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2 www.rtosuccess.com.au2 www.rtosuccess.com.au
Three
ways to
nurture
new
trainers
and build
your
business…
By Lauren Hollows

RTO Success November 2014 3RTO Success November 2014 3
1 2
Working in an industry whose primary purpose is
training, RTO representatives, owners and consultants
are often called on to establish a culture of training
within an organisation. Yet sadly, with the focus so often
on students or other corporations, many RTOs fail to
implement the same training programs for their own
business that they set up for other organisations. This
is especially true of trainers and training staff, despite
having standards that require constant updates to both
industry and VET knowledge and skills, this often leads
to training headaches for managers and CEO’s come
audit time when trainers fail to meet currency standards.
Where this can have the biggest impact on your
organisation is with new trainers, who easily struggle with
understanding all the requirements, a potential mountain
of paperwork and diverse student bases that need to
be catered to. Thankfully, with a few easy steps you can
support these key staff members and in the process, take
a positive step toward future proofing your organisation.
This article aims to provide a few simple suggestions,
along with timeframes, links to resources and a few
simple goals to get your organisation started. Each point
can be applied individually, although for the best effect
of course, I recommend you apply all points, even if only
through a pilot program to test your ROI.
Review current competencies
As part of gathering the initial paperwork on your new
trainer, completing a training matrix should be high on
the list of priorities. This mapping exercise provides an
opportunity to review where your trainer’s strengths
and weaknesses may lie in regards to currency and can
provide a broad roadmap of professional development
for the upcoming year. Ask your trainers to complete their
matrix, and identify the five areas where they feel they
can provide leadership and/or guidance and five areas
where they would like to build their knowledge; this list
can then be used to identify professional development,
training or areas for mentoring with more senior staff.
This exercise also allows you to see areas of strength that
can be used to support other trainer & assessors and staff
within the organisation. ASQA provides a basic template
for trainer matrices, there are also a range of consultants
that offer templates for purchase or you may want to
check with your current student management system as
many have inbuilt functions to link trainer capabilities to
units of competency and you can print reports from this
function.
Top tips:
• Where possible, allow the trainer to lead the
process, this minimises your time and allows the
trainer to take some control and ownership over
the process
• Try to avoid phrases such as‘where do you see
your weaknesses’or‘what areas are you lacking
evidence’, this type of language forces the trainer
into a position to justify themselves and works
against the goals of the exercise, keep the focus
on professional development and the terminology
positive. A little praise in the beginning goes a long
way…
• Many trainers can be overwhelmed completing a
matrix for the first time, where possible, try to have
admin staff pre-populate or pull from other trainers
matrices so that new trainers don’t have to spend
too much time inserting units of competency and
basic elements.
Timeframe:
Trainer: 1+ hours (depending on the number of
units they need to deliver and how much can be pre-
populated)
Management 30-45 minutes review with trainer
Develop a professional
development plan
Once you have identified areas of development for your
trainer your aim should be to identify opportunities
internal and external to the organisation. Ideally, you
want to aim for 2-3 external and 1-2 internal professional
development sessions a year, covering both industry
and VET development. This will vary depending on the
number and breadth of qualifications and units that
your trainers are training. While there are few trainers
able to successfully work and maintain competency
and currency over a few training packages, it is rare, the
requirements are becoming more stringent and both
students and organisations are becoming more savvy in
their expectations, so I would recommend that you focus
trainers to one training package with a limit of one to
two industry areas within that package, with a focus on
developing industry specialists.
Next year will see some of the largest changes to VET that
have occurred in over ten years new standards for RTO’s
and Regulators, a new model for the development of
training packages and the introduction of the Australian
Apprenticeships Support Network to replace current
Australian Apprenticeship Centres. The positive side to
this is that the government, both Nationally through
ASQA, and locally through State Training Authorities, are
hosting a range of professional development for RTO’s at
no cost. Ideally, you should allocate individual members
of staff to attend (as places are limited for some events)
and have those staff present to all relevant employees
later that week or the next on the key outcomes. Many
presenters are happy to release their presentations
to attendees and even those that aren’t will generally
be able to provide some information in the form of
handouts.
Outside of the current raft of VET Reforms, VELG offers
company memberships for a reasonable price and
hold an extensive range of events and workshops, at
least weekly webinars and from 2015 will be offering
Mentoring Mondays which target RTO Managers,
Administrators and Trainer and Assessors. If all else fails
and time is not on your side, programs like this cover
most of your basis for you.

4 www.rtosuccess.com.au4 www.rtosuccess.com.au
3
If you are looking for industry currency, start with your local Industry Skills Council (or whatever body/ies may or may
not replace them) and Industry Training Council as both of these bodies offers regular meetings to discuss important
industry updates. In addition, you can sign up for local and national industry body newsletters which should keep your
trainers notified of changes to industry and industry events. I recommend these for sales and business development
staff also as they provide great opportunities for networking with potential clients and understanding upcoming
industry trends.
Again, if you are looking for a good template to structure your professional development plans there are a range of
small business support organisations and government bodies which provide free templates which you can access, the
Victorian Education department has quite a few good resources in this area, and there are some fantastic blogs which
also provide free resources.
Top Tips:
• Don’t stretch staff over too many units or qualifications, everyone wants to learn from the master, and jack of all
trades generally means master of none.
• Invest in company memberships, in addition to reducing cost, it demonstrates your organisations commitment to
quality, training and professional development and what employee doesn’t want that?
• Utilise the wide range of free professional development being offered, do I need to say more?
Timeframe:
Training Manager: 2 days (approximately 6-8 staff)
30 minutes- 1 hour (per staff member) to identify 6-7 professional development activities, 8 hours for planning and
costing, 1 hour for presenting and review with management
Follow through
This is by far the hardest step in the plan because it requires action from the trainer, support staff and management. It’s
also generally accepted that the demands posed by training and the continuous reform often absorb a bulk of trainer
and RTOs' energy, thought, and attention. In order to ensure follow through, value has to be placed on professional
development both by staff and management. There are three key points which can help you build this into your
organisation.
Include professional development as part of both management and staffs KPIs. This can be used as an effective
motivator both for staff and management, building attendance to professional development for staff and then linking
professional development planning into more senior KPIs demonstrates an organisations commitment to establishing
the culture of quality. In addition, it allows for clear targets and measurable goals which can be reviewed.
Build professional development into your calendars. Whether its annual reviews, large scale internal professional
development or simply ensuring that course schedules allow for trainer down time, it’s important to set time for goals
set within the professional development plans to be undertaken, achieved and reviewed. If you aren’t allocating dates
and timeframes to goals and actions, they are far less likely to occur.
Take your program public. Let’s be honest, when considering investing in a business, wouldn’t you rather invest in
someone who can practice what they preach? Putting your professional development programs in the spotlight forces
your organisation to be more accountable, and has the added benefits of attracting staff who are more likely to actively
participate in such a program. Finally, it demonstrates to potential and current clients and students an increased
capability to deliver high quality services and a genuine interest and passion for training over tender.
Top Tips:
• Build professional development goals into KPIs
• Set timeframes, schedules and deadlines for goals and professional development into corporate and personal
calendars
• Take your program public, start with a company intranet and once you have a strong pilot program, go public
with your organisations commitment to quality training

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Three ways to nurture new trainers and build your business… III

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