If you type the word “psychological training” in an Internet search engine, it will instantly return about half a million of the most diverse links, from personal development trainings to motivational, from psychodramatic to body-oriented (and I don’t even mention the strange-sounding and hard-to-imagined names!) . The collection of professiograms “My profession is a psychologist” (M., 2007) describes in detail the work of a business coach, but psychologists conduct a huge share of training work outside the business context, conducting trainings on personal topics.
Wikipedia tells us that the first training groups (T-groups), aimed at increasing competence in communication, were founded in 1946. Kurt Lewin with colleagues. And in the 60s, social & life skills training arose, based on the traditions of Carl Rogers’ humanistic psychology. These trainings were used for the professional training of teachers, consultants and managers for their development and psychological support.
Despite a noticeable decline in activity during the crisis, training activities are developing, there is an increasing differentiation of trainings and the isolation of individual areas, the quality and professionalism of the work of trainers are seriously increasing. This is facilitated by the training of trainers, helping young leaders to master the profession. The International Association of Personality Development Professionals has been created, which sets itself the task of developing professional standards for conducting personality development trainings, attesting trainers and training companies.
As the leader of psychological trainings, the trainer works most often in three ways.
The first option is to be an internal trainer in an organization (company), conducting trainings for employees of this organization. Most often, this is the work of a business coach, but in some companies (for example, large network companies) this is personal training aimed at developing communication skills, leadership skills, and the ability to work with people.
The second option is to become a trainer cooperating with one or another training center. Then the managers of the training center will organize the advertising of trainings and will take care of all organizational issues (organization of the premises, collection of money, payment of taxes).
And the third option is to choose the path of a freelance trainer who works freely, independently recruits groups and solves all organizational issues.
It is clear that these three are quite different life and work situations, and the professiograms here will be somewhat different.
Those trainers who choose freelancing, and, as a result, more flexibility in managing their own time, should understand that they will have to combine the actual training activities, which include collecting information on the topic, methodological work, improving their skills, with advertising and a set of own trainings (this includes creating and maintaining your own website, writing books and articles on the topics of ongoing trainings, conducting thematic mailings on the Internet, creating a client base, thinking through marketing strategies, maybe even calling customers on the phone). It is clear that not all people are capable of such a combination of diverse activities.
Most often, trainers work indoors: it can be assembly halls, training classes, rooms in office centers. The quality of the premises affects both client satisfaction with the training and the performance of the trainer. If the room is inconveniently located, if it is difficult to get to it, or if it is cramped, poorly lit, with poor ventilation, people will be uncomfortable, they will be forced to be distracted by everyday life, which will affect their assessment of the training.
What are the main requirements for the gym to make it convenient for both the coach and the participant to work? For a group of 20 people, the hall should be at least 40 sq.m., chairs should move freely, there should be a marker board or flipchart in the hall, a monitor for broadcasting video materials (or, as an option: a projector with a screen), a music center with a CD and remote control. For participants, the training organizers usually distribute badges on which everyone can write their name (this facilitates communication during the session), pens, tablets and paper or notepads for notes, and a table with tea and cookies for small breaks. Often trainers prepare handouts for participants. This may include templates and tables for use during the training, as well as a summary of information on the topic, to reinforce the material covered.
What are the basic requirements for the leader of personal training?
These are both special and professional, and personal features, and all of them are most closely intertwined.
The fact is that in training activities one of the most important elements is the personality of the trainer. Not a topic, not even his professionalism, but his personality: his position in life, his attitude towards people, his life experience, his energy and his sense of humor…. This is especially important if the trainer conducts not corporate (for employees of any organization), but open trainings (those to which people come of their own free will). It is in open trainings that people more often come to the trainer, and not to the training, therefore the leader of open trainings is always a person; and most often, the leaders of open trainings are adults, already established, having their own style, their audience and their own life position developed over the years.
In any case, the leader of psychological trainings must have a psychological education and certificates confirming the qualifications for conducting trainings on this topic. Those coaches who work with children under 18 years of age must have the appropriate education and qualifications.
The trainer can conduct trainings of short duration (from an hour to several hours), one-day (from 6 to 8 hours), or multi-day (2-3 or more days in a row). In any case, this is a very serious not only emotional, but also physical stress, so the coach must have good health and physical endurance. A natural requirement is a delivered voice. Talking for many hours in a row, sometimes voicing a large hall and blocking other people’s voices, can only be a coach who has paid attention to the correct setting of the voice, and knows how to take care of his vocal cords, competently direct his voice flow.
Since the leaders of psychological trainings train people, special demands can be made not only on their moral qualities, but even … on their way of life. The discrepancy between the declared values and those that the trainer actually adheres to in life will be noted by the participants of the training and, of course, will not contribute to the increase in the authority of the trainer. It is difficult to agitate for a healthy lifestyle for a smoker who does not take care of his own health — about the same as conducting communication skills trainings — gu.e.mu and conflict.
A mandatory requirement for a coach’s personality, where it is impossible to separate “personal” and “professional”, is his communication skills: openness, goodwill, the ability to listen, hear and feel people, lively and quick involvement in communication, quick reaction … — not owning this, the coach will not be able to establish the necessary contact with the group. On the other hand, the ability to simply establish contact is not enough. The training is conducted so that people eventually gain some experience, learn some material, and for this, the trainer needs to have the skills of constructive communication, be able to highlight the main theses and convey them in a bright and intelligible form, in simple enough words. In addition, a big plus for the coach is a pleasant timbre of voice, richness of intonation, facial expressions and gestures. It is very good to have experience in public speaking or participation in a theater studio. A professional coach should not only be bright, but also be able to quickly get used to various roles. Being able to be different is as important for a coach as being able to feel the group.
In order for the group to work efficiently and fruitfully, it is very important that there is an atmosphere of trust in the group, in which people can easily ask all their questions and express all their doubts and protests, and generally feel comfortable. This means that the leader’s task is to create and maintain such an atmosphere, as well as to teach the group itself to create such an atmosphere. And more broadly — the main task of the facilitator is to teach the group to work independently.
At psychological trainings, goal-setting questions often arise, even if they are not directly related to the topic of the training — therefore, it is good if the coach himself knows how to correctly set goals and is able to explain the principles of goal-setting to others.
A particularly important and especially difficult skill that distinguishes an experienced trainer from a beginner is the ability to work with a group, to be able to quickly get in touch, to feel the group, to manage the mood of the group and the complex processes occurring in the group — group dynamics.
In the lively atmosphere of the training, an informal leader always appears in the group, who, if the leader does not control the situation, can easily turn into an anti-leader and disrupt the normal training process. To prevent such undesirable things, the trainer must not only know the laws of the group’s functioning, not only notice bright and difficult people in the group in time, but also have the skills to “handle” such people, be able to attract them to his side and channel their energy into the necessary for training. channel.
The main advantage of working as a trainer is the opportunity to communicate with a variety of people, which may be the main difficulty of this profession. The need to be in the spotlight all the time can cause fatigue and professional burnout, so it is important for a coach to include time for rest and recuperation in plans. On the other hand, communicating with people with different experiences and views is extremely enriching and helps to develop both personally and professionally.