and motivations.

Sixth, often what is taught involves many complex steps. Without a good understanding of adult learning principles, the novice technical trainer will attempt to teach more concepts than the learner's brain can retain at one time.

Seventh, because of their wealth of information and expertise, technical experts may have great difficulty limiting the content they believe should be delivered to the learners. They will include both non-esssential as well as essential information, which can only serve to confuse and overwhelm the learner.

So, before you place technical experts in from of an audience, make sure they know how to design and present training that will set learners up to be successful.

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